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Books you didn't finish

V

Violanthe

New Member
Are there books sitting on your shelf that you started to read, but haven't finished? What books are they? Why didn't you read the whole thing? Where did you stop? Why? Do you hope to continue one day? Or are you glad to leave them to gather dust?
 
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.
I got half way and gave up. I was interested in the subjects written about, but the author could not hold my interest and so I became un-interested in the book. Its a shame because it was a book I wanted to finish.
 
The Shipping News by Annie Proulx, I made it about 1/3 through and just petered out I guess. I was not really enjoying it and had other books to read and have kept it for later, much. much later. I was going to just give it away but heard such good things about it that I thought I'd try it again. I have in the past disliked a book the first time arouund and enjoyed it the second try.
 
The Zahir (Paulo Coelho)
Death of an Ordinary Man (Glen Duncan)
Those were the two most recent. I quit both about halfway through, maybe a little further.
I try not to leave a book unfinished but once I get to a point where I really don't care at all what happens next, I quit. There are way too many books I want to read. I don't have time to stick with ones that don't keep my interest! :)
 
Uh...The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice. *shifts nervously* I'm kinda on strike though, because I think it's silly for her to quit writing just because she's a "born-again" Christian.
 
I quit reading Life Expectancy-Dean Koontz after the first 100 or so pages. It was too clowny for me, and if I ever pick it back up, it will be to burn it. Same goes for It.

I also stopped in the middle of Vector-Robin Cook, The Eyes of Darkness-Dean Koontz, and The Second Time Around-Mary Higgins Clark. All three bored me out of my mind, and I just had to quit. I couldn't understand them because of how uninterested I was.

Normally, I would never quit reading a book, but these were exceptions. I might pick them up again in a few hundred years or so.
 
I stopped reading Emma by Jane Austen about 50 pages in. As I read, I became more and more irritated with the main character, until finally around page 50 she said something so horrible and snotty that I closed the book and said, "That's it... I can't take this any more."

Also, I started The Island of the Day Before by Umberto Eco and just got bored with it. I have never been much for philosophy or the details of history either, and so I lost interest.
 
Imajica by Clive Barker

I tried twice to read Imajica by Clive Barker. Damn that book was boring and in the first two hundred pages I couldn't find one character I liked, identified with, or understood. I haven't read a Clive Barker book since then.
 
"State of Fear" by Michael Crichton. I got about 1/3 of the way through, but couldn't really get into it.
 
I didn't finish Weaveworld by Clive Barker, I tried for a few weeks to read it off and on but decided it was time to give up about 350 pages in.
 
chris302116 said:
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.
I got half way and gave up. I was interested in the subjects written about, but the author could not hold my interest and so I became un-interested in the book. Its a shame because it was a book I wanted to finish.
Click to expand...

I had the same problem with this one. He just seemed to go on a bit for my liking. The books still sat there wiht the bookmark in it, it's been there for about a year now; maybe I'll finish it one day.



I also had a problem with The Shipping News but really enjoyed it the second time around.

One book I've tried twice and still haven't got through, though it was some years ago, is Lake Wobegone Days by Garrison Keillor (spelling?). I found parts very funny especially his dry sense of humour, but parts just left me behind. I must try again.
 
“Sophie’s World” as I remember, I started it and reached up to half of it, but I’m telling you this book is dense of information and historical philosophy. It was during my first days of philosophy readings (although you can still say I’m in the early days). I couldn’t finish it while working on my university courses.

I plan to read it from the beginning in a vacation or something. It’s a very useful book to read.
 
I loved Sophie's World. I was fifteen when I first read it and it made me want to be a philosopher. Jostein Gaarder is probably the only author whose books I've read all of.

Didn't finish tons and tons, way too many to list here. Recently, I didn't finish Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller, but I may go back to that.

Didn't finish Finnegans Wake. Has anybody though?
 
"Starship Troppers" after the first hundred pages I gave up. I just didn't understand it.
"Scarlet Letter" I just read the sumary on cliffnotes to get the whole point of the story...so boring :( .
 
Books I've never finished?
What about books I've never even started?
I am constantly checking out books from the library and never getting around to reading them, most recently The Scarlet Letter. I think this is because I have a tendency to check out books I feel I should read, not books that I have a genuine interest in. Of course, every once in a while comes along a most marvelous gem that I would never have checked out on my own had I not been so obsessive-compulsive about my reading habits.

There are too many books that I have stopped reading partway through (meaning, usually about five pages in bookstore) to list here. Most of them are still sitting on my to be read pile, waiting patiently and collecting dust.
 
I couldn't finish reading Riding Rockets by Mike Mullane, an astronaut, because I couldn't stand how he kept talking about how beautiful Judy Resnick was-I wondered if he would have been so effusive if she hadn't died, and how his wife feels about his gushing about Judy so much. The beginning, when he was talking about his childhood, was terrific, but after that it pretty much went downhill. The last third of the book seemed to be about the Challenger explosion, which I wasn't interested in reading about. I was disappointed because I expected more than the usual right-stuff-boys'-club stuff.
 
The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice

The Witching Hour by Annie Rice

Shogun by...forgot the author
 
Currently reading The Black House.

I cond never finish And the Ladies of the Club. It was just boring unless you really enjoy long descriptive passages.
 
veggiedog said:
Books I've never finished?
What about books I've never even started?
I am constantly checking out books from the library and never getting around to reading them, most recently The Scarlet Letter. I think this is because I have a tendency to check out books I feel I should read, not books that I have a genuine...
Click to expand...

It's good to see that I'm not the only one who's left unfinished The Scarlet Letter.:D
 
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