This is going to sound weird but I read through Eragon and could not for the life of me make it even half way through Eldest. I don't know if I just wasn't interested or if it seemed to comparable to the first one... and I still haven't finished it and that was four years ago.
There are a ton I never finish, either because I don't have time to, or they're boring, but the only one I can note off the top of my head is 'Pretties' by Scott Westerfield (I think?).
Uglies was great; I finished it within a few hours of picking it up, but Pretties didn't have the same effect on me. I don't think I got too far into it before I got bored of it and read something else.
Masters of Sociology... I've had it for five years now and haven't gotten past page five. War and Peace... didn't make it past page fifty. I liked it, but there were so many characters, it was hard to keep track of who was who. The Discoverers... I actually liked it but found I'd much rather read about the "masters of memory" than anything else. The Enigma of Japanese Power I also enjoyed, but I put it down a while and didn't pick it back up. The Golden Hills of Westria... a good friend of mine recommended it, but I didn't like the atmosphere of the book. Bordeaux, my book about the wine of Bordaeux. I never read Earth Medicines and Earth Foods from cover to cover, I just looked things up in it.
I'm proud to say there haven't been too many books I haven't been able to finish, but there was always a few.
Eon DragonEye Reborn - This book was okay, and I'm still trying to finish it, but I seriously doubt I'll finish this. It's just not that great.
Animal Farm - This wasn't my fav and I stopped about halfway through. The only book I enjoyed that had talking animals was Charlettes Web.
..... Wow. I thought there were at least a few more, but I can't think of anymore. Sorry.
There is only one way I wouldn't finish a book is because it wasn't interesting. So I return it and if the person behind the counter says "Was it good?" I'll be like "I didn't finish it." =/
The first Night World book novel thing. I literally threw it into teh bin (but it missed, boohoo) Because it Was a Twilight ripoff. It had a lousy Photoshop edit on the front, It was liek Two inches thick, and Well, The plots were the same, Just Bella turned into Poppy and Edward turned into James. Oh, but Poppy's turned into a Vamp in chapter 5. I don't reccomend reading it. ROFL.
The only one tha I regret not finishing is American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Other things got in the way, but I own it so I can always finish it whenever I want to.
The looking glass war, mirror mirror......That's all I remember. I mostly finish reading the books but sometimes for some reason I got bored to it or something happen that I stop reading them.
Good Omen's by Nail Gaiman, such a funny book but i was so long that I couldn't finish it, I just got tired ot going through so many eventsand things. It was a pretty funny book though, too bad I didn't finish it. :/
There's only ever been one book I've never been able to finish and that would be "The Historian." I got so confused reading it, couldn't tell who was who and what time period they were in and all...
I tried to read Lord of the Rings, and I just can't do it. :/
It's just too much I guess, I dunno, maybe it's just the beginning but I can't finish it. I can't even get through a whole page fully without spacing off.
"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"...It wasn't very interesting to me. I thought it was rather dry. My older sister didn't like the book. So, she asked me to read it and just give her what she needed.
"Double Dare" by Vicki Hinze...It's was okay. It was interesting in some parts but it's not the best book I have ever read.
"Silent Reckoning" by Debra Webb...I didn't like it.
These are the ones I can recall--it turns out to be a depressingly long list. And there are more books I enjoyed but didn't finish than those I put down on purpose... I am a terrible reader. D:
Seriously, this list is so long it seems right to hide itX
Wicked: I got about halfway through, and it started to get dull. So I put it down, and was never inclined to resume reading.
Twilight: I thought it might just be one of those books that it took a bit of reading to get into, so I forced myself to read twelve pages before I just couldn't stand it anymore. Poorly written and boring.
The Da Vinci Code: Read the first page, which was terrible, and put it right down.
The Magus (John Fowles): Eh. I couldn't get into the whole psychological exploration thing.
El Alquimista (Paul Coehlo, trans. maybe Juan Godo Costa?): This was actually really good! But I had it out from the library in the town I stayed in for my summer job, and I didn't get to finish it before I had to return it and move. I should find another copy...
and Le Comte de Monte-Cristo for the same reason. I prefer to read long-format things on paper.
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle (David Wroblewski): Another excellent read, although I didn't get to the ending which is apparently controversial, haha. No idea why I stopped or why I haven't started again; I know I'd get back into it if I did.
The Song of the Dodo (David Quammen, nonfiction) and Moby Dick, and probably others--excellent books which I had to read parts of for school, and keep forgetting to finish during vacations.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Some Random Randomness
I started the Silmarillion when I was like 10 years old.
Sufficed to say, I didn't get very far in the beginning.
Recently I re-read it and pushed through the beginning, and after that I loved it!
Ha! I should find that and pick it up again; I did exactly the same thing when I was little.
Eragon - guh, I read the first few pages then threw it back at the library.
LOTR series - read The Hobbit and Fellowship, but each took a year to read because they're slow moving for me. I can't do the "take an entire page to describe one little thing" that Tolkin tends to do.
Magyck-boring Eon Dragon eye Reborn-boring The Three Musketeers-Lost the book Shadowmancer Returns-Couldn't check it out of school library because of winter break
The Hobbit. It's a good book and what I have read of it both times I attempted to read it I enjoyed but I tend to put it down and forget about it and then a year later I forgot where I had gotten too. Maybe it's a little too slow moving or something, I'm not sure why I haven't been able to finish it.
The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper. I had to read it for my university engilish class, and I couldn't. I got part way through, skimmed a bunch more of it and then relied on class disscussion to figure out the rest.
Well, there's too much to write them down. Usually I read most of the book and then I go to the end, just to see what happens. Then I go back, but sometimes I forget the page I've been on and if I don't - I just read and read, until I get to the page I've alreade been on. Then it's too boring and I stop.
The only one I can remember at the moment (I read waaaaay to much....) is the Infinite Jest.
Bloody evil book.
EDIT: after reading some of the posts above mine, LOTR. Read the hobbit, and got about halfway through LOTR, but could not finish it. Maybe I'll try again soon, seeing as the last time a tried I was eleven or so...
Last edited by BonesTheHeretic; 01-25-2010 at 09:27 AM..
Originally posted by xX Savara Xx:
There's only ever been one book I've never been able to finish and that would be "The Historian." I got so confused reading it, couldn't tell who was who and what time period they were in and all...
That was a tough book and I've read alot of feedback from people who did not like it or finish it. There were a few times during the book I considered stopping, too, but I kept going, and this book made a kinda weird impression on me.
I read at night before bed, and at some point during the second half of this book I started feeling nervous at night. Then, a few nights later, and quite a few pages more, I had actually become too scared to turn the lights out, or even to pee in the night. I had a few crazy dreams, too. Elizabeth Kostova had quietly created a sense of tension and suspense that made me downright paranoid. This book affected me for sure.
Unfortunately, after reading all those, what was it?... like 900 pages, the ending was a complete flop. Oh, well.
ANYWAY... to answer the original question: I have tried to read Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke twice and much to my dismay, as I am someone who likes to stick to a book 'til the end (as evidenced by the above), I could not get more than 50 pages into this book. Sometimes I think I might go for a third try, but I don't know why.
I couldn't get through Anne Rice's Interview with a Vampire. I'm still reading it...there's something very monotonous about that particular one of hers.
Hm... I wouldn't say these are books I couldn't finish, just ones I lost interest in because I was reading other books at the same time.
Let's see... I never finished Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austin. I don't believe I ever finished Noble House by James Clavell either (though I started over from the beginning once). Oh! The Divine Comedy is one I probably won't ever finish, much as I find the idea of interest (it's a terribly difficult and dry read). I never finished Watership Down which I started reading as a kid (I'm sure I could finish it now if I tried reading it again).
