What books could you not finish?

Just added Vernon God Little (D.B.C. Pierre) to the 'Did Not Finish' pile. Shame because the synopsis sounded quite interesting, but the main character, Vernon, is basically an even less charismatic Holden Caulfield.

Twilight. I was actually the target age when it was popular but reading it made me want to gouge my eyeballs out with a spoon.

I also struggled to finish The Girl On The Train. The characters were all so dull and unbelievable and it was just completley predictible. It just felt like any other generic crime thriller and I still have no idea why it was so hyped up.

On Beauty by Zadie Smith
Wilderness Tips by Margaret Atwood, and I was very close to the end of the book! Both authors I normally really enjoy.
The Historian (vampire book which was just dull)

If I wasn't on the 50 Boooks htread, there'd be more books that I would just give up on : agree about Witchfinder's Sister . The only book I haven't finished in the last year is Jesmyn Ward's Salvage The Bones but I also did not like Their Eyes Were Watching God, despite all the worshippers of this book. I found the dialogue in both books too much and the bleakness too intense, despite generally liking misery fests.

One I really thought was a pile of pants was The Summer Of Impossible Things. Stupid, silly, shallow twaddle. But I did finish it. Reluctantly.

@Charley50 , we must have similar taste!

@Shampaincharly - New York Trilogy!! What a fucking awful book!
I couldn't get on with My Brilliant Friend either.

100 Years of Solitude , Gabriel Garcia Marquez
New York Trilogy , Paul Auster

I read the first book of Elena Ferrante Naples thing....soooo glad I did not buy the others. I had no investment in any of the characters.

A few my book group has read over the last two years:
My Grandmother sends her regards and apologies
The keeper of lost things
Eleanor Oliphant
Little Fires Everywhere

And Definitely Wuthering Heights

I've just finished A Fact of a Body and if I wasn't reading it for book club I would definitely have given up on it. It took me ages to get in to it. It was broken down into three parts and I found the third part really boring.

I've seen a few mentions of The Goldfinch here and must say, I had blocked that one from memory completely. I could barely even start it.

The Girl on the Train - I really, really wanted to like it but I found the characters completely flat and couldn't go on anymore.

I've never been able to get past the first few pages of anything by Ali Smith, which is sad, as so many people rave about her.

I also disappointed myself by giving up on The Idiot (Dostoyevsky) about half way through. I kept trying to read it and just got to the point where I couldn't take any more.

There are some surprises for me on this thread. I can understand why people couldn't finish Wolf Hall, because it's quite dense and requires a lot of concentration. But The Catcher in the Rye is a very easy read. I also think it's a masterpiece, but that's by the by.

The Essex Serpent. Well written but so boring. Gave up half way through.

War and Peace. My copy is so battered you'd think it was my favourite book. But I never get past the first part - a reception? Instant boredom every time. I should keep it by my bed for when insomnia strikes.

The Little Friend defeated me too. Unfortunately I learned a spoiler that makes me think it won't be worth my while slogging to the end.

Northanger Abbey. I though finally learning how to pronounce the title might help me connect with it more. Still can't finish it. I love Emma, Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion. I like Sense and Sensibility. I couldn't care less about the other two.

I loved Gone Girl and We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves.

American psycho - utterly vile - I actually threw it in the bin rather than give it to charity and risk someone else reading it.

I've just binned off A Marriage in Dog Years for being awful whiny drivel.

I've just admitted defeat on The Little Friend. Promising opening chapter but i've waded through the subsequent 100 pages and NOTHING has happened. A quick glance at Good Reads tells me that things don't improve over the 400 still to go.

So no. I'm not doing it.

Serious Sweet by A.L. Kennedy, I just could not get into this at all.
Galileo’s Daughter by Dava Sobel. So dry and full of unnecessary detail.

You're not wrong @dreaming174 - I persevered for 3 whole months, I don't know what I was thinking. I had a similar experience with The Hobbit at school - a particularly uninspiring teacher made us read it out for months, with the same kids in the same characters. Haven't touched it since.

Re The Power, it's in my TBR pile. When I saw it won the Bailey's prize I thought 'hmm, looks like the type of thing that wins because it's zeitgeisty'. But the premise was intriguing so I bought it anyway gulp

Oh, The Power. I really thought I'd missed the point of it when I'd finished it. It was disappointing. I gave it 3 stars on Goodreads, but that was being over generous. I didn't like it and only saw it through to the end because I needed to know how it ended

I have tried A Game Of Thrones three times and given up at the same point each time. The prologue promised an interesting story and then it turned into boring punctuated with "Ooooh, look how shocking I am, killing & maiming these characters, and sibling sex" and bah, I don't give a shit, Mr Martin.

I also couldn't finish The Catcher In The Rye or Conrad's Heart Of Darkness. Just too boring.

I did, however, hate read all of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine. It was so patronising.

@cakemonger ohmygosh, WHO described 'The Box of Delights' as the greatest children's book? I'm pretty sure it must've been my ancient old English teacher, who made us all read musty old copies aloud in class 20 years ago, until SHE got bored about chapter 5 and we all of a sudden, gave it up. I was known as 'the bookworm' at school, and I thought it was dreadful.

@heymammy oh my goodness The Power! What a load of rubbish! I THOUGHT I must've got 3/4 of the way through and then kindle told me I was only 20%. Good god, what drivel.

I loved Shantaram! Admittedly, I skipped over some of the bullshit philosophical twaddle...
I rarely give up on a book, but recently gave up on City on Fire, which I had asked for as a birthday present... I just found it completely unreadable and don't understand the hype.

woollyheart "the amount of detail required to do this is too much for some of you."

I love books that transport me somewhere, using lots of detail, Crimson Petal & White being a great example.

with Wolf Hall, as I said upthread, it was the detail in religion in particular that I found off putting, but that's just because for me personally, it's boring. I could see why people think it's brilliant - as I also said upthread - it just wasn't for me.

it's not the case the detail puts me off, I just need to relate to it.