Have you given up on any books you started reading?

I'm currently struggling through The Historian Elizabeth Kostova and will probably give it up as a bad job. It just isn't gripping me enough to look forward to reading it.
Never been able to finish a Maeve Binchy but am enjoying Minding Frankie at the minute. I've always got two or three books on the go and often go back to old favourites Lark rise to Candleford by Flora Thompson - a joy to read very different from the TV series and i've read Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel several times.

I have a copy of A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth sitting on a shelf. I was given it some time ago but the size puts me off. Is it worth starting?

The Gulag Archipelago! Bought it when it was first published (and I was very young!) and have given up on it more times than I can remember.

I was given The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver and gave up half way through as I had just didn't care about the characters, however, I then read The Poisonwood Bible which I adored and can't believe how involved I became even thinking about the characters when not reading it.

I have given up 'Gillespie and I' by Jane Harris. A well written book, reasonably interesting, but I was just bored with it, I managed 300 of the 500 pages and made a decision today that I really didn't want to read anymore, why go on, when there are so many other interesting books to read, life is too short.

James Joyce Ulysses. Years ago it was a badge of honour...how far did you get before you gave up? Well I got to page 73, which is not far! It was on the radio recently and was supposed to be something really special.They went on and on and on about it. Me, I think it's a load of hype, a con, a joke played on us by Joyce. Even he didn't seem to know what it meant.

Only Satanic Verses, haven't yet met anyone who read it all the way through.

I enjoyed A Suitable Boy Merlot

I am trying to get through The Bell by Iris Murdoch for a book group, but finding it a real struggle. Any opinions on it?

Given up on THAT book. Thought I'd download it after all the hype. Deleted it from my Kindle as a waste of space.

I'm feeling like giving up on 'Perfect People'. I'm about half-way through it and so far most of what's happened has been predictable. Can anyone persuade me to persist?

Annobel I have read Perfect People and thought it was OKish, I passed it on to my husband who loves Peter James' Roy Grace series and after reading about 50 pages or so has decided it's not for him. If you aren't enjoying it having hit the half way stage I'd say you should give it up because life's too short. Slight twist in the last few pages but it may not be enough for you to think it's a satisfying read.

Thanks, baNANA. I will keep going for a while. I don't like to admit defeat. I've never read any of the Roy Grace series.

I never made it through Crime and Punishment (Dostoyevsky), or The Trial (Kafka)

I never even started on any of Tolkien, after failing to get more than a few pages into The Hobbit

I'm taking bets on Ulysses...

I gave up on the Last Mughal by William Dalrymple.
It was our reading group's book this month. I did not like the style of writing, too many reference quotes, and some very brutal descriptions of the massacre.

I had to give up on Captain Corelli's Mandolin as it went into such boring detail (I thought) however I enjoyed the film of the book. I gave up on Fifty Shades - just predictable chick-lit so I never got to any of the 'juicy' bits.

Ditto, glitabo. I lost the will to live and I'm certain it would empty our book group! feetlebaum, I have downloaded Ulysses onto my Kindle, but am still hesitating to open it!

I absolutely loved Captain Corelli's Mandolin and was really disappointed with the film. I started Moby Dick many years ago & found it quite unreadable. More recently I got completely bogged down in Robert Harris' Imperium which was odd because I've loved his other books. My big surprise lately has been Wolf Hall -which I started with great misgivings because normally the words Booker Prize have me heading for the door - but I thoroughly enjoyed it !!!

The film of Captain Corelli's Mandolin was dire. I mean; Nicholas Cage for heavens sake . Penelope Cruz is now a good actress, but her English wasn't very good at the time and she wasn't beautiful enough..then again I don't think anyone could have been beautiful enough. When she did that flirty dance I just wanted to scream at the cinema screen that Pelagia would NOT behave like that! And, one of the most romantic things ever written [when Mandras swims out to sea] was LEFT OUT. As you can see, years and years after seeing the film for the first time and I'm still annoyed. [sorry; needed to get that off my chest, albeit not for the first time]

I never finished The History of the Siege of Lisbon Jose Saramago.

(The truth is that I never got past the first few pages as the sentences were as long as paragraphs and I always find that off-putting.)

It is supposed to be the story of how a misplaced "not" can alter history, so it should have been interesting!

War and Peace. I tried, several times, I really did, but I just couldn't get past chapter three.

I've just given up on The Casual Vacancy after 100 pages. I like books I can't put down, this one I couldn't remember, and didn't care, what had happened in it from one day's reading to the next. There are too many good books to read, can't waste time on ones I don't like.

Thought I'd try Judy Finnegan's "Eloise". Ordered it from the library. Struggled hard with the first chapters and have given up. Ages since I've done that but nothing makes me want to continue reading

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, Captain Correlli's Mandolin and A Suitable Boy to name but three.

BaNana ,I did the same with Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, I just could not get into it. I never finished The Life of Pi either

Hi Grannyeggs, Guildford seems a while ago now. Glad you feel the same about Jonathan Strange, I had high hopes that I would enjoy it, sadly wasn't the case, I did get to page 100 but life's too short to carry on when a book is some 800 pages or so long and you find it tedious. I haven't tried the Life of Pi, seems a strange story, I did see a trailer for the film that is coming out soon, looked spectacular but then trailers usually do as they cram all the good bits into a few minutes.