Did you ever have a book that was hard to read?? One you weren't  sure you would finish?? But you did, and when it was done you were glad you finished it.  I just Read The Same Sweet Girls by Cassandra King.... Didn't think  I would make it through but in the end really glad I did.

What was your Tough to read book??

Right now?

The Scarlet Pimpernel. The author drills into her readers that Lady B is the smartest woman ever and yet she's a melodramatic idiot.

I don't like reading books which feature a dislikeable protagonist. I am really hoping she meets Lady Guilliotine. This book is part of my classic lit reading challenge and I am 80% done, but it's a chore.

The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb.  It was a chore but I am glad I finished it.  I really love his writing but this book was different.

the hardest books for me are when I read the sequel before the earlier or first book.  so I am having a hard time picking up and finishing The Widow's War by Sally Gunning.

I did not realize that it was the prequel to Bound.  I really devoured Bound.  It was very interesting. 

THE MOURNERS' BENCH by Susan Dodd.  This novel is about two people fueled by both love and guilt and one of them facing a terminal illness.  A deeply moving story that at times was very (very!) difficult to read.  In a strange way, I'm glad I read it ( took  4 months, because I kept putting it down for weeks at a time)  but, I wouldn't want to read it again!

This is similar to a topic from a ways back -- I ultimately gave up on what I think is a great artistic achievement because it required too much dedicated mental effort: The Thin Place by Kathryn Davis. Had I but world enough, and time, I could give this the attention it deserves. But I don't. I still think it's brilliant.

Let The Great World Spin by Colum McCann was difficult at first.  It was actually sort of dull and left me wondering where in the world this book was going, exactly.  The first two or three chapters didn't seem to have any rhyme or reason to them, but if you stay with it, you find it's secrets.  All of the characters are interconnected, though even they don't realize it.  

A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick was REALLY hard for me to read.  I didn't like any of the characters, the author painted such a grim, cold, wasteland of a setting, the man's own family didn't like him.....the list of "why am I reading this???" goes on.   And in the end, I was glad that it was over, but also that I endured.