Books You Couldn't Get Through

[AndrewH]

Originally Posted by Hamlet53

Upon strong reccomendations from a friend I also attempted the Gormenghast trilogy by Mervyn Peake, starting with the first novel Titus Groan. She and I are still friends, but I (groan ) have ever since discounted her book recommendations. A couple of hundred pages of the depressing and simultaneously dense and incomprehensible Titus Groan was quite enough for me.

Titus Groan is one of my favorites! It's definitely different, though. Oddly enough, I've never gotten around to reading the rest of the trilogy.

Originally Posted by DrNefario

Dune Messiah I have tried a couple of times, and failed to get anywhere with. I loved Dune, but this just seems to overcomplicate it.

I'm a big fan of Frank Herbert's work and I consider the Dune series his masterpiece, yet I find Dune Messiah to be rather boring. Essential filler bridging Dune and Children of Dune. IMHO, one should either read Dune and stop, or read Dune and slog their way through Dune Messiah to get to the rest of the series.

[Catlady]

In high school one summer, more years ago than I care to count, we were assigned to read Anna Karenina. Thank goodness for Cliff Notes, because I could not get through it. I've picked it up occasionally over the years and tried to read it, but I still just can't get past the first few chapters.

[aecardenas]

The book/series that I've been desperately trying to get into has been The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. I say "trying" because I can't seem to get past the first two books. I mean they are SO awful...and I used to be a really big Stephen King fan. The Dead Zone, the Shining, Misery, his short stories...those are some amazing books. And I heard so many great things about the Dark Tower, saying it was his masterpiece, etc.

So I thought, okay, i'll give it a shot, and waited until the first four books were discounted and on sale in a single package. So i started with the Gunslinger. My god. what a boring book. I barely made it through the poor writing and lackluster story. But I was determined. I keep hearing "Oh, just get past the first book and the others are a thousand times better"...so I went to the next book. The Drawing of the Three. I was so bored. I didn't' like the characters, and the pacing was just SLOW....seemed to go nowhere. I think i stopped when it introduced the crippled woman with the split personality or whatever. To this day I have not gone further than that, even though people still tell me "OH, yeah, if you can just get past those first few books it gets REALLY good"...then the'll say "Oh, the Wizard and Glass book is awesome"...and I'm like, that's four books into this mess!

I've decided that there is no Dark Tower Promised Land. It must suck because I, a lover of high fantasy and a big fan of STephen King, can't get past the poor writing of the first two books and I refuse to skip over them or slog through them just for the sake of doing so.

So it sucks! There, i said it. PPPFFFFFF!!

[RDaneel54]

The Wheel of Time series. It took me several books to realize, "Oh, Wheel of Time!!"

The series seems to go on and on and on and on and....

I want that year back!

[GeneS]

Interesting responses.
Like others, I have failed on several occasions to finish Don Quixote and War and Peace as well as Ulysses. It has been such a terrible slog trying to get through them in spite of their reputed greatness. Others listed here are among my favorites (e.g., Lord of Light, Catcher in the Rye)

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

ULYSSES by James Joyce.

And, let us not forget, Home Vegetable Gardening by F.P. Rockwell. I'd rather read the phone book than return to that effort.

[CazMar]

Ken Follett's "Pillars of the Earth" - I longed for the plague to come along and wipe out most of the characters, then gave up.
Most Wilkie Collins books - utterly and absolutely boring.
But I have read just about everything that Tolkein wrote, not to mention vast amounts of Greek & Roman literature and philosophy without faltering - a book has to be really bad to hold your interest LESS than Caesar's "Gallic Wars"!!

[hard-boiled pat]

Originally Posted by aecardenas

The book/series that I've been desperately trying to get into has been The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. I say "trying" because I can't seem to get past the first two books. I mean they are SO awful...and I used to be a really big Stephen King fan. The Dead Zone, the Shining, Misery, his short stories...those are some amazing books. And I heard so many great things about the Dark Tower, saying it was his masterpiece, etc.

So I thought, okay, i'll give it a shot, and waited until the first four books were discounted and on sale in a single package. So i started with the Gunslinger. My god. what a boring book. I barely made it through the poor writing and lackluster story. But I was determined. I keep hearing "Oh, just get past the first book and the others are a thousand times better"...so I went to the next book. The Drawing of the Three. I was so bored. I didn't' like the characters, and the pacing was just SLOW....seemed to go nowhere. I think i stopped when it introduced the crippled woman with the split personality or whatever. To this day I have not gone further than that, even though people still tell me "OH, yeah, if you can just get past those first few books it gets REALLY good"...then the'll say "Oh, the Wizard and Glass book is awesome"...and I'm like, that's four books into this mess!

I've decided that there is no Dark Tower Promised Land. It must suck because I, a lover of high fantasy and a big fan of STephen King, can't get past the poor writing of the first two books and I refuse to skip over them or slog through them just for the sake of doing so.

So it sucks! There, i said it. PPPFFFFFF!!

in my opinion it fell apart after book three, the waste lands... after that i slogged through it then absolutely hated the ending.

[bfisher]

I have never been able to get more than 20 pages into any Thomas Hardy novel. The only time I watched a film adaptation ("Far From The madding Crowd") was no better, I would have left after the first ten minutes except that I was a fifteen year old boy on on what I hoped would be a hot date :-)

[tecweston]

Originally Posted by aecardenas

The book/series that I've been desperately trying to get into has been The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. I say "trying" because I can't seem to get past the first two books. I mean they are SO awful...and I used to be a really big Stephen King fan. The Dead Zone, the Shining, Misery, his short stories...those are some amazing books. And I heard so many great things about the Dark Tower, saying it was his masterpiece, etc.

I'm a big Stephen King fan but I couldn't even finish The Dark Tower. It gets real awful after book three. Here's how I'd rate them:

The Gunslinger: B
The Drawing of the Three: A-
The Waste Lands: A
Wizard and Glass: B-
Wolves of the Calla: C
Song of Susannah: D- (only read half of this but bleh)

And I didn't read any of book 7. If you don't like the first two books, I wouldn't recommend continuing at all. It just gets worse.

[elemenoP]

I'm thinking of starting a separate "abandoned" list in Goodreads. Does anybody do this? I abandoned several books last year and now I don't even remember what they were (perhaps it's better that way?).

One that I WISH I abandoned: The Passage. I know some here loved that book. I hated hated hated it and wished I never slogged through it.

Oh I remember one that I did abandon: Three Men in a Boat. Every page I felt like, that was cute, that was mildly funny, when does the story start? Just not for me, I guess.

eP

[Ninjalawyer]

Originally Posted by jgaiser

"Faith" by John Love - Many positive reviews, but I thought it really needed a good editor. Quit at about the 50% mark.

Having just picked up Faith, that is exactly what I didn't want to hear.

Originally Posted by hard-boiled pat

in my opinion it fell apart after book three, the waste lands... after that i slogged through it then absolutely hated the ending.

This, the last book in the Dark Tower series was beyond terrible. I wish I could say I had put it down without finishing it.

[Apache]

The first book I never got through was The Scarlet Letter.
There are so many readers and almost as many opinions. I for one loved Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light. And no I was not in a drug induced haze the first time i read it.
My wife loves Ayn Rand and I do not.
Apache

[Todd Young]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

I'm thinking of starting a separate "abandoned" list in Goodreads. Does anybody do this? I abandoned several books last year and now I don't even remember what they were (perhaps it's better that way?).

One that I WISH I abandoned: The Passage. I know some here loved that book. I hated hated hated it and wished I never slogged through it.

Oh I remember one that I did abandon: Three Men in a Boat. Every page I felt like, that was cute, that was mildly funny, when does the story start? Just not for me, I guess.

eP

Someone beat you to the abandoned list on Goodreads:

http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4...ated_book_ever

And yes, I'm with you on The Passage. A total waste of time.

[AndrewH]

Originally Posted by Todd Young

Someone beat you to the abandoned list on Goodreads:

http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4...ated_book_ever

Interesting. I have a shelf on Goodreads for the books I started but couldn't, for whatever reason, finish.