Abandoned Books

smallholder · Abandoned Books

I have just given up on Isabel Allende's 'Daughter of Fortune'. I got halfway through but it was just too rich. Like a sickly cake with too many layers - it looked tempting and started well but halfway through I got overpowered and abandoned it.

What books have you abandoned and why?

crispy

I have abandoned 'The trouble with Kevin' 3 times now. Just couldn't get into it, the furthest I got was about a third of the way through. Still couldn't tell you anything that happened!

smallholder

Can you explain why you couldn't get into it?

Over40

The first book in the Lord of the Rings trilogy - Fellowship of the Ring ? Have tried several times and given up - read The Hobbit though.

smallholder

Yes but why? Laughing

Humour me folks I was interested in people's reasons for giving up on particular books! Rolling Eyes

Over40

I couldn't 'get into it' and found it hard going. There aren't many books that I've abandoned.

smallholder

So what was it that stopped you getting into it -the language, the plot, the characters?

.....................I was interested in people's reasons..........perhaps people can't always explain why?

crispy

Over40

I find it difficult to read fantasy books as I can't identify with the characters or land - I can read most of Terry Pratchett but there was soemthing about Tolkein.
One day I'll give it another go - perhaps it should be my Desert Island Disc book then I would have no choice.

smallholder

Thanks for humouring me you two. Laughing

I am the same with fantasy sci fi - over 40, I find it hard to go with the characters and relate to them, whereas something like Orwell's 1984 dystopia or Huxleys Brave New World or even John Wyndams Day of the Triffids has real people and a real world in it!

As for the Kevin book - your reasons for not liking it were exactly why I loved it, crispy, as maybe his mum and dad and the communication or lack of it between them all were why Kevin turned out as he did - I work with some very damaged young people and often have to read between the lines to understand where their behaviour might have 'come from'.

crispy

crispy

Louiw

I don't know if enjoy is the right word but I found it unputdownable. It made me really think about nature v Nurture. I can remember the shock at reading one part. I can't read sci fi. I don't enjoy it, can't relate to it. Wouldn't do if we all liked the same.

magpie nic

Captain Corelli's Mandolin- it was the thing in his ear at the beginning of the story- every time I started reading it, it made me feel physically sick Rolling Eyes

Tried missing that bit, but couldn't stop thinking about it, so abandoned it for last time.
Another was Alentejo Blues by Monica Ali, just did not make sense and I was so lost after a few pages- never went back to it, so may have been the mood I was in at the time!

Louiw

I've never managed that one either Magpie. Or Time travellers wife, although I seem to be the only person ever not to!!!

redredrobin

Been struggling with Sophie's World. Have read a couple of easy reads since starting because I think I'm just a bit brain dead. Might have to leave it until summer holidays.

magpie nic

Time Travellers wife took a lot of getting into but was worth it.

Over40

Maybe I'll try Time Travellers Wife again - I'd forgotten that I didn't stick with it.

happyhighlandcoo

There's something about Kevin and Sophie's World for me too - just really hard to get into.

The Little Prince. Just not gripping enough somehow so I always get distracted. I really really want to read it though, maybe I'll try to finish it these holidays.

The God Delusion. I wanted to read this for so long but I just found it so pompus and his arguments weren't balanced or backed up by real enough evidence (science I suppose but still didn't cut it for me!!)

cornflake girl

tui

i just noticed this thread.
I give up books for several reasons.

sometimes it is too complicated for reading last thing at night so I put it aside for the holidays. some books need a long uninterrupted reading session and i do that less often these days because I spend too long on here in the holidays.
sometimes books get abandoned because they are too light and i am not in the mood. other times they would be exactly right and i will finish them in a weekend. I have many books on the go at a time and sometimes a books sits unfinished for no good reason. I just picked up another one instead. i am so inconstant! after it has sat for a few weeks on my shelf I then have to start again and if it doesn't hold my attention a second time it may get abandoned.

Some books need more background information for me to form a picture of the setting and characters. after seeing it as a movie or watching a documentary of a place I sometimes go back and reread a book and find it much more enjoyable . Often i hate how they have done the movie for the story but love seeing the settings.
Sometimes i don't finish abook because i find out too much about it from other people talking so don't get around to it.

Chilli Queen

I've abandoned The Alchemist by Paolo Coehlo but only because I started other things whilst I was in the middle of it. I will return to because I was enjoying it.

sal 26

The Hobbit. Loved Lord of the Rings and years ago read it many times, including to my children but found the Hobbit tedious and a bit irritating.

tui

I wonder if that is because you are reading it as an adult. I remember reading it as a 9 year old and being gripped by it but oh so scared. Especially the spiders bit. i would read a bit then put it away ,then i just had to go back and read a bit more. maybe I was a wimp! It doesn't have same quality as Lord of the Rings.

crispy

JD1970

I have given up on all the Charles Dickens books I've ever attempted, apart from A Christmas Carol.
I just can't get my head around the fact that he takes a paragraph to say what could be said in a sentence.
Too much waffle - get to the point!

sal 26

sal 26

queenlit

sal 26