Oh yes, Tolkien’s stuff. Can’t get past the Shire.
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[Misc] Books you gave up on
- Thread starter Flounce
- Start date
Cheshire Cat
The most curious thing..
Books still on the shelf where forever they shall remain, include:
Michel Moorcock - Byzantium Endures.
Bret Easton Ellis - American Psycho
Anthony Burgess - A clockwork Orange
Umberto Ecco - Foucault's Pendulum
Virginia Woolf - To the Lighthouse
Albert Camus - The plague
Ian McEwan - First love last rites
I got through most of the first two, but got bored with (i) everyone addressing everyone else by all 4 of their names, O Northus Standicus Chatvichenko Cognoscentovic and (ii) the egregiously grotesque violence that was either meant to be real or meant to be psychosis (in the end I lost the will to find out, as my tits caught fire).
Of the rest I'm not sure I made it past page 2. 'To the Lighthouse' was a particular f***ing annoyance on account of the pointlessly long sentences that lacked punctuation as they tumbled on and on without so much as a pause for breath in pursuit of what I can only imagine to be the desire to bore the reader to death in a mountain of hot and eager nothing. My ex wife was a massive fan. Says it all really.
Michel Moorcock - Byzantium Endures.
Bret Easton Ellis - American Psycho
Anthony Burgess - A clockwork Orange
Umberto Ecco - Foucault's Pendulum
Virginia Woolf - To the Lighthouse
Albert Camus - The plague
Ian McEwan - First love last rites
I got through most of the first two, but got bored with (i) everyone addressing everyone else by all 4 of their names, O Northus Standicus Chatvichenko Cognoscentovic and (ii) the egregiously grotesque violence that was either meant to be real or meant to be psychosis (in the end I lost the will to find out, as my tits caught fire).
Of the rest I'm not sure I made it past page 2. 'To the Lighthouse' was a particular f***ing annoyance on account of the pointlessly long sentences that lacked punctuation as they tumbled on and on without so much as a pause for breath in pursuit of what I can only imagine to be the desire to bore the reader to death in a mountain of hot and eager nothing. My ex wife was a massive fan. Says it all really.
Stato
Well-known member
- Dec 21, 2011
- 7,385
David Copperfield starts with his birth and his aunt Betsy Trotwood storming off because he's not a girl. Dombey and Son starts with the birth of Dombey's son and the fussing around of the doctor.
Skaville
Well-known member
Catch 22
American Psycho
Prophet Song
American Psycho
Prophet Song
Oh yeah, this as well.
I gave it to some guy I lived with who apparently really dug both the excessive and seemingly pointless violence, and the lengthy digressions on f***ing Genesis.
I did pay attention to the bit about shaving around the sides of the face first to give the tricky chin bits longer to soften. It may well be bollocks though. And I don't shave often anyway because since most of my hair dissappeared I get nutty women from Blackpool coming up to me and insisting that I not merely resemble Prince William but am in fact actually him, unless I have some sort of beard.
I did finish LotR, which i absolutely hated, having loved the Hobbit.
Didn’t finish War & Peace though.
Huss, btw.
Pretty sure it was David Copperfield. I picked it up from the shelf in Lewes train station waiting room while waiting for the train to Seaford.
Somehow, the wait for the train seemed to last longer than it would have done if I'd spent the time setting my watch by the station clock.
Christ.
I got a free whisky from the sympathetic barman at least.
- Oct 12, 2022
- 2,703
Every. Single. f***ing. One. Of. Them.
An interesting thing about Dickens is that his works were often designed to be serialised, and he would be paid by the word for turning in his 20,000 words every month.
A Tale of Two Cities is a work for which he wasn’t paid by the word, and looking along a shelf full of Dickens at a bookshop, the significant difference in length stands out.
For those who have listed Wolf Hall, I too made multiple failed attempts. Then one day I persevered, it suddenly clicked and I was rewarded with the most stunning piece of literature I’ve ever read. (And when I make that claim, you have to bear in mind that I’ve read Kev the Ape’s account of his time working at KFC, so I know what I’m talking about).
Simply, if you’ve given up on Wolf Hall previously, it’s worth at least one more attempt of anyone’s time - it’s an absolute masterpiece.
Simply, if you’ve given up on Wolf Hall previously, it’s worth at least one more attempt of anyone’s time - it’s an absolute masterpiece.
You reminded me.
Catch 22
Fahrenheit 451.
Brave new world
Margrave of the Marshes (loved the Peel programmes but what a bumptious writer!)
It seems I have put quite a lot of books on ignore. Who knew?
hart's shirt
Well-known member
I can't remember much about it other than the caterpillar being very hungry.
- Oct 12, 2022
- 2,703
Hardy’s good for that as well. He’s a great writer, but when you come out of one of his novels you’re measuring time in epochs. You can almost feel the continents bouncing off each other and the implosion of nearby stars.
Weststander
Well-known member
I remember my Dad in the late 1980’s reading some of the Thomas Hardy novels. I got the impression it was totally unenjoyable chore, the writing had really dated and was heavy going …. but Dad saw it out as a personal point of principle.
Probably only Ulysses-Portrait of An Artist As A Young Man was great - maybe should give another go.
Stato
Well-known member
- Dec 21, 2011
- 7,385
I've read quite a few Dickens and really enjoyed them. David Copperfield is my favourite and I loved the birth scene. Like Hugo, he was a bit of an old windbag though. If you think that was dull, don't ever read the beginning of Bleak House. That really is a slog. I didn't start reading them for pleasure until I was in my forties. It took me that long to get over being forced to read him as a teenager.
Lewes Punk
Well-known member
- Feb 11, 2018
- 135
I'm a bit like your wife I never give up on a book once I've started. But having finally waded through the tedium of 'Wings of The Dove' I swore a blood oath at midnight on All Hallows Eve that I would never again pick up anything by Henry James again. He's a tedious old bastard.