Books you just can't get into

AE35Unit

AE35Unit

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Every now and then i'll pick up a book to read but there's something about it that has you scratching your head in wonder. You wonder what on earth the author was on! A classic example for me is Slant by Greg Bear. Now i've been a Bear fan for years having enjoyed Blood Music,Hegira Strength of Stones etc but when I borrowed Slant i could not get my head round it,and i've not read any Bear since funny enough. Must change that!
Another is Larry Niven's 3rd Ringworld book. What a waste of paper,such a boring long winded book that bears no resemblance to the original!
So whats your list of no gos like?
 
Oh...definitely! The one that tops my list is David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest. I think I need a loooooong vacation to get into this book.
 
The most hyped SF for example i couldnt force myself was Hyperion by Simmons and Snow Crash by Neal S.

Specially Snow Crash started good and cyberpunky interest enough but then got way too messy and all over the place.
 
Yes. Snow Crash - good idea, lousy ending.

My own unreadable would be M. John Harrison's Nova Swing. Never got past about page 40; I just can't get into his writing style.
 
I've really tried to get into Anansi Boys by Gaiman, but i just can't do it. It's been sitting on my shelf for a long time, but I don;t want to get rid of it yet as it has so many wonderful reviews. Maybe I've just not been in the right mood yet?

Sometimes if i don't particularly like a book, I'll put it down and come back to it later loving it. Other times I'll push on through thinking it has the potential to impress me at any moment. It is terribly disappointing when it doesn't happen. I wanted to adore Wuthering Heights, but I pretty much hated the entire book; the style, the story, the characters, everything. I've never met anyone else claiming to hate the book as much as I do. I started it, put it back on the shelf after about 50 pgs, waited 3 months and read the whole thing. Didn't help.
 
Another one from quite recently was John Brunner's The Squares of the City. Supposed to be SF but where? And so incredibly long winded! And the bad thing is its my first Brunner read,and i recently got Stand on Zanzibar! Tell me thats better!
Oh and James Blishes A Case of Conscience. Started off fine but fell apart past the middle and it went on bookmooch.
 
I've got the Great Book of Amber by Roger Zelazny... was recommended it on this site actually! I got bored pretty quickly and haven't read any more of it for a long, long time. Also This Forsaken Earth by Paul Kearney. I got it cos I read the Mark of Ran... although I didn't like that much either so I don't know what possessed me to buy the sequel. I got bored and haven't looked at that for a while. Also The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. Which actually is ok, I just got distracted by something else! I will finish that one day.
 
Oh this is going to sound sacrilegious but twice I've tried to read Moby Dick and failed.Too much info in it and I reckon if a third was removed there'd be a great book there!
Oh ever heard of a book called Salt? Can't remember the author but he's fairly new and has another book called On. Was a strange book but i muddled thru it,but its put me off reading his other stuff. I know I shouldn't be put off by one book but reading time is valuable and rare for me.
 
AE35Unit said:
Oh ever heard of a book called Salt? Can't remember the author but he's fairly new and has another book called On. Was a strange book but i muddled thru it,but its put me off reading his other stuff. I know I shouldn't be put off by one book but reading time is valuable and rare for me.
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Would that be my almost namesake Adam Roberts? I've read a couple of his - Salt was his debut novel, which I haven't read - and found him okay if a little turgid at times. Polystom was good, though.
 
Tillane said:
Would that be my almost namesake Adam Roberts? I've read a couple of his - Salt was his debut novel, which I haven't read - and found him okay if a little turgid at times. Polystom was good, though.
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Thats the fella! Salt is about an expedition to a planet whose surface is like salt,a difficult terrain but the book as a whole is hardly gripping.(reminds me a little of Bruce Sterling's Involution Ocean which i looked forward to reading then wished i hadn't bothered! (The blurb on that one is by Harlan Ellison and is really gushing!)
So you're an A. Roberts too?
 
Right now, I'm struggling through Pratchet's "Making Money". Only got 100 pages to go and I'm still waiting for it to get going. I'll probably persevere until the end but I doubt much could happen now to redeem it...
 
Fried Egg said:
Right now, I'm struggling through Pratchet's "Making Money". Only got 100 pages to go and I'm still waiting for it to get going. I'll probably persevere until the end but I doubt much could happen now to redeem it...
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You imagine all his books to be easy going,not so. I've struggled twice with Interesting Times. Gonna give it one more try then its going on Bookmooch!
 
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