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Week 52's challenge has made me realise that I have a bit of a graveyard of abandoned books. This is kind of out of character for me, as I'm usually a completionist (hell, I read ALL FOUR TWILIGHT BOOKS just because I couldn't stand to have the series unfinished).

While the Twilight terror has actually cured me of my need to finish everything I read - I intentionally abandoned The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared, Fifty Shades of Grey & Ketchup Is a Vegetable: And Other Lies Moms Tell Themselves as I couldn't bear to read another word of any of them - I still have a fairly alarming pile of books that I just haven't finished.

Oliver Twist, The Casual Vacancy, Darkly Dreaming Dexter, American Psycho, Coco Chanel: The Legend and the Life, Switch Bitch, White Teeth, American Gods & probably a bunch more that I can't think of at the moment.

ETA: The Fellowship of the Ring, Anna Karenina & The Lightning Thief.

Please tell me I'm not alone here?

I didn't finish Wicked and not planning to :-P And I am in the middle of some series, some of them I will finish.. someday (Inkheart, Septimus Heap, Beautiful Creatures, etc), some of them I am completely sure I won't (Fifty Shades of Grey), so you are not alone :-)

Usually I abandon books when I'm not interested after the first 50 pages. This year, I'm doing a big effort so I finish these books and the ones I found very boring/bad written but I skip lots of pages :D
So far, A Clash of Kings, The Borrowers, The Magicians and Ready Player One would have ended in the "DNF pile".

For this challenge, I'm thankful I only have one so far: American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. I hope that'll be the only one.

I am extremely bad about this...

I usually abandon for two reasons: I get distracted from a perfectly enjoyable book or I don't enjoy the first 50 pages and give up. I also always struggle more when trying to start a new book following a book that I really loved. It's like I can't mentally transition away from characters. So I'm sure there are a lot of abandoned books that were good books but at the wrong time :(

I am definitely guilty of this in a way.
I have a stack of books that I got from used book stores because I thought, 'sure $3 for the book on the Pope's Secret Lives is a steal and I love juicy details on historical figures' then I get through the first two chapters and see that the new Percy Jackson book is out and I have to read that now!!

A whole stack of 'I wanted to really read you at that second but I want to read these other things now instead'. I just never seem to get around to that stack, though I am going to try to get to a few thanks to this challenge!

BUT I also have the stack of books I started & knew I couldn't/wouldn't/didn't wanna.

RIP:
Anna Karenina. I tried but there are too many characters with Russian names I couldn't keep track. I also tried to watch the movie, it was beautiful but I couldn't stay interested.
The Silmarillion. I love Tolkien, I really do. I wrote papers on him in college and his magnificent Lord of Rings series. But I could not finish this book, it will remain my personal Everest.
and RIP to so many more books in the graveyard of 'I tried but...'.

Oh dear, yes, you've just reminded me of another two I started and abandoned - Anna Karenina & The Fellowship of the Ring. Both I'm planning on slotting in next year.

I'm finding the same thing you found with Anna with two other books I'm reading at the moment - The Idiot & War and Peace (yes, I am a masochist). So many characters, and if that's not enough, they all go by at least two names. I need a bloody whiteboard!

or one of those cork boards they use for conspiracy theories with the strings attached to people and events.

Hahahahahaha, yes!! Although now I have a mental image of me helplessly cocooned inside the string after trying to link everyone together.

I used to read everything as that's what I do. But quite a few years ago I decided there are too many good books around that life is too short to read a bad one. So now if it doesn't do anything in the first few chapters I give up. That said I have struggled further through some books for this challenge, some I ended up enjoying (The Girl of the Limberlost - would have given up after 3 chapters but continued on as it was one my Mum loved and I ended up enjoying it), some I struggled right to the end (pride and prejudice).

I will give a book 3 chapters to catch me. If after 3 chapters and I still can't raise any interest, I relegate it to the "never to be touched again" pile and move on. I have done this with Wuthering Heights, Pride and Prejudice and some other "classics". There will probably be more but thankfully most of the ones I get are free eBooks so I don't feel like I have lost all that much other than some brains cells and some time.

I found this article on helpful when it came to Anna Karenina. I just wish I read it before I read Crime and Punishment. I was able to get through it, but it was kind of painful.

Have you heard of the page 99 test? Ford Maddox Ford suggested it. Harder with e-books but essentially if you are thinking about getting a book you should read page 99 to gain a sense of how well written it is and whether it interests you. By page 99 plot and character should be developed so you should get a feel as to whether the book is for you. Ford also suggested not reading the blurb on the back or the first few pages as often more attention is paid to these during editing and might not reflect the book quality as a whole. I have found it quite a useful test.

Interesting Michelle, I never heard about it! For ebooks, I use the samples, it gives a good taste of the writing and the story (when I'm not interested in knowing what will happen next, it's a good sign I'll struggle with the book).

I have a 100-page rule which I learned from my sister. If I'm not engaged by then, I have my permission to abandon. I also started Fifty Shades of Grey and realized I just didn't care about these people. I started Gone with the Wind but abandoned it because Scarlett O'Hara is SO unlikeable I couldn't stand it. Plus I know how it ends, so what's the point? One book I started and abandoned but want to try again is Moby-Dick; or, The Whale.

I usually give books 100 pages. If it doesn't catch my interest by then it goes in the trade pile. The only exception is books for challenges like 1001 books to read before you die. I am determined to read all of the book from this list like or not.

Ooh, Jean, do give Moby-Dick; or, The Whale another chance. I can absolutely see why people abandon it (some of it is SO dry), but it's such an epic book, I loved it. My suggestion to get through it would be to skim the chapters about whale anatomy etc. - they are interesting enough, but do seem to kind of detract from the pace of the story.

I've never heard of the page 99 test! But I will definitely be trying this next time I'm browsing books at 2nd & Charles. I don't have a 'by the 100 page' rule I guess, it's more or less if I'm not half way through the book and I know I don't like it, I move on. If I'm halfway then, well, that's the point of no return and I'm going to finish it!

Jody wrote: "Ooh, Jean, do give Moby-Dick; or, The Whale another chance. I can absolutely see why people abandon it (some of it is SO dry), but it's such an epic book, I loved it. My suggestion ..."
Thanks, Jody. I know that some people have this book on their All-Time Favorite list. It's one that is on my "You Really Should Read This" list. And I have a copy of it glaring at me from my bookshelf. So I'll give another shot, I promise!

With Moby Dick let yourself skip all the descriptions of whales. It was written when the vast majority of people hadn't seen a whale and didn't have the the Internet or TV or access to books to see what a whale looks like so needs to have detailed descriptions. So feel free to skip or scan!

It's almost like two books in one - an encyclopaedia wedged in parts between a really awesome novel.

In this case, I would say, needing AA means you are well adjusted. Needing to finish a book, simply because you started it, is a compulsion everyone should fight, at least once in a while. Life is short and great books await you!

Shelly wrote: "In this case, I would say, needing AA means you are well adjusted. Needing to finish a book, simply because you started it, is a compulsion everyone should fight, at least once in a while. Life i..."

I completely agree with this. I'm unfortunately someone that suffers from the compulsion of 'I have started this book and I will finish it no matter what', I'm the same with movies too, even if I hate them. It's annoying and stupid because it wastes time that could be spent reading or watching something that I do enjoy. The only reason I could think of a few books my 'book I started but never read' is because there are a few books that we read snippets of in school (particularly in sixth form) when we were analysing a certain topic, so I have a few books that I've read excerpts from but having actually read the whole thing. If I didn't have those books, I would be stuck for that category.

So honestly, people that can give up on books they don't like are actually very well adjusted people that are doing it right.

The sentiment that there are too many good books to waste time on a bad one is so true.
Too many times I have felt obligated to finish a bad book. I wonder if it is conditioning from school, just so I could write the test. Anyway, I now have started a DNF shelf on goodreads and do not feel guilty about it. Those are books I will not revisit for any reason. Some authors sit on that shelf to: Alice Munroe and Steven King I am looking at you.

I abandon some books, but honestly I haven't in a long time...it may just take me like 2 months to read it (I'm looking at you Fellowship of the Ring!!). However, I have started a DNF shelf here on GR and the only thing that *currently* sits on it is Gone With The Wind. I just can't get through it. Although I should put Game of Thrones on there because I have attempted that book a kajillion times (ok, in reality its more like 4) and I just can NOT get past page 100. I just can not do it. maybe one day. but that day is definitely not today.

I don't think it has to be a book we can't finish because it's our nemesis. Could just as easily be a book put aside for bit as more interesting ones - at that point - came along. . And it doesn't matter about the timescale either,could have put it down last fortnight i think. Nor To me does the challenge have to have had multiple attempts to read it. So could easily be one we will enjoy. I am using the points here - multiple attempts, nemesis etc - for a book that scares me. bring it on Middlemarch!!!!

I love you all. Thank you for helping me to accept myself. It's OK to leave some books behind.

I've been struggling with the challenges lately because I feel that I'm behind. So my book choices are those fast reads...many of them being YA books. But according to the little count down thing...I'm ahead.

Those books that got left behind, that's where the problem lies. I had a really hard time finding a "funny book" although I've read plenty that made me laugh. I think I felt it had to be by Amy Poehler or Steve Martin or something. I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban...it had all the potential to be a great story! I mean, who can't get behind this young girl fighting for the right to be educated? But the writing stunk. I just couldn't. The Goldfinch, for the Pulitzer winner....UGH. It was depressing and dark and the main character was a jerk. When I realized how long the book was, I jumped to the last section and discovered that I totally didn't care. And those old books, ones you were supposed to read in school/memoirs/100 year old....I never found anything that I kept past the first chapter. I am STILL trying to finish The Scarlet Letter!

Books! We have such great relationships with them! Who has time to waste on BAD books!

Ahh! I felt exactly the same way about Malala's book. She is such an incredible young woman, but the book was so badly written (or edited) that it took a really interesting subject and made it the written equivalent of watching paint dry. And don't get me started on The Scarlet Letter ... boring as something I can't say in a PG forum.

I'm currently fighting my way through The Idiot - I picked it up as a side read, not realising it was over 600 pages long (the problem with Kindles!) and now I'm too far gone to drop it, although it now means that I'm side-reading against my side-read.

I couldn't do Malala either. I stopped a few chapters in.

Thank you all! I thought I was the only one! I used to never put anything down - raced through them all and liked them (this was YEARS ago). Now many times I think "Oh, shut up!" and just stop reading.

Jody and Bec....thanks. I felt horrible that I couldn't read this story. Like I was a shallow human being. But no, it's the writing. And bad writing happens. And we don't have to like it just because the subject is worthy.

It's very rare that I don't finish a book. Most of the time it's because I get distracted with life, but will eventually get back to it. There are only two books I have completely abandoned (that I can think of at 7:30 AM on a Sunday) a Fifty Shades of Grey, because there is an "author" out there who is worse than Stephanie Meyers, and Pandora's Star because I had just finished The Martian and I could not separate the two story's at the time.

This challenge has challenged my to fight through books I dread. Really it challenges me to give up on them, but I try really hard not to. When you're struggling with a story and you know that you have other books waiting for you, it's hard for me to not just give up and move on.

I am glad to see that others are having the trouble that I am in putting a book away. I figure if I not off while reading it time after time, it is a no go. Funny how we all have patience for some details and not others. Getting ready to abandon ship on a couple right now. Reading more than one at the time helps, but if you are still reading that one a few books later-there's no going back. But I still feel guilty!

I am an abandoner, too, although I try to pick books I would like from the onset, so that cuts down on the number. I follow the 100 page rule with classics and acclaimed books. With books I picked for fun, if I don't like them in a couple chapters, I just stop. No need to waste time on something I don't enjoy and/or learn from.

Some non-fiction books are only worthwhile to read the summary or parts that I am interested in. Others are dense, so I read small parts over a long period. I might finish 10 fiction books while chewing through a non-fiction. This approach could be used for long classics, too.

Sometimes I am just not in the right mood, or don't have the time, those I want to try again, like The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Catch-22. Others I know I just can't stand and am happy to never look at again.

I don't usually abandon books, but that's because I can be quite picky about what books I choose to start. I look at reviews and excerpts before deciding if I want to read it. The only books I remember abandoning are ones I started when I had the flu and couldn't get into them.