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Original poster

Which book/books have you really tried hard to read,but failed ?

281 replies

Mirage · 29/06/2007 23:42

Mine are;
Ulysses(sp)
Wild Swans

OP posts:
satine · 30/06/2007 12:17

Ulysses, Anna Karenina and Chocolat.

Mind you, I'm often so knackered by the end of the day that I struggle with even pretty 'easy to read' books.I've read the same four or five pages of one book for about two weeks now!!

NotQuiteCockney · 30/06/2007 12:16

PW, I am struggling with Jonathan Strange, there's a thread on it.

NotQuiteCockney · 30/06/2007 12:16

(Oh, and read White Teeth, Donna Tartt's second (nowhere near as good as The Secret History), and the Shipping News.)

bakedpotato · 30/06/2007 12:16

oh god yes The Shipping News

policywonk · 30/06/2007 12:16

Quattro - well, I quite like the Burchill sometimes - her journalism - some of it... (trails off)

Surprised at all these people who don't like Jonathan Strange. I thought it was aces.

NotQuiteCockney · 30/06/2007 12:15

I think I've read The Ginger Man (Donleavy phase was ages ago), and I liked How the Dead Live.

Silmarillion is surely one of those famously unreadable books, like Gravity's Rainbow? I remember I was mad for Tolkein when I was 8 or something, but even then I couldn't manage to read more than a line or two of Silmarillion.

Chirpygirl · 30/06/2007 12:15

White Teeth (only finished On Beauty as it was for book club)
Pride and Prejudice
The Shipping news
My nemesis is a random book I got from the library 'The glass book of the dream eaters'
I have rented it about 4 times now and cannot get more than a third into it without giving up and launching it across the room.

And I had to force myself to finish captain correlli's mandolin as it was for book club, but glad I did!

bakedpotato · 30/06/2007 12:14

me too for Norwegian Wood, Time Traveller's Wife, We Need to talk about Kevin
Plus White Teeth and Donna Tartt's second

Wisteria · 30/06/2007 12:13

Loved Wild Swans and TTW, couldn't put either down, strange isn't it?

Still can't read Silmarillion, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and it constantly annoys me that everyone else loved The Ginger Man by Donleavy and Will Self's How the Dead Live, because even after 100 pages I was still bored!

BellaBear · 30/06/2007 12:12

A Suitable Boy

Quattrocento · 30/06/2007 12:11

What is totally inexplicable, PW is why you would have started it in the first place ...

DontCallMeBaby · 30/06/2007 12:11

Possession (AS Byatt), Lucky Jim (Kingsley Amis) and am currently struggling to care even remotely whether I get to the end of Labyrinth or not. And any Tolkein apart from The Hobbit.

policywonk · 30/06/2007 12:10

The only book I've failed to finish recently was by Julie Burchill (one of her 'novels'). Dear God, it was DIRE

NotQuiteCockney · 30/06/2007 12:07

Oh, I liked White Noise, Delillo is on my list of authors I should read more of ...

cadelaide · 30/06/2007 12:05

Underworld, Don DeLillo

NotQuiteCockney · 30/06/2007 12:02

I'm reading Strange and Norrell, it's ok. Blind Assassin is pretty good, I thought. Zen ok, Correlli was crap. I think I liked Norwegian Wood, I have a lovely edition of it, but honestly all the Murakami blends into one after a while.

I haven't managed to read Gravity's Rainbow (have read lots of other books by Pynchon). Never got through anything by Joyce, either.

HonorMatopoeia · 30/06/2007 11:58

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell - It's still under my bed but bored me silly and didn;t seem to go anywhere!

hatrick · 30/06/2007 00:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

bellabelly · 30/06/2007 00:21

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. I've read ALL of her others, she's probably my fave author ever but this one I just kept making false starts and never got past about p40...

ScottishMummy · 30/06/2007 00:19

lovely bones thought it sloppy mushy tosh

Kaloo20 · 30/06/2007 00:13

That one about Kevin (can't remember the exact title)

Skribble · 30/06/2007 00:13

Wild Swans too, only got half way through I think,

Finished Captain Correlies whatsit, didn't like all the in the trenches bit but it is a fantastic story.

Tess of Deuberville, couldn't be arsed it just didn't hold my interest.

AlwaysWatchingCastawayAt2am · 30/06/2007 00:08

captain corelli's mandolin

Quattrocento · 30/06/2007 00:08

Brief History of Time
Finnegan's Wake
Clarissa

KittenKat · 30/06/2007 00:07

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I have tried this 4 times, and each time get a little further. I love it, its difficult to read tho.

Its my destiny to read it, and I enjoy the fact that I have not yet, in an odd way, its like a goal now .

And yes Wild Swans - twice so far.
Sophies World - currently on third attempt, doing well this time. about 1/4 through!

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