Great books that you have never finished reading

[belgo]

Three books that I just cannot finish:

Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Freakonomics
Politics of Breastfeeding.

The second two I feel contained so much information that I just could not digest any more, but I certainly took a lot out of both of those books.

I don't know why I never finished the Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, it was great.

Which books have you never finished reading and feel vaguely guilty about it?

If on a winter's night a traveller... - accidentally left it on an overnight coach.

The Old Curiosity Shop - Little Nell dies, apparently.

Birdsong - 100s of pages in the company of this egotistical twerp who thinks a woman should leave her husband cos his dick itches? No thanks.

Notebooks of a Naked Youth - Billy Childish knows far too much about the lecherous losers lurking round Cha''am station as the schoolgirls come out.

Persevered with Catch 22, Midnight's Children and Wolf Hall: hours of my life I'll never get back.

It took me 8 years - on and off - to read Moby Dick? Does this count. Didn't want to give up on it but was easily distracted from it. Strange book. Partly mesmerising partly ...dunno...odd!

I've never managed The Time Traveller's Wife (left me cold, I just couldn't read it), Catch 22, Midnight's Children, A Suitable Boy, and Gargling with Tar (which is supposed to be unputdownable according to the bloke in the bookshop). I struggled with The Kite Runner because of the sexual abuse in it, which made me physically sick.

LOVED Birdsong though, but I recently tried to re-read it and couldn't get past Isabelle leaving - when I frst read it, as a teenager, I thought it was so romantic; this time I just kept thinking 'you idiot, you selfish bitch!'

oh well.

I must be a real nerd because I LOVED Birdsong Kite Runner, Suitable Boy and Midnight's Children - thing they all have in common is man's survival through a war situation; not easy to read, but vital I think to get an understanding (albeit fictional) of how civilisation can go very wrong, and how we should be counting our blessings... bit worthy, but I also found them beautifully written, especially Midnight's Children.

Can't get through Catch 22 - don't like the writing style, hated Wild Swans (boring), also Poisonwood Bible (boring again) and although it never claims to be a classic, couldn't even manage a chapter of any of those Shopaholic tripes.

Nor Cormac McCarthy's The Road - just too bleak for me.

good intentions books like 'the philosophy of happiness' i try time and again but can't manage, ditto anything by the dalai lama. I have persevered and gone back to Dickens in my ahem middle age and all i can say is it was well worth it and probably would have been wasted on my younger self

Mayor Naze I have just given up on the Autograph Man!! I tried and I tried and then I thought sod it life is too short for this amount of unentertaining detail! I love White Teeth but 'On Beauty' by Zadie Smith is my favourite book of all time dont let autograph man put you off reading it ,

I've not got past the first couple of pages of "The Life of Pi" but will give it another try at some point.

I recently finished reading "Captain Correllis Mandolin" after previously giving up after a few chapters in 2002 and it was well worth the second attempt!

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance...I managed to read the words - 50% of them - but they would not permeate my brain. Would it be mean to say pretentious twaddle?

Oh, I must be the only person anywhere who has finished Infinite Jest, not without a struggle though. Are the words in it made-up or do American tennis prodigies speak like that? (Can you tell I didn't really get it?) Oh, and I gave up reading the notes, so didn't actually read all of it.

I can't finish Ulysses though.

Btw the original radio version of HItchhiker's is briliiant, much better than the book.

No, just put your feet up and read TWilight (enjoy) New Moon (get a bit bored in middle) and the last one I can't remember but is utter, utter, utter, utter twallop. Think it's a case of editor too scared to tell author due to big pay cheques and author not really caring cos she's loaded anyway...

Eclipse. It's Eclipse. And one more? hmmm...

Could not finish "One Day" and "Time Traveller's Wife", but I did love Tolstoy...and Mann...

Farawaytrees, I found The Life of Pi quite a struggle in the start, but once Pi's marooned on that lifeboat, it becomes a lot more readable, imho. I was on holiday pre-DS when I read it - if I start a book and struggle to get into it now, I just don't bother persevering. I have so much less reading time available now, it's too important to waste on a book I'm not enjoying.

I couldn't finish Jack Kerouac's On The Road. So dull, and such dreary characters I couldn't warm to. Couldn't read Kingsley Amis's Lucky Jim either. I believe it was supposed to be funny too, but I couldn't wait to put it down.

Brooklyn. Read about 60 pages and just couldn't take anymore. It's so boring. Don't get why everyone loves it.

Cheryllou - Breaking Dawn. Twilight novels really fizzle out at the end - and don't get me started on the ridiculous Renesmee plot...

Greats I have started and not finished:

Bleak House
North & South
Anna Karenin

Was given Wolf Hall for Christmas, only about 75 pages in so far - it is hard going, I don't know what it is about the way it's written but it doesn't "flow" easily

I did finish A Suitable Boy, but only had one child at the time and she was 8, that may have had something to do with it. I didn't find any problems with Captain Corelli - loved the book and hated the film, it was a long time since I'd read the book but I'm sure something was wrong in the film that I can't remember now.

I am ashamed to say that I put down Small Island in the middle of some work or personal related stress 3 years ago and have never picked it back up again. I don't know why - I was really enjoying it up to that point.

I think of it as that acquaintance who I really like and find interesting but never get round to going for a drink with.

Every Dickens I have ever read has never been finished - I'm a Trollope girl. Ditto Herman Melville (and I did American Lit at Uni!). I kind of got Bartleby but could not get my head round that bloody whale.

Also Isabelle Allende - Daughter of Fortune was good but it just didn't get me here (taps chest).

And I have never got beyond first page of Heart of Darkness or Middlemarch despite numerous goes.

That said, I took 2 goes at Crime and Punishment and am so glad I saw it through.

Middlemarch too! Always get to the point where Dorothea is engaged to Casauban but never beyond that!

The Brothers Karamazov - just can not get anywhere with this despite several attempts, can't seem to keep track of who everyone is and why I'm supposed to care...

Interestingly I too have never managed to finish Captain Corelli's Mandolin, despite loving the story AND choosing an extract from it to be read at my wedding! I think the style of writing is quite 'clunky'? so it is easy to lose concentration when reading it. I will probably try again at some point in the future!

I never did finish Birdsong. I hear it gets better at the end, but I don't really have a burning desire to pick it up again.

I loved Attonement and The Magus (although I did read The Magus when actually relaxing on a Greek beach, which may have influenced my enjoyment of it!).

I found The Great Gatsby difficult to get through, although I did persevere and it really does pick up after the first 50 mind-numbing pages.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo found its way to a charity shop after the first few chapters as my DH showed me the film and I just couldn't bear to read that sort of content! I'm fully aware that I am a bit of a wimp because of this, but I just value my sleep too much!

I found We Need To Talk About Kevin thoroughly depressing and unpalatable. I just couldn't read past the first half, despite people telling me it gets better later.

anna karenina
little dorrit (enough with the virtuous poor people already)
vanity fair

sunnyside by glen david gold (but suspect it's not that great anyway)

persevered with paul auster new york trilogy - now THERE'S hours of my life i'll never get back. nothing happens. i was so CROSS.

but i've read moby-dick several times. you really have to be on top form to deal with melville's prose i think - if you're feeling tired you just end up rereading the same sentence.

Ulysses - James Joyce (a very long time ago but I remember it was dull and incomprehensible)

Middlemarch - started it on holiday last November and was really enjoying it - until I came home, and just sort of forgot to carry on.

Wolf Hall. Was fantastic, but just too many men called Thomas and I never knew what the fuck was going on.

That Donna Tartt book - The Secret something? I was reading it on holiday when it was having its heyday and the sun melted the glue and half the pages blew away into the sea. I wasn't especially sorry as I recall.