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Books you’ve tried to read but just can’t get on with them

213 replies

GonnaGetGoingReturns · 28/04/2023 23:15

I know this is subjective but what books have you read or tried to read but just can’t stomach them?

My recent ones are:-

Brother of the More Famous Jack - what a load of pompous affected twaddle! Can’t seem to see how it’s so lauded, got to page 17 and gave up.

Cold Comfort Farm - managed a bit better with this, about 4 chapters in, but still, affected pompous twaddle. Was told it was similar to the adorable I Capture The Castle but it’s not, at all! Gave it to SIL to read as she got I Cspture The Castle for me and she didn’t like it and when I asked DM if she’d read it when she was younger she said exactly the same about it as me.

Oh and if anyone sees K-Ming Chang’s Bestiary and thinks it looks interesting, it isn’t, it’s just weird!

OP posts:
gingerandsmall · 29/04/2023 20:34

The Elinor Oliphant one. To me it portrayed her as a liability and needlessly cringy. Couldn't get past the first couple of chapters.

JaneJeffer · 29/04/2023 20:35

@MrsDanversGlidesAgain I think it's a book that people pretend to think is funny when it's really not (because they don't want to admit they don't get it either) Grin

Crikeyalmighty · 29/04/2023 20:35

Any Jane Austen (and I live in bath) can't stand it- it's like Georgian chic lit.

Life of Pi

The lovely Bones

Theunamedcat · 29/04/2023 20:36

Time travelers wife really didn't see the appeal
American psycho took me years of tedium to finish it
I do read LOTR but I skip the drone parts
Stephen King did a book about writing I swear he was high I've never met such pompous disjointed twaddle in my entire life
Until recently I kept books I had read and hated if I loved the author in general so I had "the set" iyswim then I thought fuck that and now two bags and counting are leaving the house this week

JaneJeffer · 29/04/2023 20:36

Any Jane Austen (and I live in bath) can't stand it- it's like Georgian chic lit.
Blasphemy!

TheCreamTeaWasFromMe · 29/04/2023 20:37

Shantaram - have tried several times, but can't get into it at all.

The God of Small Things - I pick it up, do a few pages, put it down. Years pass, rinse and repeat. I think I am destined to never finish it.

Loved Cold Comfort Farm - it's a brilliant send-up.

SquareRootOfAllEvil · 29/04/2023 20:39

Ulysses - only book I’ve never finished

gertrudemortimer · 29/04/2023 20:39

I agree with so many of these! My standout failures are - Eleanor oliphant, time travellers wife, the passage, Harry quebert affair, I am pilgrim, the goldfinch. and finally the 3rd instalment of the assassins apprentice. I loved the first two but the third one has been so slow and boring I just can't bring myself to pick it up.

mayflower21 · 29/04/2023 20:40

Lord of the ring

mayflower21 · 29/04/2023 20:40

Rings*

YukoandHiro · 29/04/2023 20:40

The Paper Palace. Boring, and the main protagonist is a twat.

whatatool · 29/04/2023 20:42

Hamnet
I've tried so hard
I'm half way through and it feels like a chore.
Reading should be a pleasure so I'm donating it to charity and moving on.

YukoandHiro · 29/04/2023 20:44

@gingerandsmall If you didn't get on with it no point going back but just to say that's kind of the point and there's a big reveal about the reasons for her behaviour.

midsomermurderess · 29/04/2023 20:48

Shantaram, as mentioned upthread, is unmitigated tosh and so badly written and edited. I can see its appeal to a certain gap yah type though.

nildesparandum · 29/04/2023 20:51

Wolf Hall.I just could not get into it

PollyannaWhittier · 29/04/2023 20:52

Mrs Dalloway - I read the first dozen or so pages, didn't have a clue what was going on, read them again in case I was missing something, but I was none the wiser so gave up !

Taxitaxiforever · 29/04/2023 20:53

Where the Crawdads sing …too wordy !

Kanaloa · 29/04/2023 20:54

Crikeyalmighty · 29/04/2023 20:35

Any Jane Austen (and I live in bath) can't stand it- it's like Georgian chic lit.

Life of Pi

The lovely Bones

I read The Lovely Bones in uni and thought it was so blah. I understood the concept and it was unusual to have it told from the perspective of the dead victim after her death but I thought the actual story was boring, overlong, and dull and the conclusion was a bit pathetic. It just didn’t do it for me at all.

clary · 29/04/2023 20:57

Ah my book group did Shuggie Bain and I couldn’t finish it, just too grim.

Also did not enjoy Lincoln in the Bardo, tho I did finish it.

Surprused myself by enjoying Where the Crawdads sing, esp the first half.

Also not a fan of Richard Osman. Again did finish Th murder Club but wouldn’t recommend it. Great tho that it has got ppl reading.

Nightynightnight · 29/04/2023 20:57

I don't seem to get on with male, north American authors. There is something too self-conscious about their writing. Obviously I haven't attempted ALL of them so if anyone has any particular favourites they would like to recommend I would like to test my hypothesis.

Also love Richard O, also could get beyond chapter 2 of his first book.

Baldieheid · 29/04/2023 20:58

gertrudemortimer · 29/04/2023 20:39

I agree with so many of these! My standout failures are - Eleanor oliphant, time travellers wife, the passage, Harry quebert affair, I am pilgrim, the goldfinch. and finally the 3rd instalment of the assassins apprentice. I loved the first two but the third one has been so slow and boring I just can't bring myself to pick it up.

Re the third assassins apprentice series, I found it really hard going at first, but it was absolutely worth continuing with (for me, at least). It left me in bits.

clary · 29/04/2023 20:59

Some mentioned here are literally in my top ten tho - p and p, wolf hall is amazing, love love Hamnet as well.

It’s good that we like different things tho.

clary · 29/04/2023 21:00

Oh also The Goldfinch (as in I love it!). My fave book from the 21st century.

mum2jakie · 29/04/2023 21:01

Could not get on with The Road. I love dystopian fiction but that was such so bloody depressing I couldn't face picking it back up!

PollyannaWhittier · 29/04/2023 21:02

I had to read and review The Thursday Murder Club for a library thing at work (I hate picking books to pieces after I've read them, but they wanted lots of staff to join in to show the kids it's not just English teachers who read), I wasn't a fan. The woman judging it said it was the most brutally honest book review she'd ever read BlushGrin

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