Any books you just have not finished

[KG Christopher]

OK, there are books in the lexicon of life that you may have been expected to read.

Everyone names them, everyone says "yes I read that", this might be off topic, but there are books I have sad that I have read, when in fact, I got only half way through, so its only half a lie, I have half read the books.

So, the two quotable books I have said I have read, but only half finished are:

James Joyce Ulysses
Joseph Conrad Nostromo

Am I a charleton ? anyone else with any confessions ?

 

[Carol Rose]

I can't seem to finish the third Fifty Shades Of Grey book to save my life.

 

[KG Christopher]

I can't seem to finish the third Fifty Shades Of Grey book to save my life.

@Carol Rose Are you sure you are not confusing a good read with a practical guide?

 

[Bernard Stacey]

I can't seem to finish the third Fifty Shades Of Grey book to save my life.

I'm not sure it was about first aid.

 

[Nicole Wilson]

I have started and put down Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison three times. I can't finish it. I feel like there was one other book that was in the same category, but it must have sucked so much, my mind is blocking it out.

 

[Jennifer Stone]

I started the Twilight series, read three and guessed the forth. I got it right.
I had to read The Barchester Chronicles- The Warden for GCSE English Lit. No-one in my class read the whole book, our tutor had to make notes for us and got the BBC adaptation for us to watch, and I still got a 'D'. Just not my cup of tea, unfortunately.
I started reading Memnoch the Devil by Anne Rice and got bored after the first few chapters. I never got into the Mayfair Witch books she wrote or the books where she blended the witches and vampires together; Blackwood Farm and onwards.
Never been interested in Fifty Shades or Game of Thrones, much to your assumed shock and dismay.

 

[KG Christopher]

I started the Twilight series, read three and guessed the forth. I got it right.
I had to read The Barchester Chronicles- The Warden for GCSE English Lit. No-one in my class read the whole book, our tutor had to make notes for us and got the BBC adaptation for us to watch, and I still got a 'D'. Just not my cup of tea, unfortunately.
I started reading Memnoch the Devil by Anne Rice and got bored after the first few chapters. I never got into the Mayfair Witch books she wrote or the books where she blended the witches and vampires together; Blackwood Farm and onwards.
Never been interested in Fifty Shades or Game of Thrones, much to your assumed shock and dismay.

I am so board with Game of Thrones, I don't think I will read the last one when it comes out, its all over the place, a testament to 'where am I going with this?"
Anne Rice, I read upto Vampire Lestat, but never read the Queen of the Dead (cant remeber the proper name).

 

[Octopus Messiah]

Painful admission:

I actually did read all 1000+ pages of Infinite Jest, only I wish I'd stopped halfway through. Does that count?

 

[KG Christopher]

Painful admission:

I actually did read all 1000+ pages of Infinite Jest, only I wish I'd stopped halfway through. Does that count?

I'll let you have that one, it obviously caused you some considerable stress and maybe you can only cope with it by believing you only read half of it.

 

[Chase Gamwell]

I am so board with Game of Thrones, I don't think I will read the last one when it comes out, its all over the place, a testament to 'where am I going with this?"
Anne Rice, I read upto Vampire Lestat, but never read the Queen of the Dead (cant remeber the proper name).

I came here to actually talk about Game of Thrones. I'm stuck in the fourth book. Apparently, there was supposed to be a five year time skip between books 3 and 4, but he decided to forgo that and write about a bunch of characters that I totally don't care about. I'll occasionally read a chapter or two, but it's so bad, I can't even get through it...even knowing that book 5 highlights my favorite characters.

Also, @KG Christopher...there are TWO more books that he still needs to write before the series is done with...tbh, I'm probably going to finish the series via that HBO TV show rather than the books. When an author fails to hold my attention even after trying to read through a novel multiple times, there's a serious problem. Though I will admit...the problem is most likely partially my fault...I've really started to fall out of love with High fantasy, finding myself hard pressed to finish any of the fantasy series I start. I'm also stuck on book two of The Wheel of Time series. People keep telling me how good it is (and I'll admit that the writing is fantastic), but I'm wondering whether anyone really needs 14 books to tell a story...

 

[KG Christopher]

There you go @Chase Gamwell I think I had the same experience as you, I could not even remember what book I was on. I know what you mean about characters who just suddenly pop up for 5 chapters then get eaten by dragons, what is the point?

So the last book I read was the one were Tyrion is ridding around on a dog? is that book 4?

 

[Chase Gamwell]

There you go @Chase Gamwell I think I had the same experience as you, I could not even remember what book I was on. I know what you mean about characters who just suddenly pop up for 5 chapters then get eaten by dragons, what is the point?

So the last book I read was the one were Tyrion is ridding around on a dog? is that book 4?

Probably book five since I haven't hit that yet. My issue with high fantasy is that I'm very romantic about it. I love The Lord of the Rings and other ancient high fantasy stuff (things written by Andre Norton, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Ursula K. LeGuin, Anne McCaffrey, Stephen R. Donaldson, etc.), but I can't seem to get into new stuff because I spent so much time reading it when I was a kid. Now, I prefer my doses of fantasy through video games and I partake of those quite regularly. Still, scifi is ever present in my reading life and I'm always finding new authors and novels that tickle my speculative fiction bone (Andy Weir and James Cambias).

 

[Carol Rose]

@Carol Rose Are you sure you are not confusing a good read with a practical guide?

To each their own.

 

[James Marinero]

I set up a Goodreads shelf for the books I could not finish. Some books put me off the authors - permanently! I just checked and the shelf has only 2 books on it. There are several more that should be there including the Bhagavad Gita. I notice that as I get older I have less patience (what a surprise) and I'm far more likely to quit on a book than when I was younger. When I was much younger I started out on The Kama Sutra, but ran out of energy before finishing it. I still have joint problems (not weed)!

No-one mentions The Bible. At Sunday school we studied it in Welsh. I read parts but never set out to read it in its entirety (both Testaments). Did anyone here read it all the way through (or for that matter the Quoran)?

 

[Carol Rose]

I've read the Bible all the way through more than once.

 

[Nicole Wilson]

I set up a Goodreads shelf for the books I could not finish. Some books put me off the authors - permanently! I just checked and the shelf has only 2 books on it. There are several more that should be there including the Bhagavad Gita. I notice that as I get older I have less patience (what a surprise) and I'm far more likely to quit on a book than when I was younger. When I was much younger I started out on The Kama Sutra, but ran out of energy before finishing it. I still have joint problems (not weed)!

No-one mentions The Bible. At Sunday school we studied it in Welsh. I read parts but never set out to read it in its entirety (both Testaments). Did anyone here read it all the way through (or for that matter the Quoran)?

I, too, have read it all the way a couple of times.

 

[Jason Byrne]

I came here to actually talk about Game of Thrones. I'm stuck in the fourth book. Apparently, there was supposed to be a five year time skip between books 3 and 4, but he decided to forgo that and write about a bunch of characters that I totally don't care about. I'll occasionally read a chapter or two, but it's so bad, I can't even get through it...even knowing that book 5 highlights my favorite characters.

Also, @KG Christopher...there are TWO more books that he still needs to write before the series is done with...tbh, I'm probably going to finish the series via that HBO TV show rather than the books. When an author fails to hold my attention even after trying to read through a novel multiple times, there's a serious problem. Though I will admit...the problem is most likely partially my fault...I've really started to fall out of love with High fantasy, finding myself hard pressed to finish any of the fantasy series I start. I'm also stuck on book two of The Wheel of Time series. People keep telling me how good it is (and I'll admit that the writing is fantastic), but I'm wondering whether anyone really needs 14 books to tell a story...

I actually stopped reading A Song of Ice and Fire at the beginning of book 4, as well. Six years ago. Though I fully intend to pick it back up.

I stopped reading partway through Return of the King. I'm sorry — I know I'm fantasy fiction. I just couldn't do it.

 

[Chase Gamwell]

I stopped reading partway through Return of the King. I'm sorry — I know I'm fantasy fiction. I just couldn't do it.

I won't blame you for that. A lot of Return of the King was a slog. I really enjoyed LotR when I was younger, but doubt I could pick it up and read it with the same excitement today.

 

[Robinne Weiss]

Don't get me going on Game of Thrones--I have nothing good to say about it except that I kind of enjoyed the first book... I bought the first 4 books as a set and, dammit, I was going to read them! Ugh! What a waste of my time! I was so irritated with Martin by the end of book 3 that all I did was bitch through my skim-reading of book 4. I've gotten better about just not finishing books that don't interest me. I used to doggedly finish every book I started. Now I can't be bothered, even if it's a classic, or a modern bestseller (been trying to read Anna Karennina for years now...just can't do it; and couldn't get beyond the first half of The Magicians, even though my husband said that if you made it to book 3, it really got good...).

 

[David Steele]

Every now and then I find myself not enjoying a book but sticking with it. I end up being glad to see the back of it, thinking "there's x hours of my life I never getting back."
I think the Bourne Identity was the best example of this - something I finished because everyone else seemed to love, but I hated every long, overdrawn conversation in it to the point that I was actually grinding my teeth.
To be fair, it did me some good, because after finishing that book, I went through my own and did a hard edit of all the dialogue.
I gave up on Naked Lunch. More recently I abandoned "zero history" by William Gibson, thinking it was the biggest load of... Anyway, I didn't like it.
Oh, and "the knife of never letting go" by Patrick Ness. He killed off the only character I cared about. It made my cry. The rest of the book remains unread.

 

[David Steele]

I stopped reading partway through Return of the King. I'm sorry — I know I'm fantasy fiction. I just couldn't do it.

I've never made it more than half way in to any Tolkein. I don't do fantasy.

 

[KG Christopher]

It's funny about the Tolkein, when I was very young, I remember reading the books 4 times in a row, just to suck up every last detail. I still have letters I wrote to Bilbo Baggins asking him to stop smoking (got replies also), and it was one of those books that was pushed on you in the last year of primary school.

It's amazing so many popular writers like George Martin seem to fail on all the basics of plot and character development that we all (well me) stress over. I always feel cheated after a bad read and I agree with you @David Steele , I'm not gonna get that time back again. I think my problem, also with fantasy is I just judge everything against Tolkein now also.

 

[Nicole Wilson]

Every now and then I find myself not enjoying a book but sticking with it. I end up being glad to see the back of it, thinking "there's x hours of my life I never getting back."
I think the Bourne Identity was the best example of this - something I finished because everyone else seemed to love, but I hated every long, overdrawn conversation in it to the point that I was actually grinding my teeth.
To be fair, it did me some good, because after finishing that book, I went through my own and did a hard edit of all the dialogue.
I gave up on Naked Lunch. More recently I abandoned "zero history" by William Gibson, thinking it was the biggest load of... Anyway, I didn't like it.
Oh, and "the knife of never letting go" by Patrick Ness. He killed off the only character I cared about. It made my cry. The rest of the book remains unread.

I read the first three Bourne books when I got them as a Christmas gift a few years ago. I thought the first one was pretty good, but the next two, I really just read because I felt like I was supposed to. They're some of the first thrillers written. But the 2nd and 3rd books had very lengthy descriptions and sections where not a lot was happening.

 

[Robinne Weiss]

Wouldn't it be great if someday, a bunch of writers sat around talking about how much they hated our books?

 

[KG Christopher]

Yes, but once *our* words are published, the whole world has the right to critize, it will happen.

 

[Robinne Weiss]

Only if they bother to read them. If we're good enough, writers will feel compelled to read them, and then sit around discussing how we got it all wrong. You know you've arrived when...

 

[Chase Gamwell]

Wouldn't it be great if someday, a bunch of writers sat around talking about how much they hated our books?

For now, I'll be happy with "Wouldn't it be great if someday I can get my work out there!?"

 

[Jennifer Stone]

@Chase Gamwell I'd be happy to see my work printed on paper, never mind for sale. It'd be awesome just to hold my book in my hand.

 

[Chase Gamwell]

@Jennifer Stone I'm of the same mind. I never started writing with the mindset of "I plan on making a ton of money doing this". I was at a place in my life where I needed that catharsis, but being able to put my work to paper, even just to hold a single copy, would feel like a grand triumph.

 

[Jay Aitch]

This may seem like blasphemy to fellow fantasists, but I could barely finish Terry Pratchett's "The Colour of Magic", and gave up on "Mort". Don't get me wrong, I appreciate his imagination, skill and longevity, but could not read him.

Neither could I read Thomas Hardy's "Far from the Maddening Crowd" - it was maddening.

As for the Bible ... Numbers ... I was never very good with MathS, anyway.