Books You've Never Been Able to Get into or Finish

SilentRoamer said:
Generally if I start a book I will finish it (unless it is dire) but often I take a while to return to it.

Suzannah Clarke: Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell - I found the conversational and gentlemanly narration very difficult to stay with, the general lack of economy of words and the length of time it takes the author to say anything is frustrating. Although I did like the treatment of magic and have been told the book is very weighted for action towards the end. I am about 35% through and this is in my almost non existent "to be finished" pile. I found this a shame as it came recommended from another forum I frequent.
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I got half way through this, and enjoyed it, but just couldn't carry on for some reason. Just too lengthy, I think.
 
Don't hate me but...

...Wheel of Time. The series. I don't know why, I just could never get into it. Every time I try I find myself just wandering off to go do something else. I'm sure it's a very lovely series, but it just doesn't click right for me.

Maybe I'm broken inside.
 
Michael Coorlim said:
Don't hate me but...

...Wheel of Time. The series. I don't know why, I just could never get into it. Every time I try I find myself just wandering off to go do something else. I'm sure it's a very lovely series, but it just doesn't click right for me.

Maybe I'm broken inside.
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I gave up on the series long ago.
 
Venusian Broon said:
Yes I read it in about a week and I'd still say it's in my top three best reads of all time. Really clicked with me.
However I can understand why some may not like it. I know I like quite a few other authors that others have negative views on (Umberto Eco and M John Harrison spring instantly to mind) so you may judge where my taste is perhaps using them!
However I think I was lucky that I hadn't really come across any discussion of Gravitiy's Rainbow, particularly that it was supposed to be 'difficult' read, so just picked it up and ploughed through it like a hot knife through butter. Now that I am more learned about all books, I'm not sure I can wonder in naively into something big and tough, say like Finnegans Wake, anymore. Which is a shame.
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Interesting. M John Harrison and Umberto Eco are amongst my favourite authors. I've pretty much collected their entire (fictional) ouevre. It sounds like Gravity Rainbow may click for me to. Finnegans Wake is not an easy read by anyone's reckoning really. I've tackled Ulysses (annotated edition) and that was good but I'm currently sourcing someone's 40 year analysis of Finnegan's Wake before I embark on that little number.

Sounds like we may have similar tastes? If you haven't checked out Italo Calvino I would recommend him to you...:)
 
GOLLUM said:
Sounds like we may have similar tastes? If you haven't checked out Italo Calvino I would recommend him to you...:)
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Thanks for the recommendation!

Although from experience me saying 'oh if you like X & Y, you then must like Z' has been proven wrong for me so many times, I'm not sure my advice to get stuck into Gravity's Rainbow can be wholly trusted ;):D. Taste is a funny thing!

So I'd better put a disclaimer in.

You might like it. Perhaps, perhaps not....:)

I read it a good decade ago and a huge number of the scenes still stand out in my memory - which means it really stuck. Give it a go and find out, is my final word on it.
 
The Name of the Wind - I read it right through and hated it! I've never wanted to reach into a book and slap someone more in my life than I did with Kvothe.
 
The are a great many books that don't grab me, and that I set aside unfinished. Probably more than I complete.

But to me, that's different from books I've tried multiple times to finish. If I give a book a second try, there was something about it that felt appealing and worthwhile, but for some reason I had no urgency to complete. They include:

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. Love the prose and the tone. Tried to read it twice in text format and once in audiobook format. At some point my interest just petered out. Maybe the TV series will sustain my interest.

Gormenghast. Again, love the prose. Love the setting and the characters. Made two runs at it, and set aside defeated twice. I'll certainly be giving this another try. I just need the right timing.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Tried to take it as just a story. Just couldn't get past the writing. Tried again when I read it to my kids. Liked it even less, and asked my wife to take over the bed-time reading duties. Won't by trying again.
 
This all goes to show how completely varied taste can be. One person's favourite may not do it for someone else, and a title someone hated can be another person's comfort read. And none of it is wrong; it just means there's room for all types of fiction, especially in our chosen genre.

Hurrah for us! :) hehe :)
 
David Doherty-Jebb said:
This all goes to show how completely varied taste can be. One person's favourite may not do it for someone else, and a title someone hated can be another person's comfort read. And none of it is wrong; it just means there's room for all types of fiction, especially in our chosen genre.
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Absolutely - sometimes I'm astonished by the variety of differing tastes here. :)
 
OK I'll do it:
Anything by Orson Scott Card
Tolkien, Lord of the Rings/Hobbit
Patrick Suskind, Perfume
JD Salinger, Catcher in the Rye (I finished but only because I had to for school)
Thomas Hardy, Mayor of Casterbridge
Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey and Emma
Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights (although the song was fab)
 
Oof, the one that has defeated me repeatedly is Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov. The whole idea of the book reallly appeals, but I get a third of the way in, and I just find other things more important to do.
Gormenghast is just sooooo ponderous as well.
 
Venusian Broon said:
Thanks for the recommendation!

Although from experience me saying 'oh if you like X & Y, you then must like Z' has been proven wrong for me so many times, I'm not sure my advice to get stuck into Gravity's Rainbow can be wholly trusted ;):D. Taste is a funny thing!

So I'd better put a disclaimer in.

You might like it. Perhaps, perhaps not....:)

I read it a good decade ago and a huge number of the scenes still stand out in my memory - which means it really stuck. Give it a go and find out, is my final word on it.
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For Calvino try his best known work, the novel If On a Winter's Night a Traveler. Several folk here have read that and enjoyed it. The shorter novella Invisible Cities is also very good. That is where I would start..:)
 
MWagner said:
Gormenghast. Again, love the prose. Love the setting and the characters. Made two runs at it, and set aside defeated twice. I'll certainly be giving this another try. I just need the right timing.
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I read this once, 40 years ago. Since then I have tried to read it again a few times, but can't seem to stick with it. Perhaps if I skim the Prunesquallor stuff. That more than anything seemed to be the obstacle. I just wasn't finding it the good fun that Peake seemed to think it was.
 
it is incredibly subjective -- my Old Man and I love and loathe different books and agree on a VERY few yet agree on most films etc. Style can be a big thing that makes you read on or not. And we get antsy about different things. Basically, it's mostly personal -- they aren't bad books, they just don't float my boat.

And I'm picky about books so I'll only mention the first few that come to mind.

DNF: For varied reasons (pace/content/style mostly)

Neuromancer
Windup Girl
Painted/Warded Man (I did finish, because only because I was supposed to review it, and struggled mightly)
Only read the first ASOIAF -- I think GRRMs time in Hollywood told, because it works (for me) much better on film. The book left me flat (until I reread with Peter Dinklage as narrator in my head. That really works!)
Assassin's Apprentice -- I much prefer Hobb as Lindholm.
Red Seas over Red Skies
Mistborn
Perdido Street Station



YMMV
 
Ive made two attempts at Gravity's Rainbow.
 
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