Books I Chose Not to Finish...After Giving Them A Serious Effort

Hi.....my first of this year:

The October List by Jeffrey Deaver.....I did not engage with this story. The experimental structure, starting in the middle and then moving backwards left me constantly calculating and I found that quite distracting.

I couldn't finish it either

I did manage to finish The October List. It held my interest, but that doesn't mean I really enjoyed it- but I did feel compelled to finish it.

Started early this year? I'm still reading my first book of the year...

I'm reading my second book this year... and so far no book I haven't finished.

Thisis the second time I have tried reading this novel, Tom Jones. I give up! I was bored out of my mind!

I used to love Deaver, but somewhere along the line he left me cold. As for me, I've given up on The Terror by Dan Simmons after having tried 3 times over the past couple of years to finish it, each time getting just a bit further in the story but never being able to connect with the story or any of the characters. My latest failure earlier this year decided it.

I started listening to Frog Music by Emma Donoghue and gave up at about the 30% mark. I wasn't enjoying it at all, and I have too many books with more promise waiting in line.

I gave up on Hunter of Worlds...only the second time I've abandoned a CJ Cherryh work.
:( It just did not appeal to me after almost 100 pages.

Having a tough time with Middlemarch - my second attempt.

Humboldt's Gift...not going to happen. There is something so ludicrously intellectual and detached in this writing. I get angry and then just quit.

These are all the books I've abandoned in the last 10 years or so:

Cold Granite Stuart MacBride
The Wrecking Crew Mark Chisnell
Miss Timmins' School for Girls: A Novel Nayana Currimbhoy
The Cider House Rules John Irving

Cold Granite was terrible from the start. I couldn't get into it. The Wrecking Crew started out great, but by the middle I was stressed out and having bad dreams. That's enough.

Miss Timmins' started out OK, but I was bored to death with it after I reached midpoint. I finally decided that I don't have to torture myself like this.

I normally LOVE John Irving, but after the first third of the book The Cider House Rules became a tedious bore. I still have it and might pick it up again some day, but I have a lot of stuff I really want to read, which places this book at the end of a very long list.

When I find myself aching to get to another book and I am near the beginning (first 100 pages or so) I just set it aside. So many good books, so little time.

I tried Catch-22 several times over a period of about 2 years about 9 years ago and just never managed to get through it. Although, having said that, I've been looking at it again more recently with the vague thought of giving it another goat some point. I've given up on about 4 books this year, but most of them it was a fairly quick decision either because I wasn't in the right mood or I didn't like the audio or because it was all short stories by different authors and I couldn't immerse myself into it, so I wouldn't say they had been given a serious effort.

These are the dozen books I've abandoned, for various reasons, so far this year, together with percentage completed to that point. When there's something about a book that I just can't stand, 2% is a serious effort.

• Agatha Christie: An Autobiography (Christie): 32%
• The Lace Reader (Barry): 24%
• The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (Sterne): 5%
• On the Road (Kerouac): 15%
• A Skeptic’s Guide to the Mind (Burton): 28%
• Go with Me (Freeman): 3%
• The Distraction Addiction: Getting the Information You Need and the Communication You Want, Without Enraging Your Family, Annoying Your Colleagues, and Destroying Your Soul (Pang): 7%
• Imprimatur (Monaldi & Sorti): 13%
• The Stress of Her Regard (Powers): 8%
• All the Light We Cannot See (Doerr): 2%
• A Burnable Book (Holsinger): 16%
• The Ten Thousand Things (Dermoût): 25%

I spent way too much time on The Goldfinch (over 100 pages) as well as The Luminaries (almost 200 pages) in recent months. I guess big prize-winning novels are just not my thing. Too much hoopla, in these specific cases, in my opinion. I need to listen to my gut and quit after 60 pages or so like I usually do when I find I'm forcing myself to go on.

>15 Meredy: I agree with your first two. I was amazed that Agatha Christie, whose mysteries I have always loved, could write such a boring autobiography. I had a signed ARC of The Lace Reader (the author is a friend of a friend) and I couldn't get thru that either.

I've tried to finish reading John Fowles' the Magus maybe around 5 times but can't seem to do it. I'll try it again before the year ends. Crossfingers.

#18...or just move on without self recrimination.....

I have 4 books in my "officially unfinished" collection:

True Compass: A Memoir, which is by Edward Kennedy about his life. The first half was very interesting but it went on too long. I might pick it up again some day.

Reading Lolita in Tehran. I just couldn't get into it. I hope to try it again.

The Joy Luck Club. The writing put me off this one too. I think perhaps it wasn't right for my mood at the time. I also hope to revisit this one.

Wedding Night by Sophie Kinsella. I should know myself better! I thought some chick lit would be relaxing after my last few reads but I was bound not to like this. Simply not my type of book. I am really glad I got it from the library and didn't pay for it.

I have a category here on LT, called "Couldn't Finish". There are currently 24 books listed, such as Captains Courageous, Penrod, Fahrenheit 451, and The Fight, to name a few.

You can see my "no thanks" books here: http://www.librarything.com/catalog/fuzzi

I finish most of the books I start, but do abandon the occasional one. The last one I abandoned, at ~30%, was the audio version of Frog Music by Emma Donoghue. There is no sense in reading/listening to something I hate, especially if it is a novel (albeit based on an actual event). Hateful characters making cruel decisions, and the only character I cared about at all was dead.

Japanese By Spring Ishmael Reed, Outrage by Vincent Bugliosi, and The Last Time I Wore a Dress by Daphne Scholinski. Boredom and arrogance on Bugliosi's part are what made me put down these books.

Too many to mention. Since they're on my Kindle, I often go back. Most of the books on hold are nonfiction that perhaps became too full of information for me to absorb in one reading so frequently, in my fashion, I do finish those.

When it comes to novels, I guess you would call me a fair weather friend. Life is too short, although I am guilty of reading The Goldfinch right to the end. But I admit to a certain peer pressure. As an example, Middlemarch, (mentioned above), which I've tried several times to get through. My "serious" reader friends shake their heads with dismay when I tell them I can't stand the book. So I try again. I've also given up on most Russian novels, admittedly and embarrassingly because I have so much trouble with the characters names. Before it's all over, I will probably try those again.

I'm thinking about giving up on all the light we cannot see (their capitalization weirdness, not mine.). I'm over halfway through and can't find anything goes to love, but I have a lot of time invested in it.

The thing is, Anthony Doerr is maybe one of my favorite short story authors, ever. But boy, I struggled through All the Light We Cannot See too. I bought it in Paris or would have stopped. I felt since I paid the Euros and carried it back, I should.

I stopped The Luminaries at about page 300. Just could not do it anymore.

I have tried a few times and finally donated Infinite Jest to the Goodwill. Oh, and Crimson and the Petal White I think gets my all time "effort" without fruition award, as I jettisoned that one at about page 400. As crafty, ingenious and such as a story may be, I must have at least ONE character I give a hoot about, or as a teacher once told me, that I would like to have lunch with.

#25 and 26 Jackie and Carolyn -I'm also struggling with all the light see we cannot see and I'm not sure why. I've invested a lot of time in reading it so I'm really hesitant to toss it aside so I guess I just soldier on

>27 cdyankeefan: I can't really explain it, either. It's easy enough to read, but no pleasure in reading it. There is nothing to grab onto.

# 28 - I think you're right. It certainly is easy to read but there's very little emotional connection to any of the characters. I have it on my kindle which is over1,500 pages-maybe the sheer volume of the book has something to do with it too

>27 cdyankeefan: That's the one I abandoned on page 11. I really have no stomach for a present-tense narrative.

I have a theory that their recent sharp increase in the marketplace is meant to cater to TV watchers and English learners, but I really don't know. Maybe it's just a fad.

>29 cdyankeefan: The print book (hardcover) is only 530 pages. Amazon's numbering system can sometimes make you feel like you are wading through a set of encyclopedias. But you're right, there are no emotional connections.

>30 Meredy: Sometimes present tense works, but it's rare. It seem to be just the thing for a book written primarily as an exchange of letters.

I think some people are mistaking the uncomfortable style as "artsy." It's up for a lot of awards, but I'll lose faith in the literary community if it wins any of them.

Everyone has different tastes, but I thoroughly enjoyed All the Light We Cannot See. I liked the writing and did have an emotional connection to the characters. I read it on my e-reader, which doesn't have real page numbers, and didn't realize it is as long as it is. It went quickly for me, and I rather liked the present tense.

Maybe as I age I'm getting more selective. If I'm not really enjoying a book, I seriously consider abandoning it.

I'm currently reading My Family and Other Animals, and it's sort of cute, but I'm wondering if I want to continue with it when I'm so unattached to it after 85 pages...and I have so many other books I want to read.

>33 fuzzi: LOL you're right. I should put it down and walk away. The problem is that I bought the hardcover when it first came out and don't want to waste the $20+ dollars. I want it to be a good book so I keep giving it another chance. I'm on page 183, and I've set it aside. I've read the first few chapters of two (excellent) ER books and I'm going to finish those and then find some quality time to give it one more chance.

Sometimes I think it's really not the book and it's just me There's a part of me that must be liking all the light we cannot see so I continue with it. I do remember not liking the oldest living confederate widow tells all the first time put it down for awhile and then liked it and finished it the second time

>34 JackieCarroll: sometimes we need to forget the money...time is more important.

If I paid for a restaurant buffet, and the food is awful, do I continue to eat in order to get my money's worth, or walk away?

#33 That book was adapted PBS's "Masterpiece Theater" in the 2000s. It had quite a few humorous moments!

>37 princessgarnet: I'd heard that. The book is humorous, but just not...well, it's not that it isn't funny, but I just don't feel enough of a connection to WANT to read more about these people.

A short list of books that I simply couldn't finish, despite critical acclaim:

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. I love Dickens, but this one was slower than molasses in January!
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, which everyone says they love, but I couldn't get into it.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Generation X by Douglas Coupland - he's one of my favourite novelists, but this one just leaves me cold.
Neuromancer by William Gibson

There are others, of course, but these ones represent books that I've tried several times to get into, and simply could not.

I'm not naming names or books, but tastes are such an odd thing....
Twice on this list are listed books that the reader couldn't finish, both of which are at the top of the list of my favourite books. It amuses me very much, because I think "hold on, how could you NOT love that book?!!"

My dislike of The Poisonwood Bible seems to strike others in the same way.

>39 ahef1963: I hated The Poisonwood Bible so much that I haven't read anything else by the same author, nor am I likely to anytime soon (and I didn't care much for the two or three I'd read previously). I wished I'd stopped at the first twinge.

I didn't care for The Bean Trees and don't plan to read the sequel, but I did like The Poisonwood Bible. Just curious: was it the writing, the story line or the subject that you disliked?

k4k

>39 ahef1963: >41 Meredy: I really disliked The Poisonwood Bible. I even tried the audio version which was unbearable.

There are a few books, praise upon praise, that I could not continue to read. The first is A Prayer for Owen Meany. I was so annoyed by the character of Owen. I could not get his screechy voice out of my head. The second is The Book Thief. I had a hard time with Death being the protagonist.

Even though I disliked these books, I do intend to reread them. I've done this with other books and ended up liking them the second time around.

>43 MsMaryAnn: I read A Prayer for Owen Meany when it first came out and I loved it. I'm not sure if I'd love it as much if I read it now because my tastes have changed and I'm a bit more discriminating. I just peeked at the book page because I'm trying to remember how long ago it was published, and the "Will I Like It" thing says I won't like it with a high degree of confidence. Hmmm... Anyway, a lot has changed in 25 years.

I'm reading The Book Thief with my 13-year-old granddaughter and we're both loving it. I'm sure the company has a lot to do with it :)

I loved A Prayer for Owen Meany but like >44 JackieCarroll: , it has been years since I read it. I think I'd still like it but I'm not terribly confident about that. I should re-read it, but I rarely get around to re-reading because there are so many unread books calling to me.

And I thought Death was one of the best things about The Book Thief, a book I loved.

>42 krazy4katz: The storyline and subject matter were what interested me, and I thought it could have been a terrific novel. What I disliked the most was probably the characters, all of them, some more and some less. I also disliked the way the story was told--not so much the crafting of words at the sentence level but the author's narrative devices.

>43 MsMaryAnn: I also detested A Prayer for Owen Meany, which I forced myself to get all the way through for a book discussion group I belonged to. I disliked everything about it, from the characters and their damned armadillo all the way to the playing out of the final scene. (These days I would have just ditched it.) I didn't like The Cider House Rules either, and I didn't like very much about A Widow for One Year; I doubt that I'll ever read another book by John Irving.

I've never read A Prayer for Owen Meany (I confess, it's because I dislike the title, which I know is a bad reason for not reading something) or, for that matter, any of Irving's work except for The World According to Garp, which I read and loved back in the late 70s when I was a young woman and read a lot of literary fiction, though I'm not sure I'd enjoy it as much if I reread it today.

I tried once about a dozen years ago to read one of Kingsolver's novels ~ one set in the American Southwest, not sure which ~ and just could not get into it. In fact, as I recall, I was actively annoyed by the characters, or maybe it was the writing style.

I loved The Book Thief, though, and look forward to the day my great-niece is old enough that we can read it together.

>15 Meredy: re: the 16% Holsinger...inquiring minds want to know....so did you?

>48 alco261: Haha. It was a library book, so I returned it. Unscathed.