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Books you didn't finish

I actually just started reading The Red Tent today, and I'm frankly having a bit of trouble with it. It's a little scattered
 
'The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist' - great concept, boring prose (IMHO).

'Chocolat' - great film (set in the 1950s), silly book (set in the 1980s or 90s - when surely many of the social mores that are part of the story would no longer have been relevant?)

Probably loads of others too - I'm a quitter! If a book fails to live up to my expectations then I give up. Too many others out there waiting to be read!
 
Violanthe said:
That's interesting. I guess a next logical question would be, which books have you folks put down for any reason, and then successfully picked up reading again?
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I tried, unsuccessfully, to read "Rebecca" for almost 10 years. I just couldn't get into the first chapter at all. Then one day it just clicked and I had no problem reading the book. In fact, I reread it every 2-3 years.
 
I just stopped reading Wicked by Maguire. The flow of words was choppy- the diction too flowery. I just could not get into it at all. Yuk. :mad:
 
the novice

The Novice by Trudi Canavan, the first book was promising but the second seemed to drag a little and as yet I'm struggling to finish it.
 
ewarwoowar said:
Haunted : Chuck Palahniuk

I like to think I've got a pretty open mind and am not too easily shocked. This book was just plain gross. Gave up after about 3 chapters, not a pleasant read, just shock-fest. more Chuck yee-uk than Chuck Palahniuk.
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Yeah, that book was garbage, and im a fan of chuck.

The only one that comes to mind is "Chronicles" by Bob Dylan. I am a HUGE Dylan fan, so i don't understand why I couldn't get into it.
 
I gave up on Dhalgren by Samuel Delaney after about 200 pages. My wife read it a few years later and loved it. I just could not form any kind of coherent picture in my mind and had to abort.
 
The Maias, by Eça de Queiroz - it was a book I was supposed to have read for school, but I just couldn't finish it. I still plan to read it one day, but not any time soon.

Thus Spoke Zarathustra, by Friedrich Nietzsche - I was half way trough it but could make no sense of it. Oh how I hate philosophy...:mad:
 
I see that James Patterson is the most borrowed author in U.K. libraries. Someone gave me one of his "thrillers" on a recent trip when I ran out of the paperbacks I had brought from home. I found his female characters on the edge of hysteria and his choppy little chapters full of obvious tricks to keep the reader reading. I bailed out with joy when I found another book.
 
Unless it improves in the next 100 pages or so, I will be adding Madame Bovary to the list.
 
sparkchaser said:
Unless it improves in the next 100 pages or so, I will be adding Madame Bovary to the list.
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I feel your pain I'm 50 pages in and while I don't hate it, I'm not really liking it either, I guess I'm really just indifferent to it. Were it not BOTM I'd chuck it.
 
Ronny said:
I feel your pain I'm 50 pages in and while I don't hate it, I'm not really liking it either, I guess I'm really just indifferent to it. Were it not BOTM I'd chuck it.
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That doesn't sound good... I'm getting ready to start that book. I hope it gets better.
 
Ronny said:
I feel your pain I'm 50 pages in and while I don't hate it, I'm not really liking it either, I guess I'm really just indifferent to it. Were it not BOTM I'd chuck it.
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That pretty much sums up my feelings so far. I think I'll go ahead and finish it. I don't want to become known as the BOTM quitter. :D
 
Its wierd so many people naming Anne Rice books- I love her stuff and don't find them hard work... I know a lot of people have a problem with her work including my wife. There's one book I started to read and left it for a while- when I went back to it I realised that I couldn't remember a damned thing that had happened....'The Trick Is to Keep Breathing' by Janice Galloway. I usually love books about mental health issues but not this one.
 
I tried reading I also started The Ambassadors by Henry James but I didn't like it so I put it aside and I haven't looked at it since. It's a very nice copy with a green leather cover from The Heritage Press in New York. At least it looks good sitting on my book shelf.

I tried reading The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky in March and didn't finish it. I was really enjoying it but I was just too tired so my focus was off. I'll get back to it in a few months.
 
The Princes of Ireland-Edward Rutherfurd
I hate leaving a book unfinished, I really do but this book has been resting for months now half way done.:(
 
Libra said:
The Princes of Ireland-Edward Rutherfurd
I hate leaving a book unfinished, I really do but this book has been resting for months now half way done.:(
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I didn't finish that one either, I tried reading it and the audio book and both just didn't get done.
 
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