Books you wish you hadn't finished

[MeSue]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

I once had to read a particular book in high school. It was called "De vierde man" ("The Fourth Man"), by Gerard Reve. Everybody had to read this. It was the teacher's favorite Dutch classic. It was about a gay guy, and the book contains explicit references and descriptions of sexual content that I don't really want to remember.

Even today I still feel that it was wrong of that teacher to make such a book an obligatory read. Not everybody is partial to that kind of content. (I'm not, to be honest.)

Gosh, that makes me glad to have gone to a private (Christian) school! Sure, I missed assigned reading of a lot of the good classics, which I am catching up on now, but at least I can choose to opt out!

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by MeSue

...but at least I can choose to opt out!

Yes, indeed. It's the only book that I truly wish I never had read.

I have nothing against gay men, but having to read about all the ... details ... is certainly not my cup of tea.

[RDaneel54]

My only regret is reading the first ten books of The Wheel of Time.. Why didn't I stop at the first or second or seventh? I thought eventually there would be a point to the epic story. Eventually, I moved on, a very long and deep lesson learned. 😄

[peachiekene]

The Lord of the Flies: Had to read it for class.
I hated it. If it had been longer I wouldn't have read it at all, but it was short enough that I couldn't justify not doing it. (The only two books I could not read for a class were A Tale of Two Cities and Gods and Generals or The Killer Angels.)

first ten books of The Wheel of Time.

I'm iffy on this one. I really loved the first 3 books in the series. But I have heard that the books don't really improve. -I haven't been able to get past the 6th.

A recent regret is The Selection. I got it from the library because the cover kept catching my eye. Normally I check reviews, but since I wasn't buying it....
I don't even know WHY I finished it. I stopped finishing books just for the sake of finishing them years ago.
I will say it's the first love triangle book I've ever read where I have no clue who the protagonist is going to get with. But ... I'm not sure that's a good thing - and I hate love triangles.

"Gone Girl" is the worst thing I've read in a very long time.

I loved this one. BUT --- definitely not everyone's cup of tea by far. I can really only think of two people I'd actually recommend it to.
Even the one person I did recommend it to HATED the ending (I had a feeling she would and DID warn her). But, I like endings like that. ^^;

[BookCat]

I regretted finishing Nicholas Nickleby because I loved it so much that I didn't want to leave the world of that book. For days, I felt bereft.

I think it was Ring of Bright Water which I hated finishing due to the nature of the ending. If I read an animal book now, I ask a friend to check the ending for me.

[MeSue]

Originally Posted by peachiekene

(Gone Girl)
I loved this one. BUT --- definitely not everyone's cup of tea by far. I can really only think of two people I'd actually recommend it to.
Even the one person I did recommend it to HATED the ending (I had a feeling she would and DID warn her). But, I like endings like that. ^^;

I loved it too, but I am a sucker for a good twist. That was twisted in multiple ways...

[LovesMacs]

There is one book I wish so much I hadn't read that I can no longer remember its title nor its author. Its plot was something about searching for a rare book that could summon demons, and there are sinister people resembling book characters who also seek the book. Later on, the protagonist...

Spoiler:

...discovers the whole premise is all a ruse and the assassins are all hired actors or some nonsense like that.

I felt very cheated at having to read all that. Too bad the title eludes me.

[4691mls]

I recently read A Trick of the Eye by Jane Stanton Hitchcock, which I downloaded from Overdrive library based on the synopsis.

Spoiler:

I did not like that the crazy old lady destroyed the main character's hard work.

I found the reason the crazy old lady hired the main character really far-fetched (she wanted to adopt an adult daughter - the young woman would basically have to give up her preexisting life in exchange for a lot of money).

The main character's meeting with crazy lady's former son-in-law was also pretty weird (he showed the main character a sex video of himself and his late wife?!)

What I hated the most was that the main character's supposed close friend turned out to have been helping the crazy old lady; until that point he seemed to have been the one nice person in the story.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by LovesMacs

I felt very cheated at having to read all that. Too bad the title eludes me.

They actually did that with Star Trek Enterprise.

The series (situated in the 2160's, about the Enterprise-NX) got canceled, so the last one or two episodes suddenly stated that the entire Enterprise series was just a historical novel played on the Enterprise-D's holodeck (situated in the 2360's), and that it was time to get back to work, or some crap like that.

I'd rather have seen the ship sent on some sort of epic mission, achieving it, but getting utterly destroyed trying to escape enemy territory, closing the series with a memorandum or something.

[BelleZora]

There have been many books I was relieved to finish and books I didn't bother to finish. There have been many more books I didn't particularly enjoy. But regret is a strong and painful emotion to expend on a book.

[BadBilly]

Two come to mind:

Fifty Shades of Grey (the first one). It's awful. Boring, badly written, and the sex is dull. I only finished it so I could say I had and talk about it with a friend who had read it. It has given me leverage in conversations, though. Lots of people who want to talk about it haven't read it, so I get to win all those arguments.

Three by Ted Dekker. My wife gave me this book as a gift. Somehow, I have managed not to divorce her. It is atrocious! It's a cheat and badly written. As Spinal Tap said, "It's a fine line between stupid and clever." This stays on the wrong side of it.

[piperclassique]

There are some I wish I hadn't started. But I didn't finish them.

[Geralt]

Originally Posted by piperclassique

There are some I wish I hadn't started. But I didn't finish them.

And that is how it's done ladies and gentlemen.
You have to learn to drop the book if you're not enjoying it.

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by Geralt

And that is how it's done ladies and gentlemen.
You have to learn to drop the book if you're not enjoying it.

But what if the book is OK until you get to the last chapter or so, and then the author does something weird at the end? Some of the posts above are about books like this.

[Geralt]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

But what if the book is OK until you get to the last chapter or so, and then the author does something weird at the end? Some of the posts above are about books like this.

Then all you can say is tough luck. I'm not talking about those books or those people.
Rather, there a lot, and I do mean a lot of people on MobileRead who soldier through any book they start to read. I was talking to people like that. And kidding at the same time.

It's not a hair of my head on how you read your books. There will always be masochists around