Ever forced yourself to read a book?

35 replies

celandine · 27/02/2004 09:58

Go on...admit it, have you? Even though it's REALLY boring and just not gripping you at all? I'm currently doing this with a Susan Howatch book called 'High Flyer' and so far I'm just past halfway and I started it at Xmas! I really want to finish it cosa there's so many other books I want to read, but I keep putting it off. The frustrating thing is that it's part of a series and I loved the previous ones, so I want to finish it.

I've also done this with the classics, i.e reading them because I feel I ought to, not out of enjoyment. I really didn't like Thomas Hardy but forced myself to finish Tess of the D'urbervilles. And I do it when I buy some modern stuff on offer (3 for 2 kind of thing) and then just can't get on with them e.g. Douglas Coupland 'All families are psychotic'

Am I all alone in this literary masochism?

OP posts:

lavender1 · 28/02/2004 23:01

Am afraid there are half a dozen books on book shelf which have started but haven't finished...including:

The Flight of the Maidens by Jane Gardam
Other People's children by Joanna Trollope
On Green Dolphin Street by Sebastain Faulks

These are undoubtedly good books, it's just that I read about 80 pages for a couple of nights then have other things to do and then loose the plot, don't want to start all over again so start another one....hts, would never read a book if wasn't enjoying it as think you should do the things you enjoy and not what you think you should be doing as trying to prove a point,,,sure you're not but would only read what you love reading...life's too short

roisin · 29/02/2004 09:52

suzywong - Northern Lights is definitely worth the effort. I found I had to really persevere with the first 100 pages of the first book, but most certainly worth it!

roisin · 29/02/2004 09:54

Lavender,

On Green Dolphin Street is one of the books on my list of books I persevered with (probably because of previous experience of the author), and it retrospect regretted it. I didn't enjoy this one at all, and would not recommend it to anyone. As you say, life's too short!

shrub · 29/02/2004 10:58

'the little friend' was such a let down, though after 'secret history' i kept convincing myself that it would get better - it didn't. the same goes for 'the crimson petal and the white' , i have to admit i judged the book by the cover and the reviews, started brilliantly then tailed off....

miggy · 29/02/2004 11:58

Suzy Wong-yes, not Wizard/demon stuff at all. I was hooked from the first page. Even read it instead of sunday papers this morning in bed-gripping!

Jules1974 · 07/05/2004 14:09

I just dragged myself through Trajectories by Julian Rathbone. I always feel compelled to finish every book I start however I really have too many books I want to read to bother with bad stuff. Trajectories is set in 2035 and I was hoping for some fantastic insight into an authors feelings about the future. I got all the way through and was sorely dissapointed. Anyway, I have now started Original Sin by P D James which was recommended and lent to me by a workmate. I is a Dalgliesh mystery. It is the first time I've read one of P D James' books. I'm up to page 40 and not feeling very keen. Should I bother to continue or get one with some of the tried and tested Bryce Courtney's that are begging for me to read them?

marthamoo · 07/05/2004 14:17

Not any more! I did an English degree so I had to read a lot of books that didn't much appeal. James Joyce "Ulysses" is the one that springs to mind - I struggled through that and still hadn't a clue what it was about when I got to the end. Hated "The Mill on the Floss", never been overly keen on Dickens either. I know, I know, I'm a total philistine.

So these days, if it don't grab it don't get read! The one notable exception is Captain Correlli's Mandolin, which I started twice and gave up on. FIL kept nagging at me to persevere though so I did - and ended up getting hooked about a third of the way into it.

I didn't read Possession either...despite good intentions!

boobles · 07/05/2004 14:59

I have to agree with marthamoo about Dickins. Never understood what the fuss was about - long dull descriptive passages, followed by conversations with totally 2-dimensional ridiculous characters. I had to read Oliver Twist for o level and then Bleak House for A level. The title alone is enough to put you off. The only way I got through it was being ill in bed for a week and given only it to read.
Other than that, I too am cheap, and feel the need to finish what I've started, like in restaurants.

sponge · 10/05/2004 16:18

Obviously some I was forced to at school - notably Emma although I loved all other Jane Austen. Since then I do tend to take the "I've started so I'll finish approach" even though it's sometimes very hard work. Have recently struggled through The Biographers Tale by AS Byatt which was irritatingly clever-dicky and pointless. Given to by my dad who then admitted he couldn't finish it and doesn't like AS Byatt. Cheers Dad.
The only two I've ever given up on were Ulysses and The Tin Drum.
A couple of great books given up on by others here though - Birdsong which is an all time favourite and Underworld which I also thought was great, although admittedly not easy.

Demented · 11/05/2004 19:36

Owen Meany , although it was worth it in a strange sort of way. I wasn't captivated by the book in the same way as other Mumsnetters were but could see its appeal.

Flip

1 2