Top Ten Tuesday #2: REWIND! Top Ten Books Katie Finds Most Intimidating

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

It's nice getting to catch up with all the old TTTs that I've missed! There were so many great ones, so I randomized them and got this one - here goes:

1. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Just like any classics, there are people who love this book and people who just don't even care. As for me, I'm just struck by its sheer size. If this is not intimidating, I don't know what is.

2. The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
The first time I heard of this book is when my aunt, knowing I love fantasies, got me a book 300 pages long called New Threads in the Pattern. And when I found out it's actually the SECOND part of the SECOND book of the series, I was stunned. The series started in 1990 (that's before I was even born!) and - guess what - still haven't ended: its 14th-and-last book is set to be published in 2013. And the reason it has 2 authors is because Robert Jordan died when he was writing the 11th book.
Wow. At least I know what to read when I'm absolutely desperate for books.


3. The Divine Comedy by Dante:
There was a phase when every single book I read quotes Dante. I was intimidated by The Divine Comedy importance and prominence and everything - it's supposed to be one of the best works in Western Literature!

4. Ulysses by James Joyce
I really enjoyed Homer's Odyssey, so I picked up this one, thinking it'll be just a light read. How very wrong I was.

5. A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin
"A series with 7 books? No big deal, I've read Harry Potter", I thought, before I laid hands on the first book. It's 8-freaking-hundred pages long. At least thanks to this book, I got over my hate for cliffhangers because they serve to keep the story going.

6. Hamlet and any other plays written by William Shakespeare
Of course, everybody knows Shakespeare. I remembered trying to read The Bard a few years earlier, and was completely overwhelmed by the old language.
However, my Literature Class is going into Romeo and Juliet now, so hopefully my intimidation will be gone and I can finally enjoy Hamlet!

7. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
This book is said to be one of the toughest reads in modern literature, from the themes and subject matter to the language itself. The fact that there has not been a translation for it in my mother tongue until recently emphasizes the pressure even more.
Trivia: The translation for Lolita in my language is considered one of the better, so I hope more people get to read this masterpiece!

8. Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
It's not that hard a book, but I have a thick copy on my bookshelf since forever, and it just ... put me off. But I will get to it. Someday.

9. To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
I came across this book when looking for examples of stream-of-consciousness (which I consider a very awesome technique, by the way). Not to mention that I have a weird attraction to lighthouses. I skimmed it a bit, closed the book, and decided to put it off until I feel I can understand it.

10. The Waste Land and Other Poems by T.S. Eliot
"April is the cruellest month." I've wanted to read Eliot since I read an excerpt from The Waste Land (or maybe because he mentions my birth month). I just have to get pass other people's warnings that it's obscure and abrupt and downright crazy.

That's it! What did you choose for your Top Ten this week? Sound off in the comments!