Books that defeated you!

MaizieD

Oh, just remembered. Michelle O'Bama's autobiography. So worthy, so dull. I never got as far as her becoming First Lady.

So disappointing because I admire her greatly.

I struggled with the printed version so bit the bullet and went for the audio version read by Michelle Obama and loved it! I'd already had a couple of Barack Obama books on audible read by him and enjoyed them, so thought it worth the punt.

I struggled with "The Goldfinch" which one of my sons bought for me. That was a determined effort to get to the end. A good story that could have stood dramatic shortening! I really don't like to abandon any book I start to read.

Thursday Murder Club divided our craft group - people either love it or loathe it. I did get to the end, but I had to make myself.
I read War & Peace on holiday decades ago. I finished it, it was a good story.
Can't manage to get past the first few chapters of Far from the Madding Crowd or (1st) Lord of the Rings, though I'vetried each several times and they're also excellent stories. Am trying to get DGD into The Hobbit on Audible to encourage me to try again.

Grumpa
I enjoyed the book, but the only way I could read it was to go and sit at the dining room table.

Read The Lovely Bones,whilst arranging a memorial for my daughter who wasnt buried for 11months,I loved the book

Lord of the Rings. My brother read it several times as a teenager and I tried to get into it but little elves don’t do it for me. I am not a fan of fantasy or sci-fi anyway.

I an fighting a losing battle with The Mirror and the Light: present tense, tedious detail, and impossible weight.

Susie
You made a good choice.
It’s so hard to follow, the story itself could be interesting, it was a good idea, but so much unnecessary nonsense.
In my opinion it was at least twice as long as it needed to be.

‘Where the Crawdads sing’. I started it twice but it was so slow I gave up. I know I am in the minority.

At school I hated ‘The pilgrim’s Progress’ - dire imo, all that slough of despond stuff. I quietly read Enid Blyton and loved it. No wonder I still love ginger beer.

Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie, I’ve tried several times and never reached beyond Page 60.

I think I would have missed some very good books if I had abandoned them too quickly, and I would always have that niggle that I may have missed something great.
Not Catch 22 though, I’m prepared to be defeated there.

dogsmother

Plenty …….. have no interest in books that don’t “ do it for me”
A waste of time, if I’m not enjoying something it’s put down in favour of something else. There are so many books to be enjoyed.

Yes, I totally agree with you. I know within a page if I am going to enjoy a book by the way the author 'talks' to me.

suninthewest

The Hobbit and Watership Down. Everyone seemed to be talking about them and enjoying them at the time I read them and I couldn't understand the attraction of either. I kept wondering what it was I was missing in both novels and never found out.

I cheated on Watership Down and watched the film.

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists.
The Beekeeper of Aleppo.

Lovely Bones.. Agree rubbish.
Got half way through Lord of the rings.. Got bored
War and Peace only few chapters, life is too short!

Aged 14, I borrowed Anna Karenina from the school library. I enjoyed it, so my next one was War and Peace. I gave up after about 3 chapters, but then a few years ago I bought a cheap paperback copy from Amazon to have another go. This time I finished it, but definitely did NOT enjoy it.

Oh MOnica - so with you on Martin Amis, the old poseur. I did finish The Unconsoled by Kazua Ishiguro, but that's hours of my life I've wasted...

Oh, just remembered. Michelle O'Bama's autobiography. So worthy, so dull. I never got as far as her becoming First Lady.

So disappointing because I admire her greatly.

I was listening to the car radio one day, and they were discussing Vera Britains Testament of Youth, just listening was bringing tears to my eyes, so I rushed out and bought it, and obviously it was very worthy, the subject unbearably sad, but I couldn’t get into it, I found it to be very flat and boring, and it took me ages to get through it.
I thought it read more like a text book.

I really enjoyed the Wolf Hall trilogy, but my complaint would be the size and weight of the Mirror and the Light, impossible to read comfortably.

TerriBull As the parent of a child who died tragically I did not think The Lovely Bones was 'shite' as you so crudely stated. There are hundreds, possibly thousands of bereaved parents out there who have identified with that book. I'm just one of them.

Ekwanimitee
Can’t believe you gave up on The Corrections, have another go, it might surprise you

The Mirror And The Light was heavy going till about two thirds of the way through. I rarely give up on books but now I won't buy any that I feel I am not going to enjoy.
Some of the classics I loved and some bored me but I used to keep on to the end. Not any more.

Absoluting hated Kim by Rudyard Kipling. We had to read it aloud in class, in turn, and it was the most tedious and boring book I have ever had the misfortune to have to read. Totally unsuitable for 13 to 14 year olds. I have always been an avid reader, read very fast, and I, sad to say, was very intolerant of my classmates who did not have the same enthusiasm that some of us did.

Oh, I loved The Corrections, EkwaNimitee, and I really enjoyed Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies as well (I found The Mirror And The Light heavy going though).

But what do I know? I’ve enjoyed Richard Osman’s books.

Have tried to read Labyrinth by Kate Moses a number of times! Just can’t get going with it.