Thursday, November 11, 2010

Enchanté! from The Literary Blog Hop

Literary Blog Hop

 Let me introduce myself.
Bonjour! Enchanté! Bienvenidos!

I am Debnance at Readerbuzz.
I love to read.
I especially love children's books,
travel memoirs,
 literary fiction, 
creative nonfiction,
and books about happiness.

 I'd love to visit your blog. 
If you like, follow me and leave a comment
and I will hop over and follow you.

I also invite you to:
Befriend me at Goodreads.
Follow me at Twitter.
 Befriend me at Facebook. 

I'm happy to be joining in the Literary Blog Hop again this week. It's a hop sponsored by The Blue Bookcase and it's designed for participants who read primarily literary works. Each week a prompt is provided to encourage discussion among literary bloggers.

This week's prompt is from...oh my goodness!....
This week's prompt is from...ME! 

This week's question comes from Debbie Nance at Readerbuzz:

What is the most difficult literary work
you've ever read?
What made it so difficult?

My response:

I'm going to say the most difficult literary work
I've ever read was
The Three Musketeers.

I'm picking TTM as difficult because
I knew nothing about swords,
or French history
and this book has lots of fighting
and French history.
Luckily, I read this book on my Kindle,
with a built-in dictionary!
Quite lovely to easily
look up words I didn't know.
And it also helped that I read this book
with my online bookgroup...lots of support.
Plus, I read it while I was in France!
How cool is that?!

What was your most
difficult literary read?
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37 comments:

  1. Sarah Reads Too MuchNovember 11, 2010 at 8:57 AM

    Great question! I've never read The Three Musketeers... but my answer is also of the French persuasion....

    Sarah
    http://sarahreadstoomuch.blogspot.com

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  2. AmyNovember 11, 2010 at 9:25 AM

    You and I had the same problem--lack of background info!

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  3. UnknownNovember 11, 2010 at 10:27 AM

    I made it about half way through Three Musketeers many years ago. I was enjoying it, but it was just so long. I think the dictionary feature on the Kindle sounds tempting. Maybe I should look into that.

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  4. Sam (Tiny Library)November 11, 2010 at 10:51 AM

    I've wanted to read this book for a while, but I'm worried it won't be as epic or full of adventure as I would like it to be.

    Sam
    http://tinylibrary.blogspot.com

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  5. UnknownNovember 11, 2010 at 10:55 AM

    Great question, I answered it in my blog too. I haven't ever tried The Three Musketeers, but I bet reading it in France was a treat!

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  6. Amy HillisNovember 11, 2010 at 11:54 AM

    I'd have to say Ulysses by James Joyce. I read it several years ago without the help of a Kindle ;D, so perhaps it would be easier in today's world of instant information. But 20 years ago, it was challange!

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  7. Deb Nance at ReaderbuzzNovember 11, 2010 at 12:04 PM

    Wouldn't it be nice to be able to read Ulysses on a Kindle with BUILT-IN NOTES?! They pop up, if you want them. Are you listening, computer-literature-loving-geeks?

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  8. IngridLolaNovember 11, 2010 at 1:55 PM

    Cool! I haven't read The Three Musketeers ... it actually doesn't sound like something that would interest me, to tell the truth. I like France and French but French history ... mehh. Thanks for your post and for this weeks question! FYI, your link was a little messed up on the Mr. Linky, so I fixed it, you are now just a little further down the list.

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  9. RedNovember 11, 2010 at 1:56 PM

    I still have yet to read this, though I did read The Man in the Iron Mask (which is probably why I've yet to pick this one up...)

    Beloved was the hardest book I read both thematically and emotionally.

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  10. Deb Nance at ReaderbuzzNovember 11, 2010 at 4:12 PM

    After visiting a number of blogs in this hop, I am seeing that I am a literary wimp. I've never read one of the books listed by other bloggers as difficult in a literary way. No War and Peace. No Infinite Jest. No House of Leaves. No Beloved. No Moby Dick. No Ulysses.

    What does this mean? Am I, as I suspect, a person who loves to travel far out into the ocean but refuses to let her head go underwater?

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  11. Nathalanes PlaceNovember 11, 2010 at 5:29 PM

    I'm sorry I'm not in that blog hop but I'm returning the favor of following you , Thanks for the follow,
    Great blog also,
    Will be back.

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  12. NancyONovember 11, 2010 at 5:56 PM

    I can honestly say I've never attempted this book, but I do have it laying around. Eek! Now I'm considering letting it lay around a bit longer!

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  13. Deb Nance at ReaderbuzzNovember 11, 2010 at 5:58 PM

    I should add that, despite the difficulties I had with the text, I ended up absolutely loving The Three Musketeers. Who would have guessed this?

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  14. AnonymousNovember 11, 2010 at 6:00 PM

    Nice to see someone rooting for Alexander Dumas. It's funny, I tried reading The Count of Monte Cristo and had the same problem. I left it off halfway, even though I was enjoying it.

    I hope I can get back to it soon. Great post, and congrats on having your question selected for the hop!

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  15. MelodyNovember 11, 2010 at 6:09 PM

    I ended up loving The Three Musketeers when I read it too. I should probably have more Dumas on my list!

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  16. JoAnnNovember 11, 2010 at 7:56 PM

    I loved The Count of Monte Cristo, so should probably try The Three Musketeers one day... maybe after I buy a kindle!

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  17. KellyNovember 11, 2010 at 9:30 PM

    There is French history in this??! I never knew. Now I have to real reason to read this book. I've always wanted to someday read it. But knowing it's got French history makes me want to read it a lot more now.

    And wait.....I never even knew that this took place in France?! I am an awful student.

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  18. *ೃ༄ JillianNovember 12, 2010 at 1:28 AM

    Oh, I just bought this one! I'm fascinated by French history, due to my heritage. (I know very little French history, mind you.)

    My mother saw my with The Three Musketeers and said:

    'You're a better woman than I.'

    LOL. :-)

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  19. WillaNovember 12, 2010 at 4:17 AM

    TTM is one of my favourite books! I read the children's version so many times in my tweens and when I graduated to the real version I only liked it even more!

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  20. AnonymousNovember 12, 2010 at 6:02 AM

    I've read a children's version of TTM but never the real thing I can imagine it's BIG and DIFFICULT but maybe also funny, and written in a beautiful style.

    I never come across it these days, so I'm safe!

    http://leeswammes.wordpress.com Leeswammes (Judith)

    ReplyDelete
  21. Create With JoyNovember 12, 2010 at 7:27 AM

    Hi DEBBIE (smile)

    I just signed up to follow you and would love for you to join me at Create With Joy!

    I have never read The Three Musketeers but I had to read Beowulf for a Literary Criticism class in college and I think I drudged through every page of it! Although the description of the book sounds like it would have been something right up my alley - at the time, I couldn't make heads or tails out of what was going on! The language really got to me in that book.

    With that said, however, I have been really curious about the updated version that was released a few years back and my consider giving that a spin one of these days!

    Ramona
    http://create-with-joy.blogspot.com

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  22. LoniNovember 12, 2010 at 8:31 AM

    I've been wanting to read the Three Musketeers. I don't have an e-reader, but I'll make sure to have a dictionary or computer around.

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  23. Susan from Reading WorldNovember 12, 2010 at 10:42 AM

    Great question for the hop! Thanks for coming up with it.
    I read The Three Musketeers a few years ago when I reviewed a new translation for The Historical Novels Review. I loved it. It was old-fashioned story-telling so it was a bit difficult. But I was thrilled to finally know what the story was about. It was always one of those things I always kind-of knew...everybody has heard of the musketeers, but I didn't REALLY know the story. Now I feel better!

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  24. LLNovember 12, 2010 at 11:40 AM

    I've been wanting to read this! (And I watched Slumdog Millionaire last night which talks very very briefly about the Three Musketeers, so I have it on the mind...) I have it on my Kindle too, so maybe I should just dive in. Great question!

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  25. AmandaNovember 12, 2010 at 1:47 PM

    I made it through the 1500 pages of The Count of MOnte Cristo, and swore I'd never read another Dumas again...

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  26. UnknownNovember 12, 2010 at 4:09 PM

    I loved Three Musketeers! But then again I'm a bit of a history nut, so I had a little background in French history before reading. I thought it was exciting and very engaging. I hope to someday get to the sequels.

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  27. Dan CafaroNovember 12, 2010 at 5:42 PM

    What a delight that you read The Three Musketeers while in France! I also appreciate your sharing the advantages of reading it with a built-in dictionary on your Kindle. Alas, I have not made the transition to the e-reader, but we can not deny some of the inherent benefits. More power to you for tackling a novel wrought with unfamiliar terms and subject matter. Bully to the reading group for helping you to get through it!

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  28. ChristopherNovember 12, 2010 at 11:08 PM

    I love Dumas's novels. They are rollicking good reads. Nothing heavy just good fun. I don't know that they are really all that well written, but I enjoyed the hell out of each of 'em.

    Thank you for the great question for the Literary Blog Hop, it made me stop and think for nearly a day. It was worthwhile, because I think I came up with the write book for me. Thanks, Debbie! Cheers! Chris

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  29. @parridhlanternNovember 13, 2010 at 7:33 AM

    Another reason on my list "Why I Should a Kindle" enjoyed your reasoning on the 3 musketeers.
    thanks Parrish

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  30. UnknownNovember 13, 2010 at 2:30 PM

    Thanks for a great prompt! I've really enjoyed reading everyone's responses and as a result, my reading list is growing by leaps and bounds with "difficult book" challenges.

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  31. Gilion at Rose City ReaderNovember 13, 2010 at 3:01 PM

    Thanks for proposing this great prompt! It was a lot of fun to answer!

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  32. bibliophiliacNovember 13, 2010 at 5:28 PM

    Oh, is there much swashbuckling? Because my swashbuckling knowledge is limited also! Come to think of it, I don't really know what swashbuckling is, but I'm fairly certain swords are involved! Thanks for providing the question for this week. It has been fun reading all the different answers

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  33. christinaNovember 14, 2010 at 6:44 AM

    From what I recall, I really enjoyed The Three Musketeers. In fact, it was my first literary fic book I ever read. (I think I was in 6th grade?) I still have my copy of the old tattered thing.

    The most difficult book for me is a tie: Middlesex & Huck Finn. Both drove me bananas and I ended up not finishing neither. Perhaps it was my high expectations walking in?

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  34. AnonymousNovember 14, 2010 at 10:35 AM

    I love to read on the Kindle when I need the help of a dictionary. Really simplifies things!

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  35. Trish @ Love, Laughter, InsanityNovember 14, 2010 at 1:19 PM

    I haven't read this one but would like to. I have a hard time reading books when I don't know the history as well. Didn't have that problem with Les Miserables because poor Hugo tells you EVERYTHING you might need to know. ;)

    Thanks for providing us a fun question!

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  36. (Diane) Bibliophile By the SeaNovember 15, 2010 at 9:18 PM

    One of these days I'll read Three Musketeers. If I read Shantaram, it'll be easy LOL

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  37. Sugar and SnarkNovember 16, 2010 at 3:00 PM

    Hopping by to say enjoy the rest of your week!

    ReplyDelete

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