My ‘Intimidating Books’ Pile

Last updated on 18 November 2021

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How many intimidating books are on your TBR pile?

Last month on Blogger’s Bookshelf we took a look at the books that we haven’t read yet – even though we really want to – because they seem a little bit intimidating. We had everything from Les Miserable by Victor Hugo, to Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy to the ones I added into the mix: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell by Susanna Clarke, and Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. But you know what was the struggle when it came to picking what book/s I wanted to add to the intimidating books list that month? Just which ones to choose.

I realised in doing so, that there were actually quite a few books sitting on my shelves that I was a little bit intimidated by. They are sitting there taunting and daunting me with their size and their plot lines, their characters and settings, their twists and turns. Most of my intimidating reads are, indeed, intimidating due to their size, though some are because of a few other reasons, which you’ll see soon. But you’ve got to face your fears, amiright?

So that’s what I’m going today.

Here are some of the most intimidating books that are currently sitting on my shelves that I have yet to pick up because I feel like I need an entire summer to get through just one of them.

Great Expectations | Charles Dickens

It would be a great expectation that I would read this. I have this beautiful copy, and yet … it scares me. It’s big, yes, but also it’s a classic and I feel like it would be one that I would have to like and would therefore feel bad when I didn’t. Yikes.

Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell | Susanna Clarke

My good friend in England gave me this book because it was one of her favourites. It sounds so great and yet the size of it could definitely hold a large door open, become a weapon, and/or a lounge coffee table. It’s because of its colossal appearance that I have yet to dive in.

Outlander | Diana Gabalon

I originally bought this book when the TV show came out in 2014 because the show looked so great, but being me, I wanted to read the books before committing to yet another show. However! The size of it, and the fact that it doesn’t stop with one book has sort of put me off and now we’re at season 3 of Outlander and I feel like it’s just not going to happen.

Those people who have seen the show that I know have told me to watch it, and just scrap the whole reading the book idea. While I really did want to read it, I’m beginning to think they’re right. I might give the show a watch and maybe one day down the track I’ll pick up the book.

Atlas Shrugged | Ayn Rand

This is one of those books which has been on my radar for so long now I don’t know when I first heard about it. My good friend in the UK raved about it, so I made sure I had a copy. But on my shelf, it has sat for years now, not being opened, not being read. Poor book. But I definitely want to dive into it one day…I just don’t know when that will be.

The Wheel of Time series | Robert Jordan

Perhaps the most intimidating books I have. And there’s 14 of them. And I’ve only pictured the first book.

I have actually read books 1-4 in this incredible series, but that was about 8 years ago. About 2 years, I decided I really needed to continue reading them, but found I had basically forgotten the entire story and thought I had better start from the beginning. Needless to say, I did not get far. In fact, I travelled so little into this world that I only re-read book 1. Fail.

But it’s honestly one of the series that I really want to read, and read properly. I think what gets me staling is the fact that each book is between 600 and 1000 pages long (with small writing, I might add), so if we average that out to be 800 pages per book…and then times that by 14 books (14!!) that’s approximately 11,200 pages. Say it takes me an hour to read 50 pages (a guesstimate…the writing is teeny in the versions I have) then that’s going to take me 224 hours to read the entire series. Divide that by 24 hours in a day, that’s 9.3 days of straight reading.

Realistically, I wouldn’t spend more than about an hour reading each working day (perhaps more on the weekend), then that’s 224 days … which is about 2/3s of a year. Okay, so it doesn’t seem that daunting perhaps, but actually…when I can read an entire YA novel in about 2-4 hours, this is a terrifying feat.

The only advantages in doing this is that a) you read the entire series in a year, b) you get so caught up in the world that little else matters in  your life (could be seen as a disadvantage) and c) you can conquered your greatest intimidating series.

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So there we have it. My ‘Intimidating Books’ pile. I thought there were going to be more, to be honest, but these were the only ones that I really am a little bit afraid of.

What about you? Do you have any intimidating books? Or books that you just look at and want to read so bad but just can’t quite make yourself pick it up? Tell me all about it!