I get the willies when a thread goes over 300 posts. Which is doubly sad, given that I've not abandoned anything lately. Well, not SAD, but it does prove that I'm a busy-body.

Last night I tried to start River of Gods. This came with many very good recommendations here. The idea was interesting, but it was way too sci-fi-ey for me. I only got about 40 pages in but I was still very confused. I prefer my sci-fi with less complicated science. Oh well. I might try again another day, but right now I have way too many books I want to read.

I agree with you~ but far too often I carry on with a book that should be closed and passed on.

I'm about a third of the way through Love in the Time of Cholera and really struggling. It's only stubbornness that's keeping me going - there are stacks of other books I could be reading instead, but I really hate giving up on any book, and I always hope I'll get more into it further on.

CatyM: I hope you'll stick with it. Love in the Time of Cholera is so lovely...one of my all-time favorites.

and thats one of the beauties of it.. we all have different views, different perspectives of a book.. and it is even better the times we agree!

Hi, all ~ I've not posted here in awhile, but with a new thread started now's a good time to list all the disappointing books I've abandoned in the last few months:

"The Snow Queen" by Mercedes Lackey - I loved her first 3 in the series, but I just could not get interested in the characters or their problems and have too many other books to read at the present. I may try again, but probably not.

"The Goddess Queen" by Nicole Vidal - quit about 1/2-way though - just couldn't seem to stay interested

"The Yiddish Policemen's Union" by Michael Chabon - ditto

"Wraith" by Phaedra Weldon - couldn't stand the writing style

"The Magnificent Catastrophe: the Tumultuous Election of 1800, America's First Presidential Campaign" by Edward J. Larson - With this being the election year, and with such a great cast of characters ~ Burr & Hamilton, Jefferson & John Adams ~ this should have been a shoo-in for a spot on my favorites list. Unfortunately, it got bogged down in unimportant (as far as I could tell) minutia. I quit at 108 pages out of 276, so I think I gave it a good chance.

I have just abandoned The dream life of Sukhanov. Its very unusual for me not to finish a book and could count on one hand the books I haven't finished. But this one just has nothing going for it and even though it is calling to me, I will not pick it up again!

I started Thomas Pynchon's Mason and Dixon, stared in horror at the first page, and put it down. I think I'll give it another go sometime, but er, not today.

"stared in horror at the first page, " LOL @ #11

"stared in horror at the first page"

I've done this, too. I can't remember the book offhand. It was by Thomas somebody? Written in the 1700 or 1800's. The Adventures of Horace H-something or something like that. It was a random pick from the 1001 Books list and I immediately returned it to the library.

>11 eek, lol!! For curious others, take a look here (click the right-arrow a few times to get to page 1).

Still, it does intrigue ... given the right frame of mind, I bet a reader could get totally immersed in the period.

oh my!

horror understood.

I abandoned the "2 1/2 Pillars of Wisdom" after the first part "Portuguese irregular verbs". Strange because I've read lots of McCall Smith and usually like it.

I'm STILL trying to finish Atonement. I picked it up from the library three weeks ago, so I renewed it for another few weeks, but I'm not sure I'll finish it.

Also from the same batch of library books, I abandoned Dream Lucky. I love jazz music, but I just couldn't finish it. I think it was the writing style; it seemed like the author was trying too hard to emulate the carefree attitude of jazz. I abandoned it after three pages, which I've never done before.

I had to give up Elizabeth Bowen's The Last September. Not that it's not good, but I was on the road and couldn't concentrate well. I might take it out again one of these days and give it a second chance.

Re: Message 10

judylou, I almost gave up on The Dream Life of Sukhanov when I was reading it, but I finished it, and I'm glad I did. I didn't love it, but it was pretty good (a first novel, so it does have its flaws). Don't give up!

#11-15 - I have Mason and Dixon on hold at the library. I'm not sure I can handle reading it right now while I'm taking a class and working. It looks scary!

Click arrow to the right a few times to see my "first page horror," Humphrey Clinker by Tobias Smollet.

Amazon Link

I am taking four books with me on vacation: "Disgrace" by J.M. Coetzee, a Booker Prize-winning novel, "Waiting" by Ha Jin, a National Book Award-winner that comes highly recomended, "Snow Falling on Cedars" by Dave Guterson, a Pen/Faulkner Award-winning book set in the Pacific Northwest, and "The Tommyknockers" by Stephen King, my guilty pleasure read. So far, my idea was to read real winners, but ol' Stephen broke that idea in half. Oh well. Just read "The Bone People" by Keri Hulme. Amazing! Won the Booker too. Read it if you have the chance/time/energy!

Wow, Morphidae, that's definitely a "first page horror". I couldn't even finish it.

I didn't give up on Atonement. I'm glad I didn't, as it was an ok book, but I don't think I'll pick up any other McEwan books any time soon.

I have just about decided to abandon A Very Long Engagement by Sebastien Japrisot. So far I've read nearly 100 pages, and it's just so boring. This makes me sad, I really thought I would love this one.

Rent the movie instead. It was great.

I am officially not a Stephen King fan. In the past couple of months, I have tried Blaze, which I could not stand and did not even make to the 50 page mark, The Duma Key, ditto, and most recently, Needful Things, which I tried very hard to like, but by page 350 was not enjoying at all and finally gave up on. I have decided that there are too many authors out there that I do enjoy to waste time on one whom I clearly do not.

#26 - Really? I liked Blaze! Huh, isn't that funny, different books for different folks!

I just quit reading "An Unexpected Song" by Iris Johansen. she usually writes mystery and is very good. This book is a romance (mostly meaningless sex), the man is arrogant the girl falls for it every time. Ugggg! I stopped reading on page 68.

I quit reading Master and Commander after about 100 pages. I don't think it's crap; it just wasn't for me. The many other unread books on my shelves were calling :)

I have several books in progress. I don't consider them abandoned as I am a chapter or three from the end but they did not compelled me to read on at the moment. Although some have been waiting for as long as eight or ten weeks, I do expect to go back to them over the next few months. Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali is one. Good bio/memoir, but I can wait to read about her life in the US. The Sound of One Hand Clapping by Richard Flanagan is a good read but the story. while engaging, doesn't build any urgency for what comes next. Snow by Orhan Pahmuk hs been most enjoyable but I stopped about of a third of the way through as book group reads were piling up and it is a book that deserves attention and won't hold up to interrupted reading for me.

I remember stopping Master and Commander when I found a sentence that had 37 words describing the weather, and the sentence was longer still. That was a long time ago, though, so I may try to reread it. If I still can't get through it, I have a friend who owns almost every book in the series on audiobook and loves them all.

Last month I abandoned Airman and The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing. I had high hopes for Airman because I really liked the Artemis Fowl series, but it didn't pass my two-day test (stop reading a book for 2 days and if there's no inclination to continue reading it, give it up). It was...boring. :(

I might actually go back and finish Octavian Nothing, but it's definitely not a light summer read (partly why I abandoned it).

#11:
I made it about twenty pages in, and because I had to concentrate SO much just to keep up, decided to temporarily abandon it until I had the time and energy to focus more and give it a fair read.

----

I'm about to abandon Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey. Many recommended it, but after 300 pages, I feel absolutely no compulsion to keep reading. I could accidently leave it at a train station and not care.

It's only been in the past few years that I've been able to abandon a book that doesn't interest me. Getting older will do that to you. I will, however, still struggle through a book if I'm curious to see how/if an author will get themselves out of a mess. Loved Matthew Pearl's Dante Club. Was bored silly by the follow-up The Poe Shadow, but kept reading just to see if Pearl could come through in the end.

I abandoned Master and Commander and gave it away. After the movie came out I thought I should give it another go. So, I bought another copy. It's still staring at me.

I too couldn't read Master and Commander. After so many rave reviews, I was expecting to at least be able to read it, but I'm sure I didn't make page 10. Gave it to my husband, he couldn't do it either. Gave it away to a charity bookshop right around the time the movie came out, so I'm sure someone snapped up my copy.

I also thought the movie was pretty boring. I just don't get the appeal.

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one re: Master and Commander! All the nautical terms made me feel like I was reading in a foreign language that I didn't really understand.

I did really like the movie though. I read The Voyage of the Beagle a few years ago and really empathized with the ship's Dr.'s interest in the new animals and exploration.

Okay, all you Patrick O'Brian Master and Commander haters - here's the deal. I, too, struggled with it. It's a hard read, no question. O'Brian is TOTALLY unforgiving when it comes to naval jargon and sailing terminology. So, the first thing you learn with him is that if you're going to read it (and love it, as I and a lot of others do) is just to relax and go with it. If you try and understand it all, you're going to need six other reference books at hand. In fact, that's WHY there are about six books that support the series (Dean King's, etc.).

So, anyway, I made it through Master and Commander and went on (after a break) to the second book, Post Captain. This was, while not an easy read either, much more enjoyable. In fact, it's the book that O'Brian claimed to have written as an homage to Jane Austen, his favorite writer. THIS is the book that sealed the deal for me and made me love this series madly.

So, it really does get much better than Master and Commander, and I'd read it for the simple fact that it establishes the relationship between Aubrey and Maturin. Take their friendship and leave the rest.

It really is worth the trouble. As I always say, O'Brian was writing literature disguised as adventure stories.

And now, I shall climb down off my soapbox. :) Oh, who am I kidding? I never leave it.

I do have hopes for O'Brian. I picked up Mauritius Command and HMS Surprise at a friend's of the library sale recently.

I didn't hate it, and I did think the characterization was good. I just didn't want to keep reading it when there are so many tempting books on my shelves, and I don't have enough interest in naval terminology to look up all the terms.

#40 - That's kinda my point. There is PLENTY to enjoy in O'Brian's books even if you choose to blow off all the jargon. The action is still there, you might just not have a 100% mental picture of it. :)

Eventually, Maturin starts saying stuff like, 'I don't understand any of this. What does this mean? What does that mean?' So O'Brian does explain things, but he dribbles it out.

I should probably add that O'Brian's take on women is, well, hmm...let's just say that the series largely does without them, and when they are there, their motives are suspect, at best. Of course, that could easily be a function of there being so few of them in the first place - one out of two is 50%, so...

Yeah, they are very much 'guy' books, regardless of how literate they are.

Message edited by its author, Aug 7, 2008, 9:56am.

>4 I tried to read Love in the Time of Cholera many years ago... never finished it

I loved the premise and the author but was never able to finish the book

maybe need to try again

Message edited by its author, Aug 7, 2008, 11:04am.

and thanks mikepatrick for supporting my love of Patrick O'Brian. I agree that it takes some patience with the nautical jargon, but I'm 6-7 books into the series (The Surgeon's Mate is the next TBR on my shelf).

But I can also see that it might not be for everybody... not to mention that I've loved these kinds of books for going on 30 years and only last year started this series.

Message edited by its author, Aug 7, 2008, 11:20am.

I didn't abandon Master and Commander, but I can't say I enjoyed it all that much. I felt very much like I was reading nonfiction; I learned a lot, but I was never really engaged. I plan to read the next book eventually, but I think it's probably going to take me a while to make the leap.

I really wanted to make it through this year without abandoning a single book. I struggled through some real snooze-worthy things during the first couple of months... then came across something I could not finish. I felt physically ill whenever I tried. I abandoned it, leaving myself free to abandon others.

So far this year I've put three aside:

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. The book was beautiful, but I absolutely could not deal with the way Emilo's hands were mutilated. I'm tough to disturb, but the scene in which he described how it was done left me a quivering wreck. I skimmed as much as I could, then closed the book and decided not to reopen it. Hand injuries are one of my strange, irrational fears, and I'm a visual reader. I just couldn't get past it. Even now, just thinking about it, I feel the need to clutch my hands and make sure they're okay.

The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray. I made it more than three hundred pages in before deciding that I just didn't want to wade through another five hundred. I found the story kind of silly, and I just couldn't believe in the friendship between these girls.

The Host by Stephenie Meyer. It wasn't a bad book, but I found it completely bland. I felt nothing for any of these people. I couldn't care what happened to them. I gave about two hundred and fifty pages, then dumped it.

Yesterday I gave up on Rhett Butler's People. It was actually pretty well written and the plotting was fairly good, but I just wasn't interested in 'what happens next.' Returned it to the library so that the next one the list could have it sooner.

Message edited by its author, Aug 10, 2008, 3:00pm.

Hello all- I've been away from Librarything for awhile, but this is still one of my favorite topics (and I'm still giving up on books that don't grab me)-

Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon - skimmed it

Death of a Dutchman by Magdalen Nabb - skimmed it

The Geographer's Library by Jon Fasman - long, boring lead-in that seemed to be going nowhere; gave up quickly on it

>44

if hand mutilation bothers you, be aware that there is a scene later in the O'Brian series (I can't remember which book exactly), while not terribly graphic, is still somewhat disturbing.

So far as Libba Bray goes, I finished The Sweet Far Thing, but have only managed to get halfway through Rebel Angels... it's been sitting on my headboard for about 4 months. I hate to not finish, but...

Latest to be fall by the wayside was a real disappointment, because I just so enjoyed the first one in the series: Jefferson Bass's Flesh and Bone, the second Body Farm novel. It was beyond ho-hum; written like a 13-year old, the mystery subsumed by too much personal stuff. I read these kinds of novels for the murder mystery and forensics, not about how inadequate the protagonist feels or how much he misses his wife since she died or how much he would like to bonk the M.E. but just can't because he keeps thinking about his wife, on and on. Yikes! I read about 50 pages and gave it up as a lost cause. I'm not giving up on the series, though, hoping that this one was an aberration. I have the next, The Devil's Bones, in my tbr pile.

ETA that these books are written in the first person, which is VERY tricky to pull off as they can end up being annoying as heck. Unfortunately, Flesh and Bone just didn't make it.

Message edited by its author, Aug 22, 2008, 1:53pm.

#32, Michael_P

Agree about Kushiel's Dart. And I admire how far you got. I dropped it back at the base of the TBR stack after one chapter.

Didn't find it particularly engaging, and I was totally turned off by the first person POV.

I don't know when it happened but I've come to loath first-person.

(Maybe in the future)

Message edited by its author, Aug 11, 2008, 8:45am.

Two highly hyped books that I wasn't able to finish:

The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

I only made it about 50 pages into the first one. It just didn't grab me and the characters were not very engaging or dynamic.

I actually passed the halfway mark with Half of a Yellow Sun (and it's over 500 pages), but it was so dull that I just couldn't finish. Yes, there were some brutal scenes of massacre in Nigeria--but that didn't deter me. Again, most of the characters didn't engage me, and for endless pages absolutely nothing happened. I started skimming, then figured even that wasn't worth my time when more interesting books were calling my name.

Cariola -- I've been waiting to hear from someone who didn't love Half a Yellow Sun. I liked it better than you did, and gave it 4 stars, but I certainly didn't love it the way everyone else around here does. A few months after finishing it, I found it rather forgettable. And I thought it was just me.

I usually only read one book at a time, but right now I have Their Eyes were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurson and it just did not grab my attention. I'm not sure if it's the dialogue or the writing. I may be in the minority for not finishing Eat, Pray, Love, the author was just getting on my nerves for her whiny, self absorption.

Two summers ago, I started Poisonwood Bible and quickly figured out where it was going and decided that I didn't want to be depressed. I am almost 50 and life is too short to read books that don't grab me or make me think right away. Sometimes I do feel guilty when I have read too many "chick lit" books and try to throw in a few award winners or unread classics.

Message edited by its author, Aug 11, 2008, 3:03pm.

Hi, Jenny ~ I agree (and I'm a decade your elder!) about life being too short to read books that don't grab you, including "classics" and "literary" novels that everybody else (it seems) simply raves about. And I also like to read light fiction, both as an antidote to the stresses of real life and just because it makes me feel good. It doesn't mean I'm less intellectual than anyone else, and anyone who cares to look down their noses at my taste in reading is welcome to waste their time doing so, as I don't really give a hoot! :)

Actually, I have found that there are some classics and literary novels that I absolutely adore, some that are meh, and some that I utterly loathe. Same with light fiction. It's all a matter of personal taste and what is best for me at the time.

So there!

Okay. *wipes sweat off brow* Getting down off my soapbox now. :)

#50, 51 - I also didn't love Half of a Yellow Sun. I didn't abandon it and I think I gave it a few stars, but I didn't see what everyone else was raving about.

#51, 54 Glad to hear that I have some company. The book got such raves that I almost felt ashamed to admit that it did nothing for me.

message 51, 54 and 55..
Half a Yellow Sun is a book I recently started and just could not get into. I agree though, lots of people do find this to be an excellent book. So, I may just give it a try at another time.

Another recently abandoned book is the Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde I liked it at first, but then it bogged down. Perhaps I was too tired when I started it. This is yet another book I may revisit at a later time.

#56 The Eyre Affair--been there, done that.

Here are the books that have recently suffered from "benign neglect" (stolen from another LTer perhaps on this very thread - too lazy to go looking, but it perfectly suits these). None of these are currently permanently written off.

Atonement by Ian McEwan - Liked it and then found it moving slow. Read a spoiler of the ending somewhere so when my toddler lost it I didn't search too hard. Now it is found, but I've sort of lost interest.

You Suck by Christopher Moore - I wasn't finding it funny. That may change as my circumstances do.

Like many others I try very hard not to give up on books. I can't check it off my little list of "read" if I didn't read the whole thing. Lately I have been pretty diligent (or just lucky with my choices) but there have been books. The first time I tried to read Life of Pi I couldn't get through it, the second time I devoured it and loved every bite!

Books I haven't finished are The Red Tent, Cider House Rules took me 3 tries, Battlefield of the Mind, oh...there are more.

I have three criterium that I look for (hope for!) in a book:

1. It must have an interesting storyline - one that grabs my attention.
2. The author has developed some fascinating characters and gets me involved with them.
3, The author has a pleasing style.

If all three are present then the book has an excellent rating and will get read again.
If only two are present it will probably get read and will have a good rating - but end up in the charity shop.
If only one is present it will probably be so irritating that I will abandon it - I will want to throw is out the window but will recycle it to the charity shop as well - someone else may have different tastes (lower expectations!) to mine.

My list of excellent books I am glad to say is long and varied. I have forgotton most of the books I have abandoned - thank God for selective memory!

I abandoned the Penguin Book of Summer Stories the other day after seven stories. I felt iffy about dumping a short story collection, because for all I know the next fourteen stories could've been wonderful, but it seemed pretty clear to me that the anthologist's tastes just didn't fit with my own.

>56 & 57 , I did finish The Eyre Affair , but I only found it mildly amusing . I'm still undecided about getting the next one in the series .

Eat, Pray, Love. I picked it up initially because I love memoirs and heard so many raves with comments like "Engaging" and "Loveable." I gutted it out through Italy and abandoned it in India. I wanted to slap this obnoxious, self-absorbed writer and genuinely resented that I had contributed to her royalties. Ugh!

>63 CageyM, I concur although it wasn't me that contributed to her royalties but my brother. A copy was lying here in his den, all innocent and pretty, and I like a fool got suckered in. Well, I HAVE to Pearl-Rule a book after making it past the first line, and those are one and a half hours I will never get back. If it takes me 1.5 hours to read 50pp, it's just a crap book by a bad writer.

Ooo. Breaking my "no bitchy comments" rule much?

Cageym and richardderus- I'm glad to see there are others that vshare my feelinga about Eat, Pray Love- Italy was interesting- probably because I'm Italian- India was unbearable and Indonesia was interminable

63, 64, 65: I wasn't even tempted by this one. It sounded like self-indulgent pap to me from the beginnning.

>66 Cariola, smart! You've saved yourself a mild case of eyestrain, as the design isn't good either.

I recently borrowed several audio books from the library for a long road trip, including The Perfidious Parrot by Janwillem van de Wetering. I usually like his stories about the quirky, zen spouting Dutch detectives and listened to a good bit of this one, but as the Commissaris would say, "The ending does not interest, the library calls it back"

#63, 64, 65--Ditto for me on Eat, Pray, Love---a self-indulgent, boring read. The Italy section was mildly amusing, but the rest was a bore and her whining just got to me after a while. I stopped in the last section and just skimmed to the end.

WAAAAH. I read Eat, Pray, Love and did not find it quite as annoying as many---but now I have to go back to it for a book group! At least this is my not-so-deep group and a cursory scan should do it.

I refuse to read something that doesn't grab me within the first 50 pages. Sometimes it's the first 10 pages. The Kite Runner was awful for me as was the next one (can't remember the name) I usually like Stephen King but couldn't read The Stand, gave it 50 pages. Dune got 10 pages. My "to read" pile is way to big to waste time.

I have that book in French and I started it at least twice. Haven't gotten past page 20 yet. I might have to read it with a Larousse next to me as well. I don't want to see the movie until I've read the book!

I got about a third of the way through the Kite Runner and haven't picked it up since. I may give it another shot after I finish reading "Proust and the Squid".

Read (and finished) Eat, Pray, Love and totally agree with #65, cdyankeefan's assessment.

Cariola

I listened to the audio tape of Half of a Yellow Sun, reduced annoyance.

#71 - I've had Dune on my to-be-read list a long time, but I didn't even get as far as you did. Didn't grab me. May try it again at some point. Sometimes the second time is the charm.

I think I have about about 50 pages left in Danse Macabre, but I've put it down and realize that I really don't feel any temptation to finish it. (There is a little bit of lingering guilt.) King is a talented guy, but self-editing is not among his talents. I appreciate his insights on horror (both film and cinema) but I just found the book really self-indulgent, and there's only so much phony populism, self-regard, belabored points and endless tangents that I'll accept before I start to get impatient.

I might still read King in the future--I have Carrie sitting around on my TBR pile--but I think I've been cured of my need to read unabridged versions of The Stand, It, or any of the various other doorstops he's put out.

Isn't Dune kind of notorious for being oft-abandoned, if not in the first book, then later in the series? (The original series, not any of the non-Frank Herbert books.) I remember once hearing someone state to nobody reads all six Dune books. (Of course, this was in high school, when attention spans were shorter.)

I persevered through some three hundred paperback pages of Tigana, but then realised that I didn't care at all about the story or the characters so ... it was reshelved, unfinished.

I echo the comments on Eat, Pray, Love as well as Me Talk Pretty One Day. Couldn't finish either one and they were both selections for my book club for which I am a loyal reader.......Those two rank right up there with The Celestine Prophecy!

#s 11, 14, 32

Just went to the site and clicked the right arrows. Wow! However, I think that it might be a very good read for a winter's weekend when going out is not an option.

#77 - Carlos,

I did read all six original Dune novels, and was glad I stuck with them. I was tempted to quit after God Emperor because that was really laborious, but Heretics and Chapterhouse were so much better.

The two by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson were a huge disappointment, though - I was really annoyed a) that I had wasted time and money on them, and b) that a great series got such a lousy ending.

#81 - It's been ages since I read them, but I remember getting the impression that they took more effort to get into as the series progressed.

I've never actually picked up any of the sequels. I think I just never found it that tempting, perhaps because I thought the way the original series ended was perfect.

I am halfway through the ER ARC Stalking Irish Madness which is dreadfully dull and never fails to put me to sleep. Usually I abandon a book if it doesn't get me interested in the first 50-60 pgs but with these ER titles, I feel obligated. But I don't think I can finish it.

I want to echo the recommendation to get through Master and Commander to get to the rest of the series. It's the least impressive of the series. Too long, too windy, too jargony. O'Brian gets better as he goes along-- the writing gets leaner, the characterizations deeper. M & C isn't bad; it just isn't very representative of how good the rest of the books are.

#83 framboise - I abandoned an ARC a couple of weeks ago - One More Year by Sana Krasikov. I found it depressing and anxiety-producing. It was short stories too, which you would think I could get through.... nope.

I was able to write a lies-by-omission review by saying the stories were depressing.... it's just that I read 2 1/2 of them, not all.

I am seriously going to cut back on ARCs because of how much pressure I put on myself to read them and review them quickly. That's the purpose, I know, so I should just stop asking for them.

reading the posts about Eat, Love, Pray made me laugh right out loud. A very good friend said this was her favorite book of 2007 and she gave her copy to me thinking I would feel the same about the book. I didn't want to hurt her feelings, but had to tell her that it really was way too self absorbed for me.

At first I thought maybe I was envious of a woman who had the luxury to trapse around different countries while having a publisher pay the tab...then, as I read on, I simply couldn't take any more of this prattle.

Childhood's End failed the 50-page test. I never found any of the characters or plot engaging enough. Skipped to the last chapter and wasn't even interested to realize that the Overlords blew up earth. Blech.

I'm horrible at abandoning a book. It takes a lot for me to put it down and never go back. Recently I was pushed to this extreme with Exodus. It was awful. I hated the plot, the characters and the writing. It was especially disappointing because this book had been recommended by many people.
In response to the Mason and Dixon readers, I'm about half way through. It is a winding plot in which I more than once have had to ask, "Where am I?" But I still find it entertaining. I think you have to be in the mood to focus and go with it even when you only half-comprehend. If that doesn't sound like fun, stop now.

Message edited by its author, Aug 21, 2008, 2:08am.

#88 cassielst I looked at the first page or so of Maxon and Dixon and it interested me - it reminded me a bit of Pride and Prejudice only in its convoluted language. I hasten to add that I love convoluted language.

It seemed like it might be a good book to read aloud (?), if one had an audience or loved to hear oneself speak.

I went through Sefi Atta's Everything Good Will Come; it was a chore, but I finish what I start...a friend borrowed it, then misplaced it, I have given her no grief.

Half of the Yellow Sun I have so far avoided, then I saw a cute guy in a bus reading and thought, 'If cute guy is reading it, why not?' but I shall now return to my original position. Thanks for the heads up!

In my enthusiasm to catch up on current feminist theory, I started Gender Trouble by Judith Butler which came to me well recommended. I have politely put it aside for the prose and poetry of fiction of or about women.

#91: If you want to read something by Judith Butler, I recommend Undoing Gender which is a collection of essays. It's far more approachable than Gender Trouble.

I really loved the eyre affair and lost in a good book but when I tried to read the series with Det. Jack Spratt, I just couldn't get going with it. I could see how clever he thought he was being, but they just didn't grab me in the same way. I think perhaps it's because I love Thursday Next so much.

Recently abandoned books include kept a victorian mystery and I'm currently reading the name of the rose which is not going well.

#93 Kept: a Victorian Mystery is on my TBR pile. Would love to hear why you abandoned it--if you don't mind. Feel free to post to my profile.

I've written a review of it under the book's page as well. I only read about 50 pages - it wasn't very good at all. I'm a huge wilkie collins/ dickens fan and often enjoy modern writers writing in such a style - e.g. I loved Fingersmith and its parallels to the woman in white
But kept a victorian mystery was just dire. The story never really got going. I won't ruin it for you with spoilers or anything, so I have to word this quite carefully, but I found myself skimming every page in 20 after I'd read 50 pages and still not caring. The characters never fully materialise, the plot is trying to be too clever and not succeeding at all, and in the end I skipped to the end and also found that pretty bland.
Although I didn't read it fully, so don't know for sure, my impression was not great.

Thanks! Very helpful.

#92 Thanks for the recommendation. It's worth a second try.

I abandoned Whitney Gaskell's "True Love & Other Lies". It is so horribly written. I'm starting to shun away from anything that says "Little Black Dress Book".

Nora Roberts' "Angel Fall" is next on my list mainly cuz I reached half the book and I don't feel like I want to read it. Something weird about it, can't put my finger on it.

I should have abandoned The Sex Lives of Cannibals, but I somehow managed to finish it.

My review is up at The Book Lady's Blog .

The Sex Lives of Cannibals lol. How brave you are! The title screams "Run away fast" at me. Checking out your review now.

#93 - I managed to get through Name of the Rose years ago, after many people had recommended it. It was winter, I had a cold, figured, "why not kick back with some hot lemonade and Name of the Rose? After reading it I thought, "what the heck was that about?" Don't know if it was the winter, the cold, the lemonade, the rose...it just didn't get through to me.

I counted one extra today "Burning Bright" by Tracy Chevalier. Although I am a big fan of all her previous novels, this one was the lousiest of them all. The subject matter sounded so interesting but I couldn't get into it at all which is a first to me when it comes to Chevalier :/ What a shame.

Eleven on Top by Janet Evanovich. Don't get me wrong - I love Stephanie Plum, Lula, and grandma Mazur, and I can totally get into Morelli, but these books are pretty formulaic by now. I listened to the audio book on a recent road trip and enjoyed it while my trip lasted - Stephanie gets stalked, her cars get blown up, she gets it on with Morelli, grandma goes to funerals...but when the trip was done and the audio book wasn't - I didn't really care how it ended.

I might have to give up Lord Jim. I just don't think I can focus enough on the book and I seem to have to look up every other word.

Well, there are rave reviews for "My Father's Paradise" and neither my husband nor I could get past one page of narrative --tried at different parts of the book. Too self absorbed. Too boring.

It'll probably win a big prize.

I am ashamed to admit that I have decided to give up on The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I just couldn't slog through any more descritptive paragraphs or sociopolitical commentary..........Too much of both....with rare appearances by the actual characters.

I'm at the point where I'm giving up on Shadow of the Wind. It's been raved about so much here on LT I thought I'd like it, but I just can 't seem to get into it and it's taking me forever to get through it - and I'm still not even at the half way mark! As someone said before me, the other books on my TBR list are calling to me. I think I'm going to put it down for now and pick it up again when I'm in the mood for it later on down the road.

I posted it on the wrong sight. I tried, I gave up on the Girl with No Shadow after 61 pages. May try again later.

I'm at the point where I'm giving up on Shadow of the Wind. It's been raved about so much here on LT I thought I'd like it, but I just can 't seem to get into it and it's taking me forever to get through it
---------

Ktleyed -- I did get through Shadow of the Wind, but I really didn't like it. I thought it was hundreds of pages too long. It doesn't get any better. Yes, it has lots of fans, but you and I aren't the only ones who disliked it. Life is too short to read books we dislike.

Message edited by its author, Sep 5, 2008, 11:55pm.

#109 - thank you nickelini - I don't feel quite so traitorous in my reaction to the book now! It doesn't get any better? Sheesh! I'm glad I stopped now, thank you again!

I read it for a book club and enjoyed it but wasn't as bowled over by it as some. It was too much the young-male-coming-of-age story for that, and there were too many stretches of not-much-of-interest going on along the way.

Eat Pray Love bashers - I continue to be amazed that this book was a best seller - I gutted it out for my book club and found we all thought it a whiny and self-indulgent bore. This comment seems to be echoed time and again at LT. I guess someone loved it but personally, I'm glad I only borrowed the copy I read!

OK, I'll probably get a lot of flack for this. I finished Never Let Me Go about a year ago--but I wish that I had let it go sooner. Yes, Ishiguru writes very well. The book got rave reviews and tons of prizes. But the plot was SO predictable. Readers kept gushing about the "surprise" ending. C'mon, what surprise? You have a book that starts with grown former classmates who refer to themselves as "Donors" and "Carers," who had no families, and who were raised in a posh private school that isolated them from the general society. Gee, wonder what was going on? On top of that, he droned on and on and on about little incidents in their melodramatic little adolescent lives.

(Can you tell that I really hated this one?)

Message edited by its author, Sep 6, 2008, 1:24pm.

Re: Master and Commander

If you didn't like trying to read this, do try the audio book version. There are several, but Patrick Tull is my favorite reader. He really brings the series to life.

I found the first book a bit slow in places (all those sails!), but listening to the book allowed me to immerse myself in the language. O'Brian has wonderfully witty dialog, and Tull really shines with it.

By the time you've gotten through the first 5 or so, you'll be an old hand at the naval jargon (or just let it wash over you, which is what I still do sometimes!).

#79 hemlokgang

O my gosh! The Celestine Prophecy! I wasn't sure anything could ever reach that depth of drivel. (I was required to read it--book group selection--and the person who chose it didn't show up! Emabrassment probably.) The best thing about that book was it only took 2 hours to read.

The one book that came close for me as being that bad (also required to finish) -- don't everybody yell at me at once!--was The Da Vinci Code--it had all the requirements of abomination: bad writing, uninteresting characters, predictable plot (I had most of it figured out half way through), too many coincidences--maybe it wins because it took more than 2 hours to read!

I know a lot of people loved it but I weep for the trees that died to give it life!

"I weep for the trees that died to give it life!"

Bwahahaha - thanks for the great laugh. I'm incoporating this into my bibliophile lexicon.

So I may as well post the titles of my two all-time most hated books:

The Bridges of Madison County
The Dante Club

#115 I knew enough to avoid that one!

LOL at Bwahahaha!

#117 I knew enough to avoid those two!

(couldn't resist!)

I can't wait for this year to be over because I made myself a promise to finish everything I started this year. I've only broken it twice (out of 70 successfully finished books) so am doing pretty good....

and the year's not over yet so I could conceivably finish both but not likely.

#119 Hope the satisfaction of knowing you have will power is worth the torture.

I figure books are like people: some you want to be with, some bore you, some you simply can't stand. And time is too short to spend much of it with the latter two.

Well said, Cariola!

#102: I agree with you although I actually finished this one. It was a departure from her other works which I read quickly and enjoyed. Now, only a couple of months after reading it, I can't for the life of me remember what Burning Bright was about!

Message edited by its author, Sep 7, 2008, 10:26am.

#120 Cariola. This is the only time in my entire life I've forced myself to finish books. It seemed like a good idea - 888 challenge basically - but I discovered early on that it stinks.

Back to my old routine next year.

This is an interesting thread! Being quite old : > I usually stop reading a book the instant that it doesn't interest me. However, right now I'm near the end of The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, after having nearly quit a couple of times. It dragged a little, and I had accidentally read a reviewer's spoiler (in the first line of the review, no less). But I am SO GLAD that I continued. What a story.

So I need to be a little careful about my 50-page rule.

Atonement I tried that one twice at least. Hated it! Thought the sex scene would never end.

I want to give my students the "Pearl Rule," but 50 pages seems awfully early for them. Many of them are reluctant to read anyway - the payoff just isn't as immediate as a movie. Perhaps 75 pages?

I almost invoked the "Pearl Rule" last night with Brideshead Revisited but decided to forge ahead for another 20 pages or so, and I am so glad I did! Within a few more pages, the story took off. A little further on, I got to the part where Charles went home to live for the summer with his father ~ that was an excellent scene which I'd have missed by only a half dozen pages had I stopped at page 50!

Charles's dad cracks me up. I'm glad you didn't miss it, Storeetllr.

124> Glad to hear that this is a good one. Next semester I am teaching an entire course on Hamlet, its influence and adaptations. I just ordered this one today because it sounds like it will fit and like something the students will enjoy.

127> This is why I hate quitting on a book. I'm always afraid that I haven't given it a chance to redeem itself later on!

There have been a couple that I took several attempts to get through (Sophie's World and The Unconsoled are two that stand out in my memory) but the only one that I actually abandoned with no intention of finishing was The Courtship of Princess Leia. (It was a risky choice to begin with, but the public library in Bath is so crap I was prepared to take risks!)

94/95 - Kept a Victorian mystery is very slow going but suddenly livens up about half way through - I considered ditching it but was glad I hadn't.

Harry Potter, Chamber of Secret (book 2) is undergoing a coma. I put the book on hault (most probably going to abandon it sooner or later), but currently watching the movie in the hope that it might ignite my interest in picking up the coma book anytime soon.

Still don't see the point behind the HP mania.

I have had to abandon The Scandal of the Season by Sophie Gee, too boring and uninteresting characters.

#132 I totally agree with you.

#133 I finished that one. I didn't love it, but I didn't think it was all that bad. But then, I teach Brit Lit, so the Pope connection kept me going.

I thought of another one I had to abandon -- At Swim, Two Boys. Though it was several years ago, I recall wrestling with the decision to put it aside as it had come highly recommended. But then I had the realization that continuing it felt like punishment and there were so many other pleasurable books waiting for me.... I haven't much looked back!

Aww, I love At Swim, Two Boys.
I have abandoned The Sot-Weed Factor for the second time. I keep telling myself I'm going to enjoy it, but something about the writing style, the fact that it screams "I was written in the 1960's but in the style of the 1660's and that's hilarious!" keeps turning me off.
I'll probably try again..

The Secret of Lost Things

Not because it was bad, mind you. I did enjoy it, it just moved so slowly that I ended up getting fed up and just skipped to the ending (and I read really quickly!)

Crystal Rain is being dumped for now. The first chapters didn't interest me. I'll come back later.

I stopped reading The Eagle's Brood I just couldn't get into it and focus. I'm realizing I don't really like these books and I'm not going to waste my time any longer and suffer through them if I don't really want to read them! Especially, when I have such a huge TBR list of books I really do want to read!

I got halfway through The Monster of Florence and just couldn't be bothered to keep reading it, so it's going back to the library today. It wasn't so much about the murders as about the unfairness of the investigation, and I got tired of reading how stupid the Italian police and judicial system is. Plus I didn't think it was very well written.

I also am abandoning Heart of Stone by C. E. Murphy, a romantic horror story (I guess) about gargoyles and selkies and other creatures of myth. It was just plain dumb, at least so far as I could tell from the 50 or so pages I did manage to read.

This book is not crap. It really isn't. It's well written and thoughtful. If only I didn't have literary ADD and could focus. But oh, well, I gave up on Lord Jim. I put it down for several months and when I picked it up again, I didn't know which character was talking and about what.

I agree, Sanja - I loved Heart of Darkness but I just couldn't get into Lord Jim. Maybe I'll give it another try some time in the dim and distant future.

#143 Hmmmm, well maybe if there is nothing else available to read.... ;-)

Seriously, even if something is well-regarded, a bestseller, a classic -- if it doesn't work for you, let it go. Reading for pleasure ought to be just that.

The Shadow of the Wind I gave up on about 1/3 of the way through. I disliked the writing and the storyline was tedious. I just got bored of it and found I didn't care!!

A Breath of Snow and Ashes was simply a rewrite of all the Gabaldon books previously, but with slightly different names and places. Was fed up of the series by this point, and wished I'd stopped by the 2nd or 3rd one!!!!

I'm sure there are more I have given up but those are a couple that I can remember

I gave up on Moll Flanders. I just could not read any more. The sad thing is I already read 230 pages out of the 300. But the last 70 pages were pure, boring hell and I don't want to read it anymore.

I gave up on Swan Song last spring. I've always liked Stephen King's The Stand, and Amazon's recommendation system kept bringing up Robert McCammon's Swan Song as being something which I might like, so I bought it. In general, I like end-of-the-world stories. They're fun and exciting, and they make my life seem safe and secure. However, the dreadful writing, awful characterization and downright ludicrous story was just too much to take. About a third of the way in, I set the book aside, and I have never returned to it. On occasion, I'll see it sitting around the bedroom and wonder how it turns out. But my curiosity is never great enough to exceed the potential energy barrier required to pick up that book again.

Abandoned on my nightstand:

Bright Book of Life by Alfred Kazin
Willa Cather: A Life Saved Up Hermione Lee
What Are We Fighting For? Joanna Russ
Thinking Fragments Jane Flax

in favor of: Nixonland Rick Perlstein
and: Doris Lessing's The Summer Before the Dark

So many books, so little time!

I gave up on Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani. It was just too tedious and didn't capture an ounce of interest for me despite my having read more than 180 pages of it.

I have tried The Histories several times and am back at it. I can't fathom who-is-who, what-is-what, or where-is-where, but I'll stay with it for a few more pages.

Oh, let me refer back to the topic title. I didn't mean to infer that Herodotus is crap, it is just a real chore to read all this.

I gave up on Down and out In the Magic Kingdom
Plot is like a dozen other books I've read. There is nothing new to keep your attention. And the writing is dull.

I had to give up on A Dinner to die for yesterday ... I didn't like the style of writing, and the main character was irritating me.

Abandonment #1 of 2009
My Name Is Will by Jess Winfield
clever writing concept, interesting Elizabethen era history, customs, and Shakespearean lore.
reader needs a stomach of iron to handle the extensive and explicit drug use and sex (we're talking every chapter, character, encounter)
Moving on....

I gave up about 3/4 of the way through Perfume by Patrick Suskind.
There's only so many times in a novel you can get away with using the word 'olfactory', and Suskind doesn't get away with it.

I officially gave up on The Boat today - back to the library it went. I'm sure it's brilliant and fantastic and an exciting new voice and all that, but I couldn't get past the first story. Maybe some other year.

I'm going to stand up for Harry Potter and Perfume - both amazing reads in different ways obviously.
However, I did give up on The Dante Trap - and you thought the Da Vinci Code was written badly - and, although I'm enjoying The siege of Krishnapur it is a bit of a slog.

I have to agree with most of you about Eat, Pray, Love It was so self absorbed and quite frankly I'm not really looking for enlightenment.
I just recently had to take a break from The Witching Hour by Anne Rice. It's not a bad book but I had been reading it for a month. I picked up the paperback with super fine print. Very long. Plus it's rampant with incest. All that incest was a little unnecessary.
Another book I detested was Adam Bede by George Elliot Had to read it for a class about pastoral literature. Oh goodness, not a huge fan. Ended up skimming through most of it so I could uphold a decent convo about it but didnt enjoy it at all.

I was about 15 pages into Schindler's List years ago, I think it's the only book I've put down. I've been meaning to get back to it but haven't yet. I felt the writing was weirdly antiquated and difficult. Maybe it was just my frame of mind at the time...

Anyone else have any opinion on the book?

Message edited by its author, Jan 9, 2009, 11:39am.

I am surprised that no one has mentioned C.S. Forester and his Horatio Hornblower series in this discussion of Master and Commander. I have read Hornblower since childhood and found Master and Commander to be a poor imitation. Okay, but mediocre.

bailing on The Innocent so proud of myself for invoking the 50 page rule.

People of the Book

People of the Book

I officially gave up on Assassin's Quest by Robin Hobb today. I just couldn't get past the first 100 pages - it was excrutiating! I tried, I really tried, but I've realized I'm not into fantasy. I just find it so b-o-r-i-n-g.

i abandoned Love in the Time of Cholera about a year ago. i have yet to pick it up again. it also took me more than six months to read Anna Karenina. i finally did read that one. not one of my favorites. i kept getting lost. maybe due to putting it down and picking it back up.

>164 ktleyed

I know what you mean about having to be into the genre. I have not been able to get through Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights.
They put me to sleep.

#166 - LA, how ironic! Two of my favorite books are Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre! Though I hated Wuthering Heights, I couldn't sympathize with a single character - I hated them all!

>167
That is ironic because I read Assassins Quest straight through. I'm planning on reading the Tawny man series next. Different strokes.
But I am going to try and read those books again this year. Maybe I've mellowed with age.

wow, I'm a big fan of The Farseer Trilogy, The Liveship Traders Trilogy, The Tawny Man Trilogy but only read the first Soldier Son Shaman's Crossing - didn't love it all.

#169 - I really liked the first book in the The Farseer Trilogy, but I found it was a real slog in Book 2, and then in Book 3 it really lost me. I guess I just really lost interest over time. Oh well, I gave it a shot, as LA12Hernandez said, different strokes.

#155 - Although I enjoyed Perfume, some parts were a bit hard to take , especially (for me) the ending.

Just a month ago I gave up on Oates' We Were the Mulvaneys - I just don't think I was in the mood for a rambling story and I had other books that were calling to me.
Maybe sometime in the future I'll try it again. It was a friend's recommendations, so I really wanted to be able to say I read it.

I've seen the film version of Perfume--which was enough to let me know that I don't want to try reading the book. If the ending is the same, I sat there roaring with laughter and groaning, "Oh, no!" at the same time.

(Alan Rickman makes another bad role choice. He's almost at the Michael Caine stage: he admits he's getting older and will do anything for the right amount of money.)

>164, 166 ... I have friends who love both Robin Hobb and Austen.. never could get into either. I read both because they asked me too and loved them so much, but Hobb is a bit depressing for me (if you read the soldier son series.. you'll see what I mean, he gets kicked in the balls by life over and over and over and over) and then Austen is just too talky. I read Northanger Abbey and was extremely bored. In Pride and Prejudice I tended to skim the long conversations to the good parts.

Anyway, I guess everyone has their favorites. I liked Pride and Prejudice the movie though :) And thats rare, I usually rally against books-made-into-movies as they are so much worse than the book and ruin the story in my head, but I quite liked that movie in comparison to the book. (austen fans, please don't murder me)

Message edited by its author, Jan 11, 2009, 3:10pm.

173 are you talking about the movie with Keira Knightley in it? I can watch that over and over again.

>173
I didn't like the book so haven't watched the movie, but now I will.

The movie is on TV right now. I guess I really will have to watch it. Who knows maybe I'll try the book again after it's over. Oops commercial is over back to the show.

#176 - just a tip, don't watch the Kiera Knightley movie, it's really not the story of P&P, it's more like a gothic wannabe, wait and watch the BBC miniseries with Colin Firth - that's the one that is pretty faithful to the book, with an added infamous wet shirt pond scene!

Glad you told me cause I really hate this movie. Now I can change the channel with out guilt.

mmm Colin Firth.

I watched the Kiera Knightley version. I would much rather have watched Colin Firth, also :-)

It's funny knowing I wasn't the only one watching the Kiera Knightley movie on tv! :)

To add to the P&P discussion.... the Kiera Knightley movie is a nice picture unto itself but in no way expresses anything but the skeleton of Jane Austen's book. I have enjoyed watching it a couple of times, but its focus is romance and setting - its brevity and reconstruction of situations and dialogue totally distort the book which is a marvel of characterization and unfolds a story of people and manners with irony and wit. The BBC production with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle does the best job of portraying P&P on screen.

I mean - watch the KK production and enjoy the beauty and the love story, but I wouldn't make a decision about Jane A's book based on that. The focus is completely different from the book she wrote.

I'm glad the movie did not reflect the book because Kiera's character was to irritaing for me to continue to watch. I changed the channel. I will read the book later this year.

>159

Sean, you're dead right about Schindler's List. I did finish it, but the writing style is difficult and does the story no favours.

> 159, 184 My biggest problem with the book was that Keneally insisted on imposing his 1980s morals and ideas on a 1940s man, which is not only very, very unfair but NOT the way non-fiction should be written. Just give me the facts and let me decide what I think of them.

I recently decided that I'd go back and finish Foucault's Pendulum after thinking that I'd abandoned it years ago, and as I read it I kept thinking 'surely this is as far as I made it last time...', only to finish it and realise that I had in fact read the whole thing the first time round, but that not a single detail about it had lodged in my mind. It isn't that I actually disliked it, rather that it left me cold. Now I wish I could go back in time and not read the first time, let alone the second.

>185 Compared to a Jewish friend of mine who likes to remind me from time to time that Schindler considered what he was doing as justification for picking out a nice Jewish girl whenever he wanted one, I thought Keneally was pretty ambivalent about his morals!

#186 - Now I wish I could go back in time and not read the first time, let alone the second.
------------

Tash99, now THAT's funny! (time to go read a good book)

On the Road by Jack Kerouac. Should have read it for my classics book club...just could not get into it.

I totally agree with you on On The Road.I couldn't finish it either.It was very continuous without any real plot.

I've abandoned listening to the audio book I am America and so can you by Stephen Colbert. I really like him, but this book was more annoying than funny. And if I want to listen to him, I'm always behind on Colbert Reports that I can pull up on the computer from his website.

:-( Pride and prejudice: After reading ten chapters and realizing that I can't distinguish between Alice, Caroline, Charlotte, Elizabeth, Jane, Mary and all the rest – and also that I didn't care – I realized that the writing was on the wall ...

Aaagh! *falls to floor clutching chest* How can anyone not tell the difference between Elizabeth and Charlotte, Mary and Jane? Not even care? Oh, the horror of it!

Oh, well *climbs self-consciously to feet and brushes off dusty clothes* ~ everyone's got different taste (thank goodness!). ;D

*scurries off to find copy of P&P to check & see who Alice is*

>193 -- Got me to chuckle with that post. Thanks!

Message edited by its author, Feb 17, 2009, 4:35pm.

Who is Alice? I only read that book once (not really my thing, but I tried) and I don't remember an alice at all.

Alice was, I admit, a figment of my imagination - just to check whether anybody was paying attention ...

That's cheating!

#196 ~ Heh! Really had me going there!

I stopped reading "vanity fair" after 20 pages

#199 good for you, I was into it for 75 pages before I bailed.

I wish I had abandoned The Story of Edgar Sawtelle but it was a book club read so I stuck with it. Could have been about 200 pages shorter and I thought the ending was not good.

I applied the 50 page rule to American Gods by Neil Gaiman - I may go back to it some day, but after the first two chapters (just over 50 pages) I really didn't care what happened to the characters.

I made it to page 65 of Dark Roots: Stories by Cate Kennedy. Dull, dry stories about dull, dry characters. Trying too hard to be avant garde, I think.

I agree with a comment above - those who haven't enjoyed Patrick O'Brian might try C.S. Forester's Hornblower series. Better written, and much more engaging.

I'm a big fan of Pride and Prejudice, and I also really enjoyed Jane Eyre and Vanity Fair, so it shows how much tastes can differ.

I agree Burning Bright was surprisingly boring - how can a talented author write a boring book centered on William Blake? Part of the problem was he wasn't in it much, unlike Vermeer in Girl with a Pearl Earring.

The one I couldn't finish was The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing; it just never seemed to get any momentum going, much less be astonishing.

I started Emily Windsnap and the Castle in the Mist last night. Then I realized that it's written for 10 year olds. Then I put it down and picked up Crime and Punishment. :)

Pillars of the Earth was my latest. I hate to give up on a book, but I just couldn't get into it. I know it was raved about, and Oprah chose it, and millions loved it. But I was not one of them. I just didn't care about the characters for whatever reason. And it was way too long to keep going.

lucysmom ~ You are not alone.

I have given myself permission to stop reading the enormous bore known as Drood. Its only hard to put it down because I've crawled and skimmed my way to nearly halfway. I realized that I didn't care a bit about the characters and it was spoiling two of my favorite authors: Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens as they are the two main characters. I can not believe that a publisher pandered to an author and let this book run to 700+ pages. What a waste!

About Half of a Yellow Sun: a dear friend loved it so I read it and had to pretend I loved it but in my heart I just thought it was an okay read, not incredible or life changing. Now he's lent me Purple Hibiscus because I enjoyed the other.

Oh what a tangled web I weave when I fake enjoyment of a book.

I haven't read science fiction since the binge reading on one subject days of youth - just do not enjoy or appreciate it at all. Imagine then my horror to finally conclude Never Let Me Go was indeed sci fi - dense me, I kept going back pages, thinking I'd missed something important... wondering who and what was being donated and who was caring for whom. Finally the light came on at about page 30.

I perservered for 20 more pages simply because I think Remains of the Day one of life's most perfect novels and was hoping for some similar thread in NLMG. But ugggghhhhh, I could take no more - put it away, not to ever see the light of my days. I hid it under my bookcase, in fact.

209> Hooray! I finally found someone else who hated Never Let Me Go!

My problem was the opposite, however. It seemed pretty obvious to me from the beginning what was going on, since immediately you've got people labelled "donors" and "carers" in a hospital setting and in flashback these select kids are isolated in a creepy but elite boarding school . . . I was disappointed because there was all this hype about the Big Surprise, but it was exactly what I had figured out by about page 5. Worst of all for me: I got SO sick of the whiny, self-absorbed adolescent melodrama that dominated most of the book.

208> Beware: Adichie has a new book out, (The Thing Around Your Neck).

>>>208 For what it is worth, I preferred Purple Hibiscus to Half of a Yellow Sun.

#209 & #210
I totally agree about Never Let Me Go. I persevered, but I don't care for science fiction and I couldn't care about the characters either. I gave my copy away! :)

I gave up on Welcome to Temptation, I just couldn't get into it. I had it on audiobook. The narrator wasn't bad, but I just felt the heroine was so annoying, I felt it was more of a chore than anything else to listen to this story. I have a feeling Jennifer Crusie is just not my cup of tea. I wish I hadn't wasted one of my precious audible credits. Someday if I'm desperate, maybe I'll go back to it, since it'll be on my iPod.

Aw, sorry you disliked Welcome to Temptation enough to quit on it, ktleyed. I find Crusie's stuff is like that ~ totally annoying heroines & really unlikeable heros at the beginning, then if you persevere through that, the story really takes off, the characters change, and the ending is wonderful! I think Temptation is my favorite Crusie of all, although there are a few I found almost as good.

#215 - Storeetllr - thanks for that, I'll keep it in mind. Part of it is I was only listening to as I worked out, and I find that if I'm not enjoying the story, I'm not into my workout - so I wasn't going to the gym! Not good! So, I had to give it up. That's not to say I won't return to it some other time.

I hear that! I began listening to The Eyre Affair at the gym, and gave that up for much the same reason. Then a month or two later, when I tried it again, I adored it. So, yeah, sometimes it's more than the book or reader or even our moods.

Yes, timing is a huge issue with books.

It's funny, though. Some books I absolutely know I'll never want to read again and so put them on the BookMooch stack.

Others have been lurking in my library for years, just waiting for that right moment for it to be their turn.

Then there's the occasional book that I keep thinking I want to read, try a page or two, put it down, try again, put it down, then finally give it up. Life of Pi is a prime example.

I recently gave up on The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone. I made it to page 96, but there are almost 800 pages in the book and I just couldn't do it. I've packed it around for about a decade, and brought it along on my trip to Italy thinking the time would finally be right--but no, not even Rome and Florence could get me interested in this book.

I know it's very well researched, but I've studied Michelangelo in a Renaissance Intellectuals class I took a few years ago, and I've maxed out on him.

Shouldn't this be "What are you not reading now!"

209, 210, 213 > about a year ago I started a little rant about how underwelming and overhyped Never Let Me Go is. Everyone seemed to see something in it though. Well, glad to see I wasn't the only one left scratching his head.

After much deliberation I have decided to abandon The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde. It wasn't 'bad' it was just not compelling to read. I read the first 100 pages then I got bored put it down and read 2 other books. It's a library book which is why I was so reluctant to give up on it.. once I take it back it seems so final I can't just pick it back up on a rainy day and finish it.

Ooh, poor Jasper Fforde. It took me a while to read The Big Over Easy, but I rather enjoyed it in the end...

To my shame, I have just given up on Pompeii: The Living City by Alex Butterworth and Ray Laurence. I learned something from the part I managed, but it seemed to skip around a lot between individual lives rather than offering a wider context first, which made it difficult to keep track of what was what. In the end I gave up and skipped straight to the interesting part - the eruption of 79 AD - which was easier to read and much more poignant and profound. Ah well... maybe a book on the excavation itself next time.

kiwiflowa, I had the same experience with The Eyre Affair, which I know was a favorite of many. I just don't enjoy Fforde's style or content, and I have no desire to him try again. To each his/her own.

Well, I just put down Lost in a Good Book, I agree it wasn't bad, but it just didn't hold my interest. All the little jokes and clever names, etc. kept me from keeping me interested in the plotline. I wasn't in the mood for it. Someday I'll come back to it. Not much luck with Jasper Fford these days on this message board.

@192: I managed to read the whole of Pride and Prejudice before I admitted that I wanted nothing to do with the book for the rest of my life -- and just about had the fortitude to tackle Emma to see if it was P&P I didn't like or just Jane Austen's writing - came to the conclusion that it is _definitely_ her works I can't stand rather than just one book.

I try to give authors a second chance most of the time, as some of them can come up with flukes, whether of the good or the bad kind. Like Tolkien - if I'd started with The Silmarillion I would never have read The Lord of the Rings, and I love the latter!

I do love Ian McEwan, but I'm about to give up on Black Dogs. It's pretty dated and just not very interesting.

#222-225 I've been listening to Fforde's Tuesday Next series on my iPod and absolutely loving the first three, but esp. the one I'm listening to now: The Well of Lost Plots.

True story: After avoiding it for fifty years, I forced myself to read Jane Eyre (which, btw, I thought was wonderful) in order to read and "get" The Eyre Affair, but when I tried to listen to The Eyre Affair, I loathed it and stopped before I got past Chapter Two. But then a few months later I started listening to it again by accident ~ and loved it! Weird, huh? No idea what was different.

#227- I do love Ian McEwan, but I'm about to give up on Black Dogs. It's pretty dated and just not very interesting.

I understand completely. I started reading that last Christmas break, and I think I got to page 5 before I wandered off to something else. I'm currently reading A Child in Time, and it's not doing it for me, either.

Have you read Saturday or On Chesil Beach? Those are my two favorite McEwan's. He should be due for another new book soon.

Yep, loved both of those, although Atonement is still my favourite.

I'm giving away Portnoy's Complaint. I've read it, I get it, I just don't like it.