Sense and Sensibility
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Books I Have Started And Have Not Finished And Why
Jack
Jan 06, 2015 08:33AM
The ultimate list of shame.
An ongoing project.
- Jonathan Franzen: The Corrections: I was loving it through 150 pages. I have no idea why I stopped.
- Jose Saramago: Blindness: Just thought it was kinda meh.
- Lazlo Krasznahorkai: Satantango: The prose is very, very dense. And the plot is very, very slow-moving. It's a book I respect and will likely try again someday.
- Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility: I must've started something else... Cuz I love Pride and Prejudice!
- Herman Melville: Typee: I'm such an asshole.
- A.S. Byatt: Possession: Again, no idea here. I thought the first half was thrilling. Her impersonations of the Romantic poets are spot on, too.
- Richard Powers: The Gold Bug Variations: I dunno. I think I had a problem with one of the main characters being a librarian. It seemed kinda... Dated? Lame.
- Charles Dickens: Bleak House: Just didn't have the stomach for it, a couple years ago. I'm training though and I'll be back someday.
- Fyodor Dostoevsky: The Idiot: How can a man read the Bros K, and love it, and then read Notes from Underground, and love it, and then read Crime and Punishment, and love it, and then not quite get hooked by this, his fourth major novel? The mind boggles.
- Robert Bolano: 2666: God, it's about college professors. I HATE books about college professors.
- Philip Roth: Nah, just kidding. I always get hooked by old Rothy. With his, you know, college professors.
- William Faulkner: As I Lay Dying (the second time): I thought it was my favorite book. I tried reading it again. It felt kind of mechanical... More a literary exercise than a sensitive character study. I might be wrong, here.
- James Joyce: Ulysses: I AM WEAK!
- Robert Graves: I, Claudius: Read the first twenty-five pages. Didn't seem relevant. Yes, I know, I'm an idiot.
- Montaigne: Complete Essays: I need to get a "Best Of," first, so I don't have to read a million pages about the antics of dumb French kings I ain't ever heard of.
- David Markson: Wittgenstein's Mistress: IT SUCKS (see my review).
An ongoing project.
- Jonathan Franzen: The Corrections: I was loving it through 150 pages. I have no idea why I stopped.
- Jose Saramago: Blindness: Just thought it was kinda meh.
- Lazlo Krasznahorkai: Satantango: The prose is very, very dense. And the plot is very, very slow-moving. It's a book I respect and will likely try again someday.
- Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility: I must've started something else... Cuz I love Pride and Prejudice!
- Herman Melville: Typee: I'm such an asshole.
- A.S. Byatt: Possession: Again, no idea here. I thought the first half was thrilling. Her impersonations of the Romantic poets are spot on, too.
- Richard Powers: The Gold Bug Variations: I dunno. I think I had a problem with one of the main characters being a librarian. It seemed kinda... Dated? Lame.
- Charles Dickens: Bleak House: Just didn't have the stomach for it, a couple years ago. I'm training though and I'll be back someday.
- Fyodor Dostoevsky: The Idiot: How can a man read the Bros K, and love it, and then read Notes from Underground, and love it, and then read Crime and Punishment, and love it, and then not quite get hooked by this, his fourth major novel? The mind boggles.
- Robert Bolano: 2666: God, it's about college professors. I HATE books about college professors.
- Philip Roth: Nah, just kidding. I always get hooked by old Rothy. With his, you know, college professors.
- William Faulkner: As I Lay Dying (the second time): I thought it was my favorite book. I tried reading it again. It felt kind of mechanical... More a literary exercise than a sensitive character study. I might be wrong, here.
- James Joyce: Ulysses: I AM WEAK!
- Robert Graves: I, Claudius: Read the first twenty-five pages. Didn't seem relevant. Yes, I know, I'm an idiot.
- Montaigne: Complete Essays: I need to get a "Best Of," first, so I don't have to read a million pages about the antics of dumb French kings I ain't ever heard of.
- David Markson: Wittgenstein's Mistress: IT SUCKS (see my review).
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The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. SO. BORING. Margaret is one of my all time favorite authors, but this book puts me to sleep in the first fifty pages.
The Woman in White. UGH. I know you're supposed to be instantly drawn in by the mysterious woman, but I'm not.
A History of the Future. This is The Postman's wannabe little brother.
The Client. Snore.
The Woman in White. UGH. I know you're supposed to be instantly drawn in by the mysterious woman, but I'm not.
A History of the Future. This is The Postman's wannabe little brother.
The Client. Snore.
That I can remember right now:
1. Sthepen King - The Dream Catcher. It started ok. But somewhere along the way it just got boooring.
2. Dumas - The Three Musketeers - I read half of it. And I couldn't take anymore of this stupid chauvinistic ass characters.
3. Robert Heilein - Time Enough for Love: The Lives of Lazarus Long. I don't even know what was the point of this book. I gave up before I had read 50 pages.
I'm sure there's more. But I can't remember them right now.
1. Sthepen King - The Dream Catcher. It started ok. But somewhere along the way it just got boooring.
2. Dumas - The Three Musketeers - I read half of it. And I couldn't take anymore of this stupid chauvinistic ass characters.
3. Robert Heilein - Time Enough for Love: The Lives of Lazarus Long. I don't even know what was the point of this book. I gave up before I had read 50 pages.
I'm sure there's more. But I can't remember them right now.
Thomas Pynchon- Gravity's Rainbow. I don't think there's even a point in finishing that one, I couldn't get myself to like it at any point. It seems far too random for me to enjoy.
deleted member
Apr 03, 2015 06:26AM
0 votes
I started Gone with the Wind back in November. After getting almo0st 300 pages in, I couldn't take the writing, the characters, anything....I know it's a classic, but I just wasn't ready for it.
needless to say, it's still sitting in a drawer somewhere. Maybe I'll finish it someday.
needless to say, it's still sitting in a drawer somewhere. Maybe I'll finish it someday.
I normally try to finish a book too unless reading it starts to seem more like a chore than an enjoyment. There are too many books out there that I want to read to waste my time forcing myself to finish one I am really not enjoying.
I have stopped reading a couple books though and those being Doctor Zhivago because I found it boring and hard to follow and The Grapes of Wrath because I just hated the characters and couldn't sympathize with them at all. Honestly, they seemed a bit over the top. I also couldn't take all the blasphemy.
I stopped Great Expectations once because I found it hard to get into at first but ending up giving it another try a couple of years later and loved it. Guess I just wasn't in the mood for it the first time around. I nearly stopped Gone with the Wind because Scarlett was just so despicable but as I didn't completely hate it I kept going and ended up enjoying it.
I have stopped reading a couple books though and those being Doctor Zhivago because I found it boring and hard to follow and The Grapes of Wrath because I just hated the characters and couldn't sympathize with them at all. Honestly, they seemed a bit over the top. I also couldn't take all the blasphemy.
I stopped Great Expectations once because I found it hard to get into at first but ending up giving it another try a couple of years later and loved it. Guess I just wasn't in the mood for it the first time around. I nearly stopped Gone with the Wind because Scarlett was just so despicable but as I didn't completely hate it I kept going and ended up enjoying it.
I think, Pride and Prejudice is the best novel of the Jane Austen.Because Elizabeth's chracter is intense and powerful for me.
James Joyce is very complicated,i've never started to read :)
3 weeks ago,i finished William Faulkner's The Sound and The Fury book,and when i finished i was completely lost,and after that i guess i wont read William Faulkner again :D
James Joyce is very complicated,i've never started to read :)
3 weeks ago,i finished William Faulkner's The Sound and The Fury book,and when i finished i was completely lost,and after that i guess i wont read William Faulkner again :D
one book that still in my currently-reading shelf is Mein kampf..only 5 pages I covered..couldnt go further...
"Angelology" by Danielle Trussoni...one of the most boring books...no chance of reading it to the end.
I used to have a policy of finishing, then I asked myself why was I being cruel to myself.
Waverley - just found it boring
Sir Henry Esmond - ditto
Waverley - just found it boring
Sir Henry Esmond - ditto
My policy also is to finish it, even if it is slow going. My thought is maybe the book will get better and it is taking this long for the story to get better. There were not very many books, in my opinion, that were like that. I remember only one(there might have been others) that I picked up and started reading and could only get through and that was called "In The Kitchen" by Monica Ali.
Jeffery Lee Radatz
There is a another book I started and could not finish and that is "Wolf Hall" by Hillary Mantel. I just couldn't get into it. I got about halfway int
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Even if I don't like a book I usually struggle on till the finish. I have to admit though that Umberto Eco's 'Island of the day before' defeated me after 37 pages. Reason: too longwinded.
Random Harvest by James Hilton. I started it and just could not get into the mnarrative style or the story - but then I had just finished a marathon of the first 5 volumes of Game of Thrones and perhaps that had something to do with my putting the book down. Will be picking up this novel again very soon and I will read it all.
I read Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf and left it after reading 100 pages. it was so abstract.
I am very religious about finishing the books I start, but ---
The Scarlet Letter -- found it very laborious to read..
..couldn't finish it!
The Scarlet Letter -- found it very laborious to read..
..couldn't finish it!
Until recently, I've adhered to a strict policy of always finishing any book I start. The only exceptions have been:
*Moby Dick: I got about half way through and was exhausted by the extremely expansive narrative.
* Don Quixote: About 1/4 way through. Can't recall what put me off.
* Charles Dickens: Great Expectations. Was supposed to read it 2ce in University. Got 2/3 through both times. I hated how the story kept expanding and expanding. It was a serialized newspaper article, so I understand how it came about, but could never endure.
More recently, I've had to relax my policy because it seems more difficult these days to find well written books. A poorly written book will reduce me to a crawl... I start reading just to get through and relegate it to a few minutes a day. There are too many worthy books out there to stall over horribly executed/edited text.
*Moby Dick: I got about half way through and was exhausted by the extremely expansive narrative.
* Don Quixote: About 1/4 way through. Can't recall what put me off.
* Charles Dickens: Great Expectations. Was supposed to read it 2ce in University. Got 2/3 through both times. I hated how the story kept expanding and expanding. It was a serialized newspaper article, so I understand how it came about, but could never endure.
More recently, I've had to relax my policy because it seems more difficult these days to find well written books. A poorly written book will reduce me to a crawl... I start reading just to get through and relegate it to a few minutes a day. There are too many worthy books out there to stall over horribly executed/edited text.
I started reading Jane Austen's 'emma' and stopped at the 7th chapter as the whole plot of the story became clear by this point. perhaps the story was all too flowery and lagging.
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