Books you Couldn't Get Through

I will probably be flamed for this post, but here goes...

Are there any books you've attempted to read but just couldn't get into to the point that you stopped reading it and stayed away from that author as a result?

For me, it's Terry Pratchett's The Fifth Elephant. I kept trying to get into the characters and the writing, but after 100 pages of forcing myself to read it, I ended up giving up on it.

No, no flames. We all have our unfinished stacks. Some people in here couldn't finish The Lord of the Rings. Even those guys didn't get flamed.

Hmmm, I often bail out on books if they don't grab me. I'm too old to spend time reading things that I'm just not loving.

I agree, clam! I will usually give a book around 50 pages, maybe 100 if it has been recommended. My most recent book I gave up on is Ender in Exile. I dearly love Ender's Game; I've read it five or six times. However, the sequels did not live up to it. I was hoping this would be different. It wasn't.

King, I've also tried to read Pratchett. I really, really want to like Pratchett. I've tried two of his books and couldn't get past 50 pages. I know we have many Pratchett fans here in the Green Dragon. I may give him another try when my life is not so hectic.

The one exception to my rule is Stephen King. His books may start off slow, but I know there will come a point when I can not put them down.

Agreed entirely with clamairy. Reading (at least as discussed here; not for school or for work) is a pastime, for enjoyment. Nobody should have to slog it through something awful.

My wife and I also leave movies and live performances early if we don't like them. For things with intermissions, we'll wait for one of them to leave, of course, but I feel no compulsion to stick around. The phrase to remember is "We've already wasted our money; why waste our time, too?"

At the age of 64 I am a huge fan of "I am too old to waste my time reading something I am not loving." I have also picked up books I put down years ago and re-started them and find that I did enjoy them. I will put a book down but it takes quite a while before I give a unread book a new home.

As much as I loved The Hobbit and LOTR, I reread them regularly, I'm yet to get through the Silmarillion. I just can't do it! I'm fascinated by the information it contains, but find it way too dry for my attention span!

I'm not a Pratchett fan either, although I did enjoy the books with Granny Weatherwax and have read 3 or 4 of those. But I don't go out of my way to look for them. They were lent/given to me. I recently tried Pratchett again with the Tiffany Aching books because several people I know raved about them; I made it through the first book but just felt no urge to go on.

And I'm one of those that hasn't been able to finish LOTR but plan to try again someday. There was a thread a while back where Green Dragoners' posted their favorite quotes from the books and Tolkien's writing is beautiful. His pacing is just different from what I'm used to and I think I just need to be in the right mood.

Perhaps the dragoneers who plan to attend the PacNW meet-up in September should all bring copies of the LOTRs and we can compare parts we love. I too have it on my "must get to this soon" pile.

Moby Dick. I've started it 3 times and never gotten out to sea! And The Canterbury Tales in the original language. I've done a modern translation, but never made it much past the first 2-3 tales in the original.

But I agree with those who said why bother reading anything you don't like. Those are just a couple of books that I wanted to like, but never managed to get very far.

#6 You're not alone in that. I love LotR but have never made it through the Silmarillion. It's just too dry and dense for me.

A book has to be very bad for me to stop reading it. I have one that's currently hanging around; I made a dent in it but I suspect it's going on the abandoned books pile very soon. The book that everyone loves that I abandoned a while ago was the first in Dorothy Dunnett's popular series. I can't even remember what it's called now.

I'm right there with the "don't waste your time" group. So far this year I've put down 5 books unfinished without a glance backward. Some of them were even books others loved, but they did nothing for me. The Gunslinger was the latest.

I loved The Lord of the Rings trilogy, read it over one weekend spending about 18 hours on it in the late 60's and have read it a few more times since, but just could not finish The Silmarillion. I've tried a few times but even now cannot finish it. I bought the History of the Middle Earth series and although I managed the first couple of titles I found them very hard going and have yet to revisit them.

I loved LOTR and the Hobbit, finished Silmarillion (but will never read it again) but the Children of Hurin defeated me.

*whispers*
I didn't finish The Eye of the World

Apparently I left it off just as it got interesting. I'll try again some time.

I can beat that Will - I'd never heard of The Eye of the World.

I haven't been able to finish any of Neal Stephenson's output since The Diamond Age. Latest attempt was Anathem.

#14 *whispers to Will*
Neither did I.

That's another series I wanted to read simply because Brandon Sanderson is writing the final book (or books). I gave it about 100 pages.

Oh I cant not finish a book! I need to finish just in case they redeem themselves - & usually they do for me, but I am easily pleased, lol :)

One that I really struggled with earlier this year was The Wanderer's Tale by David Bilsborough, took me over 3 weeks to get through & I was struggling the whole way, & then the ending was a cliffhanger - to be continued in book 2! I didnt start book 2, which is rare for me, usually if I start a series I finish it...

Two categories -

Books that I can't finish at the moment but will give another try. Those are tagged "status:on hold".

Books that I just can't seem to get through. The latest was Sunfall. I just hat to quit, it took a week to read through the first short story (10 pages, I think), and the next didn't grip me either. That's a sign ;-)

(ETA - I love Pratchett & Neal Stephenson but I can see why they're not everyone's cup of tea.)

#3 - Me neither. Ender's Game was great, the rest an exponentially accelerating downfall.

I'll pretty much always finish a book, come what may. But I feel no compulsion to attempt the sequels. I can't remember the last book I didn't finish.

I'm a fast reader which helps on two fronts - even the worst book is only a day or two's reading time to finish. Books with slow starts - I'm very quickly into the middle of the book where things start to pick up.

For those of you who don't like slow books where any action only occurs at the end, don't read my current reads the red mars trilogy by KSR - at least the first 3/4 of each of the books (several hundred pages) is scene and mostly character setting. A few characters wonder around, talk, see things, and you can feel a little tension building. But only in the last 1/4 is there any plot as such. And yet they are fabulous books I'm very impressed with them thinking about a huge range of social issues and the impacts of technology - but a very long start. If you decide by 50 pages you'll never get to the interesting bits.

#20 I love KSR Mars Trilogy but have struggled with everything else of his I've read apart from Antarctica which seems to be along very similar lines (and structure). But I'm coming to realise I'm basically a sucker for books like this as I'm currently going through a lot of Peter Hamilton which seems to me structure wise to be very similar. Coincidentally I started with Pandora's Star which also features a trip to Mars.

To all those above who have struggled with Terry Pratchett I add my name. I still have a battered copy of The colour of Magic around somewhere that I can't find now. I've tried to read it several times but can't get into it. However, recently I've started to take them on planes with me and am eating them up so it really annoys me now that I can't find it aaaargh.

I'm usually pretty good at finishing books apart from "classics". I started reading Doctor Zhivago about 25 years ago and still haven't quite finished it. I'm planning on taking The Children of Hurin on holiday to Portugal with me so I'll see how I get on with that.

Wuthering Heights defeated me...I tried to read it several times...finally just gave the book away.

I couldn't read Wuthering Heights but finally got through it on audio. None of the Brontes make my heart sing, though. I've never been able to read Jane Eyre.

I've been getting through some classics this way, on audio, the ones I otherwise wouldn't have the patience to finish: Jane Eyre, Oliver Twist, and Treasure Island to name a few.

I finished Wuthering Heights, but I hated it!

Maybe we should start a Lima Beans of Literature thread.

What a great name!! :-D

Thank you. :)

Anything at all by Dostoevsky. I've started Demons and The Brothers Karamazov and enjoyed them as far as I got but just seem to get bogged down in keeping track of who everyone is.

Aw, I like lima beans. I just made some last week in the crock pot -- slow cooked them for 8 hours with shallots in a well-seasoned broth -- they melted in my mouth. Mmmm.

Maybe some of these books could be improved by being slow cooked for 8 hours.

couldn't hurt . . .

Ulysses-- I have started it several times, and the last time got to the beach scene. I will probably try again.

Gravity's Rainbow -- I wanted to like it. I really did.

In Search of Lost Time -- That was my summer project last summer. I got through the first, and half of the second books. I liked it, and I am not sure why I stopped.

Anything by Piers Anthony

Like many others, The Simarilion.

War and Peace, but I am gaining on that one!

As a teenager i couldn't get halfway through the first Gormenghast book, and have never been inspired to try again -- not even by a very good price on the whole trilogy in the chain bookstore's sale mentioned in another thread.

Made it through the Silmarillion, but don't want to try again, and agree on Children of Hurin.

I must admit I haven't even bothered getting Children of Hurin as it came out when I had cut back on my purchases and when I did investigate it I read some reviews which suggested that it was a hard read comparing it to Silmarillion and The History of the Middle Earth. I have bought The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun though as I was wondering about his take on that legend but have yet to start reading it.

Another book I started but cannot finish is The Last Samurai: The Life and Battles of Saigo Takamori. I bought this when in a phase of getting the original books that films I had enjoyed were based on.

I only have two books that I have not been able to force my way through. The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin, which I have tried to read twice, and more recently Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

I have some books on my shelves that I've tried to read but put down knowing that it just wasn't the right time or place. They have the tag 'started'. I believe I have 58 of them right now, just waiting for the right time and/or place.

Others are just not a match for me and they've gone to the thrift store, or more recently, on BookMooch. I didn't even finish my March ER book and gave it away. (But I did put that in the review I wrote and put several reasons and several examples of why I didn't like the book so it hopefully counts for a review.) Life if Pi is another example. I will never read it. And, about 6 months ago I got rid of almost all of my Virginia Woolf, except for a sentimental copy of A Room of One's Own.

Life's too short to read drek, reading's a pleasure and shouldn't be homework (unless it's really homework), and not every book is a good match for every person.

#35 Amen to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies! Nothing's worse than humor that doesn't work.

Ender's Game. I didn't get very far into that one, as it seemed to be more of a young adult's book. Also Pirate Freedom by Gene Wolfe. Although I'm a fan of Wolfe, I got lost in this one and was too bored to keep finding my way.

Centennial. Couldn't get past the dinosaurs.

Dostoevsky's The Idiot.Never made it past page one.Meredith's The Egoist(I don't know why).Anything by Henry James(and,oh,I have tried.Hard.)

Normally I like the classics, but Bleak House and David Copperfield just didn't do it for me

#37 Thank you! I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought so.

Handboek voor de ondernemingsraad (Handbook for the workers council).
Perfect if you can't get to sleep. My copy has several drool marks and I woke up numerous times with the lights still on. Never made it past chapter 1.

#41 Someone else who couldn't finish Bleak House! (Granted, I just don't like Dickens' work, period.)

Will, I never got through Eye of the World either. (It's not stopped me reading most of the series in completely insane order, mind.)

Let's see... I could never get into Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, try as I might. I do want to try again one more time, though. It took me years and years to get beyond the first page of a Pratchett book, actually. It guess it required something I lacked at the time I first tried to read his work.

I've also abandoned The Silmarillion by Tolkien (d'oh), Touch the Dark by Karen Chance and Broken Wings: Genesis by AJ Rand in recent memory. I'm slowly coming around to this new idea of putting aside the books you really, really don't get along with in favour of something more enjoyable, but it's still a pretty new concept for me.

I'm not a particularly fast reader, so I get through books by devoting time to them. I felt a little bad, setting aside The Silmarillion but now I feel a bit vindicated by so many others here who have done the same. I notice that several other of Tolkien's works have made the list. This seems odd to me, since the writing of LOTR and Hobbit are so beautiful. (I read parts of LOTR aloud, to myself, because they were so beautiful that I wanted to hear them.) I'm am wondering, maybe those JRRT volumes that folks can't get through - are they mostly (all?) the ones that Christopher Tolkien "edited" posthumously? If so, I'm suspecting a connection.

Professionally, I have tried several times to read Marjorie Suchocki's book The Fall to Violence. I really have tried - it was assigned for a class back in grad school. But after the 4th or so attempt last year, I gave up and decided to just mine reviews in professional journals for the basics. I don't expect most folks here to recognize her; she's apparently a brilliant theorist in my field. Maybe it's the wrong book, or maybe all her stuff is written at a post-doctoral reading level. *Sigh*

#45 Yes, they were all published posthumously, and I firmly believe there is a connection. Maybe even two or more.

1. The ones JRRT published are written in a much lighter style than the one his son "mined" (for want of a better word) later. Which means that one can read more than one sentence at a stretch without being exhausted.

2. I suspect JRRT knew that the others were indigestible, and so had the good sense not to try to publish them. On the other hand, if LotR and Hobbit were once in the state that Silmarillion is now, one can only admire him for the endless effort he put into polishing them!

3. And many of the histories of Middle Earth are burdened with a volume of footnotes almost as great as the original text. Great for scholars, but a deadly anaesthetic for readers.

Really? I found it to be kind of funny. I even acted out the pentagram of death for my family. I always knew Elizabeth had more to offer the world than she revealed.

I'm glad to know I did not miss anything in being unable to get through Silmarillion.

Another one I struggled with was Battlefield Earth. I couldn't get past page 50. Luckily the movie comforted me that I did not miss anything.

I also have to agree about the Ender series. Ender's Game was great, but I got only half-way through Xenocide before deciding it wasn't worth it.

I've only abandoned a couple of books. David Copperfield was one of them. I got about halfway through before stopping. I'd recently read Oliver Twist and just couldn't take any more of Dickens's improbably sweet downtrodden orphans. I'll probably go back to it someday.

I loved The Hobbit and the LOTR trilogy. I believe I first read them around the age of 12. I remember being sorely disappointed when I started The Silmarillion and realized that it wasn't written in the same style. I abandoned it after 20 pages or so. I tried again in my early 20s and once again abandoned it. Finally a few years ago I reread all of LOTR to get back in the Tolkien mindset and finally finished it. I probably won't read it again, but I'm glad I made it through. It gives me a greater appreciation for LOTR and Tolkien's world building.

#46 I used to think that about Christopher Tolkien too until I read JRR's biography and a collected work of his letters. The funny thing is, when the publisher wanted a sequel to The Hobbit, Tolkien offered them a sample of The Silmarillion. They rejected it, and he ended up writing LOTR and tying it to his already established mythology. After LOTR became a huge success he tried several times to get publishers interested in The Silmarillion. It was one of his fondest wishes. You can look at what Christopher has done from the mercenary point of view, but I tend to see it as fulfilling what his father hoped to accomplish.

I just recently abandoned The Tory Widow by Christine Blevins. It was totally disappointing to me with shallow characterizations, no depth, and awkward phrasing. Ugh.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. There. That is the best part of the whole book.

I loved The Idiot and Jonathon Strange and Mr Norrel but I am heartened by all the people who, like me, could not plow through the The Silmarillion. When I meet people who say it is the best of of JRRT's books, I suspect they are writing a dissertation on it.

I also had trouble with a Dickens book. I used to enjoy him, but I got so bored with Nicholas Nickleby. It was a relief to put it down.

If I may, I'd like to defend The Silmarillion a bit. I read it not long after reading LOTR, and I enjoyed it. I'll admit some sections are tedious, but some I found quite compelling ("Beren and Luthien," "Akallabeth"). I couldn't get behind David Copperfield, however. There's so much Dickens that's good -- why did my high school English teacher have to inflict that one on us?

#48 -- I had two friends in high school who dared each other to read the entire Mission Earth series. Only one of them managed it, and he said the books took a radical turn around number four or so. It was really obvious a different author was writing them, he said. Whether that made them better or worse, I couldn't say.

Aw, I loved The Eye of the World. It's what got me into the epic fantasy genre.

I couldn't finish A Prayer for Owen Meany. I got about 150 pages in and literally would have rather gouged out my own eyes than finish that monstrosity. I thought it was incredibly preachy, not funny, and badly written. Well, maybe not badly written, just not written in a way I enjoy to read. Constantly referring to things that hadn't happened yet in the book, saying "we'll get to that later." I have no patience for that sort of time line in a book.

msg 53 - Mission Earth?
Was that the 10 volume series by L. Ron Hubbard? If so I wanted to get it but my bookshop at the time could never get Volume 1 in so never ever started it. Successfully read Battlefield Earth though.

edited for touchstone

Ooo! Ooo! I remember another one. I had heard a fair bit about Left Behind and the rest of the series (touchstone not working; it's the Tim LaHaye--Jerry B. Jenkins stuff). Although I'm totally not into that kind of religion, I figured I should at least see what all the fuss was about. Didn't get more than 10 pages into it. Could not buy into the internal world of what I assumed was the main character. (The movie was surprisingly not bad.)

A couple of years ago, I espied Soon, the first in the Underground Zealot series by Jerry B. Jenkins. The premise seemed interesting: world government has determined that religion is the cause of all war and crime, and so has outlawed it. The series is about the resistance movement. Standing in the bookstore, I did not get past the opening scene where a man is shot and immolated inside a partially-filled drum of napalm. Gruesome and horribly written.

A friend offered some redemption for The Silmarillion by telling me that it was not completed as a novel, but was just JRRT's notes on his world. If that's true, then maybe we can't blame Christopher's editing.

#54 -- I know what you mean, goddessladyj -- I don't usually like that self-conscious style of writing either. It's why I didn't enjoy Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians, despite being written by Brandon Sanderson, whose work I otherwise love.

#55 -- Yes, Mission Earth was the 10-volume series that came after Battlefield Earth, but having not read any of them I'm not sure whether they're related. Mission Earth is supposed to be some of the worst stuff ever written. Though I think it would have to work hard to be worse than Refugee, a book I couldn't finish because it was making me sick to my stomach.

#56 -- I've been sort of interested in reading Left Behind. I think from a plot standpoint they could be good, but perhaps not? One of our local bookstores shelves them in SciFi/Fantasy.

#57
Uh, oh! I haven't gotten to the Alcatraz books yet...Brandon Sanderson is my FAVORITE, so hopefully that makes up for a less-than-favorite writing style!

I couldn't finish the wind in the willows Maybe I just didn't give it enough time?

> 57 One of the things I have learned on LT (especially GD) is that taste in fiction is a very personal/individual thing. Personally, I realized I didn't like the LaHaye/Jenkins writing style. Maybe it was more Jenkin's than LaHaye I objected to - I haven't tried to read anything by LaHaye alone or with other co-authors. But others here have objected to authors that I have enjoyed, at least through one book. Piers Anthony is an example, I know I have read one of his books, and I enjoyed it very much (unfortunately, I can't recall the title).

And so also, missmaddie, I believe that life is too short to read bad fiction. Maybe you didn't give WITW enough time, or maybe it really wasn't your cup of tea. There are plenty of other good novels (classics, too, even!) out there to read.

I made one of my Collections "Started, but never finished" -- there are 21 books on there, for various reasons. Some (Something to Blog About, I'm looking at you) were poorly written . . . and a book has to be pretty darn bad before I'll put it aside; usually I have to know how it ends. Some good books are on there just because I got distracted in the middle of them and never made it back to them -- someday I'll pick them back up again. Several classics are on there because I am guilty of having a short attention span -- Portrait of a Lady (I always have a hard time getting in to Henry James), Crime and Punishment, Silas Marner, etc.

And, yes, both The Silmarillion and The Eye of the World are there. I'll pick them back up some day . . . perhaps!

If they are big enough, you can do this with them: http://www.tokyopistol.com/goods/honbachi.html

#60 -- I thought Piers Anthony's On a Pale Horse and Blue Adept were pretty decent books (at least when I read them in middle school). He can come up with clever ideas and plots, but always crushes the life out of them by the second or third book in the series. I couldn't finish With a Tangled Skein, for example.

#61 foggidawn - I have a tag called 'started' and there are 58 books in it. I've started and abandoned many more, but these are the 58 that I actually think I'll pick up at some point in the future and read.

Regarding The Silmarillion: My mother, thinking that I liked LOTR, gave me The Silmarillion one time. I tried and tried, felt guilty, then finally gave it away so I wouldn't have to look at it staring reproachfully at me. No more guilt. Life's too short.

I can listen to the Silmarillion on cd, but even then I fall asleep so I have never tried reading it.

The Silmarillion isn't a novel, it is a collection of short stories linked together. I have found that treating it like that makes it work much better when reading it.

The Farthest Shore isn't that long, one should be able to push through the somewhat dry opening chapters to get to the meat of the book pretty quickly.

It is pretty easy to find all the volumes of Mission Earth at library book sales and in used book stores. It seems that many people get them and cast them back as soon as possible. One of these days I will get around to reading my set just to revel in the awfulness and write scathing reviews.

I feel about the same way about the Left Behind books. I will eventually read them with an eye toward lambasting them in reviews, but I fear that my efforts will pale in comparison to those of Fred Clark: http://slacktivist.typepad.com/slacktivist/left_behind/index.html

I just bailed out on The World is Flat. I enjoyed the first 200 or so pages, the next 50 seemed very repetitive, and then I skimmed another 50. When I saw I still had 200+ pages to go I said ENOUGH!

Surprisingly for me, I've abandoned another book. Mistress of the Art of Death start irritating me about page 200 or so and I finally said "No more!" on page 246.

Sometimes I feel guilty about abandoning a book and will stick it on my shelves for another start, but this one was put on BookMooch and is getting mailed out Friday.

#68 - It's sort of liberating to give up, isn't it? LOL

The Silmarillion is one of very few on my list of books I couldn't get through, too. I keep trying every now and then, but I've never made it further than the Valaquenta. Funnily enough, though, I didn't have nearly so hard a time with Unfinished Tales.

As far as more recently-published works go, I gave up on Kate Mosse's Labyrinth about halfway through, too mired in her writing style to continue.

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand...I've started it several times and it is interesting, but it just plogs along and loses my attention. Someday...

>66 StormRaven: That's how I treated the Sil. Have to read it in pieces... though I still haven't gotten through all of it, even that way. I've reread the creation myth several times though; it's probably my favorite creation myth ever! Absolutely gorgeous.

I have lists of books I've only gotten part way through due to my ADD, but usually I end up going back and finishing them.

I have to say, though, that I stopped reading Dune after the second chapter. I was enjoying the story, but I just couldn't stand his writing style; there was something about his sentense structure that just made me itch! I'm kind of sad about that though, as all my friends tell me how amazing it is.

I am debating finishing Don Quixote. I looked at a few study guides online and it looks like it does get better, but I'm almost 200 pages in and not really enjoying it. I'm reading it for a book club I really want to attend, but I'm not sure I can really stick with it.

#69 clamairy - yes! it is liberating. I mailed it out Friday and really hope that the person I sent it to loves and appreciates it.

I probably need to review the 58 books on my shelves that say "started" and see which ones I really will consider trying to start again and the ones that should really go on BookMooch.

With Don Qixote you can skip around. I really enjoyed the children's version I read in Spanish. Maybe there are easier (versions in English, too.
My book had pictures, that helped

I've never truly abandoned a book forever, every book I read I read sometime or another. I even finished Tanizaki's Quicksand eventually, even though it was completely bleak and depressing. Some books need you to see the ending before you can make any judgment about them.

#71

Atlas Shrugged is honestly not worth the effort.

When I was writing my review of the book, I kept on accidentally typing Rant instead of Rand. Who knows why that would be?

I gave up on Kite Runner the other day. Sure, it's a well-written book. But it's not informative - I learnt nothing of Afghanistan or Islam - nor did I find the novel entertaining. If I don't get either of those, I find it hard to see the point in continuing to read.

Glad to see some others posting Wuthering Heights. Jane Eyre is one of my favorite books, so I thought I'd try the work of Emily; but I found nothing of the hopeful tone and gentle inner strength which so moved me with Jane. I made it about halfway through before giving up. I couldn't sympathize with any of the characters, who were either boring on the one side, or exaggeratedly misanthropic/psychotic/brutal on the other. I couldn't find any love in my heart for Heathcliff, and I didn't care what happened to him. I didn't care that he was Catherine, and Catherine was him, because I didn't like either of them.

To those who mentioned Oliver Twist, I just finished it and loved it. Sure, Oliver is impossibly angelic, as is Rose. But the real interest of the book lies in the "bad guys," especially the interaction between Fagin and Sikes, and Sikes and Nancy, and Nancy's internal struggles.

Also, what's strange is, The Wind in the Willows. I aspire to be a children's author, and I've grown up loving whimsical talking-animal type of stuff. So I picked this up when I was in fifth grade or so, thinking I'd love it, but couldn't get very far. Tried it again in middle school, still with no luck. Maybe I'd like it now that I'm older (ironically)?

79: I'd be doubtful on The Wind in the Willows. I recently read it as part of my "read books before I give them to my children" policy, and found it was not that great.

Odd double post.

Heh, thanks, StormRaven. Maybe if I tried again I'd at least be able to pinpoint what turns me off.

Another one was Eragon. I have several friends who loved it (the same friends, admittedly, who DIDN'T like LotR because it was "too descriptive," "too slow," etc.). In fact, one of the most intelligent guys I know called it one of his very favorite books. So I wanted to like it, I did, but it just came off as something any reasonably creative teen versed in D&D could have written. I guess it wasn't that bad, but it was certainly nothing special either, and seemed quite derivative. I just don't understand why it's reached such success and gained such praise when I'm sure countless of people out there his age could write just as well. I mean, I could have easily written that book, I think. And just because I want to be a published author someday doesn't mean I'm ready to be now.

I've also struggled to enjoy reading Wind in the Willows though I love the characters and the overall story. Something about the writing itself just doesn't flow for me.
Today I forced myself to finish my first Dick Francis book, Dead Heat. Bleugh!
I only read it because a friend of mine just looooooves Dick Francis' work. How do I tell her I thought it was awful and my children were begging me to walk away from the book because I was ranting about it so loudly?! :-S

How funny! I love Dick Francis. But my kids do the same thing. They couldn't understand why I was still reading Don Quixote when I complained about it so much.

*LOL* DQ is the one other book my kids also wanted me to stop reading. I ranted about it (loudly, and often!) for an entire year before I finally finished. I'm glad I did get through it in the end... though I think perhaps I did throw it across the room at least once just to relieve my frustration before attempting a few more pages.

ETA: oops... meant to ask, which is your favourite of Dick Francis's work? I was wondering how different is Dead Heat(2007 and co-authored by his son) to some of his earlier books.

It is a little different. My favorite is probably the ones with Sid Halley, starting with Odds Against. And I love the one that set aboard a Canadian race train, The Edge.

#86 cmbohn - I love the Sid Halley ones and the race train one too. There's also one about an insurance agent and something about insuring a horse... I think that was my first and I loved it. Was the guy's name Peter....?

When I got married 18 years ago, my mother-in-law introduced me to Dick Francis. I'm forever grateful.

I'm another one who cant make it through The Silmarillion, though I loved the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings. I keep trying every few years just to see if maybe this time it will be different, but no luck yet.

Another one I couldn't get through was The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks. Got half way and couldn't stand it anymore.

In Our Time did a discussion of Don Quixote. It's about 45mins.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/inourtime/inourtime_20060316.shtml

Most recently I have set aside Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. I just can't decide if this book is worth it. It has great reviews and I've heard great things, but so far I'm just not feeling the love.

August 1914 by Solzhenitsyn. My dad lent me his copy with high recommendations. Maybe it just wasn't a summer book--I've read other books by Solzhenitsyn but they were a long time ago--and one review said not to read THIS one first! Still, some of the chapters were fabulous--just so many, so detailed and complex a web! Maybe I'll try again in fall or winter.

August 1914 by Solzhenitsyn. My dad lent me his copy with high recommendations. Maybe it just wasn't a summer book--I've read other books by Solzhenitsyn but they were a long time ago--and one review said not to read THIS one first! Still, some of the chapters were fabulous--just so many, so detailed and complex a web! Maybe I'll try again in fall or winter.

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. I got about 100 pages in and realized that I just didn't care.

It was given to me by a co-worker who later tried (and failed) to convince me that I should read Twilight. Never allowed her to recommend another book after that.

I could not get thru The Life of Pi; people kept telling me it gets better and to keep on, but after about 120 pages I just said forget it...and took it back to the library. Our library has it in the YA section; I can't imagine it holding the interest of any teen.

I could not get thru The Life of Pi; people kept telling me it gets better and to keep on, but after about 120 pages I just said forget it...and took it back to the library. Our library has it in the YA section; I can't imagine it holding the interest of any teen.

#90 HughFire - Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell has been on my shelves for quite a whiile. I got about 100 pages in and put it down a couple of years ago, but have great hopes of finding the right time to read it.

#94 theexiledlibrarian - I couldn't even get past the first page of Life of Pi, tried several times, kept it on my shelves for a couple of years thinking I should read it.

I finally listed it on BookMooch and sent it off to someone who will (hopefuly) appreciate it.

I recently put down Uncle Tom's Cabin after only 30 pages. The problem with it is that there were several other books that were much more interesting. I think there will be a good time to pick it up and try again - just don't know when that is.

#78 I got about 1/3 of the way through The Kite Runner, figured out the "twist" and jumped ahead to see if I was right. It was so obvious, at least to me, that I had no interest in finishing it once I had confirmed it. I agree that as travelogue, it wasn't doing it either. I did find the kite wars entertaining, tho.

I also gave up on The Historian - so dang boring! Too much talk and historical background, and nothing happening!

I managed to struggle through The Kite Runner, but failed to understand what was so special about the book. Gave up on The Historian when I realised it was about Dracula! Both of these, however, are surpassed by The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell which is a most disgusting piece of literature...

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

I have to admit that I didn't read *all* the comments before adding these two cents, so someone may have already mentioned what I'm about to say.

First, I do a "page 40 test" before buying/borrowing most of my books. Turn to page 40 of the book in question and read it. Is it interesting? Does it appear as though, by this point, the plot is moving forward? Is there too much/too little dialogue/description/notation/etc. for your liking? I find this can sometimes help avoid diving into books that don't interest you.

Second, I tried and desperately wanted to finish The Yellow House by Martin Gaylord but his writing style just killed me. I couldn't do it, even though the subject matter and story were extremely interesting to me.

I also gave up on The Historian.

annie1378 - I enjoyed The Road very much, but I can understand why it is not for everyone.

I bailed on Out. Too graphic.