• 1001 BYMRBYD Challenge
  • About Zee
  • Book Challenges 2010
  • Rory Gilmore Reading List
  • Zee’s Book Reviews

Wordly Obsessions

~ … the occasional ramblings of a book addict …

Wordly Obsessions

Tag Archives: Ayn Rand

Top Ten Tuesday | Most Intimidating Books

02 Tuesday Jul 2013

Posted by mywordlyobsessions in Authors, Book Challenges, BookTalk, Meme

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Ayn Rand, books, Dark Tower, don quixote by miguel de cervantes, james joyce, JD Salinger, literature, Miguel de Cervantes, roberto bolano, salman rushdie, satanic verses by salman rushdie, stephen king, Thomas Pynchon, Top Ten Tuesday, ulysses by james joyce, virginia woolf


This meme is brought to you by The Broke and the Bookish. Today’s topic is the top ten most intimidating books that we all dread to read for one reason or another. Here is my list of titles:

  1. Ulysses by James Joyce – I will feel like a complete failure/idiot if I cannot get through this book in one sitting. Especially since it is THE most important book in modern literature. EVER. *shudders*
  2. The Waves by Virginia Woolf – Sometimes Woolf can be completely incomprehensible to me. Her writing is like a strange melody with a hidden beat. I have to hunt for the damn thing in all the dense foliage of her prose. ‘The Waves’ completely baffled me and I wound up running to the nearest exit to this weird labyrinth of fiction.
  3. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes – The sheer size of it puts me off. It lives on the shelf next to Milton’s Paradise Lost.
  4. Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger – I really don’t know why people call this a great novel. Never really saw it myself. Intimidating when you can’t see what millions of others can.
  5.  Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon – He is so awesome. ‘The Crying of Lot 49‘ changed my taste in books drastically. It was also one of the hardest damn books I’d ever read. What if I don’t get this one?
  6. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand – The books scares me (sheer size), Ayn Rand scares me (have you seen her?) OMIGOD.
  7. 2666 by Roberto Bolano – I have a love/hate relationship with Bolano. I keep expecting the same kind of pleasure I get when I read Borges but get confused when I don’t. Confused and angry. Not quite the same as intimidated, but…
  8. The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie – So much controversy around this novel. What if I end up hating it? Will it cost me a well-respected author?
  9. House of Leaves by M.Z. Danielewski – I read this once before. I don’t think I’ll read it again anytime soon. I have never been so scared of words and the things they can unravel both within and without. Danielewski is king. I grovel at his feet.
  10. The Dark Tower series by Stephen King – A mammoth seven book series that I have only briefly dipped into. I don’t know if I can last the distance…

That’s my list of intimidating books guys. How about yours? Are there any above that scare the bejesus out of you? Would you add to the list?

Related articles
  • Top Ten Most Intimidating Books (matildaallgrownup.wordpress.com)
  • Top Ten Tuesday: Most Intimidating Books (mynovelopinion.wordpress.com)
  • Top Ten Tuesday – Intimidation (thebookfix.wordpress.com)
  • Top Ten Tuesday #18 – Most Intimidating Books (unconventionalbookviews.com)
  • Top Five Most Intimidating Books (playingjokers.wordpress.com)
  • Top Ten Tuesday – Most Intimidating (thegrownupya.wordpress.com)
  • Top Ten Tuesday: Most Intimidating Books (boxesofpaper.com)
  • Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Intimidating Reads (bookblogbake.com)
  • Ayn Rand (bakulaji.typepad.com)
  • Top Ten Intimidating Reads (barefootmeds.wordpress.com)

Share this:

  • Email
  • Print
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • Pocket
  • More
  • Tumblr
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn

Like this:

Like Loading...

How Fast Can You Read?

23 Monday Apr 2012

Posted by mywordlyobsessions in Book News, Education, General, Humour, Meme

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Ayn Rand, Fountainhead, James Fenimore Cooper, John Steinbeck, Lord of the Flies, meme, reading speed, Speed reading, William Golding


Congratulations! You are 58% faster than the average adult reader!

I can be a real slow-poke when it comes to reading, I have to admit that. What it takes some people to read in two days I usually complete in a week! It’s a habit I’m not very happy with, so I was really glad I can across this neat ‘Speed Reading Test’ from Staples that lets you know how quick you are compared to the average reader… and how you square up with the world’s fastest word scanner, a lady with an astonishing 4’700 words per min. record! I may not be as fast as her, but I realise I’m not as bad as I thought either.

If you wish to take the test yourself then click on the image below. You will be prompted to read a short piece and then have to answer three questions to check you’ve actually read it. Simples!

ereader test
Source: Staples eReader Department

According to the test I can read the following books in so many hours if I keep to my normal reading speed:

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy in 24 hours and 43 minutes

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand in 13 hours and 7 minutes

Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper in 6 hours and 7 minutes

Lord of the Flies by William Golding in 2 hours and 31 minutes

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck in 7 hours and 8 minutes 

Hmm, maybe I should have timed myself with ‘Lord of the Flies’! I’m quite surprised that it says I can complete it in 2 hours. I’m pretty sure I’ve taken over 2 hours to get to chapter 3! Anyways… Maybe this little test will help me pick up speed a little as I feel more confident for tomes like ‘The Fountainhead’!

Take the test and post your results. How fast can you read?? You might be surprised.

Related articles
  • Classics Challenge – Anthem – Ayn Rand (deesbookblog.com)
  • 7 Speed Reading Software | The PROVEN Secret to Success? (consciouscommerce.wordpress.com)
  • Leverage 2.0 : Sure Steps to Increasing Your Reading Speed by 300% (purelybooks.blogspot.com)
  • Lord of the Flies by William Golding (thegoodsoldandnew.wordpress.com)
  • Writing Fast (doorframebooks.wordpress.com)

Share this:

  • Email
  • Print
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • Pocket
  • More
  • Tumblr
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn

Like this:

Like Loading...

RSS Links

RSS Feed RSS - Posts

RSS Feed RSS - Comments

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 636 other subscribers

Blog Stats

  • 364,583 hits

My Visitors

free counters

Recent Posts

Top Posts

  • Hunter S. Thompson | "Some May Never Live, But The Crazy Never Die"
  • Book Review | 'Heroes and Villains' by Angela Carter
  • Hymn to Isis | (3rd-4th Century)
  • Famous Quotes | Edgar Allan Poe
  • Book Review | 'Chronicle of a Death Foretold' - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
  • Would You Like to Smell Like Your Favourite Author?
  • Banned Books | Top Banned, Burned and Challenged Books
  • Sylvia Plath | 'Mary's Song'
  • Quick Review | 'South of the Border, West of the Sun' - Haruki Murakami
  • 'The Diary of A Young Girl' by Anne Frank

The best of the best of the best…

Bookish tweets

  • RT @Rachael_Swindon: Doing an experiment. Some 316 MPs claimed their utility bills on expenses last year, with some members claiming more… 4 days ago
  • 4 of 5 stars to The Sandman by Dirk Maggs goodreads.com/review/show/52… 1 week ago
  • RT @FreefromTorture: Still not deleting it standard.co.uk/news/uk/suella… 2 weeks ago
  • RT @BeckettUnite: • Firefighters don’t get subsidised food for saving lives • Nurses don’t get free parking for saving lives • Doctors don’… 2 weeks ago
  • RT @GNev2: They did! https://t.co/hWkIavggNN 1 month ago
Follow @WordlyObsession

Pinning stuff on boards is fun!

Follow Me on Pinterest

What’s on the Shelf?

Reading Wishlist!!

WP Book Bloggers List

For finding things…

50 books a year 1001 book list angela carter audiobook Benjamin Lebert book challenge book review books che guevara childrens fiction chinua achebe comic books crazy Dr. Gonzo dystopian edgar allan poe fantasy fear and loathing Fiction frankenstein goodreads gothic fiction Grapes of Wrath gustave flaubert Haruki Murakami hubert selby jr humour hunter s thompson ian fleming Indian literature Its monday what are you reading? japan japanese japanese horror story jm coetzee John Steinbeck Jorge Luis Borges kazuo ishiguro kurt vonnegut l. frank baum literary fiction literature liz jensen love story meme midnights children oscar wilde Paul Auster peter ackroyd poetry readalong religion roberto bolano Robert Rankin romance rory gilmore reading list rum diary ryu murakami salman rushdie science fiction short story stephen king sylvia plath teaser tuesday the motorcycle diaries the rapture Tokyo toni morrison Top Ten Tuesday United States ursula le guin virginia woolf war wondrous words wednesday writing

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • Wordly Obsessions
    • Join 156 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Wordly Obsessions
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
%d bloggers like this: