What book did you start to read, didn't like, and quit?

[fadedrose]

And why woud be nice....

[fadedrose]

1. DEATH OF AN ADDICT by M. C. Beaton

I wish I knew why I couldn't get past the first 2 pages. Glanced through and it just had no appeal. Maybe I'll come back to it...

[Scuba]

2. Many years ago, I anxiously started Joseph Heller's "Something Happened", having been a big fan...

... of his famous work "Catch 22".

Well, by page 290 or so, nothing had happened. Most boring story ever, and I had read almost all of it! I learned.

Now I'll drop anything that doesn't grab me and hold on. I've quit many , many books in the first 3-5 pages, others sometimes as much as halfway through.

But I never waste my time reading something I don't like just because I started it. I guess I should thank Heller for that.

[BlueIris]

4. Oh, darn. I haven't read that and am still planning to.

Now I'm worried it's going to suck.

[Scuba]

6. Try to find something more exciting, like actuary tables.

[Staph]

3. The Silmarillion, by Tolkien

It was like reading the "begats" in the Bible. I could not get through the first section and gave up.

[getting old in mke]

7. Agreed. Took me at least four times to get through.

Finally made it with an audiobook reading and some long drives. As a long-term LotR reader, I felt obligated.

And I have a friend who has read it many times with pleasure. One of those folks entranced with the world more than story.

You just never know.

[mainer]

16. I tried, too. And I was such a Tolkien addict.

I just found it too hard going to continue.

[BlueIris]

5. Iain Pears' Instance of the Fingerpost.

Extremely slow. Incomprehensible, almost. And dry as toast.

[getting old in mke]

8. Another example of "You never know"

I loved this book and often use it as an example of something freaking brilliant

Same story told five or six times from completely different viewpoints where each retelling advances the narrative some, but makes you realize that what you thought up to then was completely wrong--or completely restrained by the limits of the previous narrators. It's a kind of like the movie "The Red Violin", or more so, "Memento."

My wife begs to differ, though

I remember being entranced back in 5th grade ('66-67) when our teacher read us two books with the same story about events and interactions between two groups of kids, each book told one of the groups perspective. An early introduction to "not everyone sees things as you do, kid." Not that I was ready to hear it...

[Lydia Leftcoast]

25. I'm heartbroken!

That's one of my favorite books of all time.

But then, I'm a history and mystery buff.

I haven't liked Pears' other books, though.

[BlueIris]

29. Oh, I'm a buff, too.

Amateur as I may be. I just could. not. do it. Tried. No go.

[applegrove]

9. I started to read "The Diary of Nat Turner". Then I realized it was historical fiction. I hate

something is a hybrid like that. I want facts when I read history. Of sure I read James A. Mitchener but he isn't writing about real people and giving them phoney dialogue. I've read and was blown away by many slave narratives since but knew that they were the actual thing: I like my primary information to be factual.

[Paladin]

33. "Diary" or "Confessions"?

If you're talking about "The Confessions Of Nat Turner"' you ought to give it another try. Styron was a better writer than Michener ever dreamed of being......

[applegrove]

35. The Confessions I guess.

[YankeyMCC]

10. The Centaur by John Updike

The problem was probably more mine than the book's but I just could not follow what exactly was happening and although there have been a few books I've read that started out that way and I continued through because the writing style was so engaging this was not one of them.

It was and remains my only attempt at Updike

[russspeakeasy]

22. Updike is a favorite of mine, but I couldn't make it through The Centaur.

[dimbear]

11. Too many to list, but no trees died because I downloaded them. Ebook: nature thanks you. n/t

[Curmudgeoness]

12. Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky

I tried, I really did. But I reread the first chapters over and over, trying to figure out the characters....but I just couldn't sort them out. Maybe it was the odd names, but I think that having too many with foreign names that are similar or the same did me in.

[mvccd1000]

13. "Rose Madder" by Stephen King

I'm usually a huge fan of his books, but I gave that one 50 pages and just wasn't feeling a thing for it.

That's the only book I can remember putting down without finishing in forever, and I usually read over 100 books a year.

[fadedrose]

14. GUN, WITH OCCASIONAL MUSIC by Jonathan Lethem

Wow. This must be one of those dark future books. Everybody has their own supply of some kind of powdered drugs - main character had procedure done where he exchanged nerve endings with a female to experience her feelings and she'll have his feelings - in their sexual apparatus....I quit about page 19 and don't know how that turned out...

Not a candidate for classroom discussion.

[Tom Ripley]

37. Lethem is a terrible writer

I think he is one of those "I'm bad in sports, so I must be creative" people.
Sorry, Jonny, it doesn't work that way.

[Viva]

15. The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje

The writing was great
But
After about 100 pages I just did not care about the characters.

[JitterbugPerfume]

17. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

981 pages !

It just did not "grab my attention" in the first 100 pages . That is the test, If I read 100 pages and see no reason to continue, i don't.

I will probably try it again some day.

[pscot]

18. I started skimming about 50 pages in

then decided it wasn't worth the effort.

[dmallind]

19. Ramsey Campbell - Secret Story

Have had multiple recommendations for this guy and jyust not seeing it at first try. Horror/thriller is not my main genre but I'm a passing fan of it. This, supposedly his "most accessible" book (maybe I should try an inaccessible one?) is simply too tedious and insulting to the intelligence, hitting you over the head with sledgehammer themes of mutual media exploitation, familial overbearing attitudes, and "misogynism is bad juju mmmkay".

And while supernatural horror can stretch the credibility envelope, realistic horror thrillers are supposed to be, well, realistic. I got about half way through - I have no idea if the serial killer is caught (any potential attempt at investigation has thus far not even been mentioned; it may not even include one for all I know, which is kind of strange for an area where murder is very rare) but I gave up at about the point where Inspector Clouseau, investigating a completely separate case, would have said "we should probably arrest this guy, you know" and where anyone talking to him for more than 30 seconds would have called 911 - ok 999 - and said "hey cops - serial killer alert".

[closeupready]

54. His short stories are genius, while I have found his book-length works

to be, as you say, tedious. Not helping matters for an American is the fact that much of the dialogue and language is both colloquial forms of British English or standard British English - making it sometimes difficult to understand what is going on.

I've tried many of his books, but can't seem to enjoy them, though I'll likely keep trying, lol. As I say, his short stories are just superb - I think the fact that he is strictly limited helps focus his story-telling, making for a plot that moves quickly. "Dark Companions" is a really outstanding collection, FTR.

[SheilaT]

20. A Million Little Pieces by James Frey.

I actually could not get past the first two paragraphs, because as a former airline employee I can assure you that no one would be allowed to board a plane in the physical condition he claims to have been in -- bloodied about the face. Just would not happen.

So I felt quite vindicated when it turned out he'd made most of it up. Made me wonder why the editor didn't question that opening. Although, it often seems as though books are barely edited any more.

[ZombieHorde]

21. Some Ayn Rand book, I don't remember which one.

I was politically unaware, and one of my friends told me to read it. I didn't know anything about the author, but I found the book to be exceptionally dumb. The heroes were constantly making themselves miserable, and then blaming their misery on everyone else. The characters even tried to take all of the joy out of sex.

I thought it was the worst book I had ever read.

[mantis49]

23. The Bear and the Dragon

by Tom Clancy.

I was a fan of his until this book. His male characters were so condescending toward and dismissive of his female characters that it just made me angry and I couldn't finish. Haven't read one of his books since.

[Odin2005]

36. I read that book as a teenager. I liked it at the time, but in hindsight...

...the plot and character development was dreadful. I know Clancy is a devout Catholic, but the killing a Catholic priest trying to stop a forced abortion starting a war of the US and Russia against China? ROFLMAO!!!

[fadedrose]

24. BAD FAITH (2012) by Robert K. Tanenbaum

[Lydia Leftcoast]

26. The Quincunx

I just wasn't in the mood for it.

[getting old in mke]

27. Yeah...

one needs to be in a "it was a dark and stormy life" mood for it. Sort of the same place for _Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell_.

[raccoon]

28. ATLAS SHRUGGED. It was boring, boring, boring.

And DON QUIXOTE. some parts might be worth the read, but all the way thru....forget it.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

31. Me too

It is said that Atlas Shrugged is the book about which Dorothy Parker said, "This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force."

I started to read Rand's Virtue of Selfishness, but on the second or third page, she gives a straw man definition of "altruism". She said that the altruist believes that an act which helps others is good, an act which helps the altruist is bad. An actual altruist would say that an act which helps him- or herself and does not harm others is at worst morally neutral, and may well be good. (And her statement about helping others being good is simplistic to the point of absurdity.) Since she starts off with a logical fallacy, I saw no reason to continue reading. She is obviously a crap philosopher.

After all, there are two possibilities:

Either she did not know that what she was saying was untrue, in which case she is a fool and not worth bothering with.

If she knew that what she was false, but said it anyway, she is a knave and not worth bothering with.

[fadedrose]

32. Interesting opinion...

and welcome to the group....

[Dr. Strange]

30. Last Call by Tim Powers and Ghost Story by Peter Straub

In the case of Last Call, I just wasn't getting into it and found it confusing. And in the case of Ghost Story, I was busy at the time and couldn't read much during one sitting, and after a few months I had forgotten what was going on in the story.

I ended up trying to read them both again at later dates and found myself liking them both. Last Call in particular was an excellent tale. It just goes to show you...

[Paladin]

34. "Ghost Story" Was Genuinely Terrifying.

Maybe the scariest book I ever read. I was hoping for a decent movie of it, but I was really, really disappointed.....

[ceile]

38. Love in the Time of Cholera

Absolutely awful. Great love story? Where? I just didn't get all the hubbub...

[Alameda]

46. Interesting, I read and loved that book.

Oh well, to each their own.

[Homer Wells]

39. Robert A. Heinlein's "I Will Fear No Evil."

This was written after he had some serious medical work done, and the overly 'cute' dialogue was so unlike anything he had ever done. It sort of made me uncomfortable just reading it.
(I have been a lifelong fan of Mr. Heinlein, except for that one book, and I am well past 60 years old now.)

[demguy_5692]

40. A million litter fibers

Awful and boring.

[Moe Shinola]

41. Cryptonomicon, by Neil Stephenson

It just wasn't moving. Moving along, I mean.

[Moe Shinola]

42. Also Gormenghast, by Mervyn Peake

I'd like to finish it, too, sometime. It's just so boring!

[Moe Shinola]

42. Also Gormenghast, by Mervyn Peake

I'd like to finish it, too, sometime. It's just so boring!

[XemaSab]

48. I didn't quit reading it

but I definitely decided that I was bored with 3/4 main characters, so I skimmed the rest.

[gollygee]

44. The Night Circus

I didn't dislike it, but it didn't hold my interest. I keep thinking I should try again, since so many people like it.

[mainer]

51. I finished it but it left me meh

For the first 100 pages I loved it because it was so creative. But after awhile all the magic just got tiresome and there were no boundaries of reality so it seemed the author could just pull rabbits out of hats to solve all plot crises.

[dimbear]

45. I read a bunch of European novels, but when I come to dimwitted minority hating remarks,

and that happens quite often, I usually delete.

These are old novels, and people weren't sensitive, to say the least. Now I notice the Euros are bringing out reprints of some of these old novels with the offending characters completely erased.

I'm not too sure how I feel about that either.

[russspeakeasy]

47. Gone, by Randy Wayne White...

Life is too short to read any more of his books. In "Gone", he introduces a new female character. The opening is good, describing her ability to maneuver her small skiff thru river channels, etc. The rest of what I read was about her late "blooming", her troubled past with men, etc.
I have taken Mr. White off my favorite authors list...his last couple of books have the appearance of being phoned in.

[XemaSab]

49. I haven't QUIT reading "Institutes of Biblical Law" by RJ Rushdoony

but I've been whacking at it for a year and I've made scant progress.

Which is sad, because every page is a freak show unto itself.

[sulphurdunn]

50. Cloud Atlas

I decided to read the novel after seeing the movie, but it became too tedious.

[jp76]

53. Tedious is a good word for it.

I might try to get through a chapter of it sometime...but probably not.

[Chef Eric]

52. Moby Dick. I quit after reading 600 pages.

Before reading those 600 pages, I hadn't realized an author could use so many words to say so little.

And yet, despite my miserable experience with Moby Dick, I remained interested enough in whaling to read "The Loss of the Ship Essex, Sunk by a Whale," a collection of first-person accounts of the real disaster on which Melville based his novel. It was both interesting and horrifying.

[closeupready]

55. I read slowly, so I long ago realized I can't feel obligated to finish

books which I've started but which I'm not enjoying, even if they come with numerous recs. I think one such book was The Descent - first chapter was marvelous, but it suddenly became ridiculous and unbelievable. So I put that down.

It can be hard for me sometimes to know what I'm going to like and what not. Generally, I enjoy mysteries and thrillers and will finish just about all of those which I've started. I also enjoy reading about different kinds of history - rich people, ancient civilizations, early show business personalities, etc.

I wish I was a more well-rounded reader, but I'm just not. I know what I like and I kind of stick with it.