Books People Can't Finish

[Dngrsone]

Not really.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by xg4bx

All the hatred for Ayn Rand makes me even more curious to read her work; someone who inspires such vehement opinions must be doing something right.

You should, and judge it for yourself.

Hitch

[Synamon]

Originally Posted by Gazella

What about those contemporary novels most people abandon (The Casual Vacancy; Wicked; Eat, Pray, Love; Fifty Shades of Grey; The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo). Anyone read them? <snip>

Yes, I've read 4 of those. Dragon Tattoo was an okay thriller, but I think many people abandoned it because it started slow or because they couldn't handle reading the rape scene(s). Wicked was terrible and I should have abandoned it, but I'd seen the musical and thought it might fill in the blanks.

I abandoned Catch-22 halfway, I got the point, no need to keep hammering me over the head with it. I won't even attempt LOTR, watching everyone wander around in the first movie was torture. I didn't find War and Peace hard to read, but I did skim a lot of the military stuff.

Different strokes for different folks.

[tdonline]

I liked Wicked and didn't find it that difficult to finish. I didn't like Mirror, Mirror as much and haven't read any more Maguire books. Are the followup books to Wicked worth reading?

[Hitch]

Here's a funny one:

Of all the books...I couldn't finish Martina Navratilova's attempt at a Dick Francis-like murder mystery set in the tennis world. I don't even remember the name, but as one of those people who somewhat compulsively finishes books ("it must be going to get better! It's a [best-seller, my friend so-and-so liked it, insert rationalization here], so it must be worth finishing..."), that one sticks in my head. I just put it down and never picked it back up.

Hardly in the same category as Moby and even Dragon Tattoo (well, wait...maybe I speak too rashly, {smile}), but that was the first book I ever picked up and just Could. Not. Force. Myself. To. Finish.

Hitch

[Fluribus]

Originally Posted by Dngrsone

While we are banging on LotR, I completely failed at trying to read the Silmarillion. Twice.

I am a terrible fan.

I enjoyed the Silmarillion, but it's not a cohesive story put into book form by the author. It was the beginning of mining through his notes and publishing the results.

I stopped midway through Joyce's Ulysses. The book got packed away somewhere during a move. I imagine that I'll end up finishing.

[Victoria]

I've reread LOTR many times. Each time, it's like going home. It was formative, and occupies a unique place in my universe.

My BA was in English lit , many eons ago, and enjoyed it at the time. But for some strange reason, I cannot force myself to read a Brontë or Dostoyevsky, or any other novelist that might be good for me. I read for pleasure - no angst allowed.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by xg4bx

All the hatred for Ayn Rand makes me even more curious to read her work; someone who inspires such vehement opinions must be doing something right.

I read a lot of her books in college, both fiction and nonfiction, and found them both entertaining and thought-provoking. I think The Fountainhead is a better starting point than Atlas Shrugged.

[Gazella]

Originally Posted by issybird

Well, they were badly written, too, in addition to being absurd. But I admit it, I kept turning the pages just the same. Sheer rubbernecking.

The trilogy is originally in Swedish, so it could be the translation and not the author's initial writing. Nevertheless, I don't think it's one of the reasons behind people not being able to finish it. From what I've read, it's the content.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Gazella

The trilogy is originally in Swedish, so it could be the translation and not the author's initial writing. Nevertheless, I don't think it's one of the reasons behind people not being able to finish it.

Obvious though it is to say, different books appeal to different people. The fact that someone doesn't enjoy a book may indeed imply that it's badly written, but it's much more likely to be simply due to the fact that the storyline didn't grab their interest.

[Sweetpea]

Of that list, I've only read LOTR. The rest don't attract me at all.

I always finish books. Maybe not immediately, I might pick them up later and continue, but I will always finish them.

[soulfuldog]

I really enjoyed The Millennium Trilogy as a whole, I enjoyed The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo most of all, but it did take a while to get into, and my enjoyment of it was improved by a second read. Not sure they are badly written/translated at all. Some of the scenes are a little graphic and I can understand why people might dislike that aspect.

I tried one of the Harry Potter books but stories about wizards and magic are just a turn-off for me, so while they might be very good, well-written books, they just aren't to my taste. Same with LotR, never even tried to read them - though strangely I did read and enjoy much of Stephen King's Dark Tower series many years ago, but even that didn't lead me to consider trying LotR.

Originally Posted by Catlady

How can anyone abandon Catch-22? I'm amazed.

I can see the attraction in the humour of Catch-22 but I gave up reading it because I found it repetitive, and the irrationality, general going round in circles and the lack of plot very, very tedious. I prefer plot-driven thrillers, so it's not my kind of book, but I do enjoy a change of pace every now and then (I read 1Q84 a while ago for example and really enjoyed it), but Catch-22 was a painful read for me, so I stopped wasting my time reading it. It just leaves me cold.

[Greg Anos]

Most of the books mentioned (that I have read) are long and highly detailed. That makes tem hard for many readers.

I bounced off of LOTR the first time I attempted to read it. Didn't make more than 100 pages. The second time, I decided to read the last book first, figuring that the flow ought to be going by then. It was, and I plowed though it easily. The I went back to the second book and plowed though it, and finally the first book, which was still a bit of a slog for me, but I made it through. The next time, I read it in order, and it wasn't difficult because I already knew the flow, and could pay attention to all the details, rather than being overwhelmed by them.

Catch-22 didn't bog me down, but I already understood where the author was coming from, from personal life experience. I could then pay atttention to the details without losing the flow of the story.

Atlas Shrugged is an unpleasant book, by design. Even if one agrees with the politics, it's still unpleasant. Lots of details, all unpleasant. Definitely a slog, wih little payoff at the end. Still, it might make you think. Maybe...

Moby Dick I read once, 35 years ago. It was there, and i wanted to read something new. Made it to the end, but I have felt no need to re-read. It's depths are not my depths...

The common thread is the highly layered details. I think that is what causes people to bounce off in this face-paced age.

(As an aside, I tried reading a 1919 bestseller, Java Head. I gave up after the first ten - yes ten - pages were solely used to describe an eleven year old girl's bedroom...Talk about boring, this was a best seller?)

[Gazella]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

Most of the books mentioned (that I have read) are long and highly detailed. That makes tem hard for many readers.

From what I've read, all of those books have slow pacing, or at least start off slow. And based on the infographic, forty-six percent of readers abandon books that are slow or boring. And like you stated, most of those books -especially the classics- are too detailed, which I guess people find boring and so they stop reading.

[DrNefario]

Originally Posted by Hitch

You should, and judge it for yourself.

Hitch

The main problem with that is that Atlas Shrugged is over 600,000 words long, and The Fountainhead is no lightweight, either. Maybe better to pick one of her shorter works.

My knowledge of her work is all second hand.