Which Books have you Failed to Finish?

[The Rivet]

Mein Kampf and 120 days of Soddom.

 

[heathgate]

S .... I tried two different ways if reading it.... Both failed

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[marlowe]

trainspotting, found the dialect too hard going

Don't ever attempt "A Clockwork Orange" then.

 

[catfish]

The Honourable Schoolboy by John le Carre - part of the Karla omnibus. Damn near unreadable.

I found that nowhere near as dense as The Little Drummer Girl. I really did struggle to finish that one.

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

Don't ever attempt "A Clockwork Orange" then.

I disagree, I was fine with ACO, but no matter how many times I've picked up Trainspottng I've never got beyond a couple of pages due to the dialect, and it's my all time favourite film.

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

Crime and Punishment, Dostoyevsky. Heavey going having to check references every few pages.

Possibly my all time favourite book. Have read it several times, have never had to 'check any references' and I'm thick as shit. If you were taking about War and Peace I could understand it, but C and P isn't particularly heavy going imho.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Quite a lot. A Chomsky book comes to mind. I also bought a huge academic book on Native American Justice....after a few chapters I was starting to doubt my ability to read.

 

[DavePage]

any book from Finland, I can’t read Finnish

 

[OzMike]

Far From the Madding Crowd, couldn't get past first chapter.

 

[marlowe]

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is another that has sprung to mind from around thirty years ago. My friend raved about it but when I gave it a go Hunter S Thompson came across as such an ass hole that I had to give up. At the time I thought no wonder he got beaten up by Hell's Angels, but very recently I decided to find out why and discovered he was beaten up for trying to prevent one of the Angels beating their girlfriend and I changed my opinion of him after that. Probably still an ass hole but at least with a redeeming feature.

edit: I apologise about the Americanism "ass" but my "arse" was asteriscised.
edit 2: it appears arse is ok without the hole (although biologically that could prevent a problem)

 

[daveinprague]

100 days of Solitude. What a fecking boring pile of paper.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

The Neverending Story

 

[Falmer Flutter ©]

American Psycho. First half is great then just descends into page after page of torture porn. Love Trainspotting and read it a few times. Yes, it takes a chapter or two to get used to the dialogue, but then the brain suddenly tunes into it.

 

[El Presidente]

I also bought a huge academic book on Native American Justice....after a few chapters I was starting to doubt my ability to read.

I think I have the film version of the book, is it called "Hiawatha deserves a spanking"? It's quite niche TBF.

 

[looney]

Likewise. It's at least 200 pages too long as a novel and 400 pages too long as a manifesto for free market capitalism. Can I suggest you give Hayek's 'Road to Serfdom' a go instead? Quite easy to dip in and out of. Also suggest Roger Scruton's books. I suspect you will find him a little too conservative (small and large 'C') at times although I reckon that there's plenty of common ground. I presume you've read the latest Douglas Murray

Have read most of Hayek, Road to serfdom, Constitution of Liberty and including his nobel winning paper on pricing mechanisms. Most of Douglas murry but their are others that articulate it better.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I didn't like the sound of the Northern Lights much either, but my daughter persuaded me to give it a try. Enjoyed it, and the second book in the trilogy, The Subtle Knife. Kind of lost it half way through The Amber Spyglass (the third book) though.

Revisit! Its better second time around.

 

[pearl]

The Bible
No point in reading it all as he dies in the end

SPOILER ALERT .... he's back by Sunday

 

[Steve in Japan]

The Honourable Schoolboy by John le Carre - part of the Karla omnibus. Damn near unreadable.

Just goes to show how different people's tastes are.....I bloody love that book.

 

[pearl]

trainspotting, found the dialect too hard going

I don't know what you mean (I have Scottish relatives tbf) , but you have reminded me 'On The Road' Jack Keroac, I have two copies, failed to finish either and can't even be arsed to check spelling of his name

 

[pearl]

Silmarillion is basically a Middle Earth Text Book... As you say theres lots more action in LotR.

The Two Towers is my favourite because of all the battles plus the Ents, I suppose this makes me rather shallow.

Back onto the original question, I can't bear Dickens, never managed to get into any of them.

I'm with you with Dickens, forced to read Oliver Twist and Great Expectations so doesn't count. I figure there's enough misery in life without reading about it, same reason I never watch Eastenders