Do You 'Give Up' On Books?

[barry1010]

I used to be very reluctant to give up on any novel but I find myself doing it more and more often, I totally lose patience.
I gave up on a book I had been looking forward to reading three quarters of the way through last night. I think my concentration is not what it was. It was translated from Norwegian and I couldn't remember if characters were male or female and kept mixing them up.

Or maybe it's because books are so easy to come by these days I always have a few queued up to read.

[Zacs-Master]

Yes I do. I'm afraid I get absorbed by Twitter, AB etc etc.

I definitely put down 'The Thursday Murder Club' and won't be picking it up again.

[naomi24]

Rarely. Off the top
of my head I can think of only two. Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses - unadulterated tripe - and Richard Osman’s best seller, The Thursday Murder Club. Dreadful. It could have been written by a ten year old.

[bhg481]

Like Zacs, I gave up to "The Thursday Murder Club"; it just felt very tedious.
Whilst thoroughly enjoying "Midsomer Murders" I can't abide the books by Caroline Graham; I tried a couple but just can't get on with them and gave up part way through.

[barry1010]

I haven't read anything by Richard Osman and all the reviews have been bad.
Zacs, I think you've raised an excellent point there - the internet is certainly a distraction and helps foster a butterfly mind, much less concentration and there is always the hope there is something more interesting, quickly found on another thread, another website.

[rowanwitch]

With alarming regularity, even so called classics, the ones everyone says you should read.... Books I have ditched include Catch 22, Price and Prejudice, a fair few Dickens and a lot of so called feminist fiction. After Midnight's children I didn't have the stomach for any more Rushdie.

[naomi24]

That’s three out of three who gave up on The Thursday Murder Club. Wonder why his second book was also a best seller? Guess someone must have liked it.

[barry1010]

I've watched every episode of Midsomer Murders but don't recall reading any of the books. I thoroughly enjoyed the Morse tv series and the books although much of the literary and Latin references went over my head. I've just realised I've compared Morse with Midsomer Murder. Dunce's cap for me

[rockyracoon]

I do now, after I persisted in continuing with We Need to Talk About Kevin. OMG, what a pile of crap. Life's to short to persevere with a book that doesn't hold your interest. For me, The Time Traveller's Wife. I got about a quarter of the way in and decided to give it the boot. Borefest.

[Zacs-Master]

Yes, barry, that's exactly it (and I kinda hate myself for it as I love books).....keep scrolling.

I'm off on holiday and taking a book with me by Terry Ratchett and Stephen Baxter called The Long Earth which I'm part way through.

[Zacs-Master]

Pratchett!

[barry1010]

I did enjoy Catch 22 some years ago although it is very repetitive (a catch 22 loop), never read Rushdie. I haven't read lots of Dickens but intend to read more - one day

[naomi24]

Have you read any of Khaled Hosseini’s books, Barry? Excellent.

[barry1010]

My wife struggled with The Time Traveller's Wife, it didn't appeal to me. She also gave up in disgust a book that was hugely popular maybe thirty years ago - it developed in to a series and new books were written by her children after the author died. Flowers in the Attic.

[andy-hughes]

Rarely, but I don't punish myself, books are for enjoyment.

I will persevere with books for research, but novels are for pleasure.

I have never managed Lord Of The Rings, tried a few times.

I do have a connection - Professor Tolkien's oldest son was our parish priest, and married my wife and I.

[barry1010]

I read The Kite Runner some years ago, naomi, an uncomfortable read but very well written. I think that's the only one I have read, I must add him to my list

[barry1010]

I read Lord of the Rings not long after it was published. I too have a connection, I grew up very close to Sarehole Mill and that was my playground

[perseverer]

Ok, I'll admit to having read all three Richard Osman books. It depends what you are looking for - no-one, including the author sees them as great literature, but for light entertainment, why not?

Not a novel, but I was given a copy of Paul Newman's autobiography for Christmas and really had to struggle my way through it. All it did was convince me he was not a very nice person, certainly for much of his younger life.

[naomi24]

I quite enjoyed The Time Traveller’s Wife and I remember reading the Flowers in the Attic books years ago. Unfortunately the people who attempted to extend the series didn’t do the originals justice.

[naomi24]

It took me a year to read Lord of the Rings - not because I didn’t like it but because it’s so complex. I had to keep going back to check who was who and what was what.

[jackthehat]

I have various 'collections' in my kindle. one I have christened 'jettisoned' and another 'unreadable'.
I used to be willing to give the jettisoned books another go on the grounds that it could have just been my frame of mind, etc. when I was first reading but since my kindle collection like Topsy, just growed, I have been less inclined to revisit them.
The unreadable books have stayed that way, unread; they are usually recommendations, bargain purchases or freebies.
However, I do get a pang of guilt for discarding all of them.....