Quote:
Originally Posted by gmw
I think the last time I did that was with Moby Dick by Herman Melville. It's a classic that I'd always been meaning to read (never did it at school). Finally did it a few years ago - even commented about the experience here. Why push myself through it? Well ... because I tend to be rather stubborn with books anyway, and because there are some wonderful quotes buried in there, and because it is a classic and I kept hoping it would come to something more. And, if you really want to know, I think all the great quotes have already been used on Star Trek - so I could have saved myself the trouble. 
On the other hand, as hardcastle says, some books are worth the trouble, just that - for me - Moby Dick wasn't one of them. |
For me it was "The Valley of Horses" by Jean Auel. It was the switch from the characters to all the background material about the land that did it. I don't mind a sprinkling of details here and there to educate the reader but when it goes on page after page rather than moving the characters forward the author loses me.