Top 5 Wednesday: Book Intimidation
There are so many reasons to be a little too intimidated to read books you’re fairly certain you’ll love. What if you don’t get it? What if it’s super popular, and you end up not liking it? What if it’s the final installment in a series, and you’re worried it will let you down? What if it’s, just like, really long?
All of these reasons and more have held me back from finishing (or even starting) books I really, truly want to read. But maybe it’s time to confront that intimidation head-on. This week, I’m exploring 5 books that intimidate me and the reason why. (And then, maybe I’ll figure out how to get over it and just read them already.)
Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, heir to a noble family tasked with ruling an inhospitable world where the only thing of value is the “spice” melange, a drug capable of extending life and enhancing consciousness. Coveted across the known universe, melange is a prize worth killing for…
When House Atreides is betrayed, the destruction of Paul’s family will set the boy on a journey toward a destiny greater than he could ever have imagined. And as he evolves into the mysterious man known as Muad’Dib, he will bring to fruition humankind’s most ancient and unattainable dream.
Why it intimidates me: The sheer size of the first volume alone and the intense fanbase.
#2: The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
The story of the creation of the world and of the First Age, this is the ancient drama to which the characters in The Lord of the Rings look back and in whose events some of them, such as Elrond and Galadriel, took part. The three Silmarils were jewels created by Fëanor, most gifted of the Elves. Within them was imprisoned the Light of the Two Trees of Valinor before the Trees themselves were destroyed by Morgoth, the first Dark Lord. Thereafter, the unsullied Light of Valinor lived on only in the Silmarils, but they were seized by Morgoth and set in his crown, which was guarded in the impenetrable fortress of Angband in the north of Middle-earth.
The Silmarillion is the history of the rebellion of Fëanor and his kindred against the gods, their exile from Valinor and return to Middle-earth, and their war, hopeless despite all their heroism, against the great Enemy.
Why it intimidates me: It’s dense. For Tolkien. Need I say more?
Don Quixote has become so entranced by reading romances of chivalry that he determines to become a knight errant and pursue bold adventures, accompanied by his squire, the cunning Sancho Panza. As they roam the world together, the aging Quixote’s fancy leads them wildly astray, tilting at windmills, fighting with friars, and distorting the rural Spanish landscape into a fantasy of impenetrable fortresses and wicked sorcerers. At the same time the relationship between the two men grows in fascinating subtlety. Often considered to be the first modern novel, Don Quixote is a wonderful burlesque of the popular literature its disordered protagonist is obsessed with.
Why it intimidates me: Since I know Spanish, I feel compelled to at least try to read it in the original language. Reading over the description now, though, I think I may need to get over that hangup and just read this delightful tale.
The Summa Theologica is the most famous work of Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274). It was intended as a manual for beginners as a compilation of all of the main theological teachings of the time. It summarizes the reasoning of all points of Christian theology, which before the Protestant Reformation subsisted solely in the Roman Catholic Church. The Summa’s topics follow a cycle: the existence of God; God’s creation, Man; Man’s purposed; Christ; the Sacraments; and back to God. It is famous for its five arguments for the existence of God, the Quniquae viae (Latin: five ways). Throughout his work, Aquinas cites Augustine of Hippo, Aristotle, and other Christian, Jewish, Muslim and ancient pagan scholars.
Why it intimidates me: It’s one of the most important and formative texts on theology in my faith tradition, and I’m honestly worried I won’t understand it or it will make me feel inadequate.
In Paradise Lost Milton produced a poem of epic scale, conjuring up a vast, awe-inspiring cosmos and ranging across huge tracts of space and time. And yet, in putting a charismatic Satan and naked Adam and Eve at the center of this story, he also created an intensely human tragedy on the Fall of Man. Written when Milton was in his fifties - blind, bitterly disappointed by the Restoration and briefly in danger of execution - Paradise Lost’s apparent ambivalence towards authority has led to intense debate about whether it manages to ‘“justify the ways of God to men”, or exposes the cruelty of Christianity.
Why it intimidates me: I’ve read excerpts of this poem and those kicked my ass. I don’t think I’m ready for the whole thing yet, but I doubt I’ll ever feel ready, so maybe that’s just an excuse.
