Oh, also, I've "been reading" Kant's Prolegomena for two years and Hegel's Philosophy of History for a year and a half. And Barth's Church Dogmatics IV/1 for close to four years.

Slow, careful reading is the key to comprehension -- don't be afraid to stop for a while to savor a thought fully.
Adam Kotsko | Homepage | 08.18.05 - 9:48 pm | #

Plus I've been reading Frazer's Golden Bough for seven years, also. I believe that is my oldest outstanding book, at least that I can remember right now.
Adam Kotsko | Homepage | 08.18.05 - 9:50 pm | #

The whole thing, or the abridged version?
ben wolfson | Homepage | 08.18.05 - 10:18 pm | #

I've been reading The Phenomenology of Painting for at least eight months. Maybe I'll return to it if it magically stops sucking.
ben wolfson | Homepage | 08.18.05 - 10:20 pm | #

I actually don't think that I have ever finished a book all the way...
Dave Belcher | 08.18.05 - 10:24 pm | #

The abridged version -- though if I'm going to take this long, I might as well read the whole thing.
Adam Kotsko | Homepage | 08.18.05 - 10:24 pm | #

I've been reading Moby Dick for 6 years. At this point I think I'm just going to start over.
eb | Homepage | 08.18.05 - 10:25 pm | #

Dave, surely you are joking.

I've recently made the decision to cease all cross-reading and simply take each book, like each day, one at a time. I'm a very monogamous man and even if I want to have a threesome or participate in an orgy, well, I know there are limitations to my skills.
Anthony Paul Smith | 08.18.05 - 10:56 pm | #

Just finished Hari Kunzru's pulpy novel Transmission. Felt that I had to read at least one pulpy novel for the summer. Also reading Virno and Zupancic. I'm reading Critchley's Short Introduction on the trains in Japanese translation which because whenever I go anywhere on the Tokyo network I'm always changing trains, trying to work out the quickest route out of quite a few options, has so far taken about three months!!! Amazing for a short introduction! Although it is double the size in its Japanese format.
Amish Lovelock | 08.19.05 - 12:27 am | #

I am, I think, monogamous to a fault. Sure, I check out / buy lots of stuff, stacking or shelving it neatly, in eager anticipation of its consumption. But, typically, it's one at a time or none at all.

Which, of course, means that there are long stretches of 'none at all'.
Brad | Homepage | 08.19.05 - 2:12 am | #

Hey, I've taken Ulysses on holiday for the last fifteen years, but I always end up reading whatever my wife takes.......
psychbloke | Homepage | 08.19.05 - 2:12 am | #

I'm in the middle of rereading The Brothers Karamazov, after about twenty years. Or rather at the start of it (now hitting book 2).

As always with a big Russian novel, the question looms: Jot down a running list of characters and their relationships, or just hope for the best? When somebody disappears for fifty pages and then comes back from Moscow with a problem, that list can come in handy.
Scott McLemee | Homepage | 08.19.05 - 6:03 am | #

dude, in relation to your "i don't believe in God anymore" entry from whenever it was, go neck yourself cuz u dont have a clue wen i comes to music. in the song eulogy from tool, maynard james keenan wasn't talking about Jesus, the song was a sarcastic comment to his good friend, the late comedian, Bill Hicks. And Judith from a perfect circle wasn't about God, it was about his late mother, Judith, and her undying faith in Christianity. Also, Maynard has never once claimed to be against God or Christianity. In relation NIN, Trent Reznor has also never claimed to be against Christianity. That's not to say he doesnt believe in it, but he doesnt go around saying it's a crock of shit. Get your facts straight before u go around with that kinda shit about such music icons.
u suck | 08.19.05 - 8:16 am | #

Dude, you totally got 'dissed' by an old, shitty industrial music fan. Awesome!
Anthony Paul Smith | 08.19.05 - 8:20 am | #

No, U suck! pwned!
Adam Kotsko | Homepage | 08.19.05 - 8:22 am | #

Yes, Anthony I was joking; but, I am much less monogamous than you or Brad are. For instance, right now I am reading:
Barth, Church Dogmatics II.1; Certeau, The Mystic Fable (I'm almost done with this one); Marion, Prolegomena to Charity; Pelikan's Christian Tradn., Vol. 3; St. Thomas, Summa Contra Gentiles, 1; Heidegger, Contributions to Philosophy. While some of this is directly related to my thesis, and thus okay for me take slowly, others are things I began, but got quickly distracted by others.
Dave Belcher | 08.19.05 - 12:45 pm | #

Maimonides Guide of the Perplexed (abridged, god help me).
Ahistoricality | Homepage | 08.21.05 - 5:10 am | #