I don't find most SQL too bad at all... where it gets weird is when you're dealing with more exotic data types and the database vendor's specific details in interacting with them. XML/JSON interaction in SQL databases tends to be particularly mind bending.

I do prefer the more fluent-like interfaces though... MongoDB and RethinkDB in node for example, or using the LINQ extension methods with Entity Framework (not LINQ syntax itself, which I find much more difficult). Though with LINQ, it's often interesting how twisted what gets queried from the data source can be vs. what you actually need... but that's a problem with most ORMs.

I do find that SQL queries with Node/JS adapters is pretty damned natural compared to any ORM for Java or C# imo...