FINALLY!

twowheels · 07-22-2014, 04:11 PM

Ugh... I've been trudging through a difficult book for 3 months

. I JUST finished it about five minutes ago. What a relief!

The book was a best seller. I think it was one of those books that many people bought just to leave laying in a prominent place to show how intelligent they are. Maybe some read the interesting parts and skipped over the boring parts. Regardless, I had to force myself to finish it (I had external reasons for wanting to finish the entire book, so I didn't just drop it, as temping as that was, nor did I pick up another to distract me lest I never finish it).

Anyhow... 5 pages per day... OUCH. That really pulled down my average for the year and even had a visible dent in my 3 year rolling average. :-(

Time to pick up some really light reading and try to catch up with my original GoodReads goal for the year! :-)

HomeInMyShoes · 07-22-2014, 04:56 PM

The cusious and wary me wants to know what book.

twowheels · 07-22-2014, 05:26 PM

:-)

I avoided naming the book to keep it a discussion of the experience rather than the book itself. :-) I may name it later if the experience discussion doesn't take off....

Bricorn · 07-22-2014, 05:32 PM

Tease.

JaneD · 07-23-2014, 12:58 AM

I'm dying to know what book this is too! Bestseller...people read to prove they're intelligent... not sure that's enough clues for me.

I really just hate that feeling of slogging through a book, though. I used to do it all the time - my pride would not let me quit! - but lately I've been putting them down if they don't grab me in the first 25 pages or so. Life's too short, and there's too many books I need to get to, to waste it on something I'm not enjoying.

danskmacabre · 07-23-2014, 01:03 AM

I wonder if it's a book about how many varieties of grey there are?

twowheels · 07-23-2014, 01:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by danskmacabre

I wonder if it's a book about how many varieties of grey there are?

I think that those books are usually hidden away.

twowheels · 07-23-2014, 01:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JaneD

I really just hate that feeling of slogging through a book, though. I used to do it all the time - my pride would not let me quit! - but lately I've been putting them down if they don't grab me in the first 25 pages or so. Life's too short, and there's too many books I need to get to, to waste it on something I'm not enjoying.

I would have, but it was non fiction and somebody I know really well works with many of the people whose work was discussed in the book, and he is working on the same stuff, so I wanted to understand more about it, even though he agreed it wasn't the best book.

darryl · 07-23-2014, 02:23 AM

Why would you subject yourself to that? Is it required reading for a course? Personally I very quickly abandon something that is heavy going unless there is a very good reason for persevering.

Ripplinger · 07-23-2014, 02:24 AM

Luckily I haven't picked out that many duds (duds in my opinion only, I'm sure) where I've been really tempted to just toss it. When I do though, I quickly skim over the boring parts and then take my time to enjoy the better parts. That way I don't spend months on one book that I'm not enjoying, and I do manage to get through it.

While those books aren't as enjoyable as the ones you can't seem to put down and finish in a few days, I feel better for some odd reason having finished it and not given up on it.

odiakkoh · 07-23-2014, 02:49 AM

Too many books and too little time for me to force myself to finish books I'm disliking. If I really want to know what happened I'll look for spoilers on the web. Had to do that for Patterson's The Postcard Killers. The plotline was interesting but I couldn't get into the writing style. I usually like Patterson too.

crich70 · 07-23-2014, 03:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twowheels

:-)

I avoided naming the book to keep it a discussion of the experience rather than the book itself. :-) I may name it later if the experience discussion doesn't take off....

Even small talk needs a topic of discussion no matter how general so I predict that the discussion will be short as no one who reads the thread will know what in particular is being talked about. I mean we can't even agree or disagree about the book in question being a touch read if we don't even know if we've read it or not.

crich70 · 07-23-2014, 03:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ripplinger

Luckily I haven't picked out that many duds (duds in my opinion only, I'm sure) where I've been really tempted to just toss it. When I do though, I quickly skim over the boring parts and then take my time to enjoy the better parts. That way I don't spend months on one book that I'm not enjoying, and I do manage to get through it.

While those books aren't as enjoyable as the ones you can't seem to put down and finish in a few days, I feel better for some odd reason having finished it and not given up on it.

I tend to agree. There are as many tastes in reading as there are readers and a book you loved might be one that puts me to sleep or vice versa. For that matter as Steve Allen pointed out in an article I read once some books are meant to be read at a certain age, not before or after as we aren't ready for them before a certain point and if they are read after another certain point (for the 1st time) we might find that whatever they might have taught us about the human condition is old news to us.

HarryT · 07-23-2014, 06:10 AM

Certainly in the UK, many people bought Hawking's "A Brief History of Time" when it was first published, and would leave it on show to illustrate how intellectual they were. Few, I suspect, read it - not that it's a difficult book.

mbovenka · 07-23-2014, 06:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

Certainly in the UK, many people bought Hawking's "A Brief History of Time" when it was first published, and would leave it on show to illustrate how intellectual they were. Few, I suspect, read it - not that it's a difficult book.

Yep. Google 'Hawking Index'

. I never really understood that; as you say, the book isn't difficult at all. Penrose's 'The Road to Reality', now...fantastic book, but it took me three weeks to get through. And copious amounts of skull sweat

07-22-2014, 04:11 PM	#1
twowheels Wizard Posts: 1,855 Karma: 13432974 Join Date: Nov 2010 Device: Kobo Clara HD, iPad Pro 10", iPhone 15 Pro, Boox Note Max	FINALLY! Ugh... I've been trudging through a difficult book for 3 months . I JUST finished it about five minutes ago. What a relief! The book was a best seller. I think it was one of those books that many people bought just to leave laying in a prominent place to show how intelligent they are. Maybe some read the interesting parts and skipped over the boring parts. Regardless, I had to force myself to finish it (I had external reasons for wanting to finish the entire book, so I didn't just drop it, as temping as that was, nor did I pick up another to distract me lest I never finish it). Anyhow... 5 pages per day... OUCH. That really pulled down my average for the year and even had a visible dent in my 3 year rolling average. :-( Time to pick up some really light reading and try to catch up with my original GoodReads goal for the year! :-)

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07-22-2014, 04:56 PM	#2
HomeInMyShoes Grand Sorcerer Posts: 19,226 Karma: 67780237 Join Date: Jul 2011 Device: none	The cusious and wary me wants to know what book.

07-22-2014, 05:26 PM	#3
twowheels Wizard Posts: 1,855 Karma: 13432974 Join Date: Nov 2010 Device: Kobo Clara HD, iPad Pro 10", iPhone 15 Pro, Boox Note Max	:-) I avoided naming the book to keep it a discussion of the experience rather than the book itself. :-) I may name it later if the experience discussion doesn't take off....

07-22-2014, 05:32 PM	#4
Bricorn Addict Posts: 289 Karma: 7788748 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Fun Town, Thailand Device: Kindle DXG	Tease.

07-23-2014, 12:58 AM	#5
JaneD Addict Posts: 324 Karma: 1057749 Join Date: May 2010 Location: LA, CA Device: Kindle Paperwhite 2013	I'm dying to know what book this is too! Bestseller...people read to prove they're intelligent... not sure that's enough clues for me. I really just hate that feeling of slogging through a book, though. I used to do it all the time - my pride would not let me quit! - but lately I've been putting them down if they don't grab me in the first 25 pages or so. Life's too short, and there's too many books I need to get to, to waste it on something I'm not enjoying.

07-23-2014, 01:03 AM	#6
danskmacabre Guru Posts: 733 Karma: 3593438 Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Glo. Galaxy Tab S 8.4	I wonder if it's a book about how many varieties of grey there are?

07-23-2014, 02:23 AM	#9
darryl Wizard Posts: 3,108 Karma: 60231510 Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Aura H2O, Kindle Oasis, Huwei Ascend Mate 7	Why would you subject yourself to that? Is it required reading for a course? Personally I very quickly abandon something that is heavy going unless there is a very good reason for persevering.

07-23-2014, 02:24 AM	#10
Ripplinger 350 Hoarder Posts: 3,587 Karma: 8281267 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Midwest USA Device: Sony PRS-350, Kobo Glo & Glo HD, PW2	Luckily I haven't picked out that many duds (duds in my opinion only, I'm sure) where I've been really tempted to just toss it. When I do though, I quickly skim over the boring parts and then take my time to enjoy the better parts. That way I don't spend months on one book that I'm not enjoying, and I do manage to get through it. While those books aren't as enjoyable as the ones you can't seem to put down and finish in a few days, I feel better for some odd reason having finished it and not given up on it.

07-23-2014, 02:49 AM	#11
odiakkoh Guru Posts: 823 Karma: 1818344 Join Date: Apr 2011 Device: iPhone 5s	Too many books and too little time for me to force myself to finish books I'm disliking. If I really want to know what happened I'll look for spoilers on the web. Had to do that for Patterson's The Postcard Killers. The plotline was interesting but I couldn't get into the writing style. I usually like Patterson too.

07-23-2014, 06:10 AM	#14
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,560 Karma: 93980341 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Certainly in the UK, many people bought Hawking's "A Brief History of Time" when it was first published, and would leave it on show to illustrate how intellectual they were. Few, I suspect, read it - not that it's a difficult book.