Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Books I Read, and Loved, But Didn't Really Understand

Do you have to understand something you read if you say you read it?

I don't know.

I've read a lot of books that I didn't understand that well yet seemed to contain great and wise truth. Sometimes I've read them again. And again. And still didn't really understand them all that well.

Here are a few of my favorite difficult reads:



Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder

At the Existentialist Cafe

Chemistry: A Novel by Weike Wang

Lincoln in the Bardo

The Gold Bug Variations

Colorless Tsukuru Tasaki and anything else by Haruki Murakami

Penguin Anthology of Twentieth Century Poetry

Zen and Zen Classics

Dreamers by Knut Hamsen

Meditations on the Parables of Jesus

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance






Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

25 comments:

  1. Yeah...I had more than a few books I didn't understand. Which sadly meant I couldn't enjoy them.


    Here's my Tuesday Post

    Have a GREAT day!

    Old Follower :)

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  2. I haven't heard of any of these books. Now what does that tell you? :) I'll check some out. Thanks for sharing.

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  3. I have heard great things about Lincoln in Bardo. I haven't yet read Haruki Murakami, although I keep meaning to. I worry that his writing will go over my head. But I guess I'll really never know unless I try.

    Have a great rest of the week!

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  4. The only one on your list that I've read is Lincoln in the Bardo. It was such a wild, crazy ride that I'm not sure fully understanding it was ever even an option!

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  5. I had Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance on my shelf for years and final gave it away. A few months ago, I came across another copy and decided I really wanted to read it. Now I'm not sure! :)

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    1. I've read it over and over. It made me look at life completely differently.

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  6. These are all new to me but yes I've had that problem too.

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  7. I'm totally with you on Lincoln in the Bardo (A big ole WT?) as well as the Colorless Colonel (oiy) and the Zen the Art of Motorcycle.....

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  8. I love your twist on this week's TTT post!!

    Here's a link to my TTT post this week:
    https://captivatedreader.blogspot.com/2017/09/top-ten-tuesday-ten-books-that-were.html

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  9. I've had my share of books that I didn't really "get" either, or had trouble understanding. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance always gets me with that title! Although I'm not that familiar with the book itself. I should see what it's about...

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    1. I've recommended it to oodles of people and not one of them has ever come back to me and told me they liked it.

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  10. Haven't read any of these yet, but maybe I should give them a try. Not sure if I'd understand either, but it would be intriguing to try :)

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  11. Books that I don't understand drive me crazy! I think it's my left brain-ness but I just can't handle it! I do want to give Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance a try because I've heard so much about it but I suspect I'll need some Excedrin handy for the headache it will induce!

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    1. It's brilliant, I think. And it seemed to pull together philosophies that seemed very different.

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  12. I listened to Lincoln in the Bardo, but I didn't quite get the hype...

    Lauren @ Always Me

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  13. I have to be in the right mood to persist with books that are hard to understand but they can absolutely be the most rewarding reads. One that comes to mind for me is Babel 17 by Samuel R. Delaney. The entirety of my goodreads review for the book: "An extremely creative book that has stuck with me despite the fact that I was not smart enough to understand most of it."

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  14. Good list, though I've never read any of these books!

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  15. I've never heard of any of these, but I definitely get not understanding the book! I think this happens to me in textbooks and classics more often than not. :/

    Thanks for stopping by Novelistic Narration!

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  16. I liked Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance a lot when I was young, but when I read it again upon it's return as a New Age philosophy, I was totally confused by the many articles and essays written ABOUT it. Sometimes we just have to take a book as random thoughts from a random person's mind. (example Anne Lamott, sometimes)

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  17. I just finished Lincoln in the Bardo and it was so lovely.

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