Books you just can't get into

Highlander II said:
They'll have to nail me up right next to you. I tried to read "The Hobbit" and gave up about 20 pages in. NEVER had any interest in Tolkien after that.
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I seem to remember I quite enjoyed the Hobbit. For one who tends to avoid fantasy(especially high fantasy,bleh) i'm strangely drawn to Tolkien. But i fear LOTR. The thought of reading it scares the willies out of me. Good thing the films were done well! Saves me the effort.
 
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AE35Unit said:
To be honest,the original Foundation books were hardly exciting. But then they were never intended as books,but rather as magazine stories. Fix ups i believe they're called.
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That can be said for many stories of that time. Started as mag stories and was remade into books.


It was great Social SF no matter the format. The Mule,the history,second foundation was exciting to me.

The latter books of the series not as good.
 
I agree with Connavar about the first Foundation books - I loved them and would consider them classics. I have not read the later ones and so cannot compare...But in general I would say that I don't have to find a story "exciting" (adrenalin inducing) to consider it absorbing and fascinating.

(I have a beautiful illustrated copy of LOTR...I could not resist it. I have an illustrated Hobbit too.)
 
I'm afraid that a lot of Asimov contains too much small talk and politics,too much waffle. I like to be dazzled,amazed,like his robots stories do.
 
I never really could get into A Christmas Carol. I was maybe to young when I read it, but it just bored me.

With The Hobbit the style of writing irks me, but it is a good book, and I really enjoyed it the first time I read it (in year 6 or something) I picked it up again this year though (year 10) and couldn't really get into it.

Loved the LOTR books though.
 
The Procrastinator said:
I agree with Connavar about the first Foundation books - I loved them and would consider them classics. I have not read the later ones and so cannot compare...But in general I would say that I don't have to find a story "exciting" (adrenalin inducing) to consider it absorbing and fascinating.

(I have a beautiful illustrated copy of LOTR...I could not resist it. I have an illustrated Hobbit too.)
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Exactly a SF of that kind doesnt have to be exciting.

What was exciting for me was how he showed the History of Foundation. With their start in that little rock in the Galactic Empire era. The predictions of Seldon,Second Foundation,The Mule etc

I thought Asimov had a way of writing Science like and making the characters interesting,human at the same time.

Exciting doesnt have to be adventures and stuff.
 
Lioness said:
I never really could get into A Christmas Carol. I was maybe to young when I read it, but it just bored me.

.
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Ah one of my favourites! Loved the original film ever since I was a kid(not the wretched musical) and later i read the book and i have to say,its quite scary in parts! I like to revisit it every other christmas. Tried to read Cricket on the Hearth tho and couldn't get into it,another try later this year.
 
Was supposed to read Jane Eyre for college but just couldn't do it. Did fine in my exam anyway:D - Cal20
 
The Dirk Gently books by Douglas Adams are another series I can't get into...loved the HHG, but not those, for some reason...

AE35Unit said:
Ah one of my favourites! Loved the original film ever since I was a kid(not the wretched musical)
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Try the Muppet version, AE.....:p
 
I also have problem in reading later Foundation books. I still haven't finished Foundation and Earth. Still pending after years I read the beginning pages.

For me, authors/books that I cannot finish, because I though the stories are boring, are:
1. Shikasta by Doris Lessing.
2. David Wingroove's Chung Kuo.
 
I tried to read A Clockwork Orange many years ago and couldn't get into it at all.

It didn't seem worth the effort required to pick up on his 'invented language'.





And I agree that Chapter House Dune was tough going. I like the series, but it gets less good and more just plain weird the futher on you go, and that one was both bizarre and felt somewhat detached from what had gone before...

I did finish it, but I'm not sure if I could be bothered to read it again.
 
At risk of being ostracised, I have no desire to read about the adventures of everybodies favourite boy wizard. At first it was a protest thing, which is daft I know, but I found it incredibly irritating at university to have people stare at me in open mouthed wonder when I admitted not having read Harry Potter. Never mind the fact that I was reading Dumas, Vargas Llosa, King, Feist etc etc...I hadn't read ROWLING!! OMG! :D I got sick to death of hearing about 'the best book EVER!' and started the first book once but lost interest about 50 pages in. Then, when she was ill, my wife borrowed them from a friend and said they were 'Ok. Worth a read but only if nothing else is at hand.' and that pretty much sealed it.

I also gave up on The Wheel of Time. I like nothing more than starting a Peter Hamilton epic of 1200 pages, but the 5th or 6th Wheel book really tested me. 300 pages of what people are wearing does not make for exciting prose.
 
I think it was the 5th Wheel of Time book that killed me. It was no longer going anywhere, so I gave up on that series. Which was a shame as it started out quite well. It takes a lot to make me stop reading once I have gotten into something - but that one managed it.

I too could not get into Dirk Gently, despite loving HHG.
 
Sad to say, everything I've tried by Charles Stross has either gone over my head or else gone very quickly back to the library.
 
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