Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
What we're reading

Find your new favourite book or recommend one on our Book forum.

Original poster

Books you wish you'd never bothered to finish?

166 replies

FuntimeFuschia · 04/09/2012 22:46

Hello, hope its ok me posting on here, I very rarely post. Had a chat with a friend today which has made me think - have you ever finished a book and then thought what a phenomenal waste of my time that was? I recently read 'The Haunting of James Hastings', which I wanted to bin about halfway through, but persevered and regretted it.

I read a lot, many different genres and have never actually thought anything I read was a waste of time before this book. I would be very interested to hear what books anyone actually resents giving the time to and if anyone can tell me what the hell actually happened at the end of the above mentioned novel I'd be very grateful

OP posts:
NicknameTaken · 05/09/2012 10:42

100 Years of Solitude. It was a relief when I suddenly realized that I didn't actually like magic realism and didn't have to read it.

SlightlySuperiorPeasant · 05/09/2012 08:34

SailorVie it was definitely Cecilia. I donated it to my local library :o

Kveta · 05/09/2012 08:15

I never finish a book if it doesn't grip me. Ever since having to read bloody Jane Austen tedium at school, I vowed then not to waste more of my life on books that don't hold my attention.

DH agrees with Ivanhoe, they had to read it at school, translated into his language. Quite why that book was chosen, above any of his own country's literature, god alone knows!

MrsSchadenfreude · 05/09/2012 08:01

Brick Lane. Utterly awful and dull.

The Room. Badly written tosh.

On the Other Hand. Possibly one of the worst books ever published.

Oh and "I heart New York" - utter tripe - how on earth did she get published? (I got it free with a magazine and read it on Eurostar - where I left it.)

halfnhalf · 05/09/2012 07:52

I'll second Ivanhoe. We had to read it for a book group and everybody else liked it. It's good to hear that someone else agrees with me.

MrsLettuce · 05/09/2012 07:45

Everything I've ever read by Haruki Murakami. Excellent books one and all but the endings? Pah.

rowingdowntheriver · 05/09/2012 07:44

The first twilight book, I didn't bother with the rest.

Have been meaning to try 50 shades but am put off by this thread (and other Mumsnet feedback) as I know if I start I'll have to finish and will probably be a waste of my life. I need to get over having to finish books that I have started.

TantrumsAndOlympicGoldBalloons · 05/09/2012 07:40

50 shades of shite, never finished the first one.
The da Vinci code.

marshmallowpies · 05/09/2012 07:37

The Magus by John Fowles. They're on a Greek island, weird stuff happens, then...it all just peters out.

The Book Thief was a pile of tosh too.

LadyHortensiaBloom · 05/09/2012 07:25

One Day - average at best until the incident and then limped to a damp splat at the end.

SueFlaysAgainstTheDaleks · 05/09/2012 07:21

The Twilight Books

Raging - It took me aaages to finish Girlfriend In A Coma too, in spite of the fact that it's relatively short.

TheOneWithTheHair · 05/09/2012 07:18

50 shades and the Da Vinci code.

There have been others but I seem to have blocked them from memory. Grin

Oh and PS I Love You. Sentimental twaddle.

MimsyBorogroves · 05/09/2012 07:10

The Lovely Bones.

Dire.

worldcitizen · 04/09/2012 23:47

RagingDull that's good to hear. I have sort of adopted the same attitude in the past few years, and it has actually freed me of any obligation I used to feel as I now think "It's you and not me" Grin

worldcitizen · 04/09/2012 23:44

tether Grin

DioneTheDiabolist · 04/09/2012 23:43

AD-After Dachau. Worst bunch of shite I have ever had to endure. It's quite well written but the worst anti climax since I took 4 Es and had..... (I won't conclude this sentence, I'm sure you all know what I mean).

No doubt the Da Vinci Code has made it into the top ten. I haven't read it. I did read The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail. I found it awful enough. I didn't feel the need to read The Book Based on The Book That Left you Feeling Unsatisfied.

RagingDull · 04/09/2012 23:42

i now have a rule - if im not into it by page 50 i give it up as a bad job.

i have yet to finish girlfriend in a coma by Douglas coupland....i think i got about 50 pages from the end and never went back.....DH says i have to finish it! i think ive been reading it for about 4 years.....

tethersend · 04/09/2012 23:41

yy, worldcitizen, was Australian.

The series was bad, but not as dire as the book- they managed to inject a bit of life into it and made you care slightly about whether the characters lived or died.

SailorVie · 04/09/2012 23:41

SlightlySuperiorPeasant do you mean Cecilia or Clarissa? I remember Clarissa as an enormous tome in which nothing much happens Grin

mummybookworm · 04/09/2012 23:38

Sister by Rosamund Lupton. Utter rubbish. And the Da Vinci Code - dreadful

flibbergibbet · 04/09/2012 23:37

Fifty shades book one and two. What a pile of poop! I've given up now as I just couldn't face reading such utter crap a third time.

mama01 · 04/09/2012 23:34

The Life of Pi - never finished
One by Paulo Coelho - can't remember the name

SaggyOldClothCatPuss · 04/09/2012 23:32

Twilight! the first three I stuck with them in the hope that they would improve. They didnt! Awful, awful books.

worldcitizen · 04/09/2012 23:30

tether I think I watched the series. Was it Australian?

RagingDull · 04/09/2012 23:27

the suspicions of mr whicher.....the most boring book i have ever waded through....how i managed to finish it ive no idea.