I am the same, I hate not to finish a book. The Lord of The Rings took me a couple of attempts, but the hardest struggle was Possession by A S Byatt - in the end I resorted to force reading it on my commute to work and actually quite enjoyed it.
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Which Books have you Failed to Finish?
- Thread starter marlowe
- Start date
I am the same, I hate not to finish a book. The Lord of The Rings took me a couple of attempts, but the hardest struggle was Possession by A S Byatt - in the end I resorted to force reading it on my commute to work and actually quite enjoyed it.
studio150
Well-known member
Although I finished the book, I would agree lots of running around chasing clues, just the location is different. Don't think I will bother with the new one out in October
scooter1
How soon is now?
The Killing Fields, Martin Amis.
The Plague Dogs;
Nicholas Nickleby;
The Silmarillion;
Artemis Fowle;
and good shouts earlier for Tristram Shandy and Catch 22 (although I think I managed to force myself to get to the end of Catch 22, but it was so dreadful I managed to expunge most if not all of it from my memory).
Nicholas Nickleby;
The Silmarillion;
Artemis Fowle;
and good shouts earlier for Tristram Shandy and Catch 22 (although I think I managed to force myself to get to the end of Catch 22, but it was so dreadful I managed to expunge most if not all of it from my memory).
Pogue Mahone
Well-known member
- Apr 30, 2011
- 10,949
Eh? That was by Christopher Hudson.
Martin Amis wrote London Fields, which I loved.
which of the two were you thinking of?
Dick Swiveller
Well-known member
- Sep 9, 2011
- 9,529
Glad it wasn't just me.
tinycowboy
Well-known member
I know what you mean. I soldiered on and finished it - last two chapters unfortunately are quite confusing, so I had to re-read them. Think I probably followed up with something a little lighter. I don't like not finishing a book. My worst was If On A Winter's Night A Traveler by Italo Calvino. Managed to finish it the third time. It's not even that long.
withdeanwombat
Well-known member
Does anybody else find second attempts years later helps?
My first attempt to read Moby Dick ended with the book in the rubbish bin. Second time around I thought it was brilliant. Same with Crime and Punishment.
However, after about a dozen reads of Lord of the Rings, and several reads of The Hobbit, I just cannot finish Silmarilion.
My first attempt to read Moby Dick ended with the book in the rubbish bin. Second time around I thought it was brilliant. Same with Crime and Punishment.
However, after about a dozen reads of Lord of the Rings, and several reads of The Hobbit, I just cannot finish Silmarilion.
GOM
living vicariously
A lot of votes on here for Catch 22. I'm another one, just couldn't 'get on' with it
scooter1
How soon is now?
Sorry, yes The London Fields.
Lower West Stander
Well-known member
Labyrinth by Kate Mosse. I actually got quite a long way through it before realising I couldn't care less about the ending. It was badly written and made any Peter James book (and I love the Roy Grace series) look like Shakespeare.
The other one is the fourth Lisbeth Salander book - the one not written by Stieg Larson - it was terrible.
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The other one is the fourth Lisbeth Salander book - the one not written by Stieg Larson - it was terrible.
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pearl
Well-known member
I found Under The Volcano quite an easy read (I wouldn't say enjoyable though), but I saw the film first
Hobbit and Lord of the Rings are brilliant books, but the Silmarillion is just plain heavy going. Being a prequel never helps either.
boik
Well-known member
No, I'm sorry, but there is every reason to find LOTR tedious. Just a stream of made up place names and made up peoples names none of which you can empathise with. I had the same trouble with One Hundred Years Of Solitude. Just an endless cascade of similar sounding names. I'm not put off by long works, but they do have to have some kind of focus, and feature someone whose place I could imagine being in, otherise there's nothing to relate to.
- Thread starter
- #75
I was the opposite with the first two. Didn't finish Catch 22 but finished Crime and Punishment. On that basis maybe I should give Americana a try.
Of course it's made up names and places - it's a novel, and a fantasy novel at that. It's not meant to be about real people and places. Would it have been any better for you if Frodo had been called George, and had to make the perilous journey from Luton to Brighton, all the time watching out for the daemons of Selhurst trying to stop him?
Slight correction to be made here: "None of which you can empathise with". Millions can.
Aside from all the ones I never started (ho ho ho...) the only one I can think of is The Trial, by Kafka. I actually got almost to the end. I wonder what happened? Actually, no, no I don't care. That was the problem, really.
boik
Well-known member
Just me then. I must admit the whole fantasy, sci-fi, superhero scene etc leaves me cold, although I have tried on numerous occasions.
To be fair, not just you - but you are definitely in a minority, I think. I'm pretty sure if you did a poll (not just on NSC, but anywhere) for world's best book/favourite book/greatest novel of all time etc, nine times out of ten I guess you'd find Lord of the Rings pretty near the top.