What books could you not finish?

I love some of the books mentioned here. I am reading Alias Grace at the moment and loving it.

Lincoln in the Bardo is another one in my top ten. In fact I read the whole Man Booker Prize list last year as I was so convinced nothing could be better.
Loving the way this thread is showing so many different tastes.

All books with a protagonist with amnesia.

Bloody hell. So many of them at the moment.

I nearly borrowed Lincoln in the Bardo from the library. Fortunately I stopped and flicked through. no way!

|Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, it's not that it's a tome, I can cope with very long books, just didn't get into it after 100 pages or so, sometimes I feel I can't invest the time in something I'm finding pretty dull. I didn't finish The Little Friend, but loved Donna Tart's other two Secret History and especially The Goldfinch.

Other books that I did get through but wished I'd given up on that have cropped up on this thread. The Luminaries, just too long, Cloud Atlas, everyone around me seemed to love it I found reading it a real penance, I can see it's a clever concept though. The Lovely Bones, turgid load of twaddle, hated it, A Prayer for Owen Meany, hated it, Lincoln in the Bardo, hated it. Possession challenging, but ultimately rewarding, The Slap, hateful characters, The Essex Serpent, okish, nothing special didn't understand the hype

Loved Crimson Petal and the White and Life after Life and Alias Grace.

Fifty Shades, gave up around 100 pages in. Boring and just... shit! I don't know how it got so successful

I loved Alias Grace too! I read it years ago. There's a Netflix adaptation of it too in case anyone hasn't seen it.

I like Wuthering Heights and Bleak House too. BH took a few goes but once I got into it I couldn't put it down.

Also, The Witchfinder's Sister by Beth Underdown.

I was really surprised they made fascinating subject matter so boring. But also - repetition. There was a sort of repeated theme. I think that's fine if you can do it well, but in this case it was also a similar description each time - as if the reader wasn't clever enough to work out what was happening.

or someone just copied and pasted.

also a lot of descriptions of people getting dressed - never relevant in any way either. Very disappointing indeed. I did end up scanning through the last of it to follow up a particular thing, but from looking online, I think it wasn't followed up.

bibblebobble struggled with Shantaram but glad I made it - hated the Goldfinch though so different strokes for different folks...

Currently struggling with Shantaram. I know it’s meant to be amazing but I dislike the main character intensely and there’s some clunky writing - keeps talking about Bombay as ‘she’ for instance, and dodgy descriptions like someone having eyes the colour of cinnamon, yawn. Anyone persevere to the end?

Loved Goldfinch, prayer for Owen meany, reservoir 13....

Lord of the rings. Tedious, turgid nonsense.

An Anita Brookner novel which apparently won a literary prize. Can’t remember the title. The book had no plot whatsoever. Nothing happened, so I gave up.

The Goldfinch - I did read most of it and it is a really good book, but there's a long monologue at the end which I skipped and just read the last paragraph. I don't count that as giving up on it.

I just think she needed a decent editor.

Like the OP, Do Not Say we have Nothing - I just couldn't engage with it at all.

The Women's Room, first tried reading it in my late teens, found it really boring and gave up. Saw it again in a charity shop about 20 years later, same iconic cover and thought, I must have been too young to appreciate it before, I will read it again. But no, exactly the same thing - boring and gave up again...

Thanks

The Wife's Secret and My Husband's Lies, both by Caroline England. Definitely swerve them - both very predictable. Possibly should have known for 99p each on kindle but have discovered some gems that way!

I really enjoy a good twist or surprise reveal and as someone who struggles to work out whodunnit on Midsomer Murders then I am always massively disappointed when I predict early on what's going to be revealed

LemonRedwood which two books were they? I usually go for psychological thrillers so it's good to know the ones not to bother with!

I'm on holiday at the moment and have just finished two excruciating "summer read" type "psychological thrillers" (they really weren't) because I hate hate hate not finishing a book once I've started.

Then got into a conversation with DH about books we've not been able to finish and it turns out we've each only never finished one book and it's the same one for both of us - American Psycho. Just too sick. We both stopped at around the same point in the book too.

I liked Wolf Hall and Reservoir 13. Wolf Hall is hard to get to grips with but I enjoyed it.

I don't usually like books with a lot of description but I loved Reservoir 13; loved the rhythm of the seasons and the changes in people's lives. Things happen, but just kind of gently.

Also liked We are all completely besides ourselves. And the Goldfinch.

I didn't like The Girl with All the Gifts - found it oppressive. Tried another of her books and found that oppressive too, so I put it down.

Laughing Cuppaqueen, if I ever encounter the James Meek I'll know to avoid it. Reminds me of Murakami's 1Q84, which was deeply, deeply pervy and weird. Really regretted reading two whole volumes of it

The People's Act of Love by James Meek, a bloody weird novel about a Russian sect obsessed with self-castration. I gave up when reading a letter in it some bloke's supposed to have written his wife (?) describing cutting his own balls off or something ... ewwwww. Just no. This was years ago but it's one of few books I couldn't (didn't want to) finish. Made me cross my legs even as a woman.

I loved Wolf Hall and all the Patrick O'Brien novels eg Master & Commander, although I am a big fan of historical detail and archaic phrasing in books like that. I love the way Tolkien writes so I'm willing to put up with his wayward narratives, although I do always skip Tom Bombadil zzzzz. Couldn't get into the Essex Serpent but that's more a case of unstarted than unfinished.

Life after life by Kate Atkinson 😴😴😴 so unbelievably dull

Repetition.

Now that reminds me of the utter drivel that was While You Were Sleeping.

The repetition in Resevoir 13 is clever though. I liked it. The cycling through the seasons with the same cast of characters for 13 years was unusual but made it a different type of reading experience.