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[Misc] Following on from the " What book are you currently reading " thread



wuntbedruv

wuntbedruv

Imagine
Mar 18, 2022
585
North West Sussex
What books have you tried to read but are struggling?

Dante's Divine comedy I have in two translations but it is such hard work, The Iliad, I need a companion work to go with but how the hell Joyce got Ulysses printed is beyond belief. Described as "Experimental" it is complete tosh.
 








S

SAC

Well-known member
May 21, 2014
2,549
I read The Hobbit and enjoyed it. Bought Lord of the Rings and gave up pretty quickly.

There was a big fuss about Captain Corelli's Mandolin but I gave up after a couple of chapters. The same with Da Vinci Code, which I read as some Catholics wanted it banned, but it was so badly written I gave up on it.
 






Peteinblack

Peteinblack

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jun 3, 2004
3,621
Bath, Somerset.
Anything by Virginia Woolf :yawn:
 










Brok

Brok

😐
Dec 26, 2011
4,348
I spent years searching for 'The Machine Gunners' by Robert Westall, because someone told me it was great.
YES. I could have got it off Amazon, or Ebay, or whatever... but...too easy.
So I scoured every charity shop, every boot sale, every jumble sale, local auctions, everywhere.

After a couple of years I'd just about given up any hope of ever finding this bloody book, when I went into another charity shop, looked through the books, and... I first saw the name Robert...looked down...Westall... The Machine Gunners ...I'd finally found it.
Took it home, thinking I'd enjoy it for a few hours.
Did I? No. It was, er, a bit boring to be honest

My latest quest is for a book by Baroness Orczy, 'The old Man in the Corner'

I'll find it one day...
I
 


Stat Brother

Stat Brother

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 11, 2003
73,771
West west west Sussex
The book I'm currently reading at bedtime is a toughie.
No matter how hard I try I just can't finish it.

***NO SPOILERS PLEASE***

I know he eats through 1 apple, 2 pears and 3 plums - but that's as far as I've ever got.
 




1066familyman

1066familyman

Radio User
Jan 15, 2008
15,185
SAC said:
I read The Hobbit and enjoyed it. Bought Lord of the Rings and gave up pretty quickly.

There was a big fuss about Captain Corelli's Mandolin but I gave up after a couple of chapters. The same with Da Vinci Code, which I read as some Catholics wanted it banned, but it was so badly written I gave up on it.
Click to expand...

Same on Captain Corelli's Mandolin.

Also, talking of controversy. I tried a Salman Rushdie book at the time. Can't even remember which one, but I didn't get far. He seemed to be trying to be clever for the sake of it. Admittedly, I'm not the brightest boy in the village, but I had far too many dictionary visits on that one to bother going much further :lol:

One that really surprised me was Chris Packham's... Fingers in the Sparkle Jar.

That should have ticked so many boxes for me. I grew up in pretty much the same era, had/have some similar experiences, love nature, and to be honest, he's about as close as I come to having a hero. I love what he does and what he stands for.
However, at times I just found some of the imagery a bit hard to take in all at once. Perhaps in many ways, that's the whole point. I don't know. I still enjoyed it, but in small doses, rather than not being able to put it down, which was what I was expecting.
 


wuntbedruv

wuntbedruv

Imagine
Mar 18, 2022
585
North West Sussex
Brok said:
I spent years searching for 'The Machine Gunners' by Robert Westall, because someone told me it was great.
YES. I could have got it off Amazon, or Ebay, or whatever... but...too easy.
So I scoured every charity shop, every boot sale, every jumble sale, local auctions, everywhere.

After a couple of years I'd just about given up any hope of ever finding this bloody book, when I went into another charity shop, looked through the books, and... I first saw the name Robert...looked down...Westall... The Machine Gunners ...I'd finally found it.
Took it home, thinking I'd enjoy it for a few hours.
Did I? No. It was, er, a bit boring to be honest

My latest quest is for a book by Baroness Orczy, 'The old Man in the Corner'

I'll find it one day...
I
Click to expand...

Whatever you do, don't read Firefox by Craig Thomas,deadly dull , he steals a plane in the first chapter then it's about 600 pages of him flying over Russia,Siberia Mongolia and a few over words ending IA.

Nothing happens and he gets away. Almost as deadly dull as Fargo
 






Tom Hark Preston Park

Tom Hark Preston Park

Will Post For Cash
Jul 6, 2003
70,229
This is about the only book I can remember never coming anywhere close to finishing. A masterclass in trite fifth-form doggerel

0241290112.jpg
 




Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's Tackle
NSC Patron
Oct 8, 2003
50,164
Faversham
I tried reading Byzantium Endures by Michael Moorcock about ten years ago (the book was a present) but gave up owing to lack of engagement (not helped by all the Russian names that every character painstakingly uses in full in ordinary speech). Very disappointing given how much I'd enjoyed reading Behold The Man when I was an undergraduate in the 1970s.

Harrimaximus Wilsonovic Tacklissimov.
 






Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's Tackle
NSC Patron
Oct 8, 2003
50,164
Faversham
lawros left foot said:
One flew over the cuckoos nest, loved the film, I found the book unreadable.
Catch 22.
Click to expand...

Yep. Them's unreadable. You reminded me:

Jaws (yes, OK, what was I thinking). I was going with the flow till I got to the ludicrous sex scene, shoe-horned into the narrative in a miss-judged attempt to tittilate.

Brave New World. Couldn't get along with it.
 




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