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 did you initially struggle with...

34 replies

singsinthebath · 12/06/2010 00:37

.... but eventually came to love.

For me it was Captain Correlli and The Time Traveller's Wife - several false starts but once I got past a certain point I was hooked.

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
funnysinthegarden · 15/06/2010 22:24

Ahhhh the Handmaids Tale. One of the books which formed my character. That and the SheDevil by Fay Weldon. See I am feminist through and though

BTW I can't belly eve that FW is in her 80'sish. I still think of her as about 40

stainesmassif · 15/06/2010 21:44

ooh, mansfield park, read it for a-level one chapter per week and hated it. re read it for my degree and loved it!

Cyclops · 15/06/2010 21:37

Mrs Dalloway.

Hated it for ages but had to plough through it for A-level English Literature/Language. Ended up begrudgingly liking it (though not loving it!).

OTOH, I loved Captain Corelli's Mandolin right from the first few pages!

MayorNaze · 15/06/2010 21:18

cc mandolin. hve tried several times and just can't.

AND we had a reading from it at our wedding

MayorNaze · 15/06/2010 21:16

the da vinci code

pride and prejudice

the handmaids tale - when i got into that i couldn't believe i had ever found it difficult!!!

stainesmassif · 15/06/2010 21:15

the foosa - david mitchell's cloud atlas took me a few attempts to get into, but i eventually love, love, loved it, however i still haven't got past the first third of black swan green.
the post birthday world by lionel shriver. hated it after about 8 chapters.

gaelicsheep · 15/06/2010 21:07

One I've never mastered is Moll Flanders - just can't get into it at all. The Mill on the Floss is also difficult I agree.

It took me a while to get into The Return of the Native as well, but generally I love Thomas Hardy.

funnysinthegarden · 15/06/2010 16:00

they are, but did get a bit bored towards the end. A bit too much of a muchness.

mixedmamameansbusiness · 15/06/2010 15:02

I havent tackled the South American Trilogy yet... but it is in the grand plan are they as good?

funnysinthegarden · 15/06/2010 14:13

love LDB. Read most of the CC/south american trilogy. Must go back to him

funnysinthegarden · 15/06/2010 14:10

I think I am going to need a months holiday in Provence to crack that one. Tis my goal for about 20 years time......sigh

mixedmamameansbusiness · 15/06/2010 13:50

Anna Karenina is a hard one..... but truly brilliant once you get your head round it.

mixedmamameansbusiness · 15/06/2010 13:49

Captain Corellis Mandolin - I actually put it back on the shelf for a year but when I picked it up again - WOW incredible and I am now a huge Louis de Bernieres fan.

Birds Without Wings and A Partisans Daughter also amazing. They make you want to google

funnysinthegarden · 15/06/2010 10:29

have just realised my Faux Pas. Alias Grace, not Saving Grace. And to think I have been reading MA since the age of 14. Shame on me

mousemole · 15/06/2010 09:36

Sparkletastic - just been on holiday with friends and the husband was reading it - he says you have to get to page 120 so will have a go at getting to there....!

funnysinthegarden · 14/06/2010 21:22

aaaah, I read CC way before the film came out. Filums spoil books

TheFoosa · 14/06/2010 18:52

David Mitchell's Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet

aboyt 2/3rds in but it was hard work, really had to concentrate

he's a great writer though

Sparkletastic · 14/06/2010 18:28

Snap mousemole!

Sparkletastic · 14/06/2010 18:28

CC deffo hard to get into. Often the way with novels that are really hyped - you expect them to be amazing from the first paragraph so if they are in any way average or a slight let down the impact is magnified.

mousemole · 14/06/2010 18:27

The Girl with the dragon tattoo - 2 attempts and still not there

BongoWinslow · 14/06/2010 18:26

Middlemarch. Great but sends me to sleep.

Agreed we George Eliot! Less is more!

Sparkletastic · 14/06/2010 18:26

I found 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo' pretty turgid for the first 1/3 or so - too much Swedish business talk and not enough about the ultimately very interesting characters.

helyg · 14/06/2010 18:24

Captain Correlli for me too. I am on my third attempt (over about 9 years) and am sort of enjoying it this time.

dittany · 14/06/2010 18:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

PansAndNoodles · 14/06/2010 18:19

Omg I totally had to give up on the Life of Pi. It was like wading through treacle.

I must admit, if I struggle too much I give up. If it's so good then I guess they'll make a film

Swipe left for the next trending thread