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Original poster

Books you’ve tried to read but just can’t get on with them

213 replies

GonnaGetGoingReturns · 28/04/2023 23:15

I know this is subjective but what books have you read or tried to read but just can’t stomach them?

My recent ones are:-

Brother of the More Famous Jack - what a load of pompous affected twaddle! Can’t seem to see how it’s so lauded, got to page 17 and gave up.

Cold Comfort Farm - managed a bit better with this, about 4 chapters in, but still, affected pompous twaddle. Was told it was similar to the adorable I Capture The Castle but it’s not, at all! Gave it to SIL to read as she got I Cspture The Castle for me and she didn’t like it and when I asked DM if she’d read it when she was younger she said exactly the same about it as me.

Oh and if anyone sees K-Ming Chang’s Bestiary and thinks it looks interesting, it isn’t, it’s just weird!

OP posts:
Custardbanana · 29/04/2023 20:03

Thursday murder club.

So boring I don't even care who did it.

Maireas · 29/04/2023 20:03

Pride and Prejudice. Just can't take to Austen.

MrsDanversGlidesAgain · 29/04/2023 20:02

Chickenkorma64 · 29/04/2023 19:59

Loved Middlemarch, but would advise everyone to avoid Lincoln in the Bardo, what a load of claptrap. Also Lord of the Rings, most boring book I’ve ever read- needs some serious editing!

If you can't get on with LoTR, don't even contemplate The Silmarillion.

midsomermurderess · 29/04/2023 20:02

I like some Dickens, but A Tale of Two Cities just did me in. And Sons and Lovers, Christ, that was painful. Another one the comes to mind is 100 Years of Solitude. I tried, I really did, when magical realism was all the thing, but the relief I felt when I ‘forgot’ it at a holiday cottage stays with me. Some I had to read for school, but nowadays, if something isn’t working for me, I move on. I just can’t be doing with tha t’I must always finish a book’ thing.

MrsDanversGlidesAgain · 29/04/2023 20:01

There's been a few books lately that have great reviews but I couldn't finish. I'm very suspicious of reviews nowadays

After my experience with two Matt Haig books that were garlanded with praise and I found to be a waste of time, any book that has a load of enthusiastic celeb reviews on the covers gets ignored. Unfortunately that seems to be a lot of recent fiction.

Chickenkorma64 · 29/04/2023 19:59

Loved Middlemarch, but would advise everyone to avoid Lincoln in the Bardo, what a load of claptrap. Also Lord of the Rings, most boring book I’ve ever read- needs some serious editing!

morelippy · 29/04/2023 19:58

Where The Crawdads Sing

Soooo boring

backaftera2yearbreak · 29/04/2023 19:57

Catch 22

Bunnywabbity · 29/04/2023 19:57

Lorna Doone

MrsDanversGlidesAgain · 29/04/2023 19:56

Daniel Deronda. Tried four times then took it to the charity shop. Even the introduction floored me.

JaneJeffer · 28/04/2023 23:57

I read Cold Comfort Farm but I didn't get why there's all the love for it Confused

There's been a few books lately that have great reviews but I couldn't finish. I'm very suspicious of reviews nowadays.

Kanaloa · 28/04/2023 23:19

I can’t get on with Mansfield Park. Have written two well received essays on it for uni and have still never gotten past the first quarter.

Kittykatchunjy · 28/04/2023 23:16

Middlemarch