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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:
tethersend · 04/09/2012 23:27

The Slap.

I'll never get the time spent reading it back, and that makes me ANGRY.

worldcitizen · 04/09/2012 23:27

worse I mean Grin

worldcitizen · 04/09/2012 23:25

Brick Lane

and the film was even worst.

GoldPlatedNineDoors · 04/09/2012 23:25

The twilight saga.

Salmon fishing in the yemen

the memory keepers daughter

Happybunny12 · 04/09/2012 23:25

Da Vinci Code. I whined for the whole second half about how poor the writing was but finished it as have a thing about finishing books I've started. Read last page, said 'well that was crap'and put it down. Why?! I knew it would be from a few chapters in!

MrsMiniversCharlady · 04/09/2012 23:22

Yes, it's totally surreal. Basically like one of those dreams where you're trying to get somewhere and can't - total head fuck and mind-numbingly tedious. WHY did I read it all? Because I was trying to impress my boyfriend at the time, who's actually a total idiot so even more of a waste of time

readyforno2 · 04/09/2012 23:19

Fifty shades trilogy - complete waste of time
Room - the most boring book ever.

Original poster
FuntimeFuschia · 04/09/2012 23:16

I have a feeling I might have actually started The Unconsoled and then gave up...is it something to do with a bloke in a hotel then things go a bit bonkers? It will have been many years ago...

OP posts:
alto1 · 04/09/2012 23:15

When I was about 18 I read Ivanhoe. I still thought you had to give a book a chance and if you started you should finish.

I used to promise myself that the next time someone swore by God's eyes I could go to bed.

What a waste of time - after that I allowed myself to give up on books that were real no-hopers.

SlightlySuperiorPeasant · 04/09/2012 23:14

Cecilia. An enormous tome of a classic that goes on and on and on about the same thing. Dire.

The Europeans. To sum it up:

  • Promising start involving rich young aristocrats and a possible love story.
  • Nothing much happens.
  • Nothing much continues to happen.
  • For the grand finale, nothing happens.

I bought The American in case I had got a duff one and Henry James really was a genius. Nope, went exactly the same way. Yawn.

MikeLitorisRings · 04/09/2012 23:13

Fifty shades of shite

Girl with the dragon tattoo

MrsMiniversCharlady · 04/09/2012 23:11

The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro. WTF was that all about then?!

TittyBojangles · 04/09/2012 23:10

This will probably be unpopular but..... Sophies choice. I really detested that book.

Original poster
FuntimeFuschia · 04/09/2012 22:52

Ah, I started skipping the sex scenes in Fifty Shades by the second book, got through the rest pretty quickly after that!

OP posts:
puffylovett · 04/09/2012 22:50

50 shades.

Oh no, hang on - I didn't bother finishing it Grin

rubyslippers · 04/09/2012 22:47

Fifty shades trilogy

I skipped 50% of the final book too