Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
What we're reading

Find your new favourite book or recommend one on our Book forum.

Original poster

Which books have you decided not to finish and why?

238 replies

Fiddlesticks1 · 20/08/2026 07:20

Are there any books you decided not to continue reading and why?
For me two books.
The Plague Dogs- just found it too upsetting
and in the days of devouring books by Russian authors I gave up on Dostoyevsky because I found them depressing.

OP posts:
Bluffinwithmymuffin · 21/08/2026 09:57

Fiddlesticks1 · 21/08/2026 07:53

I’m currently reading The Housemaids Secret and frankly not sure what all the hype is. Thinking of ditching it even though half way through.
Thoughts please.

I thought exactly that about The Housemaid, which is why I won’t bother with the sequel. The twist you apparently wouldn’t see coming was actually fairly predictable, and not really worth the wait… but plenty of other people loved it.

CaptainMyCaptain · 21/08/2026 09:12

Newusername2026 · 21/08/2026 08:40

Doris Lessing The Golden Notebook and Ulysses spring to mind but probably many others. When younger I always persevered but now I think I won't waste my life (except if it is for book group)

Yes. I used to persevere when I was younger. Now I have less time left to waste.

BrandiedAromatics · 21/08/2026 08:46

I didn't finish The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James, I wasn't engaged. Similarly, I finished but didn't enjoy two Wilkie Collins - The Moonstone, The Woman in White.

Newusername2026 · 21/08/2026 08:40

Doris Lessing The Golden Notebook and Ulysses spring to mind but probably many others. When younger I always persevered but now I think I won't waste my life (except if it is for book group)

Newusername2026 · 21/08/2026 08:34

CaptainMyCaptain · 21/08/2026 07:39

I loved it. It was very thought provoking.

Show quote history

I think Stephen King has a brilliant imagination and storytelling but the few books of his that I have read have all been just a bit too long and repetitive

Newusername2026 · 21/08/2026 08:32

AlwaysExtraHot · 20/08/2026 07:34

Prophet Song, Paul Lynch. Realised I was dreading going to bed while reading it, and going to bed with a book is usually just about my favourite thing to do. I do know it’s meant to be grim, but I decided I didn’t need to feel like that.

I read this for a book group a couple of years ago. It was SUCH A HARD and depressing read. But I am glad I did you know as it has stuck with me. Similarly Milkman

BrandiedAromatics · 21/08/2026 08:13

Re: Donna Tartt - The Secret History would be one of my top 10 books - I have always devoured Greek myths and legends. I found The Little Friend - long, like someone else it was given to me by a friend - it is nothing like her first book. The Goldfinch is on my tbr - but I see that some don't like that one.

SirChenjins · 21/08/2026 08:12

Gengha · 20/08/2026 22:29

11/22/63 by Stephen King. Jesus it was awful and so long. By the gazillionth iteration of him going back to 1955 I just lost the will to live.

Same. This was recommended to me, and I gave up about half way through - it started off well, but just went on and on and on.... <yawn>

Likeiloveyou · 21/08/2026 08:06

I didn’t finish A Gentleman in Moscow either I really wanted to like it. But I didn’t.

foxinasnowstorm · 21/08/2026 07:54

Agree with a lot of these already mentioned. I don’t get the praise for Donna Tartt. I couldn’t get on with the 2 I read. A lot of ‘blockbuster’ and ‘award winning’ books I find dull.

I struggled through The Wasp factory and that was hard work.

Original poster
Fiddlesticks1 · 21/08/2026 07:53

I’m currently reading The Housemaids Secret and frankly not sure what all the hype is. Thinking of ditching it even though half way through.
Thoughts please.

OP posts:
Gengha · 21/08/2026 07:48

CaptainMyCaptain · 21/08/2026 07:39

I loved it. It was very thought provoking.

Show quote history

It was just too long and repetitive for me

I used to read it on the bus to work and the day I felt tears welling up as I got on the bus as it meant I’d have to read it was the day I set myself free 😂

CaptainMyCaptain · 21/08/2026 07:39

Gengha · 20/08/2026 22:29

11/22/63 by Stephen King. Jesus it was awful and so long. By the gazillionth iteration of him going back to 1955 I just lost the will to live.

I loved it. It was very thought provoking.

CaptainMyCaptain · 21/08/2026 07:36

mashpatooties · 20/08/2026 18:20

That blows my mind! I found A little Life to be so moving. It's one of my favourite books.

Show quote history

Possibly the worst book ever. My book club uses it as a measure of awfulness.

Bluffinwithmymuffin · 21/08/2026 06:53

WhatNextImScared · 20/08/2026 07:31

The paper palace. Just didn’t get the hype and was bored

Same here.

Thechateau · 21/08/2026 06:42

I cannot get on with Sally Rooney, I just find her writing so flat.

I've tried to read Crime and Punishment several times and just can't get past the first couple of chapters. Perhaps it's the translation as I have a high tolerance for long 19th century novels and have read both Anna Karenina and War and Peace. I don't know why it defeats me

Waawo · 21/08/2026 06:26

Abouteffingtime · 20/08/2026 21:44

I see a few have mentiined Orbital. For SUCH a short book, it took me about 2 months to read. 😂

Ha ha I've just had to look up Orbital, as I have the Ian Sinclair tome about the M25 on my tbr pile and that's 551 pages in paperback, was a bit confused by all the comments about it being so short!

Blueuggboots · 20/08/2026 22:40

I agree @Stinkybooks. A most despicable subject but a beautiful read.

Stinkybooks · 20/08/2026 22:36

@Blueuggboots ah yes I see what you mean.
Gisele Pelicots book "A hymn to life" very anger inducing events in her life but she is SO inspiring as a person. An uplifting experience reading her book even though what happened is grim.

Cityzen74 · 20/08/2026 22:33

Meteorite87 · 20/08/2026 12:25

Only one page into this thread and 2 people have said 'Milkman' was hard to engage with.
That might explain why I recently found a pristine copy of it in a charity shop 😅 I'll give it a chance.

I'm trying to get back into reading and find the contrasting opinions on threads like this one interesting.

Show quote history

I found the first half of Milkman very hard and confusing and the second half absolutely brilliant and am glad I didn’t give up. Hope you like it Smile

Stinkybooks · 20/08/2026 22:32

SirChenjins · 20/08/2026 16:23

The Women by Kristin Hannah - so awful that I gave up about a quarter of the way through in protest. Almost as bad as The Crawdads.

The Women - I kinda enjoyed it but it was SO predictable, I donated it once finished. So many cliches. You wouldnt have been pleased had you continued to the end!

But "Where the crawdads sing" I LOVED. So good. Ill definitely reread it sometime.

My, I cba to continue reading it is "Daisy Jones and the six". Its tiresome, I ditched it at about page 20. I tried watching the tv version too and got fed up after about half an hour.

Blueuggboots · 20/08/2026 22:31

@Stinkybooks- obviously it was a difficult subject matter but it wasn’t that, it was the way it was written.
however, I can stop reading a book for any reason I wish! The op asked…,

Gengha · 20/08/2026 22:29

11/22/63 by Stephen King. Jesus it was awful and so long. By the gazillionth iteration of him going back to 1955 I just lost the will to live.

Stinkybooks · 20/08/2026 22:27

Blueuggboots · 20/08/2026 08:07

Alan Davies’ autobiography.
SO depressing!

I havent had a chance to read this one yet but I know a bit about his life - ie that his mother died when he was six and then his father sexually abused him. Should he not have written about those things to make a more pleasing book for people to read? If his early years werent great, thats how they were? It seems unfair to dismiss his book because his life story wasnt happy enough for you.

Cityzen74 · 20/08/2026 22:24

MilkBreadToiletroll · 20/08/2026 07:48

Little Friend by Donna Tartt. The author was recommended to me by someone I admire so I really wanted to like it. I found it so slow that I gave up a couple of chapters in.

Yes I made it halfway through and just couldn’t get any further 😔