MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - "The Most Boring Book" I read or tried to read

pking36330 · 08-08-2009, 01:45 AM

This will seem odd, but two of the most boring books I've read are also two of my favorites.

The first 800 pages of Neal Stephanson's Cryptynomicon is painfully boring. But after thinking for the longest time "when will this be over" the last 350 pages draw it all together and you just can't turn the pages fast enough. His 2700 page Baroque Cycle, though divided into three volumes it is really one book, and it was an easier quicker read than Cryptinomicon. Even so, now that I know the twist at the end, I can't subject myself to wading through Cryptinomicon again, though ultimately I thought it was a great piece of storytelling.

Similar experience with Charles Palliser's The Quincunx. Very, very slow for the first two thirds but thankfully I didn't give up because I've ended up re-reading and and enjoyed it again.

08-08-2009, 01:45 AM	#183
pking36330 FT Parent PT Reader Posts: 322 Karma: 187838 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: South Alabama Device: Shocked by how much I've read on an iPod Touch received as a gift!	This will seem odd, but two of the most boring books I've read are also two of my favorites. The first 800 pages of Neal Stephanson's Cryptynomicon is painfully boring. But after thinking for the longest time "when will this be over" the last 350 pages draw it all together and you just can't turn the pages fast enough. His 2700 page Baroque Cycle, though divided into three volumes it is really one book, and it was an easier quicker read than Cryptinomicon. Even so, now that I know the twist at the end, I can't subject myself to wading through Cryptinomicon again, though ultimately I thought it was a great piece of storytelling. Similar experience with Charles Palliser's The Quincunx. Very, very slow for the first two thirds but thankfully I didn't give up because I've ended up re-reading and and enjoyed it again.