What books could you not finish?

[almondfinger]

I am having the most miserable of summer reads.

Do not say we have nothing - FFS, I persevered and it got a bit better and then reverted to tedious. Have way in I had to put it down.

Then I picked up A brief history of 7 killings - Every time I pick it up I fall asleep. The patois is difficult but when it gets to the CIA agents told in English I cant read that either. So far their have been so many killings I have lost count and it's far from brief.

I had to go out yesterday and buy some new books to look forward to. Tell me some of the books you couldn't be arsed with so I can avoid.

Fifty Shades, gave up around 100 pages in. Boring and just... shit! I don't know how it got so successful

|Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, it's not that it's a tome, I can cope with very long books, just didn't get into it after 100 pages or so, sometimes I feel I can't invest the time in something I'm finding pretty dull. I didn't finish The Little Friend, but loved Donna Tart's other two Secret History and especially The Goldfinch.

Other books that I did get through but wished I'd given up on that have cropped up on this thread. The Luminaries, just too long, Cloud Atlas, everyone around me seemed to love it I found reading it a real penance, I can see it's a clever concept though. The Lovely Bones, turgid load of twaddle, hated it, A Prayer for Owen Meany, hated it, Lincoln in the Bardo, hated it. Possession challenging, but ultimately rewarding, The Slap, hateful characters, The Essex Serpent, okish, nothing special didn't understand the hype

Loved Crimson Petal and the White and Life after Life and Alias Grace.

I nearly borrowed Lincoln in the Bardo from the library. Fortunately I stopped and flicked through. no way!

All books with a protagonist with amnesia.

Bloody hell. So many of them at the moment.

Lincoln in the Bardo is another one in my top ten. In fact I read the whole Man Booker Prize list last year as I was so convinced nothing could be better.
Loving the way this thread is showing so many different tastes.

I love some of the books mentioned here. I am reading Alias Grace at the moment and loving it.

The Virgin Suicides. I read maybe six chapters and just lost interest. Not very gripping IMO.

Midnights Children. I really tried to like it.

Prayer for Owen Meany. Forgot about that one. Really tried to plough through.

Stoner. I sobbed like a baby and couldn't finish it, still recommend it to anyone who will listen!

I'm currently part way through the latest (I think) Sophie kinsella and I'm so disappointed. Not funny, pathetic female lead and just... boring. Keep putting it down and forgetting about it.

Just allowed myself to give up on Notes from an Exhibition by Patrick Gale. First time I've abandoned a book I wasn't hating, just finding a bit dull. I feel wild!

My DH loves David Mitchell books like Cloud Atlas etc. I have been unable to get into any of them even though he assures me I'll love them when I get into them.

Very odd as we usually enjoy the same type of thing.
There are so many great books around we have come to the conclusion that sometimes you should just admit defeat rather than slogging through something you don't really like, even though everyone else might love it. It's hard for me to do but I'm getting used to doing it.

It's interesting to see how different we all are. I really enjoyed The Essex Serpent and just finished Do Not Say We Have Nothing and loved it.

The most recent books that I couldn't finish were Howard's End. I've tried to read it three times now, and each time I couldn't get beyond the umbrella part.

Also The Mermaids Singing by Val McDermid. The descriptions of torture were much too graphic for me. I'm more of an Agatha Christie person.

Lorna Doone

Jude the obscure,

I gave up on Catcher in the Rye as I just couldn’t bear Holden’s whining and moaning. I was a teenager when I first tried it.
I tried All the light we cannot see and just stopped reading it part way through, nothing seemed to be happening. I may read it again, I don’t know. I didn’t hate it or anything.
I don’t think I’ve given up on that many books. I gave up on the second Twilight book, that was ridiculously crap.

Quite a few but Catch 22 sticks out as being painful to plod through.

@Cakemonger

yes, I stopped reading that too. It was so boring I'd forgotten I tried to read it.

The Shining and Needful Things. I think it is largely that I have overdosed on Mr King recently though. And because a dog never gets out uninjured.

A couple of years ago I stopped persevering with books I'm not enjoying. It felt quite a release! I get a lot of free kindle ones that I don't get far with and now feel no guilt at all.

Quite a few things on here that I finished, but didn’t think were great. Gone Girl, All the Light We Cannot See, we Are All Completely Beside Oursleves, The Essex Serpent, hate Wuthering Heights with a passion.

Loved Wolf Hall (and the other one), Bleak House, Secret History and The Goldfinch, Jonathan Strange, Catch 22, Crimson Petal.

Never read Dan Brown or 50 Shades, as I know they are rubbish. Not a fan of chick lit and all those psychological thrillers.

I have actually hardly ever abandoned a book, but have just given up on The Alienist. Boring, boring, boring and massively overwritten and under characterised.

@Womaningreen - glad it wasn't just me, luckily I got it from the library so no buyer's remorse

This thread is making me feel better. I haven't found a book I've loved for so long, I thought I'd become impossible to please! I wish things weren't so over-hyped all the time.

@Cakemonger

I have re-read a lot of favourites this year because I have had a few disappointing reads.

I have learned to be very very wary of publisher descriptions which are often insanely inaccurate or just so overblown. For example, I read "The Dry" and it was billed as this amazing thriller, but...meh.

I don't use the local library any more - long story - but I do have a fair few books from charity shops. Top of the list was Prayer for Owen Meany, but after reading this thread...!

also have - in case anyone wants to add a boredom alert!

My Dear, I Wanted To Tell You
Half the Human Race
The Beach (have seen film)

oh speaking of films - I couldn't finish Guernsey Literary Potato as I was bored, but I hear they made the film much more dynamic.

One that sticks out as v. good is Michelle Paver "Dark Matter" but only if you like the psych type stuff.

Ooh thanks Womaningreen I'll check that out. I also read The Dry and actually thought it was quite bad.

I did discover one amazing all time favourite this year, Educated by Tara Westover, but it's memoir not fiction.

I think I've started with the wrong books by certain much loved authors this year eg This must be the place by Maggie O'Farrell and The Past by Tessa Hadley. So many people love them that I'm going to try their other books. The same with Life after life by Kate Atkinson.

I just wish every book in the bookshop didn't say 'amazing/heart breaking/a profound masterpiece' on the front cover. I mean, they can't all be masterpieces!

@Cakemonger

oh, you thought "The Dry" was actually bad? That makes me feel better.

I'm sometimes reluctant to say "this is shite" because I think, well, I couldn't write a book. But tbh I did think there were a lot of cliches in it.

I saw a thing on an arts programme with an agent saying that the standard of books is going up and I thought, I must be buying all the wrong ones!