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

The Picture of Dorian Gray is my school gate read atm. A couple of pages a day only but I quite like it so far. Not a difficult read.

P.S. I love you - I'd suspected it would utter tripe but a friend whose opinion I used to respect on these things recommended it.

One Day - took me ages but I kept hoping it would improve. I could not give a monkeys what happened to either of them. I was truly angry that I'd wasted so much time on that bilge.

This is soooo interesting! All the books people can't stand are my faves!!! I loved the lovely bones and room. And girl with the dragon tattoo is in my top 5 can't put it down -ers! I also liked 50 shades and dan brown! Clearly i have really poo taste!!! Tge number one hate book for me is lord of the rings. I tried and tried to make it through the endless walking through the forest bit but failed :(

greenhill - I noticed you mentioned a John Grisham. If it's The Associate put it down now and drop it off at the nearest charity shop. Read the Amazon reviews if you are in any doubt. Shame as some of his stuff is quite enjoyable.

The girl with the glass feet - the most terrible book I,ve ever had the misfortune to read

Labyrinth held the spot before it

Stephen King once said that life was too short to spend reading books that are rubbish, and after reading the girl with the glass feet I agree

Thanks leecoakley it is The Summons and I bought 2 others as they were on special offer at Sainsbury's. Its been gathering dust for 3 months.

Chesapeake by James Michener.. I was bleeding from the eyeballs reading all his dreary scenery descriptions. But his book Caravans is one of my favourites.

SlightlySuperiorPeasant My Lord John was what I was reading during early labour with DS3, I always thought that was what put me off it but maybe it was, as you say, just not readable. Wasn't it unfinished?

It's a shame because John of Bedford was an interesting character. I would love to read a good novel about his life.

The Time Traveller's Wife. I actually read it twice because so many people expressed astonshment that I hadn't enjoyed it, so I thought I ought to check that I'd not missed something compelling. I hadn't, if anything it was even more trite upon second visit.

The Notebook. As fat as a pamphlet, thank God, and that's the only nice thing I can say about it.

So surprised that more than one person has named Brick Lane, I love that book, I think the writing is wonderful!

kite runner
boy in the striped pyjamas

I've avoided these because I KNOW they will irritate me:

50 shades
twilight
time traveller's wife
eat pray love
the room

Captain Corelli's Bloody Mandolin. Stupid book with a stupid ending.

I barely managed to start Captn Corelli, felt like I needed a book of Ancient Greek legends and a dictionary to unravel what the first few pages were on about.

I didn't get far with One Day either. I know a lot of people who've read out and it send to be a real 'Marmite' book.

I enjoyed The Kite Runner, but found it more of a struggle to plough through and ultimately disappointing compared to A Thousands Splendid Suns.

I hated the Kite Runner but am glad I finished it. Wasn't very happy with the ending but it could have been worse. Never bothered with 1000 Splendid Suns because of it (Possibly silly but I don't care. Life's too short)

I also hated We Need to Talk About Kevin and wish I'd never read that. But again I had to finish it to get some resolution. I hate books like that. I can't read anything more by Karin Slaughter either after the first one of hers (no idea what it was called and I don't need to be reminded). My imagination is too vivid to cope with the sort of violence that is encapsulated in these books, so I avoid them to save my sanity.

The Crimson Petal and the White - kept reading as it was highly recommended, but it was just long and dull.

Another one for Cloud Atlas. What the bollocks was all the fuss about? It was crap!

Oh and Dracula, yep the one by Bram Stoker. So over rated!

Thumbwitch I don't like the violence in them either, but with Kite Runner it was more how contrived the plot was and how the characters were mechanically intertwined from childhood through to adulthood.

Agree that Corelli's Mandolin had a dire ending although I enjoyed the beginning describing island life it was like the author got bored half way through.

Natasha Solomons wrote a book I loved called Mr Rosenblum's List. So I read her follow-up, The Novel in the Viola, which was such a shocking pot-boiler that I raged about it for days afterwards. I felt like writing to the author with my fury, telling her that she can do so much better! It has a sad holocaust story at it's heart, but the characters are so thin and unreal, the descriptions of the scenery so overblown and the central love story is utterly unbelievable that I felt cheated by faked sentimentality. It was a Straight to DVD novel.

Oh, and The Girl on the Landing by Paul Torday. Do your research properly before writing a book!

Anything and everything by jodi picoult I have all her books it's like reading the same thing over and over and over.

I hated one day too.

I would also like to nominate 'The Shack' by William something or other. I have never been so enraged.

Has to be the White Mughals by Wiilliam Dalrymple. Tried hard' even moved it to bathroom thinking I could read it in small bites. Stayed in there for three years til I finally gave up!(very closely followed by the first fifty shades - save your money and buy a woman's own instead, far more gripping!)

Isleangel I read girl with the glass feet too, totally surreal!

The Slap, ugh. Can't stand books without a single sympathetic character. Bonfire of the Vanities, that sort of thing.
Mansfield Park - have read it about five times (school, uni, because I thought I ought to, because there is something weirdly compelling about it) and I haaaaaaate fecking Fanny fecking Price, the mewling prawn. I know this will bring wrath down on me and I DON'T CARE. Oh, hang on, was this supposed to be about books we couldn't finish?
I compulsively finish all books, even '50 shades of boring magnolia pretending to be fire engine red', but there was one we read for book club that was so boring I can't even remember its name. I literally threw it out of the window. Of a train. And if it hit you on the head, I'm sorry.

Anything by Ira Levin!! Read The Stepford Wives, Rosemary's Baby and another one I can't remember as part of a "Bestseller" set, and really couldn't believe I'd wasted my time on them.
Also, Tess of the d'Urbervilles ... Tried reading it so many times but it's just uuurgh!

Just finished The Unconsoled the previous week! Still undecided as to whether it was a waste or not, though... :-)