Which books have you decided not to finish and why?

Orbital. Tedious overwritten unimaginative waffle.

Hamnet. I got half way through as I really love the subject but find her writing so over ornate it distracts me from the story.

And one recently, forget the name, about some arctic explorer time travelling to present day. I love timeslip novels but this seemed written by AI. It actually made me angry that any editor had allowed it into print in that state.

I gave up on My Brilliant Friend too...so many friends were raving about it but I just couldn't get into it. I found out subsequently it is a bit of a marmite book....

I adored Theo of Golden though!

I can't read Harry Potter's at all but i really admire how her books have encouraged so many kids into reading.

Avid reader of most genres but could not get into with The Lovely Bones at all!

The Goldfinch
I just didn't care.

To the people who hated Wolf Hall, I listened to the trilogy on Audible and they were utterly mesmerising. Perhaps the present tense works better as spoken word.?

I loved it !
It's interesting how we are all so different when it comes to books.

Jude the Obscure! I only finished it because I couldnt believe how awful it was. Our English teacher at school told us about it because we were moaning about how crap the Mayor of Casterbridge was. He said the Times review of Jude was so scathing Hardy never wrote another novel. So thanks to the Times reviewer.
And I love mad victorian literature I even liked Jeckyl and Hyde, famously Stevenson's wife told him it was so bad he should throw it on the fire and never refer to it again. You have to have some sympathy with her imagine having to listen to him explaining the plot and the characters.

An Infinite Jest. Just loathed the main character.
Wolf Hall. That use of the present tense always bugs me.

My friend gave me The Mercy Step and I started it last night, but gave up after 20 pages. Thought it was really naff and badly written, and just couldn't get into it

Books I wish I had given up on - The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas 🙄 dear god, such drivel

I loved Wolf Hall and Milkman though 😁

Milkman.

None of the characters have names, they’re known by eg “the milkman” or “boyfriend”.

I’m sure there’s some literary reason for it that’s gone over my head, but I found it tedious and a bit “ooh aren’t I different and unusual”.

Oof, no!

Nostromo - Joseph Conrad. Tried a couple of times, couldn't get past the first couple of chapters.

Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie. It won the Booker of Bookers, so it must be good, right? Wrong, as far as I am concerned! I found it very wordy and dull. Couldn't get into it at all.

100 Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I found it very tedious and couldn't get interested in it.

Fifty Shades of Grey - E L James. What can I say?! A friend raved about it and lent me her copy. I couldn't believe how terribly badly written it was. I read a chapter or two and gave up. Utter tripe! It came across as having been written by a group of 11-year-old boys bunking off lessons (which is probably why they couldn't write very well) behind the bike sheds at school!

Agree re The Plague Dogs, I didnt get beyond the first chapter.

I've had a year of not finishing books - including

Wuthering Heights once Cathy dies it is so morose
Wild Swans (about 40% through)
Anna Karenina - she is just such an idiot
Heresey by SJ Paris - the main guy is really arrogant
Eruption - Crichton/Patterson - just blow already

That's pretty atrocious really but I'm blaming peri and generally not.wanting to waste time on books I am not enjoying.

I've just started this on audiobook after seeing it recommended loads.
It hasnt grabbed me, I usually walk the legs off the dogs when I've got a good audiobook on the go but I'm finding excuses not to walk because I don't want to listen to this book!! Time to throw the towel in and start another, especially after reading your post.

Some of the books mentioned above I really loved.

One I really hated and couldn't continue was John Boyne's Fire. I've read other books by him and liked them but had to stop reading this after detailed descriptions of a woman doctor pursuing and sexually abusing a little boy. It was sickening.

I gave up on Coastliners too. I didn't feel like anything was going to happen.

Such a pointless book. You never find anything out.

Lincoln in the Bardo is definitely one of the best books I’ve ever read. Love it so much.

'In Plain Sight' about Jimmy Savile. I just found it not very well written, very disjointed. My Dad (who leant me it) said the same albeit only after I gave him it back.

Another one about the Hillsborough Disaster. That wasn't necessarily anything wrong with the book, but I'd had a recent football-related incident myself (of course NOTHING on the scale of Hillsborough, just a relationship issue but it did leave me with trauma) and I found reading it really upset me!

I hated the Bee Sting, so boring.

Hamnet. So, so dull.

Demon Copperhead! Ive loved other things by the author but this one, nope I couldnt keep reading hoping for an end to the misery.
I adore Joe Abercrombie World of the First Law series and was shocked to find that people considered these books dark, well compared to old Copperhead they are a light hearted comedy masterpiece.

The secret of secrets, Dan Brown, tried and tried but just didn’t enjoy it, gave up less than half way through

My Brilliant Friend. I made the mistake of listening to it initially as an audiobook and I gave up on that because I found the reader's voice intensely irritating. I then tried reading it, but I just couldn't get into it.

Also Bored of the Rings. Fantasy just doesn't work for me.

Naked Lunch, after maybe 10 pages. As I recall (it was some time ago), someone paid to watch a junkie inject himself with a fatal substance. No thanks.

I agree with others about A Little Life, though I did finish it - so much misery, and so many detailed descriptions of the misery. It was also very unbelievable - 4 random university students, very different people but thrown together, all become massively successful, enough to buy luxury properties in New York. That alone stretches credibility.