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[Misc] Books you gave up on







Wardy's twin

Well-known member
Oct 21, 2014
8,815
I gave up reading Dickens in the original text. I have read and really enjoyed abridged versions. I put it down to the originals being written for periodicals and so the cliff hanger element called for multiple characters and plots which for me didn’t make an enjoyable read. Perhaps it’s time to give it another go.
Martin Chuzzlewit - 40 pages , so hard to read had to stop.
 




Han Solo

Well-known member
May 25, 2024
2,383
I told myself I'd read everything Jacob Böhme before the summer is over... its HEAVY though and half of it plain boring. But interesting.
 


Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's Tackle
NSC Patron
Oct 8, 2003
55,710
Faversham
The third book in the Girl with a Dragon Tattoo series... I read ~1,200 pages over 2.5 books but the 3rd was so, SO dull that I just couldn't face finishing it
A pity. The book is brilliant. As is book 4 (Spider's web)

I have 'The girl in the eagle's talons' throbbing to be read on my bookshelf as a type.

But alas I have my singed copy of 'With a mind to kill' (Anthony Horowitz's continuation of the James Bond œuvre) to read first.
 




deletebeepbeepbeep

Well-known member
May 12, 2009
21,730
I was on a historical podcast kick and decided to try and read Histories by Herodotus, a founding piece of historical literature about the Greco Persian wars. Not an easy read but made it half way through before giving up.
 


Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's Tackle
NSC Patron
Oct 8, 2003
55,710
Faversham
I told myself I'd read everything Jacob Böhme before the summer is over... its HEAVY though and half of it plain boring. But interesting.
Almost the exact opposite of you :wink:
 


Stato

Well-known member
Dec 21, 2011
7,282
Martin Chuzzlewit - 40 pages , so hard to read had to stop.
You didn't get to the worst bit. I'd say that the account of the trip to America hasn't aged well, but apparently nobody much liked it when it came out. Not one of his best. I had to read Hard Times as a youngster and that put me off for years. I was sucked back in by seeing some of the RSC' s Nicholas Nickleby on Channel 4. I read that and, after struggling at the beginning, got used to the language and really enjoyed it. Went on to read one every year or two. They're worth the slog. He's sometimes boggy, and you have to forgive the frequent massive coincidences in the plots, but when he's good, he can be thrilling, angrily reforming and really funny. (Not Shakespeare funny).
 








marlowe

Well-known member
Dec 13, 2015
4,264
Moby Dick, 200 pages in where’s the frigging whale?
Catch 22, just couldn’t face another page of utter drivel
I enjoyed and finished Moby Dick but gave up quite early on Catch 22. As you say, utter drivel
 




marlowe

Well-known member
Dec 13, 2015
4,264
"Under the Volcano" by Malcolm Lowry.

I've started and given up on this book about five times now, not because I didn't enjoy it but because my head wasn't in the right place to be able to commit to it.

Each time I start from the beginning again. I must give it another go cos the last time was about five years ago. Its been on my bedside table for nearly ten years.
 


Flounce

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Nov 15, 2006
4,153
I told myself I'd read everything Jacob Böhme before the summer is over... its HEAVY though and half of it plain boring. But interesting.
How can something be boring AND interesting?
 










DavidinSouthampton

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jan 3, 2012
17,298
I agree on Catch 22 and Candide; really surprised to see them mentioned. Dickens is also one of my favourites, but I can see why modern readers might find him a bit heavy going.

However maybe there's another possible thread: "Books you think you should read but haven't even started" All of Joyce's work would be in there for me, also Henry James, Proust, Chekhov, Dostoevsky .... actually maybe not such a good idea as I think for a lot of people the list would be too long. I have wanted to tackle Joyce (not so much the others), but I've never felt up to it. Maybe when I retire.

EDIT: In other words I think the reason a lot of people haven't mentioned Henry James is that they're put off starting because it IS Henry James and they've heard he's boring.

EDIT 2: I have been to his house though, Lamb House in Rye. That was boring too!
On the “books you think you should read theme……

10 years ago we were in a cottage in West Wales for Mrs DiS’s 60th birthday. There was a copy of Under Milk Wood on the coffee table and I thought maybe I should give it a go. I don’t like poetry, and I thought it was a poem. It’s not a poem, and I loved it. The man’s use of language and words was inspirational. In the first couple of pages the expression “starless and Bible black” came up. So this is where that came from. So evocative and powerful!

A few years ago I was staying in a French house for a conference for a couple of days. A copy of Hemingway’s “the Old Man and the Sea“ on the shelf. Oh well. Might as well give it a go. Loved it. The Economy and spareness of the writin I liked, although I would usually go for more “florid” stuff.
 


Professor Plum

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 27, 2024
532
No, the point of writing is not to pad out the page with so much inconsequential dross that any memorable line begins to seem less the product of a writer's imagination and more the inevitable product of random chance.



And Orwell's writing's an ideal example to illustrate that it's possible to be interesting and memorable and widely quoted while being economical.

I don't have an issue with the characters or the stories themselves, I've enjoyed plenty of adaptations, but with his writing on the page. So no, I wouldn't agree with the description of him as a brilliant wordsmith. "Paid by the word hack" would be my summation.

Somehow, I struggle to imagine Dickens ever making a story shorter. :lolol:

You don't like Dickens, we get it. But to describe literary works that form the foundation of many an English or Modern Novel course in universities across the world as "inconsequential dross" doesn't make any sense. Even the occasional IMO or "not for me" would give your rant a bit more credibility.
 




Mr Bridger

Sound of the suburbs
Feb 25, 2013
4,739
Earth
IMG_4239.jpeg
 


DavidinSouthampton

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jan 3, 2012
17,298


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