Books you wish you'd never bothered to finish?

[FuntimeFuschia]

Hello, hope its ok me posting on here, I very rarely post. Had a chat with a friend today which has made me think - have you ever finished a book and then thought what a phenomenal waste of my time that was? I recently read 'The Haunting of James Hastings', which I wanted to bin about halfway through, but persevered and regretted it.

I read a lot, many different genres and have never actually thought anything I read was a waste of time before this book. I would be very interested to hear what books anyone actually resents giving the time to and if anyone can tell me what the hell actually happened at the end of the above mentioned novel I'd be very grateful

AD-After Dachau. Worst bunch of shite I have ever had to endure. It's quite well written but the worst anti climax since I took 4 Es and had..... (I won't conclude this sentence, I'm sure you all know what I mean).

No doubt the Da Vinci Code has made it into the top ten. I haven't read it. I did read The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail. I found it awful enough. I didn't feel the need to read The Book Based on The Book That Left you Feeling Unsatisfied.

tether

RagingDull that's good to hear. I have sort of adopted the same attitude in the past few years, and it has actually freed me of any obligation I used to feel as I now think "It's you and not me"

The Lovely Bones.

Dire.

50 shades and the Da Vinci code.

There have been others but I seem to have blocked them from memory.

Oh and PS I Love You. Sentimental twaddle.

The Twilight Books

Raging - It took me aaages to finish Girlfriend In A Coma too, in spite of the fact that it's relatively short.

One Day - average at best until the incident and then limped to a damp splat at the end.

The Magus by John Fowles. They're on a Greek island, weird stuff happens, then...it all just peters out.

The Book Thief was a pile of tosh too.

50 shades of shite, never finished the first one.
The da Vinci code.

The first twilight book, I didn't bother with the rest.

Have been meaning to try 50 shades but am put off by this thread (and other Mumsnet feedback) as I know if I start I'll have to finish and will probably be a waste of my life. I need to get over having to finish books that I have started.

Everything I've ever read by Haruki Murakami. Excellent books one and all but the endings? Pah.

I'll second Ivanhoe. We had to read it for a book group and everybody else liked it. It's good to hear that someone else agrees with me.

Brick Lane. Utterly awful and dull.

The Room. Badly written tosh.

On the Other Hand. Possibly one of the worst books ever published.

Oh and "I heart New York" - utter tripe - how on earth did she get published? (I got it free with a magazine and read it on Eurostar - where I left it.)

I never finish a book if it doesn't grip me. Ever since having to read bloody Jane Austen tedium at school, I vowed then not to waste more of my life on books that don't hold my attention.

DH agrees with Ivanhoe, they had to read it at school, translated into his language. Quite why that book was chosen, above any of his own country's literature, god alone knows!

SailorVie it was definitely Cecilia. I donated it to my local library :o

100 Years of Solitude. It was a relief when I suddenly realized that I didn't actually like magic realism and didn't have to read it.

The Historian - tedious, awful. Da Vinci code - dire. Really struggled with Brick Lane. Wanted to like it and it should have been good but was so dull.

Oh GoD! Id blanked out all memory of The Historian!
I had The Crimson Petal And The White, on audiobook. After the first hour of suicide inducing boredom, I gave up!

Damn, marshmallow beat me to it with The Magus. It actually starts really well, I enjoyed the first half. And then it just kept going on and on, and I just wanted it to stop.

Anything by Dan Brown

I like JG Ballard but I think reading more than about 4 could be classed as a waste of time. As they mostly follow the same pattern.

The Da Vinci Code was so bad it was good IYSWIM. I had a friend at work that insisted on giving me every Dan Brown book she had, it was kind of her, but after 2 of them I begged her to stop. Fortunately I'm a speed reader so there wasn't much time wasted.

The Book Thief was derivative too.

The Slap was full of hateful, unsympathetic characters. I was impressed that the author could have me fuming for so long.

I'm struggling with some John Grisham stuff, I just don't care about the characters or the plot.

Oh yes, I never finished Brick Lane either, it was really dull!

I also rather disliked 7yrs in Tibet. Didn't warm to him at all.

The only book I havent ever finished was so dull I cant even remember the name. I am sure it was turned into a film with Keira Knightley but it wasnt atonement.

Brick lane was awful

Lovely Bones was boring.

I quite liked The Historian, which I know puts me in a minority here. It probably helped that I was travelling in South-Eastern Europe at the time and it "rhymed" quite well with the places I was seeing.

The Labyrinth by Kate Mosse is another matter entirely, and I yield to no-one in my contempt.

YY I hate magical realism too.

I don't get Terry Pratchett either, I can't get past the smart arse humour.

Didn't like The Slap, either. It didn't seem to have much point to it.