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Original poster

Books that have defeated you

201 replies

Queenoftheharpies · 25/05/2009 16:25

Middlemarch.

I've tried reading it three times now, and enjoyed it right up to the point where Dorothea gets engaged to Casaubon. And then, for no reason hit a stumbling block.

It's always the same point in the story as well. I think it's when there's some protracted discussion of the corn laws / agricultural practice.

Has anyone else encountered this? A book you really want to finish but that just defeats you?

OP posts:
bigchris · 25/05/2009 16:26

Ulysess by James Joyce

Bucharest · 25/05/2009 16:32

Most books involving bonnets tbh.
The TV series defeat me too. I still have the last 2 episodes of Little Dorrit to get through enjoy.

Cranford was the worst. Started it (the book) about 4 times. And 4 times it's gone back on the shelf.

Babbity · 25/05/2009 16:33

At Swim-Two-Birds by Flann O'Brien. Have reluctantly conceded life's too short.

(Middlemarch is brilliant though, I loved it. Why not just skip the corn laws bit)

unavailable · 25/05/2009 16:34

I've never got through any James Joyce actually. Many others too - Salman Rushdie, Gabriel Garcia Marques to name a couple. I loved Middlemarch tho'.
I used to try to read books I considered "worthy" (not sure what criteria I used!) but now think there are lots of good books I still havent read, so if I struggle it means its not for me. Perhaps I am being lazy, but I dont wantreading to be a chore.

Bucharest · 25/05/2009 16:38

I always have a book I want to read, and a book I feel I ought to read, on the go at the same time.
Sometimes, (but not very often) I get completely hooked on the "worthy" one and it takes over my life. But more often than not, I think "not another feckin bonnet" and chuck it back on the pile....

YanknCock · 25/05/2009 16:40

Catch-22 has defeated me at least three times. I don't know why, because I always enjoy the first couple of chapters and then somehow lose it.

BanjosFanjo · 25/05/2009 16:41

Catch 22

mrsrawlinson · 25/05/2009 16:44

A Brief History Of Time. Turns out it's not nearly brief enough.

unavailable · 25/05/2009 16:45

Yes Catch 22 was another one for me too.

Original poster
Queenoftheharpies · 25/05/2009 16:50

I struggle with catch 22 actually as well now you mention it. But that's not so much as a defeat as a rout! I've yet to get past the first five pages.

OP posts:
frustratedmom · 25/05/2009 16:59

Lord of the rings

Got to 2nd chapter of 2nd part and discovered i had no idea who any of the characters where or their significance to the story.

Gave up. Just enjoying film version now -too chicken to retry

midnightexpress · 25/05/2009 17:01

Ulysses - can't get beyond about chapter 3.

squilly · 25/05/2009 17:02

Frustratedmom, I did LOTR after watching the movie and managed to read it just fine. Couldn't get past the first chapter with the book originally....Hope you manage to read it next time.

Bucharest · 25/05/2009 17:02

I have read all of LOTR- but I did have glandular fever and no telly at the time...and I glossed over the Elvish poems and what not....

PfftTheMagicDragon · 25/05/2009 17:03

All Couplands.

I start them, get about 5 chapters from the end and then die of boredom. I give up. Then, for some inexplicable reason, 3 months later, I'll start another, and do the same thing all over again!

infin · 25/05/2009 17:07

Ulysses, simply confuses me and sends me to sleep (like almost everyone I know who's tried it!)
Also, and somewhat bizarrely as I was expecting to love them:
Captain Corelli,
Time Traveller's Wife
Brick Lane
Red Earth and Pouring Rain

Perhaps defeated is the wrong word for these last 4 although I did give up on them, so perhaps not!!

Babbity · 25/05/2009 17:09

Nope, Captain Corelli defeate me too. I got four or five chapters in and then gave up. Also Salman Rushdie - I got about 2/3 through Midnight's Children before I lost patience.

ellingwoman · 25/05/2009 17:10

Mine is Tom Jones. I have started it at least twice a year since about 1980. I read the first few chapters then get engrossed in a new Lee Child or other murder mystery. Need more staying power!

LibrasBiscuitsOfFortune · 25/05/2009 17:11

Iron Council by China Meville. I LOVED both PSS and The Scar but haven't yet been able to finish Iron Council despite starting it 3 times.

BanjosFanjo · 25/05/2009 17:16

Youve written a book haven't you Libra? I think I've bought it if I've got that right. I must confess it is a bit on the academic side for me so I can include that as a book defeat

I used to be able to do academia, but my brain appears to have rotten of late

Salleroo · 25/05/2009 17:27

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, it's rare a book defeats me, but I just couldn't waste my time on this. No regrets either, I'll never try again.

LibrasBiscuitsOfFortune · 25/05/2009 17:32

Banjo I can quite safely say that you have got me mixed up with someone else . I am intrigued to know who you think I am however!

sarah293 · 25/05/2009 17:34

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

VoteMerlin · 25/05/2009 17:37

Possession. I didn't get people raving about it...

minesacheeseandpicklesandwich · 25/05/2009 17:37

Please finish Hitchhikers, it is soooooo wonderful and sooooooo worth it!! And Babbity, Captain Corelli gets better, much better. I wasn't sure at the beginning but by the end I loved it.

I won't say it's defeated me (it hasn't, it hasn't)

but I have been reading Shogun for about four years now, possibly five...