Yesterday we took to Twitter and asked you, our dear readers, what book you couldn’t finish, using the hashtag #bookattrition. Books receiving multiple votes: Moby-Dick, The Lord of the Rings, The Passage, Eat, Pray, Love, 50 Shades of Grey, The Lacuna and A Discovery of Witches. That list is the only time you’ll ever see Moby-Dick and 50 Shades of Grey together. Hats off to you all for your clever bitterness (which is why we love you) and to Milkweed Editions (see last tweet).
The Wizard’s First Rule
I really wanted to finish it but Richard and Kahlan are the most annoying characters ever.
It’s funny how so many of the titles people mention are some of my favorite books. I’m sure others will have similar issues with my distaste for these two: Wicked and Running with Scissors. I couldn’t take any more of either one for the same reason: weirdo sexual stuff. I’m not a prude, but something about the way sex was described reminded me of ten year old boys gleefully swearing and talking dirty. I just decided I didn’t want any more of that kind of imagery swimming around in my brain.
I managed to get halfway thru one of Eudora Welty’s 500 page monsters – not sure now if it was Delta Wedding or Losing Battles. I was nearly out of my mind by the time I got there, and I got a lot farther than anyone else in the class!
The Shipping News. Tried twice. I rarely give up.
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy – gack! The only reason i wanted tor ead it was because Milan Kundera references it in The Unbearable Lightness of Being
The Handmaiden’s Tale. I started it twice years ago, but gave up both times, even though I usually enjoy dystopians. I recently discovered Atwood’s poetry and that I like, so at least I’ve found something of hers I’ll read!
Atlas Shrugged & Dune. I try & I try but can’t seem to get through them.
Someone said The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo earlier on. I have to say, once you’ve passed the first half you are gripped. Yes, the start is slow and confusing, but trust me, you will be rewarded ten-fold.
And LOTR? Why? It is incredible! Yes, long, but like TGWTDT you are rewarded with the most amazing story-telling i’ve ever seen.
And The Passage? Again, why? The story does drag, is long, but once again it is almost un-put-downable!
Perhaps it is simply to size of the book that puts people off…
For me, I couldn’t finish Wuthering Heights. Yes, it’s a classic, but I couldn’t stand it.
“Undaunted Courge” – sorry, but that’s what it would take to actually get through that book!
CourAge – duh!
The Recognitions by William Gaddis. It was compelling enough, I just got lost in the details and finally abandoned it.
The list is very long including most best selling fiction. Most recent is *The Book Thief*. Grim and gimmicky.
“Earth in the Balance”. Don’t know why I even started it.
I was a Spanish major years ago, but couldn’t finish ‘Don Quijote’ or ‘Don Quixote’ in either English or Spanish…
I ama reader but couldn’t get past page 20 of James Joyce’s “Ulysses.” I found that his “Dubliners” and “Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man” was no preparation for it either.