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Original poster

What is the most tedious book you have ever read?

368 replies

Figmentofmyimagination · 26/02/2015 20:12

I am going out on a limb here for my first thread - I am struggling through The Well of Loneliness by Radcliffe hall. Aargh. I read it out of "historical interest" because I was interested by her boldness and by the obscenity trial etc but bloody hell she should have got herself an editor. The writing is truly dire. I am not sure I am actually going to make it to the end.

OP posts:
funnyossity · 26/02/2015 21:29

Yes Hovercraft I tried Swann's Way and pretty soon chose the highway! Although it did lead me to eating madeleines. I found the film boring too.

emotionsecho · 26/02/2015 21:29

Oh yes the LOTR and Hobbit, never managed to get beyond a couple of pages.

Laquila · 26/02/2015 21:29

Moln your mum has great taste - I LOVED both of those!

Original poster
Figmentofmyimagination · 26/02/2015 21:29

I hated goldfinch too - all the way through I kept thinking "just give back the bloody painting". 600 pages later...and that faux Russian accent etc. it was embarrassing. Such a shame because Secret History was an extraordinary unputdownable read so I was expecting great things.

OP posts:
funnyossity · 26/02/2015 21:29

This thread will bring them all back, like the taste of a madeleine!

LondonRocks · 26/02/2015 21:30

How to be Good by Nick Hornby

The Little Friend by Donna Tartt

Room

Minikievs · 26/02/2015 21:31

Wolf Hall. Tried, tried and tried again but just couldn't get past the first few pages. And 50 shades is one of the most eye wateringly tedious books I've ever opened. "oh my!" mini gouges own eyes out repeatedly

Laquila · 26/02/2015 21:34

I also disliked The Little Friend, was blah over The Goldfinch but loved Secret History. Surely no-one has ever hated Secret History?!

isntthatapippip · 26/02/2015 21:35

Another vote for shantaram. Dull dull dull

Moln · 26/02/2015 21:37

Ha Laquila!!

Maybe you are my mum?!!??! Do you happen to be in Newcastle and just Skype d your daughter??? Grin

SlightlyJaded · 26/02/2015 21:38

Oh dear

I loved The Goldfinch, The Poisonwood Bible, Life of Pic and I am Pilgrim. Properly loved all of them

But Wolf Hall. Dear god it was like pulling teeth.

Also:
'If nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things' - over rated nothingness
Captain Corelli - have tried 3 times
The Da Vinci Code - shite

SolasEile · 26/02/2015 21:39

MIddlemarch by George Eliot. Yawnfest. I waded through it one summer when I was 16 and it nearly killed me. Put me off Victorian literature for life.

Judydreamsofhorses · 26/02/2015 21:40

Oh, I love Never Let Me Go, and really enjoyed Room. I gave up on The Goldfinch, and more recently Up by David Nichols - so boring. I also hated and skim-read Caitlin Moran's novel.

SolasEile · 26/02/2015 21:40

It's not badly written at all, just teeeeeedious...,

RedCrayons · 26/02/2015 21:41

I've been reading The Casual Vacancy for a year. I was going up give up but when I heard they were making the TV show I thought I should persevere.

I'm a pretty speedy reader as well, I read one book on a 2 hour train trip last year.

Rivercam · 26/02/2015 21:43

Sophie's World

snozzlemaid · 26/02/2015 21:52

Remains of the Day for me. I really don't get it. Nothing was happening so I gave up half way through - I was so bored.

RebeccaCloud9 · 26/02/2015 21:54

I loved Room, but good god, The Sealed Letter by the same author is sooooo dull!

I'm quite enjoying The Mountains Echoed.

I couldn't get into the Hundred Year Old Man so gave up.

mizu · 26/02/2015 21:57

Shit. After seeing Wolf Hall on BBC2 I was planning to get the book, might not now Grin.

Really don't want to read 50 shades but sis in law says how can I diss it when I haven't read it! She has lent it to me so it is on the bottom of my pile of books to be read. Might never get round to it.

Anything by Jodie Picoult I avoid after reading just one of her books and trying another, think they are all terrible.

MistyMeena · 26/02/2015 22:01

The Slap. I can't remember anything about it other than I hated it

funnyossity · 26/02/2015 22:03

The Slap didn't annoy me but then again I don't remember a lot of it. So not at all memorable!

funnyossity · 26/02/2015 22:04

I have loved Wolf Hall but it took me a couple of attempts.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 26/02/2015 22:09

Agree with lots of these.

I Am Pilgrim - unreadable
Dune - tedious and ridiculous - the boy's mother drove me almost to insanity. Had she been real, I would have slapped her. I have never quite forgiven you, Cote.
Never Let Me Go - tedious, relentless crap.
Posionwood Bible - unreadable.
Wolf Hall - I liked the story but the writing was abominable.
Life of Pi - couldn't finish it. Made me want to tear out my own fingernails to relieve the tedium.
Remains of the Day - for god's sake get the hell over her or flipping tell her, you silly old sod.
Middlemarch - zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I like LOTR though.

hareinthemoon · 26/02/2015 22:13

Gosh, I am surprised at the Wolf Hall haterz. I'm rereading it now and often laugh out loud from sheer pleasure.

The two books that stand out as tedious in my memory are The Silmarillion - oh, how I wanted to love it - and Dante's Inferno, which I was required to read for a course. I'd get through a stanza at a time and promptly fall asleep. One grueling stanza at a time. And it ain't short, there are quite a few layers of Hell to feel like you are in read about.

funnyossity · 26/02/2015 22:15

I'll cross Dante's Inferno off my list then.Grin

I never got beyond page 1 of the Silmarillion.