Welcome to the world of challenging but rewarding reads! Certain books are better known for being hard-to-finish rather than widely read. While taking the time to sit down and work through a difficult book can be a big ask, the rewards for doing so are often great. Furthermore, the experience of absorbing great literature or learning from a heavy tome can be a prize in and of itself.
Today, we’ll look at seven famously difficult books — and why you should read them, anyway.
A Brief History of Time
“The whole history of science has been the gradual realization that events do not happen in an arbitrary manner, but that they reflect a certain underlying order, which may or may not be divinely inspired.”
Are you up for the challenge of Stephen Hawking’s bestselling book on cosmology? Despite its reputation for being tough to finish, it’s accessible, witty, and only contains a single mathematical equation, E = mc2. Plus, it offers insights into human reason and our place in the Universe.
One Hundred Years of Solitude
“Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.”
Delve into the multi-generational story of the Buendía family of Macondo, Colombia, penned by Gabriel García Márquez. This masterpiece has a complex storyline, offers magical realism, and provides multiple interpretations of its central themes.
