Which Books have you Failed to Finish?

The Large One · Jul 28, 2017

The Honourable Schoolboy by John le Carre - part of the Karla omnibus. Damn near unreadable.

BN9 BHA · Jul 28, 2017

essbee1 said:
The hobbit. Just got a little bit too tedious.

This.
I was given this book when I was a kid, just wasn't my sort of book.

Gwylan · Jul 28, 2017

Charlies Shinpad said:
The Bible
No point in reading it all as he dies in the end

I skipped to the last few pages ... the devil did it

Cheshire Cat · Jul 28, 2017

GT49er said:
Would it have been any better for you if Frodo had been called George, and had to make the perilous journey from Luton to Brighton, all the time watching out for the daemons of Selhurst trying to stop him?

That's got potential. Especially if he was travelling by Southern.

Cheshire Cat · Jul 28, 2017

The Large One said:
The Honourable Schoolboy by John le Carre - part of the Karla omnibus. Damn near unreadable.

Now you're just being silly now.

Hard Times btw - and my god it felt like them too

jakarta · Jul 28, 2017

Buzzer said:
I found Tolkien's books of varying degrees of interest and readability. The Hobbit starts off as a pure children's story although he changes the style to more like LotR partway through the book, LotR is just about manageable but there are chapters and chapters of background info that make the book very turgid and hard going and then when I read the Silmarillion I was just so bored because the level of detail kills any attempt at suspense or action. In hindsight, I think it's one of those rare times when it's helpful to have seen the films before reading the books.

Silmarillion is basically a Middle Earth Text Book... As you say theres lots more action in LotR.

The Two Towers is my favourite because of all the battles plus the Ents, I suppose this makes me rather shallow.

Back onto the original question, I can't bear Dickens, never managed to get into any of them.

marlowe · Jul 28, 2017

I've just thought of another one:
"The Blue Mountain" by Meir Shalev
Was first drawn to this as a result of reading comparisons to 100 Years of Solitude, one of my favourite books. Really didn't like it at all. Full of annoying supposedly "quirky" characters who I just found really tiresome. Probably got no further than fifty pages and would say is my least favourite attempted book of all time.

Seagulls over Essex · Jul 28, 2017

"Lady Chatterley's Lover". The pages always get stuck together.

GT49er · Jul 28, 2017

Buzzer said:
In hindsight, I think it's one of those rare times when it's helpful to have seen the films before reading the books.

Absolutely no, no, no.......and no!

If you've read the books, you will very probably like the films. Seeing the characters brought to life on the big screen (or on DVD) is great. I can also guarantee that you will foam in the mouth in sheer fury when some parts of the plot which you particularly like are changed for cinematic purposes, or omitted because the film can't last for 5 hours. Incidentally, exactly the same applies to the Harry Potter books and the subsequent movies.

Seeing the movie first, before reading the book, is an absolute disaster. All the characters are fixed in your mind, so your imagination does no work at all. You already know the ending, so your attention span will switch off when you come to bits that aren't in the film, and furthermore you will miss out on the appreciation of all the wonderful prose in the books (and in LotR - and in Harry Potter - the prose, and the use of English, is superb).

I made sure my kids read the books (or I read them to them) before they got to watch the movies; they are all d*** glad that I did.

GT49er · Jul 28, 2017

jakarta said:
Silmarillion is basically a Middle Earth Text Book..............

Admirably and succinctly put.

Gumbo · Jul 28, 2017

SSGB, borrowed from the library early 90s and still got it, couldnt finish the tv series either...

jakarta · Jul 28, 2017

GT49er said:
Admirably and succinctly put.

I will confess that I decided to read all 3 volumes of LotR to celebrate finishing my O-Levels when I had access to, shall we say, substances that might keep me awake for a couple of days and I did it. Not big or clever in retrospect of course.

Re-read it many times since, while the Peter Jackson films are impressive they have filleted the novels and don't really do it justice IMO.

GT49er · Jul 28, 2017

jakarta said:
I will confess that I decided to read all 3 volumes of LotR to celebrate finishing my O-Levels when I had access to, shall we say, substances that might keep me awake for a couple of days and I did it. Not big or clever in retrospect of course.

Re-read it many times since, while the Peter Jackson films are impressive they have filleted the novels and don't really do it justice IMO.

Given that a three hour film can't possibly cover every nuance of the book, nor can they portray every bit which appears important to millions of readers (each of whom will have a different impression of something somewhere along the line) I reckon the films do a pretty good job. 8....or even 9......out of ten for me.

portlock seagull · Jul 28, 2017

Buzzer said:
I found Tolkien's books of varying degrees of interest and readability. The Hobbit starts off as a pure children's story although he changes the style to more like LotR partway through the book, LotR is just about manageable but there are chapters and chapters of background info that make the book very turgid and hard going and then when I read the Silmarillion I was just so bored because the level of detail kills any attempt at suspense or action. In hindsight, I think it's one of those rare times when it's helpful to have seen the films before reading the books.

Love LoTR's as I do, the Silmarillion is indefensibley boring - real keep returning to the top of the page and keep trying not to nod off stuff. I was stuck on a bus in the outback for 3 days sheer boredom and even then I couldn't finish it. I starred at sand instead.

dangull · Jul 28, 2017

Charlies Shinpad said:
The Bible
No point in reading it all as he dies in the end

Actually, he rose from the dead after 3 days and saved man kind, so a happy ending really.

madinthehead · Jul 28, 2017

Umberto Eco: Focaults Pendulum.. Just a tough, tough read..
Really struggled through Charles Dickens Bleak House, was really pleased to have completed it and won't read again.

The Rattler · Jul 28, 2017

Any of the 'Janet and John' books. Found the characters unlikeable.

graz126 · Jul 28, 2017

trainspotting, found the dialect too hard going

Pevenseagull · Jul 28, 2017

Ulysses.
I'm not an idiot.
However, I'm not a ****

One day I may read it
Close the book
Feel smug

And be a ****

tinycowboy · Jul 28, 2017

Buzzer said:
Likewise. I see it as a personal failure and even when the book has been tosh (A Little Life) or v.difficult to read (Brief History of Seven Killings) I've soldiered on but I have given up on a fair few. A few that come to mind: Ulysses. I think I've tried a dozen times and each time got no further than the first 100 pages.

Another was a recommendation from a friend: 'The Celestine Prophecy' - in part a Dan Brown type novel and in part something giving deeper insight (think Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, Sophie's World). It was execrable. A story of someone who goes looking for their friend in S America who has gone missing having announced the discovery of the 13 steps, or however many, to a more meaningful life. The main character also discovers each step as they continue their hunt for their friend . I got about a quarter of the way through and was hating every page but the final straw came when the main protagonist was walking along a country road and meets a chap on a cart and horse coming in the opposite direction. The gist of the conversation went as follows:

Main character: "Good day sir!"
Bloke on cart: "Good day to you too! I can tell by that look on your face that you have reached the 2nd rule of the Celestine Prophecy"
Main character: "That I have sir. And most enlightening it is"
Bloke on cart: "Here, take this piece of paper on which the 3rd rule is written for you are now ready to receive this wisdom"
Main character: "Why thankyou sir!"

Me: "Oh, you're bloody kidding me. What a load of b*ll*cks. Can't believe I paid good money for this rubbish"
*book dumped in bin*

It remains to this day the only book I have thrown away rather than give to friends/charity. It sold millions too in the USA. And yes...I'm still bitter about having spent a tenner buying it.

Celestine Prophecy - Please, please stay well clear.

Well, that does sound pretty rubbish. Reminds me of struggling through that terrible conspiracy book on the Cathars and Jesus - the Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, I think it was called. Quite involving for the first 30 pages or so, but got more and more tedious. Never started Ulysses because I know I would have to give up. Easier to live with never having started; maybe something for retirement or the West Brom match if I get tired of set pieces.

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