Uploaded May 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
My friend David and I had a wonderful time unpacking what it means for a book to be "difficult." In this discussion, we explore specific aspects that make a book challenging, the role that reader backgrounds play, and share our approach to reading challenging works. Examples include works by Steven Erikson, Gene Wolfe, Cormac McCarthy, David Foster Wallace, Janny Wurts, R. Scott Bakker, and more.
We'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments! 🤍
David's channel: @fourcornersofthepage
Time Stamps:
0:00 Discussion purpose
3:30 Our first encounters with book difficulty
9:05 Supplemental material vs personal analysis
16:59 Symbolism and Deceptive Terms
18:34 Subtext
23:22 Writing style Cormac McCarthy
32:56 Writing style Janny Wurts
38:57 Slowing down to appreciate complexity
41:38 Stream of Consciousness
42:27 Robin Hobb (easy-to-read but easy-to-miss)
47:15 Ancient texts (Gilgamesh, Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight)
48:57 Structure
54:17 Malazan prologues
56:14 Personal experience (Malazan)
1:02:31 What makes Malazan “difficult”
1:12:51 My Toll the Hounds hot take
1:17:25 Malazan and Bakker are like “dark chocolate”
1:19:33 Enticed or intimidated by difficulty
1:22:17 How do you approach difficult books?
131:51 We need to admit when we don’t understand
Donate a coffee ☕️:
ko-fi.com/johannareads?ref=creatorreminder6
Other places to find me:
FIRESIDE DISCORD:
discord.gg/7cqjh2pKrU
My friend David and I had a wonderful time unpacking what it means for a book to be "difficult." In this discussion, we explore specific aspects that make a book challenging, the role that reader backgrounds play, and share our approach to reading challenging works. Examples include works by Steven Erikson, Gene Wolfe, Cormac McCarthy, David Foster Wallace, Janny Wurts, R. Scott Bakker, and more.
We'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments! 🤍
David's channel: @fourcornersofthepage
Time Stamps:
0:00 Discussion purpose
3:30 Our first encounters with book difficulty
9:05 Supplemental material vs personal analysis
16:59 Symbolism and Deceptive Terms
18:34 Subtext
23:22 Writing style Cormac McCarthy
32:56 Writing style Janny Wurts
38:57 Slowing down to appreciate complexity
41:38 Stream of Consciousness
42:27 Robin Hobb (easy-to-read but easy-to-miss)
47:15 Ancient texts (Gilgamesh, Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight)
48:57 Structure
54:17 Malazan prologues
56:14 Personal experience (Malazan)
1:02:31 What makes Malazan “difficult”
1:12:51 My Toll the Hounds hot take
1:17:25 Malazan and Bakker are like “dark chocolate”
1:19:33 Enticed or intimidated by difficulty
1:22:17 How do you approach difficult books?
131:51 We need to admit when we don’t understand
Donate a coffee ☕️:
ko-fi.com/johannareads?ref=creatorreminder6
Other places to find me:
FIRESIDE DISCORD:
discord.gg/7cqjh2pKrU
