Quote:
Originally Posted by JSWolf
What is it that makes a book challenging? Is it a challenge to read because it's so heavy (not weight) like Ulysses or is it because the ideas are a challenge?
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That's an interesting question; I can only speak for myself and what I was thinking of creating the category.
I actually forgot to add the parentheses to the category title in the first post that I used last year (that I've now edited in again after your comment reminded me of it) which is:
(especially difficult or long works we may be hesitant to choose otherwise)
I remember a year ago deciding whether the category should be "Highly Challenging" or simply "Challenging". I went with the former even at the risk of sounding over-emphatic because I thought it more accurate. "Highly Challenging" is even open to interpretation, but "Challenging" would be so open to interpretation as to possibly include most anything considered literary.
To your specific question, I'd say both "heavy" books and books with challenging ideas could qualify, but anyone else can chime in with their thoughts on the matter if they'd like.