What did you start and just couldn't force yourself to finish?

[grumpypants]

I was reading The Seven Secrets of Happiness and it was so dire I couldn't make myself finish (knew who wd end up with who/ 'messages' blindingly obvious etc) - what shd I avoid next

Sarum - have tried untold times but its dire

Oh yes, florencerusty- I have FIL's copy of Sarum languishing on my bookshelves.

Turgid AND too heavy to read in the bath,

Bah.

Naughty comma. Was supposed to be a .

Harry Potter - just cannot, cannot understand why adults read these books (wish I could understand it - I know I'm in the minority).

Have tried to start reading it to my DS - fortunately he is bored with it too after three pages

Shodan did FIL ever read it?

We Have to Talok About Kevin
The God of Small things
The Book of Dave

florence- yes, he did. I've read the London one and found it quite good, and he recommended this one, but I just couldn't get on with it.

There are loads of books I couldn't finish but I can't remember all of them!
The lord of the rings
On snow-Anita Shreve
Captain Correli
Cloud Atlas
On beauty
Jodi Picoult books
Patricia Cornwell books
Val McDermid books

They all bore/d me senseless!!

I couldn't finish Lisey's story either and I love Stephen king!#

And I loved all the Harry Potter books{smile}

Sorry, I meant !!!

Time Travellers Wife - not my cuppa at ALL! I know lots love it, I don't!

Notes from an Exhibition.

Highly recommended to me and Stephen Fry called the book 'complete perfection'. I just cannot get into it. May try again when i've finished (if i do!) current read The Island.

Eat Pray Love was the greatest load of selfindulgent tripe ever. The Lovely Bones and House of Splendid Isolation were rubbish

I read the Book Thief but was not really impressed. Terry Pratchett is the only master when it comes to the voice of DEATH!

I love fantasy and loved LOTR as a teenager but loved it more as an adult

House of Splendid Isolation is John Boyne isn't it? That is the next book. Is it really bad? I love all his other stuff.

My two are Atonement and The World According to Garp. Hated both of them.

Yes HOSI was John Boyne. Don't let me put you off as I know a lot of people who did like it. All of the ingredients for a good book were there but it didn't come together for me at all. I gave up at about page 100 when I could see where it was all going.

THe Road By Cormac McCarthy

The Kite Runner - saccharine, obvious, overly sentimental make-your-point-with-a-sledgehammer crap. I hated it.

The Book Thief - this book really pissed me off. The way the author thought he was being so clever with the style. All that repetition and ending the chapters with three lines set out like a poem (or something like that...can't remember the details now as this was ages ago). But I gave up after about 200 pages. I only read that far because a friend who generally has good taste recommended it to me.

Just remembering how pretentious The Book Thief is has made me cross

Another Sophie's World vote. Also LOTR. And just recently Notes from an Exhibition. I still feel really stupid about Sophie's World and it was about 20 years ago I'm sure!

Loved Catch 22 though, my all time favourite, I can't believe how many votes it's getting!

The Time Travellers something or other
Unabridged diary of Samuel Pepys
The last Harry Potter (skipped all the camping bit but read the end).
That vampire book (read one page)
Anything from the tax office

The Lovely bones

Time Traveller's Wife.

Very annoying,gave up about 60 pages in.

That bloody Dan Brown one.Terrible.Stupid plot.

Scarlet and White (or whatever it was called - pretentious shite)
Mr thingy and Mr Norris (or whatever it was called)
I am half way through The Museum of Innocence and I am not sure I will make it to the end - I HATE the main character...

Haven't read the whole thread, so excuse me if I'm repeating someone, but I just opened this back-to-back with the revived "5 best books of all time" thread and the titles are practically all the same!! One woman's meat, eh?
Would agree with a few here. Took me 3 goes to get through Crime and Punishment (and I did Russian at university!) and the end was a big disappointment - yet War and Peace I couldn't put down... Likewise a Suitable Boy (was like reading a really good soap opera!), Life of Pi, Midnight's Children...
(tho gave up on The Satanic Verses)
On the Russian theme - anything by Turgenev (though perhaps his name just said "turgid" to me and that was it )
Someone said Jasper Fforde - I, too, gave up halfway.
Tractors in Ukrainian - the second book by her (Two Caravans) is much better IMVHO.
Sophie's World - tick
I must try Jane Austen again one day, never could do with her [philistine emoticon]

Oh God yes and Harry Potter - WTF???