Books you stopped reading

[Jon Rowe]

What are some books that you put down, and did not finish reading. And why? I was listening to the "Out of the Game" podcast, and this topic was mentioned. It seemed like people put books down when they felt patronized or were being sold a message.

What about you guys?

I have an example that I put down for neither of those 2 reasons.

Darkly Dreaming Dexter
I could not get into the book, no matter what I tried. I felt that the writing and narrative style was bout 2 steps above RL Stine, (Big print, short sentences) and the subject matter was just boring. I know the whole "He is a Serial Killer that kills murders" is all shocking and such... but it really isn't. I guess I have been desensitized to "shocking" fiction thanks to my love of Takashi Miike and Japanese gore fiction (Battle Royale) but I don't know.. it just didn't grab me. Neither did the show for that matter.

[tiohn]

I am stupendously terrible about finishing books. The number of books that I have started and read most of before moving on to something else vastly outnumbers the total number of books that I have completed. Part of it is that a lot of novels seems to taper off around 2/3 of the way through and I rarely get past the lull. I have no desire to read anything once it starts to seem like work. Another factor is that of the books that I have completed, I feel that only a very, very small handful of them have a good ending. In general, I feel that most authors couldn't write an ending to save their lives, so I save myself the grief of reading another crappy ending.
However, the single largest factor is that I invariably run into something else I would rather be reading than whatever I am currently reading, so my attention moves to the new thing.

[mixuk]

Gardens of the moon.
It was appropriately gritty, but boring. While the setting was kind of interesting, the story and the characters weren't. It just didn't grab me. Also, reading "Before they are hanged" at the same time didn't help.

[bloo]

Lord of the Rings

I find the narrative style off-putting. The story doesn't grab me and make me want to turn the page.

[Matt Bowyer]

Lord of the Rings. I almost put it down right after the ode to bathwater, which made me groan aloud. I did put it down after Gandalf was sucked down after the balrog, and the anguish of his companions got two sentences and summarily ignored. I understand how important and influential Tolkien is -- I just don't like that style of writing at all.

Wizard's First Rule. I didn't think it would be THAT bad. I kept my wife up for an hour one night reading this in bed and griping at it out loud. "Oh come on, now we're onto the evils of fire? What the hell?" "Oh, she's sharing with him her secret smile, her smile of sharing that is only for him!" I couldn't bring myself to continue the next day.

Memoirs of a Geisha. I think this one's all on me -- I lost interest about 50 pages in and just never got back to reading it.

[mixuk]

I actually would agree on Lord Of The Rings, but I managed to read it through. But people thinking it's the greatest book ever, boggles my mind.

[datter]

I started reading the Bible last summer just to say I read it, but only got half way through before the plot bogged down a bit much for my liking. The Koran is next on my religion-read-list, I'm hoping it has a bit more action.

[FoRmaT]

Two or three books by Orson Scott Card.

Too meta and pseudointellectual for me.

[Nellie]

ooo, do I get to be the first to say Da Vinci Code then?

Apart from the writing style itself I just found the book imbecellic. If you're going to make your character a world renowned something or other at least have the decency not to have him baffled by something that the reader can clearly to see the answer to if they've either got half an ounce of intelligence or have paid any attention to the drivel you've written up to the point where you flummox your lead character.

And plot twists aren't twists if you can see them coming a mile away.

The only other book of note that I can recall is an Iain Banks book, I think it might well have been Wasp factory, I just couldn't continue reading it as I found the violence in it nasty to a point almost of pornography. I'm not against the use of violence in books, or films for that matter, but when I'm invited to revel in the description of the act I have problems. I know it's kind of the point of the book, but I really didn't get on with it.



The Koran is next on my religion-read-list, I'm hoping it has a bit more action.
If you can get one of the free, Saudi sponsored translations I'd class it more as a comedy

[madkevin]

Infinite Jest, twice. A combination of the book being really difficult to read (and I mean physically difficult - a huge, heavy paperback that you have to keep flipping back and forth between the meat of the text and the insane footnotes sections. You don't read Infinite Jest so much as wrestle it to the ground) and my general over-saturated media lifestyle. I made a big push to read it this summer, but at a point my addled brain would whipser "Do you really want to read another disjointed chapter of Infinite Jest, or would you rather smoke a joint and watch Top Gear?" DAMN YOU, JEREMY CLARKSON.

[Kael]

Lord Foul's Bane, the first book in the Thomas Covenant series. At the point where I can't stand the main character (it happens very early in) I tossed the book. I keep hearing how good it is so I've probably restarted it 3 times, but I can never get past that point.

[Marged]

I fail to finish books - good, bad, or indifferent - all the time. I am almost incapable of finishing anything other than murder mysteries. I always have tons of books going at once. It is somewhat maddening.

Little Big

I gave up with about a hundred pages to go, after beginning to deeply doubt whether or not there would be any payoff for the 500-odd pages. Maybe it's worth it to finish it, but I would have been really upset if the ending just fizzled out. I can deal with a certain amount of meandering in service of a larger story, but I'm not so sure I like it when meandering is all there is.

Winter's Tale

I can't quite admit to myself that I've given up on this, because I am still convinced I will love it. I just didn't stick with it nearly long enough and put it down about 100 pages in.

[metta]

The Lord of the Rings: Fantasy is my favourite genre, these days it's almost all I read, but I can never get through this trilogy. I struggle through the first book and then lose interest halfway into The Two Towers. Slow, boring, wish-fulfillment, plus Tolkein has no use for women; although highly recommended as a soporific, and will keep a fire going for an hour.

[Gordon Cameron]

I always feel bad when I give up on books, but occasionally it happens. I conked out on Edmund Spenser's "The Faerie Queene" after the first 100 pages or so. I recently petered out on Nathanael West's "Day of the Locust." I do intend to give it another shot but I'll probably have to start from zero again. I found it well-written but for some reason my attention seemed to struggle with it. I might be getting lazy; books with less sharply-constructed narratives, that are more observational or character-based or modernist in style, tend to have fewer "hooks" to stick them in my brain and it's hard for me to come back to them after even a couple of days' interruption.

Actually, now that I think of it, I guess I've pretty much abandoned The Ice Storm too. Instead I'm reading The Scarlet Letter on my iphone. Never had to read it in high school.

[jeffd]

2666: The first 25% of this book (The Part About the Critics) is enjoyable, but by the time it gets to The Part About Fate it's just.... not.

[Jon Rowe]

Lord of the Rings - I love fantasy, and I would definitely agree that it is one of my favorite genres... but Tolkien.. is just .. not for me. I have similar issues with the next author/books I am going to list. Things move too slowly for my tastes. I can appreciate the amazing world he has created, but his writing style is just off-putting.

The Wheel of Time series - Like Tolkien it feels like the books are a lot more about describing the world and less about the characters in it. I love the epic feel, but I am a character driven media consumer (moves, books, tv) and when it takes 3-4 700 page books to build a character... I can't stick with it.

[Gordon Cameron]

I agree Tolkien was more about describing the world (though IMO Gollum lasts as a distinctive character). That's exactly why I loved LOTR -- as an angst-ridden adolescent at a certain time of my life I found those books to be a place to escape to, a world I could lose myself in for months.

[peacedog]

The Steel Remains - there might be an intriguing world here. It's hard to tell between all the angry sex. I'm actually most of the way through. But not in any way compelled to finish right now.

[Jon Rowe]

Two or three books by Orson Scott Card.

Too meta and pseudointellectual for me.

That is what I love about OSC. Xenocide is my favorite of all of his books that I have read. (Ender's shadow is a close second). As a Biologist and psuedo-catholic person the themes in his later books really hit home. How does our religion fit in to other sentient life? What about sentient AI? Crazyness. I love how much his books make me think about things. I will agree that it can get a bit verbose, and if it doesn't grab you like it grabbed me it could get really boring.

[Vesper]

Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson. After 150 pages, I realized that the book contains no plot or value. I consciously stopped reading it, never to be picked up again. This was a huge letdown after liking Cryptonomicon so much.

[kerzain]

Someone beat me to it, but one that comes to mind is Wizards First Rule. Blarg.

Bag of Bones by Stephen King. I just stopped caring about 75% of the way through.

Tell No One Harlan Corben. I got sick and tired of the narrator repeatedly telling me "Now, I know what you're thinking, but...." as a way of trying to explain why certain elements of the story were so cliche.

Chronicles of Narnia: My wife has a compilation with all the stories in it. I barely made it through the Lion/Witch/Wardrobe one. Not a big fan of overly religious stories, or children's stories. So both of these themes were working against me.

The Jungle (unabridged) by Upton Sinclair. I probably should have read the abridged version. I didn't like any character in the book and couldn't care less how hard life was for them. I figured it was time to stop reading when I started taking pleasure in the horrible things happening to the lead character. This is how my brain reacts when authors start doing shit like speaking directly to the reader and calling characters in the book "our friend" and expecting me to convert to communism or some shit because life is hard. He isn't my friend, and I was glad when everybody he loved died. If you want to read a book that seems similar in theme but tells a better story, try reading A Fine Balance. I finished that one and enjoyed it, even though life still sucks in that one too.

[FoRmaT]

That is what I love about OSC. Xenocide is my favorite of all of his books that I have read. (Ender's shadow is a close second). As a Biologist and psuedo-catholic person the themes in his later books really hit home. How does our religion fit in to other sentient life? What about sentient AI? Crazyness. I love how much his books make me think about things. I will agree that it can get a bit verbose, and if it doesn't grab you like it grabbed me it could get really boring.

The ideas behind what he writes in Xenocide are definitely interesting, but I felt that the book could have used a good editor to trim down a lot of it.

Edit: And another problem I had with Xenocide was how Card indulged in all this meta-ness for a grand percentage of the book, and then wraps up the storylines about the descolada and FTL travel in about the last ten pages.

[Acid]

Snow Crash. A sword carrying ninja leet-hacker James Bond super-Hiro? Even for geek porn, it was off the fucking wall. I got about 40 pages in before I had to go have eye surgery: Rolling my eyes that often and that forcefully at what I read caused them to become stuck in the back of my head.

[mystery]

Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson. After 150 pages, I realized that the book contains no plot or value. I consciously stopped reading it, never to be picked up again. This was a huge letdown after liking Cryptonomicon so much.

It took me 4 separate times in my life to get through this book. I liked the 2nd book better, and the 3rd best of all.

[SpoofyChop]

I tried reading the torture that is George R. R. Martin but I gave up at the point in time at which it seems like his only goal is to make you care about a character so he can have him or her brutalized or whatnot.

[kerzain]

Snow Crash. A sword carrying ninja leet-hacker James Bond super-Hiro? Even for geek porn, it was off the fucking wall. I got about 40 pages in before I had to go have eye surgery: Rolling my eyes that often and that forcefully at what I read caused them to become stuck in the back of my head.Ditto. I stopped about page 40-50.

[Stepsongrapes]

Lord Foul's Bane, the first book in the Thomas Covenant series. At the point where I can't stand the main character (it happens very early in) I tossed the book. I keep hearing how good it is so I've probably restarted it 3 times, but I can never get past that point.

Your not supposed to like him. In fact, you're supposed to completely hate him for his incessant denial of the Land and of his own real life.

Thomas Covenant is the original emo kid.

I frankly really liked the concept- you hate the protagonist, while everyone else is extremely admirable and likeable.

[WarrenM]

I was living in secret shame but now I can admit it ... I too have failed at reading Snow Crash. I tried twice now. I just can't maintain interest.

[Equis]

Quicksilver I use to love Stephenson, and am still a fan of Snow crash, cryptonomicon and Diamond age, but the Baroque cycle seems to be really, "Hey look at all the cool history of economics research I did." and less anything resembling story, characters or plot.

War and Peace I suppose, one day, I must have the patience to sit through the entirety of this massive tome. I hope that day is when I am old, decrepit and no need to move even to pee. That way, I have nothing to do, but slog through text upon text of Russian agricultural lifestyle and the occasional bloodshed.

Atlas Shrugged I am so glad I tried reading this when I was 24 and more well-adjusted in life, then when I was an awkward 16 year old social outcast.

[Jon Rowe]

The Jungle (unabridged) by Upton Sinclair. I probably should have read the abridged version. I didn't like any character in the book and couldn't care less how hard life was for them. I figured it was time to stop reading when I started taking pleasure in the horrible things happening to the lead character. This is how my brain reacts when authors start doing shit like speaking directly to the reader and calling characters in the book "our friend" and expecting me to convert to communism or some shit because life is hard. He isn't my friend, and I was glad when everybody he loved died. If you want to read a book that seems similar in theme but tells a better story, try reading A Fine Balance. I finished that one and enjoyed it, even though life still sucks in that one too.

Weird... I really loved the book. (except the last pro-communism part) It was very moving and powerful to me. I guess it depends on how much you can sympathize with being "fucked over by the man". For me, that is a lot. I don't understand how you can enjoy the things that happened in that book. I don't know what rubbed you the wrong way in there, but I have nearly the complete opposite feelings on that book.

[Rock8man]

Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard. So bad. Definitely the worst sci-fi book I've ever read. (This was long before there was a film). I read it until the point when the plucky humans beat back the aliens and won the day. It was already a super-thick book, but when the book kept going past this point I just couldn't take it anymore. I'd never left a book unfinished before, so I hated doing it, but I just couldn't make myself read any further after the aliens had been defeated.

Earthborn (Book 5 of Homecoming Saga) by Orson Scott Card. I loved the Homecoming series when it first started. I love OSC's writing. As Jon Danger said above, I love the philosophical musings in Xenoside (though I hated the ending where one of the main characters turns into 3 people), and I just love certain aspects of OSC's writings, especially how he writes characters.

However, when this series got off planet and the characters are headed home to earth in Book 4, it becomes really forced. Apparently OSC modeled the saga after the Book of Mormon, and that became a little too obvious in Book 4. I thought the characters' conflicts became way too melodramatic in Book 4, and certain characters became downright evil. This might make sense in the Book of Mormon, but it just didn't work for me in the universe that Card himself had set up in the Homecoming books. And then in Book 5 when they get back to earth to find Bats and Rats that had taken over Earth civilization, I just couldn't take it anymore. The concept was just so ridiculous to me, and situations where they get to communicate with these species were so contrived, I just couldn't keep going anymore.

[BennyProfane]

The only other book of note that I can recall is an Iain Banks book, I think it might well have been Wasp factory, I just couldn't continue reading it as I found the violence in it nasty to a point almost of pornography. I'm not against the use of violence in books, or films for that matter, but when I'm invited to revel in the description of the act I have problems. I know it's kind of the point of the book, but I really didn't get on with it.

Heh if you think The Wasp Factory was bad, try reading Song of Stone. Or better yet, Complicity (though to be fair, in some ways Complicity is a satire of that sort of violence).

Apart from the obvious dreck such as Da Vinci Code, I am force to admit the only book I probably ever quit reading that I shouldn't have quit reading was LeGuin's The Left Hand of Darkness. Cause its just boooorrrring.

[dd0029]

I read a lot of bad fantasy, which means I stop frequently. The most recent was the final book in a series.

Treason's Shore by Sherwood Smith - This series runs headlong into the standard fantasy problem of incredibly similar names with different vowel order. You need a map to remember who's sleeping with who, who wants to sleep with who. In a world with magic being used for everyday things like water purification, torches, etc. the main characters belong to a group with no magic. Apparently instead of throwing money at the problem (ie bribe someone), they are trying to figure it out by reading history? The whole world also engages in fanatical tree conservation. A single sailing ship is worth several years worth of tree harvests for a single country. The titular character is apparently unaware of this fact and willy nilly "wins" naval engagements by blowing up his ships in some sort of proximity mine plan. All this and more randomness I could handle, until the last book wherein it is explained to the reader that the main character is autistic. By this time, the main character has been betrayed several times, been captured and tortured and been declared a pirate without any of the usual piraty perks. Why the author felt the need to do this is beyond me, but it was just too random too late in the game.

[kerzain]

I enjoyed The Wasp Factory quite a bit and consider it one of my favorite reads in the last four or five years. This has nothing really to do with the over all story, but I was half-convinced the midget friend was imaginary until about 3/4'ths of the way through.

[Tortilla]

Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard. So bad. Definitely the worst sci-fi book I've ever read. (This was long before there was a film). I read it until the point when the plucky humans beat back the aliens and won the day. It was already a super-thick book, but when the book kept going past this point I just couldn't take it anymore. I'd never left a book unfinished before, so I hated doing it, but I just couldn't make myself read any further after the aliens had been defeated.

Weird, I really enjoy that one. It's completely trashy pulp with an absurdly simplistic moral message that makes the D&D alignment system seem deeply nuanced. Still, it's satisfying in that brainless and relaxing way that makes action-heavy, sfx-heavy, and plot-lite summer movies enjoyable.

[Rock8man]

Weird, I really enjoy that one. It's completely trashy pulp with an absurdly simplistic moral message that makes the D&D alignment system seem deeply nuanced. Still, it's satisfying in that brainless and relaxing way that makes action-heavy, sfx-heavy, and plot-lite summer movies enjoyable.

Yeah, my brother said the same thing. I really trust his opinion on books, which is why I started reading it in the first place. But I just couldn't stop rolling my eyes at how bad the book was at times. Things just happen and it's all so contrived and convenient for the hero. And you know, I get it, it's like a big summer blockbuster popcorn movie, which is why I still kept going. But then when the aliens were defeated, and the book almost slowed to a halt in the next chapter, going into the details of how the hero was helping govern the new Earth under human rule, I just couldn't read any further because all the action and excitement was already over (I assume, unless there was some last minute gotcha?) and I just couldn't go on to read the last 3 or 4 chapters.

[frank austin]

Dies The Fire. LARPers take over the city of Portland after the apocalypse? Because they're trained in medieval weaponry?! When I read this, I threw the book across the room and wouldn't even go near it to put it away for a few days. Amazon rejected my review of the book, titled "What is the sound of ten thousand nerds masturbating?"

[kerzain]

Oh yea a recent one, Choke by Chuck Palahniuk. I enjoyed Fight Club, but couldn't get into this one. I felt like I'd heard it all before and was bored.

[Kemper Boyd]

Lord Foul's Bane - stopped at the rape scene.

A Man Walks Through - stopped at the rape scene (I think this was actually in the second book but the whole mess is really miserable...).

The Rest of the Story - shockingly enough, I made it all the way through this drawn out rape fantasy and actually loved this whole set of books.

Stephen R. Donaldson really does have issues with women...

[DTG]

- Whatever the 3rd book in the Sword of Truth series was

- Whatever the 3rd book in the Wheel of Time series was

- 2061, Odyssey 3, about 3 chapters in. Very sad that Clarke needed the money so badly that he milked that franchise too far.

- John Adams. I got about 2/3 of the way through, then vacation ended. But it is a great book.

- Some book of Anne Coulter's I borrowed to try and be "fair and balanced" and offset the liberal political junk I usually read. I had never seen her on TV, I had just heard of her. I should have known better.

[Adree]

Diary by Palahniuk. In most of his other books I found something to keep me reading, this one was just too boring/depressing/the same fucking book he's written over and over.

[Woolen Horde]

Gravity's Rainbow - Extremely weird, and extremely dense. Especially once the talking dogs show up.

[Pogue Mahone]

Gravity's Rainbow - Extremely weird, and extremely dense. Especially once the talking dogs show up.

It took me three different attempts over a period of several years to finally get through that book. I'm glad I did, I'm a big Pynchon fan, but I do not claim to fully understand the book (there are many deconstructions available online that go into details and metaphors I just never picked up on).

I do hate leaving a book incomplete -- I managed to get through Moby Dick and Atlas Shrugged and again, I'm glad I did, but they were slogs.

I never finished the Alchemist whatever series by Peter Hamilton, though. I thought it sounded cool but man is it dull. You wouldn't think so, reading about a universe slowly being taken over by demonic undead thingies, but it bogs down in details about all the factions and politics and religion and I just couldn't do it.

[Jon Rowe]

Dies The Fire. LARPers take over the city of Portland after the apocalypse? Because they're trained in medieval weaponry?! When I read this, I threw the book across the room and wouldn't even go near it to put it away for a few days. Amazon rejected my review of the book, titled "What is the sound of ten thousand nerds masturbating?"

That sounds awful.

[Tortilla]

(I assume, unless there was some last minute gotcha?)

There was more action still to come, the aliens still had to be dealt with permanently so that they wouldn't ever return to Earth after all :)

[Drastic]

I quit on Gravity's Rainbow a few years back. I think I got roughly a third to a half way in, and my brain lost all purchase on what was happening.

Usually when I start books, I will finish them eventually, though. Mind you, I often wish that I hadn't afterwards.

[Christien Murawski]

Battlefield Earth: for the reasons Rock8man describes above. You make it to that halfway point and it just feels like he hit the reset button and you're going to have to wade through all that shit again. Like he was just starting the whole damn book over again. It was a gift from an aunt when I was a very young teen and I had no idea I was reading the work of a nutjob.

The Pelican Brief: fifteen years ago maybe? I had to try because it seemed like everybody was all nuts for Grisham and I had loved Presumed Innocent (Turow). I made it about halfway through when something really dumb happened (I think it was the casual offing of an assassin character, but I'm not sure), I yelled "Bullshit!" and threw the book across the room. There it stayed (until I vacuumed).

Atlas Shrugged: God I tried so hard to do this book. I swear. I made it just past the halfway point and I just got tired of all the preaching. I'm too old and time is too short to subject myself to that for months on end (I'm a pretty slow reader).

The Harry Potter books: I made it through The Prisoner of Alcatraz (whatever) and just said, "Okay. I'm done. If I have to read the words beetle-black eyes or bottle-brush tail one more time I'm gonna go supernova."

The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder: I do like the way Vincent Bugliosi writes some of the time (although his slant and tendency to insult his opponents get in the way) and I liked a lot of this book but only made it about halfway. I think I was using it to tide me over until November 4th. Once the election passed I felt the burden of carrying anger at Bush lift from my shoulders. It was a relief to put it down. Maybe I'll finish it some day. Probably not.


-xtien

P.S. I love the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever and have read the whole set three or four times. But every time I've recommended it the person has given up on it and said some variant of, "Are you crazy?"

[Benhur]

Dies The Fire. LARPers take over the city of Portland after the apocalypse? Because they're trained in medieval weaponry?! When I read this, I threw the book across the room and wouldn't even go near it to put it away for a few days. Amazon rejected my review of the book, titled "What is the sound of ten thousand nerds masturbating?"

This sounds like the greatest piece of speculative fiction ever made.

[Mordrak]

Weird... I really loved the book. (except the last pro-communism part) It was very moving and powerful to me. I guess it depends on how much you can sympathize with being "fucked over by the man". For me, that is a lot. I don't understand how you can enjoy the things that happened in that book. I don't know what rubbed you the wrong way in there, but I have nearly the complete opposite feelings on that book.

Kerzain doesn't like whiners. You're supposed to bend over, take it, and like it, just as he's done his entire life. If he has to feel terrible and live a shitty life, so does everyone else!

[nixon66]

I usually finish what I start, but Gravity's Rainbow took me 3 starts before I but the bullet and just plowed through. Rewarding, but like many of the above, I think I missed a lot of what was really going on.

I've also had Infinite Jest on my "to read" shelf for years, made 2 starts, and I think if they run Infinite Summer next year, it will be mine time to actually finish it.

[jellyfish]

The third Dune book. What the hell was that? The first book was really great. The second was so so but at least it was short. The third was huge, and like I said, what the hell? Then there are like dozens more books after that one. Did anyone ever read those things?

[Rock8man]

The third Dune book. What the hell was that? The first book was really great. The second was so so but at least it was short. The third was huge, and like I said, what the hell? Then there are like dozens more books after that one. Did anyone ever read those things?

Yeah, I also thought Children of Dune was the weakest in the series, followed by the second book. I read through the series, beginning to end, in 1994 or 95, while I was in college, and I have to admit I have a couple of favorites. I absolutely loved God Emperor of Dune (Book 4) for its philosophical explorations on the role of government in civilization, and the overall theme of governance of people. I found it a fascinating trip down that avenue. And from an action book perspective my favorite is Heretics of Dune (Book 5) because it plays out like a modern day action movie in the Dune universe. It's very exciting at times, unlike the first four books which tend to be more introspective and slower paced. Book 6 continues that story, so I liked it, but not as much as Book 5.

But if I had to be nailed down for a favorite, it would still be the original Dune. The philosophy behind the phrase "Fear is a mind-killer" got me through some tough times when I was in excruciating pain. It came after reading the series, and it really helped me consider that philosophy in my head and think about ignoring the pain centers in my brain and just focus on what needed to be done. In one such instance, I told myself I needed to ignore the pain and use my non-ACL torn leg to get up off the snow and get inside so I wouldn't freeze to death. No doubt I would have done the same without having read Dune, but damn it, it really helped at the time.

[Dean]

This sounds like the greatest piece of speculative fiction ever made.

They get steadily worse. The Wiccan folk singer turns into the matron of a coven and Wicca becomes a mainstream religion because she really has magical powers.

The Mary Sue main character is an ex-army guy who is open to learning how to fight with a sword.

I stopped after they defeated the ex-medieval history professor and renfair devotee who had set up a feudal system that allowed him to put all the women into sexual slavery.

My wife still reads them. Apparently they're into the second generation of LARPers.

[Sarkus]

Ancient Shores - Jack McDevitt

A few years ago I was on a post-apoc splurge and saw a McDevitt book on a list. I went looking for it at a local used bookstore and couldn't find it but saw a few other books of his and picked them up as they looked interesting. I ordered the post-apoc book from Amazon and sat down with Ancient Shores.

I got about halfway through it, convinced the McDevitt was one of the worst authors I'd ever read. Characters doing things they shouldn't have been realistically doing and the author coming up with lame excuses to justify it was just too much.

About a year later I was bored and decided to read the post-apoc novel, hoping it would at least be decent. It was like reading a different author. Then I picked up one of the other books I had bought back with Ancient Shores and that was good too. I ended up going on a lengthy McDevitt reading binge and they were mostly pretty good books.

I tried rereading Ancient Shores later and actually finished it, but it's still awfull.

[Kaigen]

Infinite Jest, twice. A combination of the book being really difficult to read (and I mean physically difficult - a huge, heavy paperback that you have to keep flipping back and forth between the meat of the text and the insane footnotes sections. You don't read Infinite Jest so much as wrestle it to the ground) and my general over-saturated media lifestyle. I made a big push to read it this summer, but at a point my addled brain would whipser "Do you really want to read another disjointed chapter of Infinite Jest, or would you rather smoke a joint and watch Top Gear?" DAMN YOU, JEREMY CLARKSON.

Same. However, for me it was mostly that it was going to take me a long, long time to finish and I had it checked out from the library. I keep saying that I'm going to buy it and chip away at it over a long time, but I just haven't gotten around to it.

World War Z also. But mainly because Max Brooks can't write voice for shit. Everyone in that book is the same damn person and I can't stand it. Ruins a great concept and I just lost interest.

[Hanacker]

I don't think I've ever started a book and not finished it. Even stuff that wasn't very good.

[Adam Altmann]

Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson. I loved Cryptonomicon (after the first hundred pages or so) and tried to get through this book twice. Can't do it.

The Lord of the Rings, I've also tried to get through on numerous occasions. The Hobbit? No problem. I get a bit into The Two Towers, and I wander off. I just can't get interested.

Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy. I'm just not hip enough to get this guy. When you're too edgy to use quotation marks, you're too edgy for me.

A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole. I didn't mind this book so much, but I set it down one day and never picked it back up. Perhaps I should try again.

[malkav11]

I wouldn't count most of the books I've picked up, read three pages of, and put back down due to sheer awful.

I would count William C. Dietz's first McCade book. Cyberpunk action stuff, iirc, which usually does it for me but Dietz's writing was so cliched and dull that I just couldn't keep going.

I did actually finish Simon R. Green's first Nightside book, but I will never read anything else of his. In this case, the premise was -right- up my alley and seemed really cool, but the writing was just a stream of awkward exposition.

I tried reading The Mists of Avalon probably three times, and each time I'd get hundreds of pages into the book and then it would be due back at the library. Now, please understand that I usually read a page a minute in many books, more in some quicker reading books (Harry Potter was, I think, two, maybe even three a minute). And I couldn't finish The Mists of Avalon in over three weeks. I eventually just gave up.

[Kaigen]

Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy. I'm just not hip enough to get this guy. When you're too edgy to use quotation marks, you're too edgy for me.


I love McCarthy but I was never able to finish this one either. It was just too much. The Road is one of my favorite books too.

[Morberis]

You know what I'm sorry but I couldn't stand The Terror by Dan Simmons. I didn't stop reading it but I eventually became so apathetic that I just ended up skipping a hundred pages here and there.

[malkav11]

I can understand why people like Cormac McCarthy, but his stylistic decision to mostly abandon punctuation and the like makes his work almost entirely unreadable for me. It's like someone pounding nails into my brain through my eyes.

[jerri blank]

I have a few books I haven't gotten around to finishing, but one book I consciously put down, as in "I can't do this any more," was Black House by Peter Straub and Stephen King. I loved The Talisman, and BH ties in a little to the Dark Tower mythology, but it managed to be brutal and dull at the same time.

[FoRmaT]

Really? I loved Black House. And that book was so visual for me, reading it was almost as watching a movie inside my head. It had really strong images and a great sense of fear.

Another book I started reading but stopped after an hour was Necromancer.
I don't know what the hell the book was about, because it jumped from here to there, from situation to situation, "introducing" new characters all the time without telling us anything about them...

I just couldn't follow this book. Maybe if I read it with some kind of companion guide, or perhaps tried reading it in German, I would be able to.

[Brad Grenz]

I dropped Moving Mars about 2/3rds in. I picked it up at the same time as a few other Greg Bear books because I had enjoyed Eon and Anvil of the Stars. I kept hoping shit would get crazy, but all I read was some really boring crap about a fickle chick on Mars, silly Martian politics and a pointless, excruciatingly long trip to Earth and back that didn't accomplish anything. When I realized I was closer to the end than the beginning and not a single intriguing thing had happened I just gave up. That's pretty rare for me. Sometimes I'll set a book aside for a while, years even, but I'll come back intending to finish. But I just made a clean break with Moving Mars.

[Benhur]

I like Star Trek, and I like books. Will Riker is one of my favorite characters, so surely I am going to love reading about his adventures on the USS Titan, right? It's like the author found any and every excuse to drag out third-rate characters you'd see on a bad episode of Next Gen or DS9 and put them as major players on the ship. It's a bad fanfic come to life and I've never missed seven dollars so much.

[Benhur]

I can understand why people like Cormac McCarthy, but his stylistic decision to mostly abandon punctuation and the like makes his work almost entirely unreadable for me. It's like someone pounding nails into my brain through my eyes.

It didn't bother me in The Road since the dialogue was pretty scarce, but I wonder how I'd like it in a book with more talking...

[Peter Jones]

Ancient Shores - Jack McDevitt

. . .

I tried rereading Ancient Shores later and actually finished it, but it's still awfull.

I really enjoy McDevitt, and decided to delve into his back catalog. I agree with your comments about this one. I slogged through it, but mostly on the hope that suddenly it would become good, which it never did. And the climactic ending? Really, really weak.

[AlanT]

Atonement. I got a hundred pages in, put it down and never picked it up again. My wife told me what happens in the end, and I was glad I stopped, because the narrative trickery she described would just have annoyed me.

I lasted 10 minutes into the movie.

[Fugitive]

The Wheel Of Time, about halfway through the first book. The characters were still all traveling towards some city of some import, but nothing particularly interesting was being revealed and I just didn't care about any of the characters and their relatively boring road trip.

The Diamond Age, though I wouldn't really blame the book itself in this case. It was a book I had set aside for reading while waiting on certain things, but that became more and more infrequent and at some point my memory of what had happened before was hazy enough that I didn't really want to jump right back into it, but I didn't want to restart it from the beginning either.

[Rightbug]

Little Big

I gave up with about a hundred pages to go, after beginning to deeply doubt whether or not there would be any payoff for the 500-odd pages. Maybe it's worth it to finish it, but I would have been really upset if the ending just fizzled out. I can deal with a certain amount of meandering in service of a larger story, but I'm not so sure I like it when meandering is all there is.

Heh -- That's on my list as well. The funny thing is that I was actually enjoying it but, after a month I was only a little over 100 pages in and I said to myself, "Fuck me -- If I keep reading this I'll read nothing else for four months." That was not an acceptable state of affairs to me.

It's suprising that my list of books I stopped reading isn't longer as I read almost exclusively for pleasure so anything that I'm not enjoying I put down. I think that because there are more books I want to read than there is time to read them, I'm just very selective about what I choose.

Infinite Jest is on my list. I think I bagged it after the two page footnote regarding his medications.

Anne Rice's The Witching Hour was, thankfully, the last Anne Rice book I tried to read. I think I actually tried that one twice. The family connections were just too complicated to keep straight and I couldn't bring myself to give a shit.

Daniel Quinn's Ishmael was an odd one. That damned ape was just making way too much sense and when he was like, "As soon as I tell you this you won't be able to unknow it and it will color your perception of the world," I thought to myself, "He's probably right. I have a feeling it's going to be something depressing that will bug me for months." Ignorance is bliss!

[Rightbug]

Oh yea a recent one, Choke by Chuck Palahniuk. I enjoyed Fight Club, but couldn't get into this one. I felt like I'd heard it all before and was bored.

Ah -- That reminds me. I didn't finish Palahniuk's Haunted. The framing story was fucking dumb and the stories seemed to be trying way too hard to be shocking. It was like self-parody.

[WarrenM]

I can't remember the book now but it might have been Choke. There was a character named Rand and the author had a predilection for describing the condoms and tampons that would collect on the barbed farm land fences. That book sucked, I didn't finish it.

[Athryn]

Twilight. My SO's mom gave me the book for Christmas, and I had to smile and pretend I liked it. I tried to give it a good shot, but I couldn't get past the first 10 pages. It's the first book I've ever thrown into the trash.

[tromik]

There are too many to list. Especially since I'm a library-fiend. I could probably make a list of books I start and don't finish per week.

How about books you stopped reading for some reason, but when you eventually went back and finished them you loved?

Happened to me with American Gods, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Now I would probably list them as some as my favourite novels. In fact, I've finished two of them twice.

[Rock8man]

The Diamond Age, though I wouldn't really blame the book itself in this case. It was a book I had set aside for reading while waiting on certain things, but that became more and more infrequent and at some point my memory of what had happened before was hazy enough that I didn't really want to jump right back into it, but I didn't want to restart it from the beginning either.

Nice reminder about Diamond Age. I bought it back in the year it came out (93, I think? Could have been 94 or 95), and I kept occasionally reading the first couple of chapters but couldn't keep going. I didn't include it on my list since I always assumed I'd finish it one day. Maybe in 2010!

[Rightbug]

Anathem was the first Stephenson novel I didn't finish. I didn't give it much of a chance. I got about 50 pages in and wasn't really interested in the world he was creating or the made up words.

[Marged]

There are too many to list. Especially since I'm a library-fiend. I could probably make a list of books I start and don't finish per week.

How about books you stopped reading for some reason, but when you eventually went back and finished them you loved?

Happened to me with American Gods, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Now I would probably list them as some as my favourite novels. In fact, I've finished two of them twice.

The Plague is one of those for me. So glad I finished that one.

[Alex Handy]

Anything by Piers Anthony. Ick. Also, anything by John Steinbeck.

[jellyfish]

...Also, anything by John Steinbeck.
Blasphemy! How can anyone read 'Of Mice and Men' and not cry at the end?

[Rock8man]

Also, anything by John Steinbeck.

Really? I've only read "Of Mice and Men", but I thought it was very readable. It was short, had a fairly fast moving story, and was well told. I guess I'm biased since that's one of the books in English class in High School that I really enjoyed trying to extend. Extend meaning write an alternate ending that is still in the style of the original writer. I always had a blast writing those types of assignments because it made you analyze what the author was trying to do, what feelings they evoked, and what tricks they used in their narrative.

[jason]

My wife is a big fan of the various Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy books, and I've always told her that if she reads something exceptional, I'll try it...

To that end, I started reading Working for the Devil by Lilith Saintcrow. Honestly, the idea behind the book isn't horrible, and the summary I've been given from my wife sounds like something I'd enjoy... but I only made it about 30 pages into the book because the main character is a Necromance. No, I did not leave the "R" off the end of that word. That's how the author decided to use it. Someone who practices necromancy, in her world, is not a Necromancer, but a "Necromance". As in, "I am an accredited and tatooed Necromance." or "An emerald was the mark of a Necromance." Every single time that word appeared, my brain would hurt. By page 30 or so, I was having audible fits. I couldn't take it anymore and put the book down.

[Neopythia]

The Lord of the Rings: I couldn't manage it until after the movies were made, now I've read it twice. I completely agree that Tolkien struggles with character depth and dramatic tension.

Wheel of Time: I managed to make it through three books before throwing in the towel. Talk about a man in need of a good editor.

Dune: I could never make it through the exodus-esque opening.

The Fountainhead: And people told me this was the most accessable of the books. God I hate Ayn Rand.

[Robert Sharp]

The first Game of Thrones book. Song of Fire and Ice, maybe? I read about half or so, and then just stopped. Maybe it gets better. I don't know. But I didn't like it.

And yeah, the torture Wheel of Time. I read the first 3, I think, and tried to go on but failed.

For some reason, I stopped halfway through Passage to India, which is still sitting on my nightstand, but I haven't read in it for over a year.

[Alex Handy]

Blasphemy! How can anyone read 'Of Mice and Men' and not cry at the end?

Hell, I cried over the dead mouse at the beginning. I just can't stand Steinbeck because he is so depressing. I don't mind a tragedy, but I was in 8th grade when they first made us reead the Red Pony. I was disgusted about halfway through. The main character was not sympathetic, and spent his time disassembling dead birds and killing his own pony.

Just a few weeks later, they dropped the Black Pearl on us, then Of Mice and Men. I cannot stand Steinbeck's leads. They are always reprehensible people pushed into terrible situations. I found myself turning every page and cringing at whatever the main charcter was saying or doing. Like fingernails on a chalk board.

Sure, it's sad and well written, but I don't want to read it. I find all of Steinbeck to be a great depressing blob of angst and sadness. Not one glimmer of hope or joy in any of his work. I know that's the whole point. But when I'm reading for my own personal enjoyment, I'll read something interesting, not something that is bound from the start to go lower and lower until everyone in the end is either alone and poor, or retarded and dead.

I suppose they were trying to teach us something about life, by making us read this stuff. All it taught me is that I fucking hate Steinbeck.

[Desslock]

Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy. I'm just not hip enough to get this guy. When you're too edgy to use quotation marks, you're too edgy for me.

Try the audiobook sometime - it's fantastic, and you don't have to worry about quotation marks. I really enjoyed it.

The audiobook for Grapes of Wrath is also very good, since someone mentioned Steinbeck, and that story has some modern resonance these days as well.

[malkav11]

My wife is a big fan of the various Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy books, and I've always told her that if she reads something exceptional, I'll try it...

To that end, I started reading Working for the Devil by Lilith Saintcrow. Honestly, the idea behind the book isn't horrible, and the summary I've been given from my wife sounds like something I'd enjoy... but I only made it about 30 pages into the book because the main character is a Necromance. No, I did not leave the "R" off the end of that word. That's how the author decided to use it. Someone who practices necromancy, in her world, is not a Necromancer, but a "Necromance". As in, "I am an accredited and tatooed Necromance." or "An emerald was the mark of a Necromance." Every single time that word appeared, my brain would hurt. By page 30 or so, I was having audible fits. I couldn't take it anymore and put the book down.

You know, I read that one all the way through, enjoyed it, and fully intend to go back and read more of her books in due time. But I really, really hated that decision too.

But then, I thought it was really stupid that J.K. Rowling decided to call her big bad evil wizard cult the "Death Eaters". I mean, come the fuck on. Still read and enjoyed that series.

[Gordon Cameron]

The Red Pony is the only Steinbeck I've read -- in school, as I suppose most others did -- and I recall finding it almost unbearably intense at moments.

[Marged]

For a while, I made it my personal mission to read everything Steinbeck had written. I actually love him quite a lot - my favorite novel of his is The Winter of our Discontent which is incredibly bleak but stops short of being completely devastating. You might even call it a happy ending!

In fact, my Steinbeckathon ended with an unfinished book - Travels with Charley. No excuse for not finishing that one. I was saving East of Eden for the finale.

[Adree]

I agree Tolkien was more about describing the world (though IMO Gollum lasts as a distinctive character). That's exactly why I loved LOTR -- as an angst-ridden adolescent at a certain time of my life I found those books to be a place to escape to, a world I could lose myself in for months.

What do you read now as an angst-ridden adult?

[Omniscia]

The Wheel Of Time, about halfway through the first book. The characters were still all traveling towards some city of some import, but nothing particularly interesting was being revealed and I just didn't care about any of the characters and their relatively boring road trip.


This. There are plenty of books I haven't finished reading, but there's always the intention that I'll go back and finish them someday. But Robert Jordan's sprawling, interminable epic was so dull and uneventful I willfully abandoned it about three chapters in.

[MattKeil]

That is what I love about OSC. Xenocide is my favorite of all of his books that I have read. (Ender's shadow is a close second). As a Biologist and psuedo-catholic person the themes in his later books really hit home. How does our religion fit in to other sentient life? What about sentient AI? Crazyness. I love how much his books make me think about things. I will agree that it can get a bit verbose, and if it doesn't grab you like it grabbed me it could get really boring.

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/nighttime_stories.jpg

[Sarkus]

I really enjoy McDevitt, and decided to delve into his back catalog. I agree with your comments about this one. I slogged through it, but mostly on the hope that suddenly it would become good, which it never did. And the climactic ending? Really, really weak.

I'd use the term "total crap" to describe the ending, personally. But, yeah, his other stuff was pretty good for awhile. However, I've heard the last two books of his have been disappointing and haven't read them yet.

[Christien Murawski]

...my favorite novel of his is The Winter of our Discontent...

Yes. I love that book.


-xtien

[Jon Rowe]

xkcd comic

I thought of that same strip when writing that. :)

I would have loved her.

[Mordrak]

What do you read now as an angst-ridden adult?

Well, it was a combination of scripts and WoW for awhile. I'm not sure now.

[Creole Ned]

I'm much better at finishing books than I am at games. That said, Dune Messiah is the first that comes to mind. I enjoyed the world Herbert had created in the original book but Messiah just never got its hooks into me and I abandoned it after 40 pages.

There was also a Nevil Shute novel I had to read as part of an assignment in grade 9 but I found it so utterly dull I couldn't finish it and just faked that I had. All I recall is that it had a warplane of some sort on the cover.

[Alex Handy]

Actually, Xenocide is one I never finished. I got tired of the little girl following floor boards, and found that there was not the same intrigue of the previous book. I spent the entirety of Speaker spellbound by the sense of mystery around what the hell the Piggies were, biologically. But Xenocide left me cold, and I never finished.

[candide]

There are books that I didn't finish, but plan to finish eventually... I often have 5 or 10 different books that I'm reading in small chunks as my mood strikes me.

From the books I don't plan to finish:

- I gave up on The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher after book three or so, it's too flat and unimaginative
- The Western Lands by W. Burroughs - my ex gave it to me claiming it's her favorite book of all times, but I don't enjoy that kind of writing at all. Maybe I'm oldskool but I expect my books to have their pages presented in the proper order
- The Iron Council by China Mieville. After the imagination overkill that was Perdido Street Station, this was a huge, huge letdown for me

Some folks mentioned Stephenson's Baroque Cycle in the thread - I haven't finished Quicksilver yet, but I really want to. I adore his style when I'm in the right mood for it. He writes kinda like Dickens would write in the 21st century. But it requires a lot of time and attention (I'm not a native english speaker so it's even slower for me) and my current lifestyle doesn't lend itself to such activities much.

[Rightbug]

Some folks mentioned Stephenson's Baroque Cycle in the thread - I haven't finished Quicksilver yet, but I really want to. I adore his style when I'm in the right mood for it. He writes kinda like Dickens would write in the 21st century. But it requires a lot of time and attention (I'm not a native english speaker so it's even slower for me) and my current lifestyle doesn't lend itself to such activities much.

I loved the Baroque Cycle but I can see how opinions can be divided on the triology. In my opinion, howevr, it is very worth pushing on. There are some wonderful payoffs in the series.

In fact, I read the books as they were published and when I finished The System of The World I was sorely tempted to re-read the whole series from the begining but didn't want to give up so much time that could be devoted to reading books I haven't read yet. One day, perhaps.

[VictoriaWong]

I don't usually give up on books, but the Philip Pullman trilogy: Amber Spyglass is the only title I can remember- was bad enough I stopped, Robert Jordan (http://www.rinkworks.com/bookaminute/b/jordan.eyeworld.shtml) was repetitive, and Harry Potter was childish. And despite classmates' and relatives' protests, I refuse to read Twilight.

[malkav11]

I think you may be the first person I've -ever- encountered who thought Pullman was bad.

[AlanT]

I, too, think some of the His Dark Materials books are bad. The first one is good stuff, but the last is really pretty terrible (I reread all three relatively recently).

[nixon66]

I think you may be the first person I've -ever- encountered who thought Pullman was bad.

I didn't think he was bad, but something about his writing always put me off, but I did finish his series a couple of years back. Enough of that off feeling that I doubt I'll read them again.

[Marged]

The end of His Dark Materials just destroyed me. I can't think of another novel I read in recent years that left me sobbing like it did. I don't think Pullman is flawless, and sometimes in the Amber Spyglass I thought he lost his way, but they are so worth finishing.

Well, I have a new addition to the "not gonna finish" club - Tanith Lee's White as Snow. I have vague, fond memories of reading her modern retelling of Tam Lin in when I was in high school, so I picked this up at the library. The only thing it's good for is reading it out loud and laughing hysterically. I should have known better when the quote on the front was "White as snow, red as blood - a dark sensual retelling of Snow White." But it's also a retelling of the rape of Persephone! She can't decide, so she just settles on having lots of rape. Rapes for everyone! One of the main characters is named Candacis, which I swear is the species of fungi that causes yeast infections. And it's all in stilted, pseudo-Medieval prose that is just... well here, see for yourself:

"Draco again raised his arm. But like his erection, the penile upthrust of anger did not sustain itself."

"These are fine grounds for divorcement, woman."

"She met two dark eyes in a great rutted face, a face young and old at once, sane and demented at once. She saw the body under the face. A small giant's head had been fixed on the physique of a big muscular child."

What is she trying to describe there?

And from the very first page:

"Once upon a time, in winter, there was a mirror."

and

"But the mirror continued to mirror her as she went to a high window and instead looked out."

I've seen better writing in Magic: the Gathering novels.

Also, female dwarves are called dwarvixens.

[snowcrash22]

Gravity's Rainbow - Got it from the library but I just did not know what was going on. At all.

Love in the Time of Cholera - I absolutely adore "One Hundred Years of Solitude", probably my favorite book of all time but I just could not get into this one. Will try it again soon though.

A Feast of Crows - By the halfway mark I had decided that it wasn't going anywhere

The Wolf and the Crown by A.A. Attanasio. Third book in a King Arthur series that started off awesome in the "The Dragon and The Unicorn". That first book was really radical inventive stuff but by the third book it felt like rote bread and butter fantasy. Which is not how I want to remember A.A Attanasio.


That said, Dune Messiah is the first that comes to mind. I enjoyed the world Herbert had created in the original book but Messiah just never got its hooks into me and I abandoned it after 40 pages.

I think I made it page 100 but it could not hold my interest.

[Pogue Mahone]

Bet you made it through Snow Crash, though.

[DoomMunky]

Gardens of the Moon - Poorly written crap that was trying way too hard. I got frustrated by all the shoddy transitions and the terrible way Erikson describes his characters inner lives. He seems to be trying to justify their actions rather than explicate their feelings. I gave it 120 pages and lost the will to read. It's a pity, too, b/c the action could have been cool.

The Lies of Locke Lamora - More poorly written fantasy. I really liked the world and some of the characters, but the general tone was incredibly forced. It actually felt juvenile to me at times, like a book written by a 16 year old with a big vocabulary and not much skill. The characters have long conversations like this (not an actual quote but pretty close):

Jean whipped around, "That's not what you said the LAST time I caught you with your trousers down."
Trout smirked, "Yes, but then, you'll remember, I was in a compromising position because of your serial ineptitude, friend."
Locke hissed at them both, "Both of you be quiet. We're about to meet our target and I don't want him to think you've got the Wasting Disease. Because I'll beat you so hard with this spoon you'll be covered in welts that will look like that terrible skin condition!"
VERY labored and forced. I think it suffered from being read immediately after The Name of the Wind, which is incredibly self-assured and wonderfully written.

Feersum Endjinn - I LOVE Iain Banks (Complicity and Use of Weapons are easily in my top 10; hell, top 5), but I've put this down twice. I can never tell where the hell they are in this book. Is it a giant house? Are they teeny people? It's a shame b/c I love the physical manifestation of the underworld girl, and the the dude who dies and runs around in the virtual land is interesting, too, but dammit, I could just never tell what the hell was going on.

[rhinohelix]

Your not supposed to like him. In fact, you're supposed to completely hate him for his incessant denial of the Land and of his own real life.

Thomas Covenant is the original emo kid.

I frankly really liked the concept- you hate the protagonist, while everyone else is extremely admirable and likeable.

I also loved these books. Covenant is rightfully hated. And unlike some stories in the genre, that action (or reaction, as it were) continues to reverberate across the first three books The story is loaded with the requisite heroes and villains but then sets out to deliberately confound those ideals in the circumstances of the story. For example Donaldson decided to make the protagonist the worst person he could make him with enough of an out to allow the story to go places. There is much more failure than success. Dependable things aren't dependable and old rules are broken. Tons of people you are pulling for doing the right things and failing. Right up to the brink of the story, there was always the chance it could go wrong. Except there at the end there was something that was so forged by the fires of the events of the first three books you know things are going to work out...somehow.

I loved the travelogue aspect of these books more than Tolkien. Tolkien's land is a small "m"agical place. The Land is bursting at the seems with the vigor and promise of a post-enviromental dawn Tolkienism that allowed for much greater magicks to be afoot, and to be marveled at. Truly, the locations are characters in a number of ways, and all well-told.

[kerzain]

The Lies of Locke Lamora - More poorly written fantasy. I really liked the world and some of the characters, but the general tone was incredibly forced. It actually felt juvenile to me at times, like a book written by a 16 year old with a big vocabulary and not much skill. The characters have long conversations like this (not an actual quote but pretty close):

VERY labored and forced. I think it suffered from being read immediately after The Name of the Wind, which is incredibly self-assured and wonderfully written. I read these same two books around Christmas last year, one right after the other in the same order you described. I felt the same way about each book that you do. I had to force myself to finish reading Lies of Locke Lamora, I hated it that much.

The only reason I even bothered to finish it is because I had purchased the book. Typically the only books I feel okay about stopping halfway through are library books. I don't care if I finish those or not since I have no money invested in them, but I always try to finish stuff I pay for.

I re-read In the Name of the Wind recently and I'm noticing big sections I don't particularly like. I think my first run through I was so put off by Lies that In the Name of the Wind benefited from the all-girls-look-prettier-next-to-an-ugly-chick syndrome. I still like the book, and enjoyed it more than other fantasy I've read recently so I'll probably pick up the sequel sometime soon. I've got a lot on my plate though for now.

[Calistas]

Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson. After 150 pages, I realized that the book contains no plot or value. I consciously stopped reading it, never to be picked up again. This was a huge letdown after liking Cryptonomicon so much.

I did the same. Dropped it after 100-or-so pages. But then I picked it up again, plowed through those original bits and then never stopped. It's really, really worth getting past the early, dry bits. Sit down and do it, you won't regret it!

[extarbags]

Oh, that reminds me: Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. A friend of mine lent me this and Snow Crash, and I (barely) made it through the latter by basically being stuck on a series of airplanes with nothing to do but force through page after page of the main character lamely explaining a bunch of half baked linguistics and try to ignore the ridiculous Mary Sueism that makes up the last third or so, but there was good stuff there, at least.

Then I started Cryptonomicon, and the most entertaining part by far was the phrase "overwrought, sentimental math textbook," which I think popped into my head around page five or six or so and hasn't left since.

[mouselock]

Sure, it's sad and well written, but I don't want to read it. I find all of Steinbeck to be a great depressing blob of angst and sadness. Not one glimmer of hope or joy in any of his work. I know that's the whole point. But when I'm reading for my own personal enjoyment, I'll read something interesting, not something that is bound from the start to go lower and lower until everyone in the end is either alone and poor, or retarded and dead.


I take it you never had to read Ethan Frome then? Steinbeck is a fucking ray of sunshine in comparison. (Ethan Frome is the only book, literally, that I can remember actively disliking in High School. There was a lot of stuff that ranged from okay to great that I had to read, but that was the only one that I loathed. Then again, one of my favorites was Wuthering Heights, so I may have issues all my own.)

[mouselock]

The Lies of Locke Lamora - More poorly written fantasy. I really liked the world and some of the characters, but the general tone was incredibly forced. It actually felt juvenile to me at times, like a book written by a 16 year old with a big vocabulary and not much skill. The characters have long conversations like this (not an actual quote but pretty close):

VERY labored and forced. I think it suffered from being read immediately after The Name of the Wind, which is incredibly self-assured and wonderfully written.


Oddly I read those two in the same order and didn't have that problem. (I suspect I don't notice bad writing nearly as much as most folks here, though, since I can never understand why other people get so upset with books that I just found rather bland.)

I liked Locke Lamora. Name of the Wind was far, far better of course, but there aren't a lot of books I can think of that have impressed me as much as Name of the Wind.

[CLWheeljack]

I think you may be the first person I've -ever- encountered who thought Pullman was bad.

My Dad reads a lot of fantasy and didn't care for them. He also can't remember the name and calls it things like the "His Majestic Compass" series, which I think is funny.

[malkav11]

I did the same. Dropped it after 100-or-so pages. But then I picked it up again, plowed through those original bits and then never stopped. It's really, really worth getting past the early, dry bits. Sit down and do it, you won't regret it!

Quicksilver is kind of a test of faith for that trilogy. It's not -bad-, but it drags. I don't really like any of the books in the trilogy as much as his other novels, (with the possible exception of Zodiac), but the second and third are certainly much livelier, mostly because of Half-Cocked Jack Shaftoe.

[malkav11]

Well, I have a new addition to the "not gonna finish" club - Tanith Lee's White as Snow. I have vague, fond memories of reading her modern retelling of Tam Lin in when I was in high school, so I picked this up at the library. The only thing it's good for is reading it out loud and laughing hysterically. I should have known better when the quote on the front was "White as snow, red as blood - a dark sensual retelling of Snow White." But it's also a retelling of the rape of Persephone! She can't decide, so she just settles on having lots of rape. Rapes for everyone! One of the main characters is named Candacis, which I swear is the species of fungi that causes yeast infections. And it's all in stilted, pseudo-Medieval prose that is just... well here, see for yourself:

"Draco again raised his arm. But like his erection, the penile upthrust of anger did not sustain itself."

"These are fine grounds for divorcement, woman."

"She met two dark eyes in a great rutted face, a face young and old at once, sane and demented at once. She saw the body under the face. A small giant's head had been fixed on the physique of a big muscular child."

What is she trying to describe there?

And from the very first page:

"Once upon a time, in winter, there was a mirror."

and

"But the mirror continued to mirror her as she went to a high window and instead looked out."

I've seen better writing in Magic: the Gathering novels.

Also, female dwarves are called dwarvixens.

This reminds me - I kinda like some gothic fantasy, and Tanith Lee's "Books of Paradys" seemed to have done pretty well for themselves, so I checked out a collected volume of them. I couldn't even make it through the first book. Overwrought, poorly written, and there wasn't really a whole lot resembling a plot in there.

[Calistas]

Quicksilver is kind of a test of faith for that trilogy. It's not -bad-, but it drags. I don't really like any of the books in the trilogy as much as his other novels, (with the possible exception of Zodiac), but the second and third are certainly much livelier, mostly because of Half-Cocked Jack Shaftoe.

Agreed. I really liked his take on historic fiction. It isn't all about wars and heroics, it is as much about economics and the marketplace of ideas. Felt modern because of it. I loved how you had a sense reading it that in the 1680s through 1700s everything was changing, and changing damn quickly. I hadn't had that feeling about that period before so how this was told impressed me :)

Yeah, the later books add a lot of payoff. As a result of these books I want to read The Ascent Of Money and I want to dig up something on Newton's time at the Mint.

[Hugin]

I think you may be the first person I've -ever- encountered who thought Pullman was bad.

Really? Because Pullman has a lot of critics. I thought The Golden Compass was dreary and didactic with an irritating Mary Sue of a protagonist. (I did like the Bear).

After reading it I had to go reread some James Morrow just to get Pullman's whiny anti-God flavor out of my brain.

[snowcrash22]

I had never heard of Mary Sue (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Sue) or Mary Sue-ism until reading this thread. And I learned something today! Thank you Qt3!

[Udarnik]

I thought The Golden Compass was dreary and didactic with an irritating Mary Sue of a protagonist.

Wait, wasn't the protagonist a lying, unintellectual, rebellious little girl? Didactic I'll give you, but not Mary Sue-ism.

[Austin Arlitt]

Atlas Shrugged: God I tried so hard to do this book. I swear. I made it just past the halfway point and I just got tired of all the preaching. I'm too old and time is too short to subject myself to that for months on end (I'm a pretty slow reader).
Was it the 60 page John Galt rant? I know several people who've just given up on the book at that dreadful point. I never attempted after hearing that.

Earlier this year, I tried to read the Russell/Whitehead Principia Mathematica... Oh... Oh god... The horror... The absolute horror... Taught myself symbolic logic in the lengthy intros, and... well, a few lines in, I thought that maybe the lesser English version would be much easier to swallow. The fun part is quoted on the Wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principia_mathematica) anyway. 'Twas fun to try at least...

House of Leaves left me feeling cheapened and abused like an intellectual whore. I'd been subjected to far too much information (little of which was useful) for not quite enough payment in return. I still like the premise, but the writing was silly.

VALIS
I feel bad about this one, because Philip K Dick is my favorite author. I felt information overload on this one too (it does stand for Vast Active Living Intelligence System) & could not find the other two books in the trilogy, so I decided to leave it till the other two turned up. They have. I've not restarted.

I did take a long break from Lord of the Rings (after book one, I left the fellowship at Rivendell for a few months) on my first attempt, but finished it in full. Afterward, I read the Hobbit, and it made book one in Lord of the Rings a lot easier to stomach during my second time through. I think the humor completely passed over my head the first time--too little context.

Any other books I've forgotten to finish, I've also forgotten altogether. I usually have completion compulsion.

[Chris Nahr]

I recently ditched Iain M. Banks' highly regarded The Player of Games after a few chapters. I had enjoyed Consider Phlebas, his first novel set in the same universe, but in that novel the "Culture" was merely an interesting sideshow. Turns out that Player is all about and inside the "Culture"... and people who live in a bio-engineered Eden, with nothing to do but chat with their robo-buddies, are terribly boring protagonists.

[Jonathan Crane]

I recently ditched Iain M. Banks' highly regarded The Player of Games after a few chapters. I had enjoyed Consider Phlebas, his first novel set in the same universe, but in that novel the "Culture" was merely an interesting sideshow. Turns out that Player is all about and inside the "Culture"... and people who live in a bio-engineered Eden, with nothing to do but chat with their robo-buddies, are terribly boring protagonists.

You quit too soon - probably right before the locale shifts a bit. The real glory of the book isn't the part you've already read.

[metta]

I recently ditched Iain M. Banks' highly regarded The Player of Games after a few chapters. I had enjoyed Consider Phlebas, his first novel set in the same universe, but in that novel the "Culture" was merely an interesting sideshow. Turns out that Player is all about and inside the "Culture"... and people who live in a bio-engineered Eden, with nothing to do but chat with their robo-buddies, are terribly boring protagonists.

Someone will undoubtedly appear here soonly to advise that you persevere for a bit longer than a few chapters, so I don't need to do that. I will say, however, that your post makes me wonder what incredible, mind-expanding experiences I've missed out on by setting aside a book early. I guess neither of us, Chris, will ever know the road not travelled :)

EDIT: Ah, there we are, The Scarecrow beat me to it :o

[malkav11]

There aren't many Culture books set entirely in and about the Culture, if any. (Maybe Excession? But that one is certainly not about the usual day-to-day operations of the Culture.)

[tiohn]

VALIS
I feel bad about this one, because Philip K Dick is my favorite author. I felt information overload on this one too (it does stand for Vast Active Living Intelligence System) & could not find the other two books in the trilogy, so I decided to leave it till the other two turned up. They have. I've not restarted.



Dick is one of my favorite authors and VALIS is by far my favorite of his novels. The other two books in the trilogy are alright, but certainly not necessary.

[cheapfilms]

Can't think of any I just dropped other than Atonement, which I got in the airport for a long plane ride and then lost. Saw the movie later and thought it looked pretty.

Both Adventures of Kavalier and Clay and Dead Souls I had to pick up multiple times with a gap of several years to finish. For the later, it was the graphs that lasted for pages. For the former, I don't know. I wanted more of the golem? I know I'm missing the big point with that gripe.

[Chris Nahr]

Someone will undoubtedly appear here soonly to advise that you persevere for a bit longer than a few chapters, so I don't need to do that. I will say, however, that your post makes me wonder what incredible, mind-expanding experiences I've missed out on by setting aside a book early. I guess neither of us, Chris, will ever know the road not travelled :)

In this case I will. :) The book had not yet gone to the recycling bin, so now it goes back to the reading pile. Thanks for your input, everyone.

[Nellie]

I'm not a huge Iain (M) Banks fan but I did really enjoy the Player of Games too. Been a while since I read it but your reasons for dropping it sound familiar so chalk me into the "give it another go" camp.

[peacedog]

Oooh, Otherland. I read through the first book but it took some effort. It's weird, but I really enjoyed some sections but others dragged. I got into the second book and. . . I just couldn't bring myself to care anymore.

[nixon66]

Oooh, Otherland. I read through the first book but it took some effort. It's weird, but I really enjoyed some sections but others dragged. I got into the second book and. . . I just couldn't bring myself to care anymore.

Oh Otherland. Back when I didn't have Qt3 to recommend quality books to me so I'd read an entire series, even if I didn't really like it, because I didn't know what else to read in the meantime. This is Otherland to me, same with the four or so books I read in the Sword of Truth series until I came to my senses.

[malkav11]

I really loved the idea of Otherland. The actual execution was a bit flabby. But it kept me reading.

[Athryn]

Yeah there were definitely parts of Otherland that dragged, but overall I found it a great series, and the concepts of an internet type space that was without "net neutrality" was a very interesting one.

Uh, that is if we're talking about the Tad Williams Otherland series.

[DoomMunky]

Yep, that's the one. The idea was pretty awesome indeed, but it was just like Wizard and Glass, WAY too damn long for it's own good. It could have been 2 books, easily.

Actually, there's another book I stopped reading. Song of Suzhanna, or whatever Dark Tower 5 is called. Wolves of the Calla? Who fucking cares. The girl gunslinger was impregnated with a demon baby and the whole thing was terribly written and soap-opera-ey.