Most abandoned book

In so many conversations lately someone mentions having abandoned Mistress of the Art of Death. I am one of those people. It just got me wondering which book is most froequently hurled across the room in disgust, long before the reader gets to the end. Might be interesting to have a count up later so don't be put off by the fact that someone else has nominated the book you just abandoned - that's the whole point of the thread, to see which gets the most votes.

So to kick it off - that very same Mistress of the Art of Death gets my first vote.

Me,too, booksloth.

Mistress of the Art of Death.

I've done that quite often I think. The books I can remember at the moment are:

The Davinci code
A book from Somerset Maugham about an orphan, I can't remember the title
If Only It Were True (left this one in a subway car in disgust)

Florence

I abandoned Helprin's Winter's Tale. There wasn't anything wrong with it, and parts of it were good. But somehow it just didn't move along well enough.

I've set up a collection called Stuck in the Middle which is made up of books I've abandoned. If many people set up similar collections, maybe we could get at the data. Or by using tags.

I've got a tag called 'started'. There are 58 books in it. These are only the abandoned books that I'm keeping to try to read again, though - I don't keep books in my catalog that I don't own.

According to the tagmash fiction, abandoned here's the top ten on LT.

# The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
# Where The Heart Is by Billie Letts
# Independence Day by Richard Ford
# Light on Snow by Anita Shreve
# The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold
# Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah
# Mr. Darcy's Daughters : A Novel by Elizabeth Aston
# The Island of the Day Before by Umberto Eco
# Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
# The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

I haven't read Light on Snow, but I definitely don't care for Anita Shreve.

I couldn't finish A Prayer for Owen Meany. Ugh. I won't be trying any other John Irving again.

I'm so sad that The Virgin Suicides is on that list. It's a favourite of mine and probably the most beautiful book I've ever read. However, I do get the impression that many people read it expecting a more conventional mystery story and abandon it when they don't get one.

The Almost Moon - I finished that, but it wasn't worth it. I've abandoned The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco, but I'd like to know how it ends so I plan to go back.

I've started Neuromancer by William Gibson about 3 times and never gotten halfway. It seems this is a common trend for the novel, and many say it's not worth finishing, although of course it has its fans too.

Although I have never tried, I hear that Ulysses by James Joyce takes multiple attempts.

#9 I liked The Virgin Suicides too, though I wouldn't go so far as to say it was the most beautiful book I've ever read. Somewhat nearer that mark might come A Prayer For Owen Meany though - plus pretty much everything else by Irving. That top ten is interesting - though it does only indicate the top 10 from people who could be bothered to tag them. Then again, this thread only applies to those who could be bothered to enter them here so I'm not pretending to be scientifically on the money either.

I am a little surprised at The Virgin Suicides though, merely because it's such an easy book to read. I was rather expecting people to go for stuff like Ulysses. With TVS you've barely started before it's over so I can only assume the people who abandoned it were deeply offended by something therein.

I found Pride and Prejudice and Zombies truly terrible. And I had been so looking forward to a good send-up of Jane, too.

>12 jennieg:
I've repackaged the slogan for the capital of Texas as a subtitle, in response to the popularity of P&P&Z. The result: Pride and Prejuduce and Zombies: Keep Austen Weird.

I confess that The Grapes of Wrath is my "I don't know how many times I've tried to finish it" book. I can't even explain why. I've probably tried to finish this book two dozen times.

>13 AnnaClaire: I just wish the book had been as funny as your version of the title.

The initial post reminded me of a quip by Dorothy Parker: "This is not a book to be put down lightly; it should be thrown violently." Or, as Mark Twain noted with respect to Henry James' books:"Once you put them down, you can't pick them back up." In any event, I found myself unable to read Ulysses or Gravity's Rainbow despite several attempts. I did not quit them in disgust; I simply found them unreadable.

#14 Don't worry about Grapes. I'll do your share of reading that one any day!

#9 and #11 - re The Virgin Suicides. The thought of teenage girls committing suicide almost makes me sick to my stomach, especially since I have a teenage daughter. There were other reasons too, but that's the biggie. It was well written and evocative of the times, just so terribly sad, tragic, and scary.

I abandoned Pope Joan. I have no clue why so many people love it so much--I thought it was god-awful, so many black-and-white characters.

Haven't started Mistress of the Art of Death yet. I'll post here and let you know what the verdict is.

I think the only book I have ever abandoned is Crime and Punishment.

Despite it being assigned to me in an AP English class.... I could not bear to read The Fountainhead... I did not even want to read the cliff notes for it!

I rather liked The Sparrow, an interesting premise... one of the richest groups on earth (so happens to be a religious group) builds a spaceship and goes to another world to spread the word of god... maybe a little dry though.

I got halfway through Mistress of the Art of Death, contemplated abandoning it because of a constant low level of irritation with it all, but persevered given how many raves I've seen elsewhere around here. And I'm glad I did, I thought the second half was marvellous.

My #1 abandoned book (it's the first one that I remember making a concerted effort to *not* finish it, because I'm such a completist) is Lolita by Vladimir Nabakov. It read as an apology for paedophilia, and I did not like it.

>7 VisibleGhost: The only book I've read in this list is The Island of the Day Before and I liked it very much. The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana was not as good as the other books by Eco I read.

I have started Ulysses a couple of time, but I was so convinced from the start that I wouldn't be able to read it, I guess it doesn't really count. Some day I must try it in earnest.

War and Peace. Wanted to read it, tried to read it, couldn't get past a quarter of it. Maybe one day I'll make another attempt ...

I've given up on Moby Dick a couple of times, but have not hurled it across the room, merely laid it respectfully back at the bottom of the TBR read pile.

#22 So glad I'm not the only one who felt that way about Lolita, though I did make myself finish it because I wanted to know what all the fuss was about. Having done so, I felt as if I needed a really good scrub in a hot bath.

I've got 10 tagged abandoned:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=PortiaLong&tag=abandoned&co...

Most notably:
Dianetics
Burmese Days
On the Road
The Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All

>25 puddleshark:: Funny, I came back because I forgot to mention, I just gave up on Moby Dick too. Didn't feel like hurling it either, just wasn't that interested. I doubt I'll pick it up again.

#28 & #25, I, too, have little interest in reading "Moby Dick". I've heard so much about it that I know the main parts of the story as well as often quoted lines from it.

>10 andfisha:, 16
Ulysses is a writer's book, not a reader's book. Immerse yourself in it. Study it. Read some analyses and good critical works, ahead of time. It is the best one-day story of all time. And remember, Joyce's intent was to goof on College Professors, for eons to come. It worked. The effort to read, is well worth it.

>22 wookiebender:, Excellent literature, but I felt the same way about Lolita.

>27 PortiaLong: I really liked Burmese Days, albeit with one of the worst villains in all of literature.

>25 puddleshark:, 28, 29
Hmm, spitting all over the best novel of all American literature, Moby Dick. Give it a try again, skip the cetacean blather, and lighten up.

I couldn't get past the beginning of Sarum by Edward Rutherfurd. I really liked the concept, I was interested in what was happening, but the writing was so excruciatingly bad that I couldn't stand the thought of being inflicted with another 1000 pages of it.

I've got Moby Dick on my perpetual "yes, I really am reading that, I just put it down about two thirds of the way through a few years ago, but I'll get back to it one day soon" pile.

I don't consider it (or the others, including Ulysses) in this pile abandoned, I just haven't made time for the second half as yet. An abandoned book to me is one that I have consciously decided to not continue with (for whatever reason) and have removed from my (real) shelves, although it may continue in my LT catalogue.

I don't abandon books very often, just a small handful each year, out of about 100 books read.

It's funny, when you say you've read Ulysses, the snobs say "Oh, only once?"

I admit I only scrounged and retained about 15% of THAT monster. I'll wait about 5-10 years, and do it again.

Ahem, Moby Dick is still one of my favourite books of all time. Yes, seriously. But I fully understand why people may not quite get it. All I can say is, read in small portions and skip any rambling parts. You may come to appreciate it a little more.

I hurled Da Vinci Code and House of Leaves across the room. Before atempting House of Leaves I never thought I'd so vehemently dislike any book. Guess I was wrong.

I actually enjoyed both Moby Dick and Mistress of the Art of Death. What I could not get through is 2666 by Roberto Bolano and Creation by Gore Vidal. I have heard 2666 called genius by some people and its even on someones list on librarything of books that must be read in order to consider oneself to be well read, and if that is the case then I will never be well read because its just not worth it. With Creation I got all the way to like 100 pages from the end out of like 900 pages and could not get past the queen having intercourse with a dead horse.

I tried A Prayer for Owen Meany twice, and didn't make it through either time. I'm not sure why. I didn't DISLIKE it, though the business of Owen TALKING IN ALL CAPITALS kind of drove me up the wall. Funny that I didn't finish it, because my husband read it and kept the book, and he reads very little fiction. I haven't given up on it totally -- it's still on the shelf -- but it's not currently on my TBR pile.

#31 Yeah, I should have known better with Sarum because I'd already given up on London by the same author. Thing is, it's the kind of book I should love but I found that every time I started to get involved with the characters the story would take a 200 year leap and I'd lose them. I have given it to somebody who will almost ceratinly love it, though.

I must confess I've read all those doorstop Edward Rutherfurd books, and enjoyed them enormously - I think that counts as a guilty pleasure! Speaking of which, I feel a new thread coming on ...

http://www.librarything.com/topic/69602

#38 I can see how that could be, Sophie. I think they may actually be rather good books and I did feel I should love them. I think the fault was with me rather than the books. In fact, one of the reasons I picked them up in the first place was because they looked just perfect for snuggling into, one after the other.

tymfos - my story is about the same (minus the husband part) and I still have the book, but it's not on a short list anywhere. I just could not find anything in it to like or keep me interested. Probably because it's a Tin Drum pastiche and I hate The Tin Drum.

Tried to make it through House of Leaves as well and it didn't click. Am also hanging onto it for another go someday.

Great thread, and yes I do concede it is full of very valid personal opinions.

I'm finding that negative recommendations are just as useful as favorable ones. I do after all have to try to control my TBR pile, so the Da Vinci Code will definitely remain off.

I tried a couple of times, but I really think I can skip One Hundred Years of Solitude.

(...creeps away and braces for the attack, especially after attacking the anti-Moby Dick lobby....)

I searched for the tag "unfinished" and got this:
# Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke (38)
# Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (26)
# Ulysses by James Joyce (24)
# The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien (22)
# The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis (18)
# Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes (17)
# Moby Dick; or, The Whale by Herman Melville (17)
# Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder (17)
# One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez (16)
# Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond (16)

The tag 'dnf' brings up a lengthy list.

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers..Just couldn't get through it.

OMG One Hundred Years of Solitude is my favorite book by my favorite author and I am stunned, flabbergasted, mortified, that anyone would not be able to enjoy it as much as I did.

I react as Oryan685 does. I, however, don't feel the need to read books with titles that offend me or that are green and have nothing spectacular to recommend them. I think that One Hundred Years of Solitude has considerable merit and that The Heart is a Lonely Hunter is a work of genius. But there are a jillion other books out there with merit and many with genius; there is no need to read any one book.

Robert

I finished House of Leaves, but there was no reason to. I started and never finished Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. Oops. I gave up on War and Peace too. I got about 40% of the way through, which in my edition is around page 500, and when I hit another "war" section I just ditched the whole thing.

#45 It's sometimes quite hard to take, isn't it? I'm shuddering at the mention of that one, Jonathon Strange, Sophie's World, Grapes of Wrath, Owen Meany, Crime and Punishment, Don Quixote etc, etc, etc. Just as their nominators are no doubt shuddering at me shuddering at them shudering at me . . . . . . well, you get the picture, I'm sure.

Here's an idea for a thread (though I'm not sure I can be bothered to start it up myself - I just promised myself I'd start trying to spend less time on LT! HA!) Why not have a way of getting together people who have always wanted to make their way through a book but haven't been able to (let's say Moby Dick, just as a f'rinstance) with someone who loves that book and is willing to guide them through it? Just a thought.

#45 It's sometimes quite hard to take, isn't it? I'm shuddering at the mention of that one, plus Jonathan Strange, Sophie's World, Grapes of Wrath, Owen Meany, Crime and Punishment, Don Quixote etc, etc, etc. Just as their nominators are no doubt shuddering at me shuddering at them shuddering at me . . . . . . well, you get the picture, I'm sure.

Here's an idea for a thread (though I'm not sure I can be bothered to start it up myself - I just promised myself I'd start trying to spend less time on LT! HA!) Why not have a way of getting together people who have always wanted to make their way through a book but haven't been able to (let's say Moby Dick, just as a f'rinstance) with someone who loves that book and is willing to guide them through it? Just a thought.

The Shack is the number 1 book for throwing against the wall in my estimation. I did not make it past page 25.

The other book I have abandoned this year is Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith. That series does absolutely nothing for me and I will not be picking up any of the other books after having read the first one (and disliking it) and abandoning the second.

#50 Then again, one comes up now and then that makes me want to leap up and cheer. You threw The Shack against the wall? What excellent taste you must have! I was one of the poor fools who wasted several hours of my life - hours I could have spent doing almost anything more profitable like . . . . ooh . . . .watching paint dry maybe - struggling through the damn thing thinking it was bound to improve. Every time I see people wasting their lives sleeping or playing computer games all day I think 'Hey, I threw away part of my life reading The Shack'!

#51: Yes, I threw it against the wall (literally). And then left it sitting on the floor for a while before I finally picked it up and returned it to the public library, thanking my lucky stars that I did not actually buy the thing.

I bought it. Can you believe I actually bought it? This feels like confessing to some dark and desperate crime - certainly to an act of utter stupidity at the very least.

Well, since you bought it (instead of borrowing it from the library like I did), you can burn it and save someone else from reading that tripe.

#46- This list is just an opinion I know there are alot of people who think its genius but I didn't like IMHO
#50-I too am not impressed with Alexander Mccall Smith
Also in my library I have found that The Shack is either a love it or hate it book noones really in the middle.Some say its the best book they ever read and others not so much.
I don't mean to offend anyone elses taste in books this is just my opinion so that being said I'll add anything by Ernest Hemingway.I'm sure I'm going to get some angry people over that but its my opinion.

#55 I don't see why anyone should be angry about your taste in books. Bewildered maybe, if their own taste is different (me - I can take or leave Hemingway, though I've read more of his short stories than novels so can hardly call myself an expert) but I really don't see why anybody should take it personally that their taste is different from yours and I really don't think you should feel you have to apologise for that. Bookshops would be boring places indeed if we all had to like the same things. (I have even been known to speak to - without bludgeoning to the ground - people who lke The Shack!)

Atlas Shrugged. I got all the way to John Galt's speech and I just couldn't take it anymore.

ok I'll admit to not finishing Jonathan Strange but I intend to and I quite enjoyed the first 400-500 pages that I read, it's just so damn thick ... in fact I've been thinking of going and picking it up again

I love Moby Dick and Grapes of Wrath, never tried Crime and Punishment, Don Quixote is a favorite and I have several different versions but I'm not sure I've ever read it all the way through. Never tried anything by Ayn Rand, and skipped The Shack.

And anything by Hemingway will always have a place in my library.

Oh, 100 Years of Solitude... never finished it. Wanted to like it, tried to like it, but couldn't.

>58 clif_hiker:: We have a pretty similar taste is books and Crime and Punishment is one of my all time favourites so I would highly recommend it and Dostoevsky in general.

Most books I either read to the bitter end or "pause" and expect that I'll go back to it some day.
Notable Books I've read and wished I hadn't and will live long in my memory because of it
Lovely Bones not ever reading anything by Alice Sebold again
The God of Small Things too obscure. The author is interesting to listen to but I really didn't like this work.
Random Families earned it an "uggh" tag.

"Atlas Shrugged. I got all the way to John Galt's speech and I just couldn't take it anymore."

I wish I could claim that this was one of my abandoned books. Sadly, I read every last word of it, including the 60 page monologue. I can only say that I was at an excruciatingly boring Model UN conference and that was my only reading material. I needed to make it last.

I had an idea how bad it was going to be because I had read Anthem and The Fountainhead before. Both had been assigned in class not because of Rand's (nonexistent) stature as a writer but because the Ayn Rand Institute bribes teachers with promises of scholarship prizes.

But I had heard that AS was Rand's masterpiece, so I decided to give her a fair shake by reading it. That was a major mistake.

The only book I can think of that I consciously abandoned was The Silmarillion. I knew what Tolkien was doing, I respected it, and I still found it unreadable.

I have to admit that I threw Peony In Love down in disgust. I absolutely loved Snow Flower and the Secret Fan so maybe I had too high an expectation for her next book, but I just thought it was about a very silly teenager who did not hold my interest.

Just this week I abandoned Scandal of the Season by Sophie Gee. Didn't have a strong reaction to this book, in fact I had no reaction at all. I decided I had far better reads awaiting me so just quietly put book down never to pick up again.

#49 Booksloth, Just came across this thread. I have had the same thought as you about having a guide for the heavier books (>3 FlorenceArt: lbs). I think I even wrote one for someone a while back for Moby-Dick.

The idea is that there are certain episodes that are important to the understanding of a book (and not necessarily those outlined in Sparks Notes). You don't want these episodes spelled out in detail, that ruins your own reading. But it's nice to have a set of mile markers so that when you come to one, you recognize you've arrived, and you can start a close reading after perhaps skimming some of the less interesting parts.

With War and Peace, I just treated it as an ongoing soap opera, a slightly shorter saga than Days of Our Lives.

Loved Ulysses, but was aided by the audio CD. I play it now while asleep, so I can't say how many times I've "read" it.

Having more difficulty getting into Gravity's Rainbow, just not grabbing me yet.

One that I read halfway through and absolutely could not finish is Kafka's The Castle. Loved The Trial, though. Perhaps I'll try a different translation.

ETA Couldn't take Silmarillion either. Love LOTR (read countless times) and The Hobbit though.

# 46 What books have titles that offend you?

#64 Oooh, so glad you asked that, I'd been wondering too!

Bastard Out of Carolina comes to mind. There are some books about one's feces that could have more modest titles. This is not something I want to dig into.

I was close to buying a Library of America volume yesterday. I noticed it had a green binding; I thought that if I bought it I'd have to keep the black dust jacket on it.

Robert

#62 I literally threw Cold Mountain down in disgust, but I did finish it. I just hated the ending.

I would have liked to have abandoned the sections of the book about Inman. They were very dreary and depressing as I recall.

I finished, but wished I hadn't, Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind. Disgusting book.

>#62 I haven't read Cold Mountain but I did watch the movie, and if it was anywhere close to following the book.. yes it was very depressing. But I believe books like these are important since they display parts of war that are not all glory and/or the horror of battle.

>#46/66 I've never seen a book with the word 'feces' in the title.... if you are referring to the more common swear word beginning with S... I can't really recall any with that word either

?

I downloaded several of Charlie Huston's books to my kindle because they were free and I was in the mood for a crime/mystery thriller. I started Caught Stealing and was dealing OK with the violence - he kept getting beat up - although I was not incredibly impressed with the writing. I got about 25% into the book and someone started torturing a cat, which stopped me in mid-sentence. Fortunately, I did not throw my kindle against the wall, but I did delete every Charlie Huston book from it and tried (unsuccessfully) to delete them from my Amazon library.

k4k

>68 clif_hiker:
Well, there's always On Bullshit.

I had a problem with On Bullshit beyond not liking the title. At the time I read it I had engaged in a challenge on a now almost moribund forum in which I would review every book I read, as would a few others. I reviewed it briefly. A snob who didn't know about the challenge but knew that he was an authority replied, "I think your review is bullshit." He thought I was evil for having a reviewed a book with that title. It is true that I questioned myself thoroughly before I entered the title without redaction. Anyway, the moderator and a couple of other participants came to my defense; fortunately the book, at the time, was on the shelves of all the bookstores, so it was obvious that I hadn't dug it out just to be offensive.

The books I had in mind were books with titles that mean something like What does your poop tell you? But I took a couple of stabs at remembering the titles and provoking touchstones without luck. I just think that the feces should be kept inside.

Robert

"I just think that the feces should be kept inside."

That'll lead to certain health problems.

How about How to Shit in the Woods?

Or Everyone Poops...

Oh, I liked Everyone Poops. That was an excellent library find one day! We've also got The Story of the Little Mole, and Whose Knickers, which is a lift-the-flap book.

I loved On Bullshit. Unfortunately though, I used to work with a guy who was a constant bullshitter and after reading that book he became intolerable because I was so much more aware of his habit.

He fitted the example in the book - he didn't lie outright, he wasn't malicious. It's just that he never seemed to think about the truth or validity of what he was saying. He just spat out words to make it sound like he was interested, even if he didn't understand what was being discussed. He just pretended to, and whatever he said didn't really amount to anything. He'd do things like make enthusiastic contributions when a movie was being discussed for example, but then it would turn out he'd never heard of it. It drove me MAD.

I've got (or used to have) Is It Me or Is Everything Shit? And On Bullshit sounds great, I may have to read that too - not that I'm scatophilic (I may have just invented that word). From now on I'm going to ban from my library every title that includes the word 'cat'. Not that it offends me in any way, I just rather like the idea of such a completely random form of deselection.

ETA - Touchstones worked at first then disappeared.

EATA - then worked again!

I only read what I bought, and luckily there are not many books I will abandon (I cannot bring myself to throw a book, any book, at the wall). The few that I remember abandoning are:

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. It was not so much the story and the writing, but it was just so slow, and the book was way too many pages for that. I felt bad, because I know so many people love it, but I felt better when somebody at LT left a comment for me saying that you love it if you like Jane Austen style books. Which I don't. So I could be expected not to like it, but I might get back to it one day.

The Art Thief. This book is just incredibly bad. I know books in the style of The Da Vinci Code have a lesser standard than most books. Stories will be extremely far fetched or plain implausible (Steve Berry, I'm looking at you!), but that doesn't mean I won't enjoy it. This book was just one long shout "hey, look at me and all I know about art theft.". If I wanted to know all that, I will look at Wikipedia, thank you very much. I'm never picking this up again.

Foucault's Pendulum. I always struggle with Umberto Eco, his books are always a couple hundred pages too long. This one I just could not get through, but I like the premise so I might get back to it. One day, some day.

#76 booksloth - I couldn't resist checking my "cat"alog for books whose titles contained the word cat. There are 19 of them. The best of the lot is Cat Among the Pigeons by Agatha Christie, but there are a couple of others that are keepers.

The Lillian Jackson Braun books are questionable, but they were gifts. Until I totally run out of shelf space, I'll keep them.

I'd probably pick the word dog except that the two books I have with dog in the title, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime and My Dog Tulip are both quite wonderful.

booksloth and karenmarie, one of my points is that you can arbitrarily give up books like those or ones with green covers and no other recommendation and still be well read. My living room words for titles prejudice doesn't cost me anything or much especially in that because it is my prejudice I can ignore it. I actually have read On Bullshit. I have not been denied the Bible or any of Shakespeare's plays because of my prejudices.

Robert

Two I wish I had abandoned but could not because I had to read them for book club:

Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson
Stanley Park by Timothy Taylor

They were both, coincidentally Canada Reads books.

On the other hand, I almost abandoned We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver but I'm glad I persisted. It got much better at the end.

#9 funny you mention Neuromancer, just slogged through it myself and I will say I would definitely have given it up around page 50 if I hadn't been reading it for someone who'd recommended it to me. It's NOT worth finishing if you're already having a bad time with it, although certainly I see its appeal for those who like the sort of thing.

Unfortunately I was so tactful in discussing only the appeal I did see that my recommender promised to pass on Gibson's sequels next time he sees me, so here we go again. :/

Most abandoned post: #83 (narrowly beating #82).

Yea for some reason my browser refused to post what I wrote... twice :( It just put an empty field. There was stuff there I swear !!

Ok... trying one last time.

@81 - I had trouble getting through Neuromancer as well, but I am thoroughly enjoying The Difference Engine by the same author. I'm not entirely sure but it is likely that the coauthor Bruce Sterling may have made Gibson more palatable.

#79 You're right, of course. It's possible to be well-read by excluding lots of styles, titles, cover colours etc. Thank goodness there are plenty of other books out there. Just that it seems a shame to literally judge a book by its cover. I'm not denying that I'm sure we all do it to some extent, if only psychologically, because there has to be some reason we are drawn to the books we buy. I can't actually think of any title words that would stop me buying a book (though I might not read anything containing the 'c' word (probably the only one I do find a little offensive) in a very public place). I don't think I'd refuse to buy it on principle though, until I knew more about the contents. That's just me though.

#86 Cool, maybe I'll check that one out! I also thought I might like Gibson's short stories, because I enjoyed Neuromancer quite a bit for the first 40 pages or so until I began to feel overloaded with tech.

Hmm, more votes for Neuromancer.

I like cyberpunk, but as mentioned in 88, Neuromancer does overload you with tech and I eventually got tired of it. I didn't find the story engaging enough to keep going either. I think Gibson's short stories are much more enjoyable.

I read a relatively recent novel by him - Pattern Recognition. Not amazing, but a decent read and far more palatable, with some interesting ideas about marketing and advertising.

>1 Booksloth: Most abandoned book?

Managed half the book...

Underworld (DeLillo novel)

William Gibson books: as I'm a fan and someone who liked Neuromancer a lot, you'll want to take this with a grain of salt, but I also highly recommend Virtual Light and Idoru. Imaginative and engaging.

# 68 I have developed an intense dislike for the Wizards First Rule books and I am supposed to be reading them with a group of friends. I have the fifth book sitting over beside me right now and I just can't bring myself to continue reading them.
#79 What do you mean by green covers? Are you referring to the literal cover of a book being green? Are we talking green like an inexperienced writer, are we talking green like environmentally friendly? This is a new term to me and I must confess to be both confused and fascinated. Another question: have you ever read Canterbury Tales? If so, were you offended by the rampant bathroom humor, or can you overlook it since it is considered to be a classic?

maybe it's green like mouldy.

Or books by John Green.

Oryan685, if I may use literally literally, I meant green book covers literally.

Potty humor should not be told in the sanctuary, but is sometimes okay in the rectory.

I don't think I have worked this out for myself entirely, but I am probably talking about propriety here; life is as nuanced as good writing. Shit on the cover is wrong; shit inside the book when it advances the material is okay.

So I have enjoyed the Canterbury Tales that I have read, but Chaucer knew not to throw a turd in the swimming pool.

I don't like gratuitous sex in novels. I just reread Peyton Place which most of us read for the blue, figuratively, parts back upon a time. The sex was goofy in one place (a sign of the times) but not gratuitous; it moved the characters on into a new relationship in an almost believable way that would have been different in quality had it not been sex. None of the other sex in the book was out of order at all. But the book was called Peyton Place, not Fucking Small Town New England.

Robert

But if it had been called that, I trust you would have posted it here.

I couldn't get into Catch 22 either. I don't know if some of the humor went way over my head, or maybe the humor is dated, but I couldn't get into it. I'll try again.

So...maybe I am missing something...what's wrong with a green book cover again? I just read Stieg Larssons Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and the book cover was a mixture of green and yellow, very beautiful cover art, and it was wonderful. I think that the old adage "You can't judge a book by it's cover" is absolutely correct. So what's the deal?

Oryan685. OCD man, OCD.

>94 Mr.Durick: Oh My! What a wicked sense of humor you have :)

#64 ~ Not so much offensive as 'cringe-worthy' but I was always very put off by the title of "The Little Book of Minge Topiary"

#69 ~ I kind of suspect that Krazy4katz wouldn't have been a big Charlie Huston fan but if you are out there I feel I should point out that the character's whole life turns to s*** and he goes through hell and high water to protect and save that cat. It is the one thread of compassion in a world where events spiral out of control and the violence just keeps escalating

Wow! Just shows what different tastes we all have. I really loved A Prayer for Owen Meany thought it was Irving's best, closely followed by The World according to Garp

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter is one I'm surprised anyone could fail to like. Different tastes, I guess. The movie staring Alan Arkin was one of those rare ones that was, in some ways, even better than the book.

#58 I think Hemingway was a great writer who, unfortunately, had almost nothing of value to say. The Old Man and the Sea would be the exception.

Excuse me for posting 4 messages in a row, but I just joined Library Thing and find this thread facinating.

Has anyone read a book, really liked it until, literally, the last page, then threw it across the room? This happened to me quite a number of years ago with The Horse Whisperer There was no way that the protagonist (don't even remember his name) would have done what he did. Absolutely no way. I don't know how many people here really did throw a book across the room or are just being figurative, but I swear I really did throw this book across the room.

>100 Littlemissbashful::

Thanks, Littlemissbashful. It is nice to know the cat survives. I see you gave it 4.5 stars.

Maybe when I am feeling stronger, I will go back, just skip a couple of pages and try to finish the book.

I did, by the way, really love Catch-22, but it has been many years since I read it.

k4k

Hi Krazy4katz, I'm not sure you'll like Charlie Huston anyway (took a peak at your library), I gave it 4.5 stars because it's my kind of book. I just wanted you to know that the cat torturers got what was coming to them.

..and if anyone in this thread thought 'Catch-22' was a struggle I might suggest that because it has a non linear time line you can read it in almost any order. I know that may sound a bit radical but you may like it more of you start in the middle and work out...or maybe not. Just a suggestion.

>104 CharlesBoyd:
Excuse me for posting 4 messages in a row, but I just joined Library Thing and find this thread facinating.
Welcome aboard!

I threw a Macroeconomics textbook across the room once when the BS factor became intolerable.

# 104

Well done with 'The Horse Whisperer' - I wanted to hurl that at the wall long before the final chapter... felt pretty much the same with 'Catcher In The Rye' and the second book in the last Robin Hobb trilogy (didn't bother with the third).

104: Well, not quite the last page, but the I loved Set This House In Order by Matt Ruff until the last few chapters or so when it just became painfully ordinary and dull. Such a pity.

#104 CharlesBoyd - It wasn't the last page, but the last chapter of Inman's story of Cold Mountain got me so furious that I threw the book down after I finished the book. I must admit that I said a few bad words too.

#100 Littlemissbashful: I have to admit that just the title The Little Book of Minge Topiary makes me laugh. I thought about getting it for that alone, even if in the end I abandoned reading it, but it's too expensive in the U.S.

>100 Littlemissbashful:

Thanks. I learned a new word.

I abandoned the third Ender's Game series book by Orsen Scott Card but I cannot even remember the title now

#111 jnwelch -

I'm not sure as to how much reading is involved -it's not exactly a Russian weight opus magnum, I guess you could say it's more of a 'Brazillian'.

#113 It's Xenocide and I abandoned it too. Got about halfway. It started to get too unrealistic.

#s 104, 108, 110 -- quite a few of us seem to have anger management issues, LOL. I've thrown two books in my life - at age 11 My Antonia because I didn't approve of what the character was doing (the action was totally in character and totally realistic, but I didn't like it); and The Bridges of Madison County (touchstones intentionally not used), because I thought it was the worst book I'd ever read and I'd wasted hours of my life on it.

I'm delighted to say that, partly based on opinions gathered here on LT, I skipped The Shack. It sounded like something I would hate. I've accepted the fact that my book club will (usually influenced by one person) sometimes pick books that I just won't want to read. Usually things about death/dying/angst/grief/etc.

I didn't love My Sister's Keeper but I really, really hated the ending. Not crazy about Light on Snow and some other Shreve books the book club has asked me to read.

My number one candidate for book I could not finish is Lord Jim, though. I tried three times, when I was young and didn't have the additional burden of thinking about life being too short, and I still couldn't do it.

Was John Galt's speech really only 60 pages? I would have said 100! but I read the book twice.

Karenmarie #110. I'm always surprised when someone doesn't like a book I really liked. Do most of us feel that way? I'm referring to your comments on Cold Mountain It's been awhile since I read it, so I forget exactly where Inman was going home to. Was it North Carolina? The reason I ask is that your profile says you live there and Frazier's latest novel Thirteen Moons is set in North Carolina. Thirteen Moons is also a fine novel and based on real people and incidents.

I read your review of The Killer Angels I thought it was a fine novel, but not a masterpiece. Like you, I'm now interested in learning more about Gettysburg and Chamberlain.

The only novel that I immediately thought was an "instant classic" or masterpiece when it came out was The Rapture of Canaan by Sheri Reynolds. {I mention this because your review of The Killer Angels called it a masterpiece.} She's a writer living somewhere in your part of the country. South Carolina?

#118 Hi CharlesBoyd - Cold Mountain was set in NC too. I loved the descriptions of NC and quirks of "Carolinians." I'm a transplant - moved here 18 years ago when I married my NC-born husband.

I liked the parts with Ada a lot. (for those of you who haven't read it, it alternates chapters between the two) The Inman chapters were dark, depressing, full of the horrors of war but even more the venality of people. All I can think of Inman's chapters are in colors - brown, gray, black, monotone expanses of dreary ruined scenery. Admittedly I read it about 10 years ago and I might be exaggerating that which depressed me.

I can't explain why I threw the book down at the end without a major spoiler (but you might guess what it is, Charles). The plot was the problem, not the writing. I thought the writing beautiful and well done. It evoked what it was supposed to evoke and contrasted the experiences of Ada and Inman perfectly.

I have Thirteen Moons but have never read it. I might have to reconsider, because I do love NC and might appreciate it more now than when I first bought it.

Killer Angels struck me as a masterpiece when I closed it. I always rate a book immediately after I finish it, and it was more than "Stunning 4 1/2 stars" to me, so "Masterpiece 5 stars" it had to be. My short review reflects my absolutely speechlessness after reading it - I had so much to say that I couldn't say anything.

I only have 2 books that I consider "masterpieces", Killer Angels and Pride and Prejudice.

I've heard of Sheri Reynolds but never read any of her books. I just looked her up - born in SC and lives on the eastern shore of Virginia. I also looked up Rapture and can never imagine myself reading it. Sorry, but there it is.

#119 Hi KarenMarie
I really enjoyed your comments. This is the sort of dialogue I hoped for when I joined LibraryThing a couple of days ago.

I notice that there are many "challenges" in LibraryThing. If you somehow knew of a novel I'd likely hate, I'd challenge you to read The Rapture of Canaan in exchange for me reading the one you think I'd hate.

Very interesting correspondence. I have recently failed to finish Tom Holt's "Alexander at the World's End" -- though I usually find Tom Holt a very amusing writer. I have also just abandoned Conn Iggulden's "Emperor: The Field of Swords."

#120 CharlesBoyd - what an intriguing concept! I'll have to think about it. I've never heard of a challenge to read a book you think you won't like (well, hate).

I'll probably come up with something mid-next week - we're having a family bbq at our house on Saturday, Sunday is recovery day, Monday is a day off work without pay but I've got an appointment with a CPA to help us do Band Boosters taxes - I'm Treasurer. I'm really looking forward to the weekend of the 15th - no plans at all.

I just put a reminder in the calendar on my computer at work.

Not a bad idea at all.

Karenmarie: Cool! (A dead give-away that I was a teenager in the '60's) I'll look for it.

I would guess Ulysses is way up there on the abandoned list. I'm sure a lot of people get to Stephen Dedelus musing at the beach and then throw their books across the room.

I would think that Ulysses, having the 'reputation' it has, is abandoned quite often even before starting it.

I finished it on the second try, after about 20 years had passed since the first one. And back then I think I quit after 30 pages or so.

Other books abandoned? Hmmm, I think most of them have been of the forgettable kind, not the kind you hate---I can't remember one (though I know there are some).

Xenocide! Yes! Hated it and it was so disappointing because I loved the first two. In fact, we are attempting to order in Ender's Game to use as a teaching tool here at the School of Advanced Military Studies.

Can you imagine how awesome it would be to teach Ender's Game? I am pretty excited about the possibility.

When I was younger (about 11 or 12) I started reading The Lord of The Rings. I stopped at Tom Bombadil and didn't like it, too slow or too descriptive, I don't know. When the first movie came out, I started reading it again after seeing the first one, and I loved it! I guess it was knowing that it was going to get good again that did it. I have heard from lot's of people that they stop at Tom Bombadil. I have also abandoned The Hobbit, but maybe the movie will get me to finish it too....

I nearly always finish the books I start, though sometimes I wonder why. I didn't get very far with Atlas Shrugged, though. And Moby Dick took several attempts to build up enough steam to make it through to the end.

A Prayer for Owen Meany is worth the effort. Books I abandoned recently The Girl Meridel Le Sueur; The Reader; The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and Wild Violets.

Lolita the scrubbing comment hits the nail on the head!

The Da Vinci Code I read it at my teen's recommendation; I don't recommend it. What a bore.

I wonder how much difference listening to a book rather than reading it makes. I really enjoyed Mistress of the Art of Death and the sequels. I listened to them on downloaded audio.

Though I don't listen to many audio books, as a writer I find that I notice different things listening to a book than I notice reading it. That may be because listening is mostly passive while reading is active. Mostly what I notice are ways the author achieves different effects.

I listen to a lot of audio books. I find the reader makes a tremendous difference. Sometimes the reader has gotten me through a book, and sometimes driven me to read or abandon it entirely.

Jennieg

I have to agree with you there. I listened to a novel (or was it his set of tapes on writing?) by Lawrence Block who is a fine mystery writer. I consider myself to have a slightly unpleasant voice, but I'd rather have mine than his any day. So it wasn't easy to listen to.

Of course, I'd rather my writing be at his level than mine.

As would we all, CharlesBoyd, but at least we have something decent to read.

I hope I didn't already say this but I've been away for a couple of weeks and just trying to catch up. I can't actually find a post where I defend Owen Meany so I may be doing this for the second time but it's one of my favourite ever books. Not sure I'd agree that it's 'worth the effort' though because, to me, it was a completely effortless read and that makes me wonder if it's one of those that either grabs you by the throat in the first paragraph or doesn't grab you at all. I used to think there could be no reason on earth for anyone to dislike this book untill I cam across another LT thread full of people who just didn't get it. It would be absolutely fascinating to be able to study what it is in someone's head/make-up/psychology that makes a certain book grab them and other leave them cold.

CharlesBoyd and I have a fun challenge based on our messages 118,119,120,122, and 123.

He's going to read a book he doesn't think he'll like that I love, Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, and I'm going to read The Rapture of Canaan by Sheri Reynolds, which doesn't appeal to me. However, Charles loves it, so we're each going to give the other person's book a chance.

Here's the thread I started about it:

The Rapture of Canaan-Slaughterhouse Five Challenge Thread

Wish us luck!

I just abandoned the book Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop it was like soft porn took me 5 days to get to page 25.Life is too short to read bad books!

I so agree with you, susie. Hope you've flung it across the room now!

Pretty much!!

>106 Littlemissbashful:

No, radicalism can be good. I like your suggestion so much that I think I'll start at the end and end at the end.

Usually when I start a book I like to finish it. Not just to say I read it but because I like to see what the writer was trying to accomplish. In the case of The Da Vinci Code I tried a couple of times but really all I could feel was...meh, so what.

I remember reading somewhere that Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time was the most purchased/least finished bestseller of its year. (I did manage to get through it).

Maybe not the most abandoned but I just threw Kathy Acker's Blood and Guts in High School across the room.

Ed to fix touchstones

Breaking up with White Noise by Don DeLillo was a glorious experience.

#146 I felt the same way about another of his books (I seem to have mentally blanked out the title).
ETA - I remembered - it was The Names

I tag books "unfinished" or "partially read" depending on how far I got through them. Some of them I may well return to, others definitely not.

I have a collection entitled "I Just Can't Do It, Cap'n" for books I couldn't finish. The only one in it so far: Centennial by James Michener. Tried 3 times.

I see many books listed here that I've started and put down many times. But the one that it has happened the most to is Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad. I've always wanted to like it for some reason but could not get in to.

#150 - Yup, that was another!

>150 usnmm2:, 151 Yep, I probably already have mentioned that one, too. It was assigned no fewer than three times in my schooling, and three times I tried and failed. But I no longer even want to like it: I don't and that's that.

I will never forgive Conrad for a lot of things. God only knows what made me try that one when my most loathed book of all time is Heart of Darkness.

Heart of Darkness is the one reason that I did not read or like Conrad for the last ** years. But recently an Lt'er recommended The Shadow-Line: A Confession by Joseph Conrad. Wasn't to bad a read. Still not an author that I seek out.

#42
Regarding that list, for those that I've read, I understand all the failures to finish.

I get thick-headed about persisting and finishing books. It took me about 2 years to finish Herodotus. I had given up many, many times. The stories are fascinating. But the prose was as dry as an Ethiopian desert. Compared to The Histories, I read The Bible as fast as Goodnight Moon.

My latest abandonment is Leaves of Grass. I'll persist and finish some day. But for now, I've had enough of the repetitive lists, repetition, repetition, subtle homo-erotica, repetition, repetition, American pastoral beauty, repetition, repetition.

Regarding Cold Mountain, I have had the same experience as others. Everyone seems to finish the book and THEN toss it across the room!

Just discovered this thread, and it's really interesting to see all the books that people have abandoned before finishing. The one book I can remember literally "hurling across the room in disgust" is The Scarlet Letter. But I did finish that one - it was assigned in one of my high school English classes.

I generally finish most of the books I start, but just recently I had to abandon The Time Traveler's Wife after the first couple of chapters. I know a lot of people really loved it, but it just bored me to death. Also Michael Cunningham's The Hours - I've started that one twice now, and put it down after just a few pages. Hope to finish it someday, though.

But I thought The DaVinci Code wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting. Didn't have any trouble at all with that one. I just read it to see what all the hype was about, and thought it was a quick, fairly enjoyable read.

I suspect that a lot of the problems many of us have are because certain books don't live up to our expectations. I was one of the ones who finished Cold Mountain then threw it at the wall. I had to keep going to see what all the fuss was about. Maybe if we were dumped on a desert island with a pile of books but no reviews or comments by other people we might feel rather differently.

The Da Vinci Code is a case in point. I thing most people would be hard pushed to describe it as a work of great literary merit but it became so famous that new readers probably expected they were about to read something extraordinary and then were disappointed to discover that wasn't the case. In fact, it's a book that does just what it says on the tin - it's a fast, holiday-read type of book with a rapidly moving plot and lots happening. A lot of what is said about it now is down to snobbery because it's become fashionable to hate it. If it hadn't been for all the fuss I'm guessing most people who bought it would have flicked through and quite enjoyed it while lying on a beach, even if they weren't inspired to go out and buy all Brown's other books or to set it aside for rereading. And, although I have no particular brief for the book, I do get annoyed at the people who whine that it isn't historically accurate; it's a story folks! It's made-up! It doesn't have to be accurate.

Booksloth -- Exactly!

I've never read Cold Mountain, but I do agree with what you say about The DaVinci Code. It's fiction. It's a thriller. And it never was meant to be anything else. And as thrillers go, it really isn't all that bad.

#158 Thank you! I love it when people agree with me - hardly ever happens around here;-)

Oh yes it does! ;-)

Isn't panto season over yet?

I agree that The DaVinci Code worked as a page-turner; people who get all het up about the religious aspects of it are silly, I think--it is just light fiction. What I object to, though, are the flat characterizations--the characters seem to me about as two-dimensional as you can get.

One person's "throw it across the room" book is another's "this is great" book. I loved Cold Mountain

Definitely Catcher in the Rye. Maybe I could push my way through it now, but in high school I just couldn't stand it.

> 144

I enjoyed that ( as a lay person) and whizzed through it in a day :-)

Abandoned catcher in the rye for good. Had a bad experience with Great Expectations when I was I was about 10 and have no intention of ever trying again. Didn't read it when we did it in high school. I could probably get through it now, and I enjoyed tale of two cities, but I'd rather spend my time on other books now.

Plan to come back to Don Quixote, One Hundred Years of Solitude, and War and Peace.

150, 156: That's another two I could add to my list - Lord Jim and The Scarlett Letter. I didn't find Heart of Darkness too bad, but I read it for a course in which I had no choice but to read and study it, which always helps me appreciate a book, at least a little. Thank God it was short though.
Another abandoned classic was David Copperfield, another varsity read. Too long, no time, don't care enough to try again.

I'm on the verge of abandoning The Satanic Verses, but only for the time being. Rushdie's writing is incredible and I loved Midnight's Children, but I haven't given this one nearly as much attention as it deserves, so I'm a bit lost and detached.

#162 - I think the issue with Da Vinci Code inviting ridicule is not that it is (clearly) fiction and not meant to be taken seriously, but rather that Dan Brown claims that it IS well researched and historically accurate.

>168 john257hopper: LOL.

>159 Booksloth:

Don't know why you think so :)

>168 john257hopper:

He might say that he sees green aliens also... does not make his works any different. People can believe whatever they want and when someone starts blaming a book as this one, they just start giving it credibility in the eyes of people that read a book every second year... Regardless of what Dan Brown had been saying, it was the whole "anathema" and blah blah reaction that made the book the phenomenon it is. Besides there are enough "no-fiction" books that claim even more ridiculous facts.

I tried to read Treasure Island when I was in elementary school but I may have been to young because I just couldn't get into it.

I problems with anything Mark Twain. I had to read Tom Sawyer in school but only read about half and I've picked up A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court a few times but I've never made it past the first couple of pages.

I did finish Cold Mountain if reading every other chapter can be considered finishing. I only read the girls chapters, I couldn't make it through the mans. I had such high expectations for it, everyone was saying how great it was, I had to wait months before the library actually had it in and then it was terrible. I've never even been able to get interested enough to watch the movie.

Couldn't finish Sophie's Choice by William Styron after 5 months. I don't know how anybody could. I never ever got to figure out what her choice was... until somebody told me.

I love this thread and just started a collection of Abandoned Books in my library. Somehow it makes me feel less bad about abandoning them.

My latest abandonment is one I'm not proud of, The Historian. I think it's actually a fine book, and the fault is mine, not the author's. It's a dense book (labyrinth is a good word for it) and the book sneaked up on me--I wasn't giving it enough of my attention, reading it late at night before I went to sleep. I made the mistake of getting halfway through and then putting it down for two weeks. I'll give it another try in six months or so.

Cold Mountain has been mentioned here several times as an abandoned book. I liked that one a lot, but I've tried to read Frazier's second book, Thirteen Moons, twice without success--so now I can just put it in my Abandoned Book collection and forget about it. Cool.

I just abandoned Doomsday Book by Connie Willis after about 270 or so pages. I was only halfway through. The characters were two dimensional. Willis is very obvious in her hints about things and once you figure out something it's very hard to wait another 2 or 3 hundred pages for her to actually get around to resolving/explaining it. Sheesh. I did slog through her Passages but just couldn't do it with this one. It's been mooched and I hope the moocher likes it more than I did.

#174 labwriter - I have Thirteen Moons on my shelves, but it hasn't called out to me yet. The Cold Mountain experience still resonates for me. Right now I'm actually sitting where I finished it and threw it down and cursed it lo these many years ago.

And actually, I didn't hate it because of the writing (although the Inman chapters were dark and bleak and fairly boring) as much as I hated it because of how part of the story was resolved. In other words, the plot disappointed me.

Typically I abandon or dislike books because of the writing, the author's obvious lack of knowledge of her/his subject, and/or lack of character development.

#156 - Joy, I had the same experience with The Scarlet Letter in college class, but in my later years I thought I should give Hawthorne another go, and I LOVED it.
I was able to appreciate his use of language, which seemed stilted at age 18, but inspired at 45.

#166

Well, two outta three ain't bad. I dropped my shoulder and bulled through Don Quixote and War and Peace.

But for now, there's not enough "Indo" in the world for me to try One Hundred Years of Solitude, again.

#175 Oh, KarenMarie! I don't want to hear that about Doomsday Book. I just picked it up from the library after hearing many glowing reports from LTers. Oh, well, I'll try it and see, since one reader's utter waste of time is often another's favorite book in the world. lol

I kept trying to start Umberto Eco's Island of the Day Before but each time I just lost speed and interest. It seems like a great read but not for me. Another is Don Quixote.

>178 Storeetllr:

If it helps, I loved it. :)

Me, too.

To Message 156: jlshall

I am so glad you put The Time Travelers Wife, I tried on a few occasions to get through and even made it half way but finally had to say Life is to short to force myself to read something I don't enjoy.

I am now very pickey and do not go with what is so popular.

I started to feel guilty that I didn't enjoy it but soon realised many of us just don't bother to say.

I think I grudgingly gave Doomsday Book 2 1/2 stars. Repetitive. Transparent. Repetitive. Willfully ignorant. Repetitive. Predictable. Repetitive. Bah. "Science Fiction" written by a person uninterested in technology. Yeah, that works.

No tag searches will bring up my unfinished list... because I'm not keeping that on LibraryThing... or anywhere, really. I have a fairly decent record of finishing the books I start to read, but over the years, there's been a few that I just couldn't take anymore.

Most notable:

1. Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein (Probably the first book I never finished, Too weird, even for me.)
2. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (Dull, dry, BORING!)
3. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (have no idea why I couldn't finish this... I actually liked parts of it)
4. Makers by Cory Doctorow (Liked parts of this but the short segments tried my patience a bit much)
5. The Sweet By and By by Todd Johnson (Yuck... just yuck - not to my tastes at all.)
6. Eat, Drink, and Be from Mississippi by Nanci Kincaid (See #2 and #5.)

#1 & #2 were from my teen years, #3 was just last year (2009); #4 - #6 all this year... less than two months and already three... hmmm. I'd best re-evaluate my reading choices.
#3 Could be worthy of another attempt and might try #4 again later.... not so the rest of these...

I finished Time Travelers Wife but I did just skim the last 100 pages or so.
The latest book I abandoned is The Elegance of a Hedgehog I just couldn't get into this book I listened to it on audio and thought it was pretentious over the top philosophical hogwash.I understand alot of people liked this one but I sure didn't.I made it to disc 3 and that was enough!

>184 1dragones: I've read (and finished) the first three of these, but the only one I really enjoyed was Anna Karenina.

After I saw the first LotR movie, my summation was "they traveled, they fought, they traveled, they fought, and they never got to where they were going." I felt kind of the same way about The Hobbit, except that they did get to the end of that particular journey. Still, I'm fairly sure I'll never get around to the trilogy, even though I think I might own it. Life is probably too short.

>185 susiesharp: Oh, dear, I've just started this one!

#182 >> "I am now very pickey and do not go with what is so popular."

I've never chosen my reading material because it was popular. I always choose what I think I'll like. Sometimes, as previously noted, I've been wrong... oh, so very wrong sometimes... Mostly, I make good choices.

My husband likes Tolkien and has a fair number of his books. If I wanted to read them, there's no problem with availability... but like you, I think life is too short and I'll probably not even try the trilogy.

I have too many hundreds of unread books now; probably should not even buy another, let alone trying to read something I don't like.

I read and liked The Bridges of Madison County, one of only a small handful of romances I can actually stand... and recently discovered that Robert James Waller also wrote an epilogue to the story. Still deciding whether I'm going to buy the epilogue or not.

#182 Although I disagree 100% about the book (I was one of the ones who loved TTW) I couldn't agree more when it comes to the 'life's too short' principle. I frequently read messages here from people who say 'I've been struggling with such-and-such a book for weeks now and I'm determined to finish it even though I'm hating every word'. Why? As far as I know, nobody is giving out cookies for finishing books. Just think of all the enjoyable ones you could read in that time. I'm all for giving books a fair try (and, to be honest, I used to belong very firmly in the 'finish it or else' camp) but the older I get the more I realise it is no crime to abandon a book you're just not enjoying. And I'd also add that it is often not a question of it being a 'good' or 'bad' book. It is pretty hard for me to enjoy what I consider a 'bad' book (though I do have a few deliciously trashy favourites) but there are a lot of books I can see are essentially 'good' books - they just don't interest me or grab my attention. It's on to something that does, in that case.

#190 - you're right, I am increasingly willing to abandon books now I am getting middle aged;) and i know I will never read all the books in life I want to. I enjoyed Time Traveller's Wife and Doomsday Book, but have given up all Umberto Eco books except Name of the Rose.

#190 Usually I agree with the policy of 'life's too short to read disagreeable books', but I will make myself persevere to the bitter end when I'm reading certain classics, in the hope that some of the reasons why it is deemed a classic will percolate through to my brain (after the event, if not during!)

#192 Having just stated the opposite, I can actually see some sense in that idea. Some books are so well known to everyone else that they have become an integral part of out culture and we need (is that too strong a word?) to know what all the fuss is about. Though not if we have something really good on the TBR pile maybe.
Ed for typos

yes, I know what you mean, sometimes you have to persevere. In such cases, I try to keep reading just a few pages each day and read other stuff as well.

#194 That's my approach too. Never can combine works of fiction but that's usually when I pick up a non-fiction one to read alongside. I guess there are really no hard and fast rules for these things but I'm reluctant in general to waste good time on a bad book.

I used to finish every book I started - I thought that was the rule but perhaps only at my school! But with age I find I can abandon books that I'm not enjoying or that think are just plain bad. However I still don't like doing it, there's always the feeling that two pages after I abandon it will pick up and become enjoyable...

Out of sheer perversity (I think) I tend to resist 'popular' books anyway but books that are regarded as 'classics' I will make more of an effort to finish on the grounds that a book that has been highly-regarded over many years, and by many people, MUST have something good and worthwhile in it.

#55 I'll second anything by Ernest Hemingway! Honestly have never been able to work out why he's supposed to be a great writer!

#190 - isn't it funny, if I'm really struggling with a book, I'll start to ask myself, 'you've got a million books waiting to be read, why why why are you plowing through this when you don't lik it?' But I always feel horribly guilty for not finishing a book for some daft reason. however as I get older I'm getting a little better at saying enough is enough. I think I usually try to ask myself if I'm having trouble because I think the book's bad, boring or whatever. If it's just a struggle because it's very long or very intellectual I'll usually try to persevere. Russian novels probably fall into that category (not that Ive read many) - Tolstoy's stuff, for example, I find good, but hard. I'm very pleased with myself, though - I've just finally ploughed through to the end of 'Dr Zhivago' today and I'm not sorry. I think it's a great book - it's just heavy going.

For me it also depends on popular perception of the book. I have abandoned 'regular' books that had gotten bad reviews. I had picked up the book because the story seemed interesting and I might be able to see through bad writing or storyline discrepancies, but in the end it was not worth it.
With classics or highly popular stories (that I only pick up if the story seems interesting to me) I will work on it a bit longer (though I have never been disappointed before)...

There could be a different metric to consider: MPLU or "most pages left unread." I think the leading candidates by this measure would be Gödel, Escher, Bach : an eternal golden braid, or perhaps The golden bough; a study in magic and religion.

#197,

Most LT discussion of Hemingway seems to be negative. I know he's somewhat misogynistic and simple. I get the impression that like Catcher in the Rye, works of Hemingway are enjoyed by younger readers and less so as we grow older.

I still like that alpha male/beta male/alpha female, angst-ridden, drunken story The Sun Also Rises, as well as some of his short stories.

#200

I think large amounts of Guns, Germs and Steel and Nostromo also get left in the dust. I finished the latter, but fell asleep during the former.

>200 Larxol: I'm rather impressed you even tried to read The Golden Bough; I've always treated it as a reference book rather than something to read from beginning to end.

#202 I agree - I don't think that even counts as something you 'should' have read any more than you 'should' read a dictionary. You can let yourself off the hook for that one larxol.

I might be the only one, but I abandoned Little Women. I just couldn't make it through to the end. I was so mad at the choices that Jo was making that I couldn't keep going. It was just not worth it for me to continue.

Another that I made it through, but really wanted to abandon was The DaVinci Code. I read this book because all of the hype and my husband really wanted me to read it. It was so repetitive. I was surprised that the movie was still worse than the book. I guess that there is only so many ways you can describe or show running from one place to another with people chasing you.

#197 and 201 Well, that's pretty funny, because I read my first Hemingway two years ago at age 60 and loved it, so I read my second just after that and enjoyed that one too. The first was The Moveable Feast and the second was The Sun Also Rises. I don't think I could stand a steady diet of his writing, but once in awhile it's refreshingly concise and deceptively simple, as well as being angsty without turning into a melodrama, if that makes sense.

>204 Kaydence: That's funny; what you say about The DaVinci Code is pretty close to what I said about TLotR trilogy--see my post #186. Not sure I would have associated them otherwise!

#204 Kaydence ~ I loved Little Women as a young girl, but I don't think I would enjoy it quite so much anymore.

On The DaVinci Code, I couldn't agree with you more! I only finished it because (1) it was for an RL book club and (2) it was easy, fast reading. The only reason it took me so long to read it (two days, I think) is because I kept throwing it across the room and then had to go find it behind couches and desks and under tables if I wanted to continue reading it.

I find many copies of Lord Foul's Bane when I go to book sales and the like. The first time I read it I too sent it for a flight... and then picked it right back up and kept reading. I liked it, but I think many fantasy readers expect to be able to identify unconditionally with the main character. They aren't used to main characters that do intensely disgusting things.

Hmm,

Interview with a Vampire, Witch and Wizard (which actually offended me because it's got a lot of pizazz and action and no storyline and it's written by a best selling author.) Wizard's First Rule.

Surprisingly enough though I loved the book My Sister's Keeper, I know someone here mentioned it somewhere, and I threw a pillow at the screen when it came to the movie. The book was 1000 times better!

:)

Naz

I'm STILL reading Ovid's Metamorphoses. These poor mortal women are turning into cows, trees, toaster ovens, you name it - all to avoid being raped by some deity. I bet a lot of people quit after the 10th or 20th story. Yeesh...

Erinys: I tried Lord Foul's Bane so many years ago that I don't remember anything about it, except it was about the poorest excuse for a novel I ever read. I don't quit books easily, but I doubt I got past 30 pages. Is there anyone out there who liked it?

208, 211

I did finish it, because back then I always tried to finish books, but the whole time I was reading I just felt really irritated with Thomas Covenant. I don't know when I've encountered a whinier hero. If I had started reading it at this stage in my life, I definitely wouldn't have bothered finishing it.

187 - I should have said I was very intrigued over Time Travelers Wife and more so after the hype, I definitely do not choose according to others unless we have similar styles.

I am finding the popular books to often not be my style of a great read.

190 - I do think when you have a ton of TBR books why torture yourself, not sure if I would for cookies either, lol

I will continue to rate abandoned books with 1star but it is my opinion and I know others will love it.

Unless I've read a substantial amount of a book (somewhere near half, at least) I don't even bother to rate the book, just abandon it. These days, if a book is really not my style, I don't usually go beyond page 50 for a medium length book, page 25 for a real short book, or about 100 pages for a much longer book... then if I can't continue, it gets a NR on my reading list and no rating here on LibraryThing or on my blog.

Good point, I have never abandoned early before, that book will just be forgotten about but if it leaves an impression enough for me to remember that I abandoned I will rate it.

If a book leaves enough of an impression on me, then I do rate it, even though abandoned. But, for me, that takes a good portion of the book to make such an impression, as with Anna Karenina; I had read about half before I gave up.

Then there are those books I should have abandoned and didn't... The Widows of Eastwick by John Updike. After I finished, my first thought was "Why did I waste my time on this?"

I was just thinking that Nostromo, with its loggy beginning, would get dropped quite a bit.

I finished Lord Foul's Bane. I did enjoy it. Part of it was that for some reason, I really enjoyed the world that the author set up. Thomas Covenant was intensely crabby, the kind of person you'd never want to be around. I loved poking fun at him--the book made me laugh in the same way that Notes from Underground did. I never considered him a hero though, definitely an antihero, a real broken person.

More to add:

House of Night, Marked.

I got 9 chapters in and could not stand the cheesy lines, the cultish feel of it, not to mention the explicity in it. I thought YA steered away from sex and profanity?

Naz

Inkheart
I have never found a book that I haven't brought myself to finish. This book is the one book I jave no intention of finishing. Even though I'm a couple hundred pages in. It's just so boring. Not to offend any fans of the Inkheart series!!!

Nazurelle,

Young adult literature often has sex, violence, and profanity in it. The authors have to think of their audience, and we can't fool ourselves into believing that they are not involved in sex, violence, or profanity. I try my hardest to believe that all of my eighth grade students are perfect naive little angels, but facing reality, we give condoms out at the end of the year when we do a unit on HIV.

A lot of LTers are reading Infinite Jest and some of them are dropping off. It looks like a real tough one.

#223 I was beginning to notice that too Sandydog1. I see there are a couple of pretty good reviews about the book (and one that may be good or may be bad but is so long it would be easier to read the book itself!) so I gues it's a 'love it or hate it' one. Now I don't know whether I should try it or not!

#222 Ditto! I would have thought that is the very age where sex, violence and profanity are most appreciated. I know my stomach would turn these days at some of the stuff I used to enjoy in my teens.

I'm not sure I'd be proud of abandoning Anna Karenina, or any of these others for that matter. I stumbled onto this conversation and I'm retreating NOW.

Loved Sarum and London by Edward Rutherford. Couldn't make head nor tail of any of Jostein Gardner nor Thomas Pynchon, though I may go back to the latter. A S Byatt's Possession is also on my abandoned list. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen I did throw ..as far away as possible and the book I threw against the wall, after reading it was The Alchemist ..several hours I won't get back.

Off the top of my head:

Mr. Darcy's Daughters was only worthy enough to start a tire fire for a redneck cookout.

I Capture the Castle was a sappy, sentimental smear of jam on a cracker. (I'll be unpopular for this one, I know.)

Oh, what's that other one?

More later, I guess. Maybe. Or not.

:/

eta: Twilight. Hideous.

The books I have abandoned most frequently are Emma and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I think I wasn't meant to read either Austen or Tolkien, and I find both incredibly dull. On the other hand The Scarlet Letter and Crime and Punishment are two of my favorite books.

I recently abandoned The Scarlet Letter in the first chapter. Maybe I'll give it another go some day.

I have mentioned before my problems with Centennial by James Michener. I loved the dinosaur part, put never could get beyond it.

im usually a patient reader, and i hate the feeling of leaving a book unfinished. but then i read somewhere that its hard enough to consume all the good books in the world (as evidenced by our individual mt TBRs :) ), so why waste time on a bad book?

anyways, this is the last book that i dropped halfway:

The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

this was a couple of years back and i haven't picked it up again. i'm not sure why, but i found the book too preachy and a bit too pretentious for my tastes.

oh...i also recently stopped reading Bleak House by Charles Dickens...i loved the language, but i was too intimidated by the size of the book! but im definitely determined to finish this one.

I enjoyed Mistress of the Art of Death although it wasn't a favorite. I loved A Prayer for Owen Meany. One that most people loved but I abandoned was Wolf Hall. To each, his or her own.

>234 TooBusyReading:-TooBusyReading- the only reason I finished Wolf Hall was because it was an ER book!

I too loved A Prayer for Owen Meany but just couldn't finish Pride and Prejudice ugh. Too much about nothing. Sorry Jane Austin fans. Maybe I'll pick it up again someday, but probabaly not.

>235 susiesharp:

I'm really glad Wolf Hall wasn't an ER win for me because I would have felt I needed to slog through to the end, and I just didn't enjoy the pages I read.

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. i've tried three times and never could get very far. It may be that stream of consciousness thing. Consequently, I've never attempted anything else by her.

>238 marell:

That is one I have been meaning to read. To the Lighthouse was excellent and had all of that stream of consciousness thing. too. :-)

OMG, this is too easy - The entire Twilight series! Pure dreck.

> 240

I couldn't pluck up the courage to even thumb through my daughter's copy.

Oh, I read all the way to the end of Twilight, I rather assumed that there had to be *something* in it that had grown women swooning over. Got to the end none the wiser as to its appeal, and quite worried about grown women (excluding myself, and all other Twi-haters, of course ;).

As I said above I have temporarily set aside (abandoned) Underworld by Don DeLillo. I also lay aside Robert Fisk's The Great War of Civilisation - this one was not bad, but the size and my circumstances at the time overwhelmed me.

The last Harry Potter book - I don't even remember the title and Lord of the Rings. That should cause an uproar.

>244 oldstick:, you just dissed harry potter and lord of the rings at the same time!!! you're a brave soul :) anything about twilight too?

having said that, i love HP and LOTR :D

> 244

Outrageous!

Some longer books, like War and Peace, I've started a few times, but the page count was too daunting. I bought the first volume of W&P, and the clerk said, "You know that's a 2-volume set?" I said, "Yeah, but since I won't even finish the first volume, what's the point of buying the second?"

Eight years later, I finally made it through the novel. Once you get into it, it's actually quite good.

> 247

W&P is definitely worth it. It's great.

> 58

Clif, spot on. Were we perhaps separated at birth?

>67 karenmarie:

OMG. Horrific. Read The Odyssey or Huckleberry Finn instead.

>238 marell:

Oh, I finished Mrs. Dalloway. I wish I could get that part of my life, back.

>247 madpoet:, 248

People who are compelled to read crap like Twilight or even Gone with the Wind should pick up Tolstoy. It is ok to maintain a list of W & P characters nearby. They'll sort themselves out, eventually. War and Peace is wonderful.

>233 riida: Bleak House is one of my favorite Dickens books. It's long but, as usual, Dickens ties up so many separate threads that turn out to be related that it's very satisfying. Also, the BBC production with Gillian Anderson as Lady Dedlock is amazing.

I've never literally hurled a book in my life and can't imagine doing it, but I've abandoned a few. Couldn't penetrate the style of Catch 22. Didn't find Fifth Business was engaging enough, but will probably try again. The Plague Dogs couldn't keep my attention the way that Watership Down did. A Canticle for Leibowitz was too contrary to my expectations when I attempted it, but I should give it another go. Dhalgren was too formidably obscene (at least for a 12-yr-old who thought every SF novel was going to be like Asimov.)

>249 Sandydog1:

Now now... Gone with the Wind has its charms... :)

#251 -- I've abandoned Dhalgren too. Maybe I'm just not smart enough for it, but it makes my head hurt trying to figure out what's happening and whose point of view I'm seeing things from every few pages.

Also abandoned: Cryptonomicon, Anathem, and The Baroque Cycle. But I'm enjoying Reamde right now. It's like Neal Stephenson decided to stop being self-indulgent and prove to everyone that in fact he does remember how to write a plot.

I abandon many books over the course of a year, since at my age I refuse to finish anything that bores me or that I actively dislike (unless it is an LT Early Review book). That being said, I remember being truly disappointed by only one book abandoned by me this year: A Game of Thrones. I tried to read it years ago when a friend pressed me to read it, saying it was one of the best fantasies he'd ever read. I couldn't get into it then and still couldn't when I tried it again a few months ago. With so many people saying they loved it, I was sorry that I couldn't see it's charm.

> 254

Horses for courses. My mate highly recommended Underworld to me and although I made it to half way, I cast it aside.

>254 Storeetllr: Try the HBO series of A Game of Thrones - it's excellent and might kick start your interest. I just loved it and the books and am re-reading the series now so I'll be ready for the next installment.

I hate to say it but...I've tried and failed to read Pride and Prejudice 5 times now. It just stuck me as distastefully girly, and as a 20 year old girl, I have enough of that in my life.

A lot of these mentioned as difficult are some of my favorites! 100 Years of Solitude, The Grapes of Wrath, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Catch-22. I consider these challenges that may have been harder to get into at first, but that are absolutely worth it in the end.

>253 Tigercrane: ... You abandoned three books in a row by the same author, and still tried a fourth? Talk about giving an author another chance! Glad you found one you liked :)

#258 -- LOL! Stephenson was coasting on a lot of credit from my enjoyment of his earlier books Zodiac, Snow Crash, and The Diamond Age.