Which book/books have you really tried hard to read,but failed ?

[Mirage]

Mine are;
Ulysses(sp)
Wild Swans

Moll Flanders - twice
I read Les Miserables once - never again.

Adorabelle - I really liked Captain Corelli's Mandolin.

Timetravellers Wife is rubbish IMO, hated it

Read Cancer Ward and lots of Dickens when younger and would never give up on a book. Changed days!

Worst was Kingsley Amis's Lucky Jim...awful...had 3 goes at it over the years, never got past the first few pages.

Shadow of Wind/Da Vinci Code/ Labyrinth struggled to finish...don't know why I bothered, all very badly written.

Books people like and I have struggled with: Oscar and Lucinda; Shipping News (2goes);Life of Pi; English Passengers.

Liked then got bored with: Owen Meany (Irwin and Roth both too long-winded);We Need to Talk About Kevin.

Very very worried now about TT Wife which is one of my summer holiday books. Maybe I should reassess?!

Loved Atonement.

have read thread and very interested to see so many same names coming up... and they are on my "gave up before i slipped into coma" list too - mine are Shipping News, Miss Smilla's feeling for Snow and Life of Pi. Am afraid am more on the Marian Keyes/Isla Dewar/Kathy Lette level at the moment, need all the laughs i can get just now given my marriage...but that's another story you'd all give up on!!

I think I need a new book club, I loved Captain Correli. And Cloud Atlas, and Owen Meany and Catch 22.

Merlotmama, i'd definately reccomend TT Wife
Give it a go and then you can come back and tell
us all if you're a Lover or a Hater of it.

Twinklemegan, Think I might pick up C.C. Mandolin as there's been a few posts by people who enjoyed it.

I read Birdsong about 5years ago and i'm thinking about re-reading it as I loved it so much first time round. Any views on Birdsong?

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I can't see what all the fuss is about with Quincunx either, although apparently there is another, hidden plot if you can be arsed to go looking for it.

I thought Birdsong was great, but gut-wrenching - not sure I want to read it again! You might like Charlotte Gray, if you haven't read it already?

What an interesting thread!

PLEASE don't give up on Perfume - great book.

I absolutely loved loved loved Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez,so thought I'd read One Hundred Years of Solitude. Bloody felt like it!!! Rubbish, really struggled and didn't even make it half way through.

Got bored of The Corrections, never finished Wild Swans either. Found God of Small Things really hard to read - all those bloody full stops and capital letters where they shouldn't be!

And really really loved We Need To Talk About Kevin - especially as I have 2 sons, very disturbing, but very compelling read.

Best book I've read in ages is A Million Little Pieces by James Frey - just WOW.

I loathed Perfume - it is very readable, but ultimately not very deep.

I also have not finished 100 years of solitude, but intend to return.

Ulysses by James Joyce. I know it's supposed to be brilliant but unintelligible to me.

That mrs Norell book

I am reading The Quincunx at the moment and loving it - have heard about the hidden plot too but not been able to spot it yet - hoping that all becomes clear when I've finished it!

Christie, you might be interested to know that a poll last year in the United States listed Ulysses as the nation's favourite book.

My backside. I have a masters in English Literature and I still need a Latin dictionary, and a decent primer alongside me to get through it with any degree of success.

The Master And Margharita - I have enjoyed the bit I've read, but it's one of those books that requires total concentration, which I can't do atm. My brother lent it to me and I always worry when I see him he's going to ask me whether I've read it yet!

Youpesky kids, couldn't agree with you more
about the James Frey book. I loved every single page of it, even though it was emotionally tough going I always knew he'd do good.
He's also written a follow up to it. Cannot remember the name of the friend he made while in rehab (the criminal who took him under his wing), well it's all about him I believe. Off to google it right now.

KTeePee - if you find the hidden plot, would you summarise it for me?

the first zadie smith one, it was so bad i've blotted the title from my memory

Hey adorabelle, a kindrid spirit! Thought I was the only one to have read that book (well, of course I wasn't, but didn't know anyone else that had read it).

I was in the dentist yesterday having a temporary crown fitted - for some reason, the dentist 'scene' of that book sprung to mind, and yet I'd had two injections!!!

Whenever I re-read that book, that section gives me goosebumps and make the hair stand up on the back of my neck!

satyricon, that is interesting...most favorite book in the US,liars, the whole nation of them! No way, they haven't made it a movie with Tom Cruise so it they can't have heard of it. Maybe they think it's ulysses S. Grant. I have a bachelor's degree in english literature and am a heavy reader of the classics and just could not understand a word of it. Sometimes I think I should pick it up and give it another go, but then I think, naw, lifes too short.

satyricon, that is interesting...most favorite book in the US,liars, the whole nation of them! No way, they haven't made it a movie with Tom Cruise so it they can't have heard of it. Maybe they think it's ulysses S. Grant. I have a bachelor's degree in english literature and am a heavy reader of the classics and just could not understand a word of it. Sometimes I think I should pick it up and give it another go, but then I think, naw, lifes too short.

youpeskykids, LOL at your dentist drama. It's not a scene i'd want to be thinking about while in the dentists chair!

I really enjoyed The Lovely Bones, I know alot of people thought it was sentimental
tosh but I thought it was beautifully written.
Am now reading Alice Sebold's Lucky, which has a promising start.

I've just placed an order from Play.com (best website ever, free p&p on everything,
Woo Hoo)

As well as Peter Kay's autobiography I have
also ordered Gok Wan's new style bible.

I am so hoping that it lives upto my expectations. Love his show, he makes women look totally different by instilling inner confidence and changing the way they think about their bodies. Much nicer than a tv show paying for women to have thousands of pounds worth of plastic surgery which'll need re-doing in years to come.

An inner confidence within yourself will last you a lifetime. Long Live Mr Wan

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