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Simon wrote: "Catch 22 is the number one abandoned classic?! You absolute bloody philistines!"

Your comment made me laugh - and I agree with you. I thought Catch 22 was a wonderful book.

Gladys wrote: "Very interesting. I abandoned Eat, Love, Pray. Maybe someday I will finish it because as a rule, I don't leave books halfway. I hoped to see the devil wears prada."

I also abandoned Eat, Love, Pray.....TWICE!

I loved Dragon Tattoo and ELP! However, I had to give up on Divergent and Beautiful Creatures.

Also, Ender's Game, and I'm a sci-fi fan!

gabiiescobar wrote: "I used to read every single book I started, until a teacher told me that "life is too short to read a bad book. Put it down, and move on." I never forced myself to finish a book after that."

I haven't heard that theory before, but I like it. I had one recently that I just couldn't continue with and felt guilty for returning it to the library without knowing the end, but I just couldn't force it. I will have to use that line in the future when I'm reading a bad book.

I do not mind struggling through the books. I like to follow the words of GK Chesterton: "In one sense, at any rate, it is more valuable to read bad literature than good literature. Good literature may tell us the mind of one man; but bad literature may tell us the mind of many men." In addition to that, reading books that we do not like makes us appreciate the books we do like.
Until the end of Game of Thrones, I was about to stop reading it. Yet, it was something near the end of the book that got me interested in reading the next book.

I love these articles.

I finished Eat Pray Love (audio) and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo just fine but didn't start A Casual Vacancy, Wicked, or 50 Shades of Gray because I know I won't like them.

I had no problems with Lord or the Rings; haven't read Atlas Shrugged or Ulysses; but abandoned Moby Dick (school assignment) and Catch-22. Moby Dick I never plan on reading, but Catch-22 I abandoned during a busy college semester and I still own it intending to one day pick it up again.

It's a tough call sometimes, because I have pushed through and finished some books that I end up absolutely loving. I was not surprised to see that Casual Vacancy made the list, as my book club selected it and only 2 of the 11 of us finished the book or intended to (I had to see if there was some redemption in the end; alas, there was not). I love the rule of thumb of 100 pages minus your age for putting a book down....

Casual Vacancy was a chore for me until about page 250 and after finally keeping the characters straight, I started to care about some of them and had to finish. Our Book Club chose it and I didn't finish it by our dinner meeting, only after and then was sorry I hadn't so I could have discussed it with our group. I don't like her Harry Potter books since it isn't my genre. Hardly ever quit a book and the only one I gave or threw away was one by Chuck Paluniak. The main character wrote for an entertainment paper and his assignment was to tour dead rock star graves and it also dealt too much with drugs. To me, the story was pointless and a waste of time. I can't even think of the title, that's how memorable it was. Thanks for this article, it was very interesting and fun to read comments.

I've rarely put down a book. Two come to mind. It has to be pretty bad.

I give a book 100 pgs and if I still can't get into it either put is away for another time (since it could simply be the mood I'm in) or never return. There are far too many books in the world to feel the need to finish everyone I start. Even my favourite authors can have a book or two that never capture my interest. At first I felt bad about not completing but now I know it isn't the authors fault I don't like a particular book. I still return them with another title of interest.

This is a very interesting survey. I was looking for some data similar to this when I was writing a blog about Ulysses a couple of years back. I wanted to know why people read novels, but this is an even more compelling and useful question.

I've finished 3 of the top abandoned classics, tried and failed one of them and never tried to read Tolikien. I never even tried the other top 5 list and am pretty sure I won't read anything on that list.

J. Joyce in top five abandoned classic ? Mistake, mistake ...

Have abandoned numerous books over the years, to include Atonement, Love in the Time of Cholera, A Million Little Pieces, and more recently The Storyteller. No regrets here!

gabiiescobar wrote: "I used to read every single book I started, until a teacher told me that "life is too short to read a bad book. Put it down, and move on." I never forced myself to finish a book after that."
Very wise advice, need to listen to it sometimes :-)

Milos wrote: "J. Joyce in top five abandoned classic ? Mistake, mistake ..."

Agreed!

The one abandoment I'll never forget: a medical thriller so awful that I can't recall the title or the author. ~ It was about 18 years ago. I was in a book club, and a new member chose a story that seemed most about nubile, blonde OR nurses whose breasts were a source of obsession to the male surgeons who were offing female patients via evil-intended OB-GYN procedures. Every page referenced those damn boobs, bloodied female anatomy, and the slavering doctors! I threw the book across the room ... That was (and remains) a first. At our next book club gathering, every member but the one who chose the book admitted to a similar reaction. ~ Otherwise ... I first saw the *Fifty Shades* series piled in a grocery store aisle; there were so many of them I couldn't turn away. Curious, I hefted one and scanned a few pages ... The basic mechanics of the writing were so atrocious that I dropped the book like it was radioactive. Oh, how it irks me that crap sells in the gazillions ...

How about the books we abandon when we're young -- and pick up later in life ... the books we had to read in high school that made no sense to a sixteen-year-old brain? I did this with Huxley's *Brave New World*, and with Shakespeare ... Now I'm in my 50s, and I'm gobbling them up. I still struggle with Dostoyevsky. The one book on my 'MUST read before I die' list is *The Brothers Karamazov.*

Another interesting graphic might be the books that we seemed to swallow whole -- the ones that we fell into and ignored the rest of our life for. Some of mine: C.S. Lewis' *Narnia* series (twice), *Cutting for Stone*, *The Book Thief*, *Half a Yellow Sun*, and *Famous Last Words*.

Great graphic and conversation -- thanks!

gabiiescobar wrote: "I used to read every single book I started, until a teacher told me that "life is too short to read a bad book. Put it down, and move on." I never forced myself to finish a book after that."

Great advice!

I generally try to finish anything I read, but To Kill A Mockingbird was one of the few exceptions where I just couldn't take it anymore. I know it is loved by 99% of those who read it, but I never got into it (which is weird because I love those type of stories). I'm a big fan of Alice Walker, Maya Angelou, and Zora Neale Hurston. Unfortunately, Harper Lee's tale just could not stand up to the beauty and authenticity of those works.

"Wicked", "Water for Elephants" and "Night Circus" are books highly recommended to me by my kids but I tried and tried to read them but couldn't get past the 50 page goal I set for myself.
However, I find that as I get older my tastes are becoming more pronounced. Sometimes,as in the need for chips instead of cookies, I will search out a particular genre to satisfy. I went to downtown L.A. and ate in a place that made me think of Raymond Chandler stories and immediately I searched out one on my Nook to read.
I am more and more guided by actual experiences as to what I choose to read now.

I thought the great Gatsby was a very bad read, I had to put it down !!!!!

I gave up on Eat, Pray,Love after about 50 pages. She was too whiny. I'll generally give a book about 100 pages to grab me though I gave Wicked and The Night Circus 200 pages each before I gave up in utter boredom. I have no qualms about quitting a book that bores me. I have always subscribed to the philosophy that you don't waste your time on a bad book. Too many wonderful books await! Read on!

I finished The Girl with the Dragon tattoo and actually liked it. Couldn't stand the next book though.

Started Casual Vacancy, and stopped reading it. I will force myself to finish it when I get my copy back.

I thought that most of us women loved the Fifty Shades series. Yes, it's erotica but I thought it was written tastefully. I'm not embarrassed by it in the least. On the flip side of that, Eat, Pray, Love I could not get through.....the book nor the movie!!

Joan wrote: "I may be the only one but I hated The Kite Runner, boring, boring"

REALLY? The ONLY book I ever took with me to work to read on my lunch hour. Could not be away from it..LOVED it. Cannot wait to read it again one day.

I have been wondering lately if alongside "to read" "Currently reading" and "read" we could have an "abandoned" shelf?

I used to use the Magnus Magnusson (I've started so I'll finish) approach to reading books - but life is too short to waste it on something you don't enjoy so I've given up on that.

Sometimes it's just the wrong time to read a book. I really didn't like The Silmarillion the first 3 times I tried it.

Wow, surprised that both Wicked and Girl with the Dragon Tattoo are abandoned frequently. I loved both! The other three I would never read, however.

I literally have a shelf titled "Abandoned." I would like to think all of them were for good reason.

I give a book 100 pages - If I hate it then I'll put it down at that point. BUT if I really am not enjoying it and I think there might be potential I'll skim through the chapters quickly to get the gist of the story and then read the last few pages. Yes, cheating but it works for me.

BUT "Wicked" was just bad - I stopped reading that one after the second chapter and didn't bother to flip through it. Too bad - the play was wonderful.

Excuse me, my book shelf is called "Abandoned-Forever", not just abandoned.

I've tried Catch 22 twice and couldn't get into it. Recently tried Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms. Hated it. Hated the relationship between the two main characters. And I've liked some of his other work. I took me 3 tries before I was able to complete Brave New World.

Gladys wrote: "Very interesting. I abandoned Eat, Love, Pray. Maybe someday I will finish it because as a rule, I don't leave books halfway. I hoped to see the devil wears prada."

I definitely did not enjoy that book, I had to finish it because it was the choice of the book club I was participating in. However, I disliked it so greatly I would not even see the movie, and when my family finds it on cable, I make them change the channel.

I always feel like I have to finish the book - even if I'm not really into it. The ONLY book I have ever not finished is on this list! That book is Wicked!

Georgie wrote: "Even if I find the book I'm reading *cough*A Discovery of Witches*cough* is the dullest, most arduous and terrible book I've read in a long while, I still make myself finish it. Even if that means ..."

I am sorry that you are not enjoying that one, I really did and the second in the trilogy as well, I cannot wait for the last one to be completed and released.

Don’t settle. Don’t finish crappy books. If you don’t like the menu, leave the restaurant. If you’re not on the right path, get off it.
-Chris Brogan

If the beginning goes on and on with setting I will put it down. If I am dropped into the middle of a "porn scene" under the first 50 pages I will put it down.

again interesting.read 4/5 abandoned classics's and enjoyed.
read 1 most abandoned and did enjoy

i literally threw douglas coupland's generation x in the trash with great disgust after only a couple chapters. i don't think i've ever been that disgusted with a book. several years later i read a review of his book of short stories called life after god. i figured i'd give him one more chance cuz, y'know, he's still an amazing artist, so why not? i fell in love. then i tried girlfriend in a coma and i fell in love. read more books and fell more in love. i could not believe how much i loved his work. i still haven't given generation x a second chance, though.

I abandoned 50 shades at 60% for the safety of my kindle. If I read one more "flush", "blush", "crimson" or "bit my lip", I was going to throw my kindle across the room. It's the only book I've ever abandoned and it makes me ill just thinking about all the repetitive writing. I'm shocked she hadn't chewed her lip off by 1/2 way! I've read erotica. I LOVE erotica....all types...but this book/author was all hype in my opinion.

I didn't abandon the very bad books because sometimes I like to read some 'trash' or something that makes me feel better about my own writing ;)

I often have books that I started and abandoned, only to start them again in different circumstances and end up loving them. Sometimes I also give 2nd chances because I liked another book by the same author.

I really really wanted to like World War Z but I just couldn't get into it. I loved the movie...probably because it was nothing like the book.

Marianne wrote: ""Wicked", "Water for Elephants" and "Night Circus" are books highly recommended to me by my kids but I tried and tried to read them but couldn't get past the 50 page goal I set for myself.
However,..."
I LOVED Water For Elephants!

I jump ship around page 100 or so if a book hasn't hooked me, but I'm a fairly fast reader, so that comes up pretty quickly. I abandoned The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but loved both film versions. Never got interested enough to open Eat, Love, Pray or 50 Shades.

Moby Dick and Atlas Shrugged were tough, but I stuck it out and was glad I did. The rest I really enjoyed reading.

One classic I did jump ship on was Jane Eyre. It's become a bit of a bone of contention with a cousin (her all time favorite book). But it got so boring in the middle to me.......sigh.

I managed thru Life of Pi, I have to admit to reading the twilight series some of that was hard to get thru but her other book The Host was strangle yourself BAD... I guess that is no surprise. And the Sookie Stackhouse books were almost the worst thing I have ever tried to read I was sure a thrid grader wrote them that was the luckiest author EVER to have had that picked up by HBO. I liked Atlas Shrugged and read Rand's other books as well. Yes I know I have vast odd reading habits most recently I almost gave up on a book called the Strange Affair of Springheeled Jack, after the first 4 chapters it got better...

I used to finish every book I started, but don't anymore. I gave up 100 Years of Solitude, and yes, Wicked. Both about the half way point. Casual Vacancy is an excellent book- poignant and a brilliant social commentary, but you definitely can't go into it thinking it's a Harry Potter book! It's a completely different thing! Likewise enjoyed Dragon Tattoo, but knew what I was getting into. Wise enough not to start 50 Shades. I have Eat, Pray, Love here somewhere, so we'll see how that goes. I have to say that based on this graphic, it looks like the real reason people give up on books is 'failed to meet expectation' whether in plot, character, theme, style, or editing... A good reason, to my mind.

I read 100 Years of Solitude, not so bad to abandon and Jonathon Strange and Dr Norrell, long but did not want to make me jump off a bridge.

I'd add "Catcher in the Rye" to that list. I got halfway through it and hated Holden so much that I wanted to slap him in the face. The book was actually making me angry. "Tully" is another one I gave up on because I hated the main character.

I persevered with "Dragon Tattoo" because I'd been told that it DID get better but had a slow start, and I now pass that knowledge onto my customers. Skim the first 100 pages or so, start paying attention when Mikael gets to the island. The whole libel thing before that bored my socks off. "Played with Fire" was much better.

"Fifty Shades" I couldn't read beyond the first chapter. I hated the protagonist (too whiny), the writing style was terrible and I hadn't heard enough good things about it to keep me going.

"Twilight" I DID finish, but I flung it down with disgust. Since I started logging the books and trying for 150 in a year, I've been finishing *everything* even if I have to skim read the last half of it.

What makes me abandon a book?
* A main character that is whiny, self obsessed and/or just plain irritating.
* Badly contructed relationships - one book I read had a 19 year old fall "instantly in love" with a 13 year old. It was so tacky I gave up on it.
* Bad writing style. If I can't follow the storyline, then I can't read the book. Full stop. Some indie authors forget that the reader doesn't know the characters as well as they do.
* Stories that just keep getting worse. This is why I abandoned "A Fine Balance" - I flicked forward to the end to see if that was mildly upbeat, it wasn't, so I gave up on it. I can cope with sad endings, but books that are too utterly bleak can do my head in. I DID finish "Casual Vacancy" however, as bleak as that was!

I always had the habit of finishing a book until I read a certain P.D James one, years ago.

It was basically a polemic hate on anyone with a social conscience and the ending sickened me. Don't even want to name the book, because it bothered me so much.

Yet, I kind of feel happy about it, because I've stopped reading many badly-written, morally dubious, poor characterised rubbish since, it did me a favour.

There are billions of books in the world, don't carry on with ones you don't get on with, the next one may alter your perception of life, or just be a damn good read.

Catherine wrote: "I absolutely agree that life is too short to finish a bad book! I usually give up after a chapter or two, but I once got halfway through a long novel by one of my favorite authors before I realize..."

Catherine, Make a 'couldn't finish' bookshelf and place the book back to 'want to read.

I'm just thrilled that my book wasn't listed . . .

I put down The Da Vinci Code because I figured it out half way through. I want a book of that genre to keep me guessing until the end.