Books you just couldn't finish!

r3nu4l

We all talk about our favourite books and how many books we have read but what about the books you start but never finish?

Was the book in a genre you had never tried before? Did the writing turn you off? Was the subject matter not appealing? Why couldn't you finish it?

One I started and didn't finish is Patricia Cornwell's Isle of Dogs. I loved most of her previous stuff but this book was like surreal comedy mystery.

I think the thing that turned me off most were the unbelievable two-dimensional characters acting in a manner not consistent with their previous description in the book.

Another series I started was the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. I staretd the first book and then lost interest about halfway through. I still can't put my finger on why and will go back to it one day.

I'm on my second or third attempt at Ulysses and it's going a lot better this time
What about you guys?

trillianv

I love all the Jane Austen adapted films yet I cannot read her books. It's not that I can't understand the language or writing...I just cannot get into them.

Also, I cannot read Stephen King. He is the most long winded writer since Charles Dickens. He will say things in 25 words that can be said in 5 and I don't find all the extra words add to the story. They just pi$$ me off!

r3nu4l

Funnily enough, I know what you mean about Dickens but I love his stuff! It took me a while to get into Dickens and I had a few failed attempts but as I now love his stuff, I didn't mention it here

Stephen King, I love his earlier stuff, haven't read anything new since Insomnia.

John

Jane Austen. I manage about three pages in and want to die.

Art_Wolf

I am having a very hard time with The Stand, was really enjoying it and then some religion crept in and its like..meh.. can't be bothered now to continue.

Wishbone Ash

Catch 22
Ulysses
War and Peace

(I think couldn't get past the first ten pages would be a better title)

r3nu4l

So far, not boding well for me reading my copy of Pride and Prejudice having seen the film and watched the BBC mini-series recently :gulp:

I must admit, I loved the stand, some of the characters in that book were brilliant, if more than a little twisted I'd say, stick with it a while.

Catch-22 I loved although some parts were very depressing. Ulysees, well, we'll see how it goes for me this time around

I should have added, "Crime and Punishment" to my list, managed to get halfway in before reverting to some Pratchett

quickbeam

Catch 22 - tried about half a dozen times and I only ever manage to get about half a dozen pages before giving up.

RuggieBear

most joyce stuff...just find it so much bull**** to read

BMH

The Silmarillion.

trillianv

BMH wrote:

The Silmarillion.

The title is enough alone to put me off

quickbeam

BMH wrote:

The Silmarillion.

Agreed - very tough read, but well worth it in the end, once you ploughed through the first few chpaters, and don't try to understand it all.

Mrs. MacGyver

PD James 'Death in Holy Orders' got up to page 21 and didnt get any further, it was the only book i was ever unabele to finish. I just couldnt get into it in any way (not that it was a difficult read or anything). Ive since misplaced it and id like to give it another go.

Bodhidharma

The Ground Beneath her Feet - Salman Rushdie
Until I find you - John Irving
Great Expectations - Charlie D


The start of Lord of the Rings and American Psycho are very tough going.

trillianv

I cannot get through LOTR...I have tried and tried and I really want to read it so I think I will just try again.

Prufrock

trillianv wrote:

I cannot get through LOTR...I have tried and tried and I really want to read it so I think I will just try again.

Here's a tip for you; skip the songs and poetry. Pointless and time consuming.

I couldn't finish The Iliad by Homer.

RuggieBear

Prufrock wrote:

Here's a tip for you; skip the songs and poetry. Pointless and time consuming.

QFT

Problem with LOTR is that he spends 20 pages dicussing a ****ing journey thru some trees and then a paragraph describing an important battle or meeting.

arctic lemur

Wuthering Heights

pixielady

midnights children by salman rushdie i was two chapters from the end and i just couldn't be bothered anymore and i NEVER give up on books

r3nu4l

Prufrock wrote:

Here's a tip for you; skip the songs and poetry. Pointless and time consuming.

Not all of the poetry and songs are central to the story, some reveal some good information! Also, if you are interested in middle-earth as Tolkien designed it then the songs and poetry give some insight into the history he was developing.

That aside, if you have problems reading LOTR then this is a good strategy, no real harm skipping some of the longer pieces.

Tree

defo catch22 stands out as one i couldnt get past teh first chapter of.

i have a rake of popular science books that i have started and haven't finished because i forgot about them or lent them to people. its a shame really because they're mostly very good, i just get distracted by the shiney things :S

dostoyesky's crime and punishment is another one that i've not managed to finish, maybe i should try harder

humbert

had a go at gravity's rainbow, some parts of it a really liked but when things got too surreal I just lost interest, tried really hard but gave up half way through. absolutely loved catch 22!

r3nu4l

Bodhidharma wrote:

Great Expectations - Charlie D

Loved Greaet Expectations Found Oliver Twist a bit harder going than this one but managed to finish it eventually having almost given up. The Pickwick Papers was definitely my favourite Dickens novel.

quickbeam

r3nu4l wrote:

Not all of the poetry and songs are central to the story, some reveal some good information! Also, if you are interested in middle-earth as Tolkien designed it then the songs and poetry give some insight into the history he was developing.

That aside, if you have problems reading LOTR then this is a good strategy, no real harm skipping some of the longer pieces.

Skip them first time you read the book. If you like it well enough to read a second time, then don't skip them after that. There's some good stuff in there that draws you deeper in to the mythology. My recommondation only.

Attractive Nun

So many... Cancer Ward by Solzhenitsyn, disaster. Under Milkwood by Dylan Thomas, no idea what was going on. War & Peace, font was far too small. LOTR, tried about 4 times, couldn't be arsed. Finished the Great Gatsby, but I think I was just scanning the whole thing, as I have only a vague recollection of what happened.

I feel a lot less guilty than I used to though, reading should be enjoyable and I no longer care about reading the 'classics' that just 'should be read'.

I did find both Catch-22 and Crime & Punishment both readable and enthralling, contrary to the popular opinion around here.

Oobie

Got halfway through Catch 22 and couldn't bear it anymore!

tHE vAGGABOND

Wishbone Ash wrote:

Catch 22
Ulysses
War and Peace

Same 3 books here

I should really give C 22 another go, as I understand why some people would think its quite good. The further I got into it, I just thought it got a bit..er..crap tbh

I got War and Peace from my sister for xmas after I finished the Count of Monte Cristo, years ago. I could not get into it at all, tiny text and 4 ga-zillion pages does not help at all. I also know what goes on in the story, which does not help for some reason, "why bother" mentality!

Joyce is just over rated clap trap IMHO - but I give it a lash now and agian...and give up after a handfull of pages!

Dave3x

tHE vAGGABOND wrote:

Joyce is just over rated clap trap IMHO - but I give it a lash now and agian...and give up after a handfull of pages!

Well, before you start calling names, try something like 'The Dubliners'- a collection of short stories by Joyce which are only a few pages long each, and are all really good. Then you can say you finished a Joyce piece! Ulysees is not a good starting point, imho.

For me, I haven't been able to finish Ulysees. I don't get why people have trouble with Austen, she's good and interesting...and slightly off topic the most PAINFUL thing I have ever had to finish is Kate Chopin's 'The Awakening.' Urgh.

pauline fayne

Moby Dick . Tried and failed ...what more can i say

uncle ernie

wuthering heights...bored me to tears. struggled through to the halfway mark before admitting defeat
also pride & prejudice.as above

Attractive Nun

Ooh, the Scarlett Letter - terrible!

TommyGrav

So you have ADD...

Attractive Nun

Perhaps I do, TommyGrav, perhaps I do.

TommyGrav

Attractive Nun wrote:

Perhaps I do, TommyGrav, perhaps I do.

Uh? Oh wait, gotcha. No that wasn't aimed at you, i was joking, along the lines of those "So..." books (eg"So you're a priest who's going to America"), and the joke was that was why I couldn't...

oh, to hell with this, I'm going back to more reliable material.
What do you call a three legged donkey?

stepbar

"Memoir" by John McGahern RIP, just couldnt finish. I dont think for one moment that it was a bad book its just that Id reached a point in the book where I knew exactly what he was talking about (I live in the parish where the book is initially set in). I think I was just a little bored by it all. That said I really enjoyed "That they may face the rising sun", his best book by far.