Which Books Have You Started But Never Finished

[Canary42]

I'm currently reading No One Round Here Reads Tolstoy (Mark Hodkinson's memoirs of a working class reader) and the author mentions reading Thomas Hardy's works successfully, but being unable to get through Thackeray's Vanity Fair .

I've been there with both those experiences. It got me to thinking of the few other books Which I've never been able to stick through to the end. These are :-

◊ War and Peace (but managed Anna Karenina) - also managed Dostoevsky's
Crime & Punishment

◊ Vanity Fair

◊ Far From the Madding Crowd (but managed Jude the Obscure)

◊ Middlemarch (but managed Scenes of Clerical Life)

I've added books in brackets which I've coped with, in order to show it's not necessarily the author/genre causing my reader's block.

So, let's be hearing similar "blocks", i.e. books you started but never reached the end. Hopefully it will be an interesting and entertaining thread on Aber's literary tastes.

P.S. 50 Shades of Grey was another, but that's understandable it was so appallingly written.

[sandyRoe]

The glass bead game by Hermann Hesse. Perhaps it was too highbrow for me. I couldn't get beyond 20 pages.

[ToraToraTora]

This is no indication of my literary tastes but the only book I ever gave up on was this by William Hague:
Amazon.com User Recommendation
...for context my 3 active books at the moment are "Spaceman" - Mike Massimino, "The man who died twice" - Richard Osman and "The Stranger Awakes" - H G Wells.

[naomi24]

Richard Osman’s first ‘best seller’. Dire. I didn’t bother with the second.

[Canary42]

Must say I agree naomi.

[Ken4155]

My fav author, by far, is Stephen King and i believe i have read everything he has written from a non-fiction point of view (he has written a few non-fiction books). Yet, no matter how many times i've attempted to read his 'From A Buick 8' - and believe me, you'd need more than two hands to count - i cannot get more than a third of the way through. I just cannot seem to get 'into' it? I have friends who assure me it is a good read, so i will no doubt make more attempts.

[ToraToraTora]

I quite like the Osman books. TBF I would probably never have bought them myself, err indoors bought them for me, so I have to finish the 2nd one by xmas in time for the inevitable arrival of the 3rd one!

[rowanwitch]

Catch 22, tried a couple of times, just couldn't get past the first few pages
The Jersey potato peel pie society.... Ditto
Pride and Prejudice, basically everything Austen
After Wuthering Heights I kind of avoided the Brontes too. Had to do far from the madding crowd for O level .... I just read a revision guide and picked up marks on the Sound of Thunder ( sci- fi anthology)

[naomi24]

TTT, I found his writing childlike. If he wasn’t who he is I’d be very surprised if he was ever published.

Rowan, love Jane Austen and the Brontes … all of them.

[Ken4155]

Mentioned this on different threads over the years; tried reading The Godfather by Mario Puzo, in my teens, but i found the flashbacks a tad confusing and off-putting. The book was thrown in a drawer and all but forgotten about. The day after i saw the film, i began reading the book and almost finished it in the one sitting.

[ToraToraTora]

naomi, it is a bit Enid Blyton I suppose but I like the structure and short chapters, great as a bog book.

[davebro]

Ulysses & Trainspotting - for obvious reasons!

[rowanwitch]

I just struggle with period pieces however some of my favourites over time are set further back. I do appreciate from what I have managed that they are well observed, I just can't relate to or care about the characters.

[Patsy33]

Ken, my son reads loads of books and one of his favourites are Stephen King. I bought him his latest book fir his birthday, a couple of weeks ago, which is called Fairy Tale.
As for me, I've started lots of books and not finished. I keep meaning to get back to them. :-)

[cashier]

Gone girl. Tried five times and just couldn't get into it.

[MissTerious]

Plenty I've started but just couldn't continue with because they didn't grab my attention. I've also read quite a few over and over again . I also read Anna Karenina and gave up on war and peace. That was when I was young. I've out of the reading habit. I just can't concentrate. I do sudoku and wordle like things instead.

[JJ109]

Rowanwitch - you and i must be polar opposites - Catch 22 is the only book I have read multiple times, and I get more out of it every time I read it.

However if you had mentioned Joseph Heller's follow up - I think it was called "Good as Gold" well it wasn't! I couldn't get into it! I wasso looking forward to another Catch 22 and this one was dire!

[davebro]

Another aspect might be the books I've BOUGHT and never even opened to the first page! Still on the shelf.

Oh & Audible - listened to 3/4 of "100 years of solitude" before becoming lost in the Arcadio's.

[MargoTester]

A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth was highly recommended by a friend, but I just could not get to grips with the characters

[pastafreak]

Two that come to mind...We Need to Talk About Kevin (mother writes about murderous autistic son ), and A Man Called Ove (mind numbing gentleness about a grumpy retired Swede).

I've been in a reading slump for several years...starting light but perfectly interesting books and stopping about 1/3 through.

I've read all of Austin, and also most if not all of the Brontes. Love 18thc social commentary via the novels of the time. Also love period ghost stories.
Back years ago, I read my share of Dostoevsky, Hess...required in the late 60s early 70s. But not the Glass Bead Game...very obscure.

[LadyCG]

50 Shades
The Tattooist Of Auschwitz
Un Mundo Sin Fin (A World Without End)