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

Agree re Eat, Pray, Love. This book actually caused a rift in our Bookgroup and someone left.

More recently, the Kathryn Flett one - bilge. And Where d'you go Bernadette. My sister raved about it. Boring and unappealing main character.

More votes for Kite Runner, White Moghuls (had managed to wipe that from memory until saw it above) and anything by Jodi Picoult or Nicholas Sparks - both appear to churn out the same Unremitting crud time and again.

Also, The Count of Monte Cristo - about 8 times as long as it needs to be;
Ruth by Elizabeth Gaskell;
Valley of the Dolls by Jacqualine Susann - just mindnumbingly tedious, despite so much happening; and
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorn - had to read it for A Level and it is awful

Can't remember the name but it was a book by Jane Moore the journalist. It was terribly written and the story was cobbled together from a million chic-lit clichés.

whatkungfuthat do you mean Four Play about a woman abandoned by her husband who is chased by 4 men, in spite of the children?

I have this, the fact I don't remember it suggests it has been gathering dust for nearly 10 years.

I'll tell you one right now; The Promise of Happiness by Erin Kaye, how many times can a modern person "clutch their breast" or have their "hand fly to their breast" ? and I think she's crediting the modern Irish man with a bit too much sophistication IME iv abandoned it

I clutch my breast all the time, cj.

Before I go to sleep - unbelievably bad and actually got worse as it went on

the Room - similar to Before I go to sleep

Luckily stopped the Accidental by Ali Smith which was awful

I quite liked Salmon fishing in the Yemen though!

I also LOVED the Kite Runner and the Crimson Petal and the White.

Another one that was a waste of many hours: The English American

I am currently plowing through Shantaram (have made it to p.400), kind of liking it but kind of thinking I will never finish it (900 pages+). Anyone have an opinion on whether it gets better/worse/stays the same??

greenhill that sounds familiar, in my defence I think I got it free with a mag and I was on a long train journey

whatkung ditto free with a magazine.

A couple of people have mentioned Girlfriend in a Coma, Douglas Coupland. I bought a withdrawn library copy for 20p recently, I'll give it a go

I thought One Day was alright, just a holiday read, really.

Sophie's World - I had this book for years, never managed to get past the first couple of chapters and eventually gave up.

The Mayor of Casterbridge - wading through treacle, I willed it to end

I've tried to start Beloved by Toni Morrison a few times, I just can't get into it. I'll have another crack before it goes in the charity bag.

Wuthering Heights and Fifty Shades of Grey (at least I think I finished it. It's too repetitive to tell).

The Museum of Innocence. Between pages 50-300 it is the same page 250 times with the words slightly moved around.

I clearly have no taste as some of my favourite books of all time are named on here like the shipping news and the famished road. Oh dear.

Ladydepp- Shantaram definitely gets worse. The first 200 pages or so of life in Bombay are great, after that not so much. Give up before it gets to fighting in caves in Afghanastan.

oh my god, The Museum of Innocence - had forgotten the tedium, the tedium, the tedium.... the teeeeeddiiiiiiiuuuuuum.
Shantaram - I hated him. He loved himself so much, the smug git.
Sorry, I seem to get really opinionated late at night.

I adored Shantaram, but was put off by reading interviews with the author. And, now that I think about it, I did skim over a lot of the 'philosophical' conversations which dragged on forever

Yyyy to The Slap, also The Wisdom of Crocodiles which I found horrible.
Anything by Jodi fecking Picoult-drivel!

And a god awful 'sequel' to Pride and Prejudice, called something like 'The Independance of Miss Mary Bennett' OH MY FUCKING GOD who published that????? Please do not waste even 5 minutes of your life on this book!!