Quote:
Originally Posted by pking36330
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.
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Thanks for this post. I wil remember it next tme I try to read Neal Stephenson. It did put me off at first, and I'm not sure I would have had the stamina to read 800 pages I found boring - there'd have to be
something, some kind of payoff. Right now I'm reading "Seven Gothic Tales" and it's slow, but also very, very nice. Wonderful observations of the human state and a lovely, low-key, humour.