Baldseagull
Well-known member
"I could hear his gingerness in my head" gave me a proper giggle, thank you.
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[Misc] Books you gave up on
- Thread starter Flounce
- Start date
Anthony Doerr is someone that I feel very close to after seeing "All the Light We Cannot See"
FYI, US Seagull, he was born in Cleveland.
Cheeky Monkey
Well-known member
- Jul 17, 2003
- 23,868
I’m responsible for about 46% of the books on those shelves. The beauty of getting the 0530 train into Lewes is that you can dump a whole host of books you want rid of. One morning I did 2 full supermarket bags for life worth, although none of it was Dickens
- Oct 12, 2022
- 2,689
I may be odd (no external confirmation required) but I enjoy his writing.
I’d say that you have to get into a certain mindset to enjoy it, whole chapters go by without anything seeming to have meaningfully changed, but it’s almost a form of meditation or mindfulness, you have to slow yourself down to meet the pace of the book, and allow yourself some time for reflection after you’ve come out of it.
I fear I have too many distractions to currently read them again, but the Mayer of Casterbridge, Jude the Obscure and particularly the Woodlanders stood out to me at the time I worked my way through them. I’d say they’re absolutely not the easiest read, Dickens is light and snappy by comparison.
One day I'll track down the person who left that book there, and I'll demand half an hour of my life back.
Weststander
Well-known member
Distractions. The internet can be one in my experience.
- Oct 12, 2022
- 2,689
Never stop posting Easy
Sirnormangall
Well-known member
- Sep 21, 2017
- 3,178
Delighted that I’m not only one to have struggled with Ulysses - I’ll try the audio version
Brightonfan1983
Well-known member
I'm in a phase of one 'easy' book followed by one by an author I feel I 'should' read at least once, worthy or not. PD James didn't work for me but The Forsyte Saga is currently fantastic. I'm a "will not not finish" reader, but I will skim read like a mf if I can't bear it.
Cordwainer
Well-known member
- Jul 30, 2023
- 540
I loved Wolf Hall..eventually.
I loved Bring Up The Bodies even more.
However I gave up on The Mirror and The Light..every time I picked it up I had to go back to the intro to remind me who was who so ended up being somewhat counter productive. Can really appreciate Mantells craft but her style in these 3 books sometimes made it incredibly difficult to follow.
If you have ever lived or worked in the countryside (by that I mean 'countryside work', like a week in the rain hedging, walking home to an open fire in a cottage and a steaming mug of tea type of thing) then Hardy is so evocative of a way of life that existed in the past. Just his descriptions of walking the highways and fields makes me wish I was back outside doing 'proper' work again.
I really like Hardy - although as you say, they are not the easiest read. The Woodlanders I loved, even though it's one of the saddest. I picked up a copy in a second-hand shop, then found that it was part of a library that travelled with the Strathcona's Horse (Canadian Mounted Army) on their voyage to the Boer War in 1899 on the SS Monterey. I found this picture online of the journey - one of these fine fellows may have read my book!
I've tried reading Tristram Shandy about five or six times and have got past a dozen pages. I've finally given my copy to the charity shop as I've realised I'm going to do it. I couldn't read Pynchon's Mason Dixon either - even though I like a lot of his books. And I couldn't finish A Confederancy of Dunces, the main character irritated me so much.
Staggered at the number of people who put Ulysses - a work of absolute genius and one that I re-read every dozen years or so. I haven't dared tackle Finnegans Wake though. And who can think Dickens boring? He wrote the original page turners that had people eagerly waiting for the next chapter (actually, I'd make an exception for Martin Chuzzlewit; that is boring)
The Fifth Column
Lazy mug
Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov. I gave up several times as it seemed to have been written by Bulgakov whilst he was off his tits on acid but once I accepted that it grew on me, I had a kind of mental reset and ended up quite enjoying it. The key to enjoying any book for me is you have to be in the right mood and right place to really enjoy particular books.
Yes, but only because they didn't have Love Island to look forward to, or I'm a Celebrity ................ not even 'Stenders or Corrie!
autopsyturvey
Active member
- Feb 24, 2018
- 122
Many years ago, a couple of old drinking pals of mine had a copy each of Being And Nothingness by John Paul Satre. They'd both failed to get anywhere with it and devised a wager: if one of them managed to read the entirety of the book (and could prove they'd understood it to some degree) the other had to eat their copy as a forfeit.
Months passed and neither book got read so they changed the bet: If one person managed to eat their book, the other had to read theirs as a forfeit.
Months passed and neither book got read so they changed the bet: If one person managed to eat their book, the other had to read theirs as a forfeit.
This is exactly where I am. In fact I’m re-reading Bring up the Bodies again right now as there is just so much in it that it deserves a second read.
I have a copy of the Mirror and the Light but have delved into it yet…
Greg Bobkin
Silver Seagull
- May 22, 2012
- 16,033
My list is long, but two vastly different examples are The Count of Monte Cristo and Fifty Shades Of Gray.
I'm not exactly target audience for the second one but wanted to see what all the fuss was about. It was so badly written, I didn't make it past the first page.
I'm not exactly target audience for the second one but wanted to see what all the fuss was about. It was so badly written, I didn't make it past the first page.
Never read the book, but Life of Pi is an amazing film.
I only got half way through the Miirror and the Light, but I'm detemined to finish it, one day. Loved Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies. They can be hard work sometimes, but are astonishingly well written. But Bring up the Bodies is so difficult to follow...