Welcome to Booking Through Thursday, a weekly bookish meme about books and reading for everyone who loves both. Booking Through Thursday was first hosted by Deb. With permission, I’ve restarted it in 2026.
This week’s prompt:
This prompt comes courtesy of Anno. Thank you, Anno, for this intriguing prompt.
What do you consider a “difficult book”? If you’ve finished it, what kept you going? If you didn’t, do you think you might return to it? Why or why not?
How to play:
- On your blog: Copy the question/image for your blog, answer it there, and post a quick comment here with a link or trackback to your post so we can read it.
- On social media: Copy the image, answer the prompt, and post a quick comment here with a link.
- Right here: Answer in the comments and start the discussion here. No need to have a blog to play.
Note: If it’s your first time here, your comment may end up in moderation. (My spam filter is aggressive.) I’ll be in after my writing sprints to set it free.
P.S. The prompt is always open, and you don’t have to play on Thursday. Comment whenever you like!
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That is an interesting question!
One of the books I’m currently reading, Five Days at Memorial, about a hospital in the lower 9th ward during Hurricane Katrina, is very difficult for me. And compelling.
I checked it out of the library in the summer and, because other patrons were waiting for it, I had to return it after three weeks. In December, I think it was, I saw it on a Kindle flash sale so I bought it and…I have been reading from it nearly Every Night Since Then. Last night I made it to the 51% mark! (It is a fairly long book at not quite 600 pages but the footnotes account for a chunk of those pages.)
Not many books could’ve have me this intrigued that I would keep going. In this case, my slowness is because I’m totally invested in what happens to all these people, while at the same time, their stories are painful. I’m sometimes wiping tears from my eyes when reading. I’m already tired when I pick it up to read and then reading is emotionally draining so I turn off the lights. But I love reading it and am going to keep going. This, in spite of the fact that I know the outcome of so many of the people and their situations.
Sheri Fink’s writing is powerful and, for me, the book is a testament to the power of great writing in general.
Oh, that sounds like an excellent, if difficult, read. I’m so intrigued. I’m going to have to pick it up for myself. Thanks for sharing!
For me, it was Possession by A.S Byatt. I’ve had the book for years. Every once in a while, I’d pick it up, flip through the pages, see all that poetry, and then put it back on the shelf.
It took last year’s slow read for me to sit down and read it. I figured I could do fifty pages a week. And I did! Some weeks, I even read ahead. But the slow read was what really made the experience. I came away with a deeper appreciation of the book and the craft that went into creating it.
Those were exactly my feelings about Possession (and practically the same experience, too). Caroline’s commentary helped me appreciate it much more, although it still falls into a category of difficult books that I call “Too Clever For Their Own Good.” I’m glad I finally made it through the book, just because I’ve tried so many times before, but now I feel like I can appreciate its merits even while having a better sense of why it’s never going to be a favorite book of mine.
I’m glad I made it through as well. I understand lots of people love it, but I doubt I’ll ever re-read it.