THINQon : Some great books I haven't been able to finish - should I have an inferiority complex?

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Cogito (alias)

Some great books I haven't been able to finish - should I have an inferiority complex?

Latest Post: January 22, 2012 at 10:07 PM

4 followers

In no particular order: Don Quixote, War and Peace, The Karamazov Brothers, The Bible, Shakespeare, Proust, Ulysses, --- and these are just the most obvious world classics that I haven't got round to finishing yet.

It's not that I'm unwilling, it's just that I invariably give up after about 100 pages and then put the books back on the bookshelf. OK, the Bible and Shakespeare are in a different class altogether. I've read them a lot, but not from cover to cover - and anyway, they're not books you can just read once and then store them away. Then, there are plenty more classics by Goethe, Balzac or Dickens I've yet to start.

Should I feel guilty, should I feel inferior, or simply lazy?

This post is referenced by the following other contributors:

Julie Sabatier

in "So, how is everything?"

(The Living Room)

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Cogito (alias)

June 20, 2011 at 1:10 PM

4 followers

It's fine to respond to this question even if you haven't read most of the above-mentioned books...

I was also thinking along the lines of "ars longa, vita brevis."

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Cogito (alias)

In response to Cogito

July 26, 2011 at 4:41 PM

4 followers

Thanks again for some useful advice on what to read or not. As it's holiday time, I'll have plenty of time to finish a number of classics I've neglected for quite some time.
Happy reading to all !

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Emily Andrews

June 21, 2011 at 7:31 PM

31 followers

Hi "Cogito,"

I guess I would break your question into separate parts.

Do you feel as guilty about the books you haven't begun? Or is the guilt from leaving something unfinished, and by extension, failing to be moved (or sufficiently moved) by something considered great?

On the other hand, how do you feel about great books you have read? Exhilarated? Or just not guilty? :-)