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Books you didn't finish

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum. I plan on picking up Catch-22 again in the near future, but I think that I will pass on the others. They just didn't appeal to me at all.
 
Why the Jews Rejected Jesus
Wizard and Glass
The Witching Hour

I plan to get back into them eventually
 
Recently, I gave up on The Sea by John Banville 60 pages in as it bored me senseless, how it won The Booker Prize I do not know! Maybe I should have stuck with it as it probably gets better towards the end, I'll pick it up again one day (if I have nothing better to do).

I also read the first 40 pages of John Updike's Couples but put it back on my shelf for a later date, it was good but I just wasn't in the mood for it at that time.
 
Someone loaned me a book called The Day After Roswell by Philip Corso. The actual story was okay, but the writing style was incredibly dry. I got about half way through and just gave up and returned it.

Another one I almost quit but somehow pushed on and finished was Stephen King's Insomnia.
 
MonkeyCatcher said:
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller...
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I picked that one up recently and put it down again after less than 100 pages. All the blurbs said it was supposed to be funny, but if it is, it's so far away from my kind of humor that I couldn't see it. Honestly I thought it was boring.
 
I hope MonkeyCatcher doesn't see this post but I very nearly gave up on Oryx & Crake! I couldn't see what all the fuss was about, I found it silly and uninteresting (although I did enjoy a few passages) but at over 200 pages into it I plodded along and as a result absolutely loved it! The last 100 pages or so were divine and I'm glad I finished it! Just goes to show!

So really, MonkeyCatcher, I've redeemed myself :p
 
theoptimist said:
Recently, I gave up on The Sea by John Banville 60 pages in as it bored me senseless, how it won The Booker Prize I do not know!
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I agree. I bought this at the train station a couple of weeks ago when I went to London on the spur-of-the-moment and didn't have a book or even any music to listen to... read probably the same amount of pages and hated it so much I bought a different book for the return journey.
 
KristoCat said:
I picked that one up recently and put it down again after less than 100 pages. All the blurbs said it was supposed to be funny, but if it is, it's so far away from my kind of humor that I couldn't see it. Honestly I thought it was boring.
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I had the exact same reaction. I think I got to page 70 before I gave up. Just not funny at all to me!

theoptimist said:
I hope MonkeyCatcher doesn't see this post but I very nearly gave up on Oryx & Crake! I couldn't see what all the fuss was about, I found it silly and uninteresting (although I did enjoy a few passages) but at over 200 pages into it I plodded along and as a result absolutely loved it! The last 100 pages or so were divine and I'm glad I finished it! Just goes to show!

So really, MonkeyCatcher, I've redeemed myself
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:p I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it! I found it hard to get into it at the start, but after 100 pages or so I started to really enjoy it. Are you planning on reading any other Atwoods?
 
KristoCat said:
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.
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While it is probably the least of his five novels (having not read The Mysterious Flame Of Queen Loana, I'm still putting it in fourth place) I think there's a lot to like within The Island Of The Day Before. The first two hundred pages are fun to read before the next two hundred which then become a trickier path to follow, before the sun shines on the final furlong and he finally decides what action to take. There is a wonderful piece on the levels of life within all elements, which, apart from the premise (a man being marooned on a ship), is one of the most memorable things about the book.

As for Margaret Atwood, I think I'll forever give her a miss. I read an extract of The Robber Bride and it was one of the most boring things I have ever read. It would probably rank just behind an essay on positive attributes of amino acids when placed in a container and made to orbit the moon while being licked by Laika.

AND, I need to read The Sea again. I stopped after one hundred pages because it had to go back to the library, but I've since bought it again and it was lovely reading. I can see how some can call it boring but it's not about the forward motion of the story but the beauty with which it casts its story back.
 
I couldn't finish Sion by Philip Boast - what was I thinking buying this dull dull book? Well it least it was only 50p.

Originally Posted by KristoCat
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.
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I enjoyed this one. I'm usually gormless in such matters but even I could see that the prose was superb. The Paris parts were vibrant and colourful and the various layers to the story made me think for a long time afterwards. Which was kind of painful :D
 
Stewart said:
As for Margaret Atwood, I think I'll forever give her a miss. I read an extract of The Robber Bride and it was one of the most boring things I have ever read.
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You will be missing out then.
 
I recently gave up on 100 Years of Solitude by Marquez. I can see why people love the book, but I got lost and lost interest. I might try another of his books sometime though.
 
Stewart said:
Na, I won't. I can avoid her dull prose and move onto stuff that interests. ;)
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:D

"Stuff that interests" as in John Banville? Hmmm. ;)

Luckily we're not all the same...
 
Stewart said:
In some ways it's a shame: I'd have my own breasts to rub then. ;)
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In that case, it most definitely is not a shame. ;) Nobody is that self-sufficient.

And just to bring this thread back to books, I didn't finish The Secret Garden at school. Hated it.
 
ValkyrieRaven88 said:
Uh...The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice.
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Why did you quit on this one? I never tried Lestat, but I recently tried the Vampire Armand and couldn't get very far into it
 
There are sooooooooooo many. I plan to read them all, someday. These are just a few.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
The Lovely Bones
War and Peace

It seems I start a book and something happens and sometimes I just forget about it. The only one that I really have a *good* reason for not finishing is The Lovely Bones. I got 1/2 way through it and it was too intense for me at that point in my life, so I stopped. I DO plan to finish reading it and soon.
 
Gem said:
I enjoyed this one. I'm usually gormless in such matters but even I could see that the prose was superb. The Paris parts were vibrant and colourful and the various layers to the story made me think for a long time afterwards. Which was kind of painful :D
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From what I remember, the prose was well-handled. But for me the prose couldn't save the book - the subject matter and plot were just too slow and boring. But my fiance liked it and I'm glad you did too. Like steffee said, luckily we're not all the same :)
 
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