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Unfinished books


Russethouse
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Books that were/are supposed to be 'good' in some way?

On the Road - Jack Kerouac

Catch 22 - Jospeh Heller, which has the current distinction of being the only unread book in my house. I've tried several times and just don't 'get it'.

There may be more.

I've discarded countless rubbish books that people bring on their holidays, including one by that Drink water woman, which I read 5 pages of, skimmed a few other pages, then burnt.

 

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I've discarded countless rubbish books that people bring on their holidays, including one by that Drink water woman, which I read 5 pages of, skimmed a few other pages, then burnt

At least I waited until I had ploughed through to say how dreadful they were [:(] but I never learn, I even bought the sequel to A Year in the Merde, and I didn't like that much and the sequel , less. Talk about being stupid!

(By the way today  I read an excerpt from a book by Edward Enfield 'Downhill all the way' the story of his bike trip from Le Havre to the Med, which looks promising in a light, holiday read sort of way)

 

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I'm glad I'm not the only one to make that mistake !

I tend not to buy books or see films that are hyped, so Star of the Sea remains unopened on the bookshelf (a friend gave it to me after she had read it) in just the same way as I didn't go and see Titanic. I've never read Harry Potter or been to a film either -

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You know I keep looking at it, but somehow I always have something I have chosen that needs reading first......I have just started 'Our Betty' the autobiography of Liz Smith, then there is Home to Big Stone Gap by Adrianna Trigiani, bought because I so enjoyed Lucia, Lucia plus I suspect the mothers day fairy might be bringing The Tenderness of Wolves (breaking the hype rule) and Philippa Gregory's Bread and Chocolate [;-)]
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I've only looked at a few pages of one of the Merde books. I thought it was plodding, cliche ridden, and worst of all, not funny at all.

I wonder whether you really need to read some books at the moment they are published to 'get' what it is others find so worthwhile.

A similar book (left by a relative)

Wilt in Nowhere - Tom Sharpe. I loved Wilt etc, all those years ago, but this new one I couldn't read. Dull, dull, dull.

I didn't burn it though.

I wonder if I'd like Wilt now?

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Zadie Smith - The Autograph Man. After "White Teeth" it was incredibly disappointing and I was glad I'd borrowed it from the library rather than having bought it. It was funny (I usually become incandescent with rage about this) but someone had written in the back in pencil "I hated this book, and I didn't finish it because I really didn't care what  happened to any of the characters". I only read the comment after I'd drawn the same conclusion, BTW.

Patricia Cornwell's book on Jack the Ripper. Boring

 

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"Life of Pi" by Yann Martel. I bought it following someones recommendation on here but what a disapointment. I kept reading, thinking it would develop, but it never happened, not for me anyway.

Or am I missing something ?

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The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova.

It had some good reviews apparently but I found it to be over long as everything seemed to be described in the most tedious detail and it was very predictable.  I skipped a huge,huge chunk and read the last 10 pages just to save time and to confirm what I thought. No surprise twist.[:(]

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I bought a second-hand copy of Norman Mailer's 'The Executioner's Song' in the 80's and could not get past the first 20 or pages despite numerous attempts through the years. I was asked for it several times ("Come on, you don't like it! Let me have it!") but refused to give it away... I started it again a couple of years ago and could not put it down.

Book I was most disappointed with: "Captain's Corelli's Mandolin"
... what a waste of time that was! I forced myself to finish it, thinking there must be more to it than that... but there wasn't.

And the "Bridges of Madison Country" too...

Book I have yet to finish: "A hundred Years of Solitude", more like of hundred years of sheer boredom [img]http://www.websmileys.com/sm/sleep/schla05.gif[/img]

and there's another one about a man travelling to find a treasure somewhere only to realise the treasure was within himself...Can't remember the title or the author, but quite stunningly obvious, but I may have missed "it" altogether...

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I have a method of reading books where I skim the book very fast first. If I think I'm going to enjoy it I then go back to the beginning and read more slowly. If no good then put it away or pass it on. But I still skip large parts of most books. I prefer short stories and hardly ever read novels now. May be I have ADHD. I also like travel books and biographies. Then there are other books which I read over and over again, every single word and know almost by heart. Pat.

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Tragically I was an Only Twin - Peter Cook (William Cook).

I loved this man, but his genuis just didn't come across when reading his scripts.  The Telegraph review said "this is the sort of book that, if read while taking refreshments, will make tea come shooting down your nose"... hmm, not in this house it didn't.

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[quote user="Clair"]... and there's another one about a man travelling to find a treasure somewhere only to realise the treasure was within himself...Can't remember the title or the author, but quite stunningly obvious, but I may have missed "it" altogether...[/quote]

I've remembered that one: it's "The Alchemist" by Paul Coelho

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The Olive Farm, pure tosh, just couldn't go on with it.

The Atlantic Celts, I was so bored, I can't remember if I finished it or not.

A scifi that was passed to me twice and was so awful that I just couldn't read it. The good thing about it was that it made me realise just how hard it must be to write well.

I have read Patricia Cornwell's Jack the Ripper thing, she really lost the plot with that one and was all over the place. It has put me off reading her books.

I love The Count of Monte Cristo, but couldn't read  more that the first few pages of The Man in the Iron Mask.

 

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When I went to art school I was given a reading list. I managed to read The Nude by Keneth Clark (which sadly was not a Raymond Chandler style thriller) but The Meaning of Art by Herbert Read defies all attempts. I used it as a cure for insomnia in those days. I still have the volume and I sometimes claim that one day I will have another go - and a certain lurcher sniggers behind his paw.
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I never managed to finish reading Proust's "A la recherche du temps perdu" but know I am not the only one...

Others that I might be equally ashamed of not finishing being:

 Salman Rushdie's "The ground beneath her feet"

Sebastian Faulk's "A Fool's Alphabet"

Jamie O'Neill's "At swim, two boys" - I would love to read and enjoy it, but might have to accept that it is too Irish for me (nothing wrong with Irish, but I am just too challenged by the extreme Irishness with dialogues that are barely understandable)

Toni Morrison's - can't remember the title?

Jane Gardham's "Tambourine Queen".

I love all of Margaret Attwood, Alice Hoffman, Barbara Kingsolver, Carol Shields, Rebecca Wells,  Sue Monk Kidd, and many more wonderful contemporary American women writers.

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