Books you started reading but just coun't get through. (89)

1 Name: Bookworm : 2008-09-18 18:34 ID:hyJfuQuU

Some books seem promising then you start reading and just can't read it because you either don't like the style, it's boring, it's crap.... etc.

Name of book:
How far you got:
Why you stopped reading:

40 Name: Bookworm : 2009-08-30 00:26 ID:dJh9bNRj

At the Mountains of Madness
probably about 50 pages in.
Fucking boring. I thoroughly enjoyed Lovecraft's short stories. I just couldn't get into it. I think there was too much description, not enough advancement.

41 Name: Bookworm : 2010-04-04 16:11 ID:5+5YOQ54

>>34

I can somewhat attest to this. I tried to read it a few years back and just couldn't get into it. Like you, probably, I got bogged down in the specifics of the universe and just couldn't continue.
Still, I gave it another shot somewhat recently (was it last year, or the year before that?) and was finally able to appreciate it.
Really, the book is just about the author slinging together a bunch of semi-practical science fiction concepts, and trying to figure out how they would effect societies.

As for the book that I had to put down:
Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson,
I made it close to halfway through.
I don't know why I dropped this one, to be honest. It's cyberpunk! It's got AIs! It's got secret organizations! It even has a little girl! All the makings of interesting science fiction, and yet...
I just had to return it.
Maybe it was the whiny rich woman? Maybe I felt like it wasn't going anywhere? I can't say. Maybe I'll give it another shot, one day.

42 Name: Bookworm : 2010-07-10 12:32 ID:YNd93/z4

Did you read the first two books in the trilogy, >>34? I loved the sprawl trilogy, and right now I'm starting Idoru in the bridge trilogy (already read Virtual Light). I think knowing the values of potentially hidden characters and the relationships between others who had already been exposed helped make the book a lot more interesting to get into. The little girl in Count Zero is a lot cooler, too.

43 Name: Bookworm : 2010-07-10 12:33 ID:Heaven

meant to address >>41 not >>34 (-_-;)

44 Name: Bookworm : 2010-07-25 22:37 ID:rMqlasxo

The French Lieutenant's Woman. A prime example of how not to do an intrusive narrator. The hurr durr, contrasting Victorian and modern sensibilities thing pissed me off to no end.

I think I gave it about 50 pages. More than it was worth, in any case.

45 Name: Bookworm : 2010-07-30 18:17 ID:8O/RR4vw

The Iliad. I even had to get a notebook to keep with the names and the plot. I know it's supposed to be a epic poem, but god it was hard to read. Hell, it was not meant to be read! Besides, you need to be really adept at ancient greek culture to be able to just understand who is doing what. I dropped it around half of the book, and never, ever, touched to damn book again.

There are other books that are very famous and extensively read around here (Latin America), like Coehlo's books, and Cuatehmoc's books, but they are utter literary shit for depressed and easily influenced people.

46 Name: Bookworm : 2010-08-05 12:04 ID:tEMbPEJo

Doors of Perception. Just boring beyond belief.

47 Name: JayBob : 2010-11-11 00:22 ID:i8oHC3/J

I've tried to read Eragon numerous times because people keep telling me how good it is. I think I finished two chapters once. It just reads like a bad fan-fiction.

48 Name: Bookworm : 2010-11-15 20:04 ID:VjGlIcpC

The Trial by Kafka. Holy shit that thing is dense and only somewhat not boring.

Memory Keeper's Daughter. Hate it. Stupid 1960's drama crap. I don't even care. Got through half of it before I realized how stupid it is.

More than a few old sci-fi novels that sci-fi nerds recommended to me. Mainly by Philip K. Dick, Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, and a few other who write like that. I can't stand the boring style they write in.

Red, Green, Blue Mars by Kim Robinson. Eon by Greg Bear. Just really long. Probably will get around to it eventually.

49 Name: Bookworm : 2010-11-17 09:33 ID:LV07JYig

The Idiot by Dostoyevsky. No, I'm not an idiot. I get the intrigue against the prince's good name, his sacred visions of transcendence, the fickleness of high society, the unfinished business with Filipnova and Rogozhin as a constant psychical backdrop, various critical perspectives on 19th century Russia... But, fuck, after Tolstoy I'm just jaded by the holistic, all-inclusive descriptiveness that leaves no word or behavior untouched.

>>48
Picked up Eon around a month and a half and ago. Yeah, it's pretty long for science fiction (Tony Daniel and Alistair Reynolds are the only other authors I've read who approach Bear's breadth), yet manages not to stagnate as interesting physics and technology are almost constantly introduced alongside a steady stream of new characters, with focus shifting evenly between science and human affairs.

50 Name: Bookworm : 2010-11-20 22:57 ID:VjGlIcpC

>>49
True that. He really kept the story interesting with all the new science and technology. Even when I think that I would never want a society that is anything like that I am fascinated by the technologies and how they might influence people.

51 Name: Bookworm : 2011-03-05 21:37 ID:V9TTvSgW

A Clockwork Orange. Read maybe a couple chapters.

Gave it up because trying to follow the weird dialect was a headache and there wasn't much up to the point I'd read to suggest that it was worth the effort.

52 Name: Bookworm : 2011-03-17 14:52 ID:T46Y50Cx

Scott Pilgrim.

I like everything about it. I just stopped reading it and lost the motivation to continue. I don't know why, though...

53 Name: Bookworm : 2011-03-29 02:53 ID:v3PQTlh5

>>51

I read A Clockwork Orange over a decade ago. Coincidentally, I was in my second year of Russian Language classes and thusly had no issue deciphering the slang. I recall really liking the book so I recommend finding a translation guide on the Internet and giving it another go. Or don't and just see the movie.

54 Name: ASSAULT : 2011-04-21 15:57 ID:rUFA5Bh4

I've been dancing around reading a stack of GK Chesterton essays and articles for a long time. It seems more of a rainy day coffee table thing.

The Qur'an has been a good read so far (this coming from a Biblical Sciences studies major).

But honestly, some of the best things I haven't been able to finish have been a few graphic novels and comics my friend lent me: Batman Knightfall, V for Vendetta, Marvel Siege.

55 Name: Bookworm : 2011-04-22 22:45 ID:bNh14hzJ

Name of book: New Moon
How far you got: 9 pages
Why you stopped reading: Boring, couldn't follow story

Name of book: Lolita
How far you got: 20 pages
Why you stopped reading: No time, will finish once holiday comes around

56 Name: Bookworm : 2011-04-22 22:49 ID:bNh14hzJ

I didn't find Kafka boring at all, even the unfinished novels. Although the incompleteness is somewhat irksome.

However, some of the short stories went over my head...

57 Name: Bookworm : 2011-06-17 17:31 ID:pCXpI0NR

Finally got through 1984!! It took 3 years and 4 different tried at reading it but I got through it and in the end really enjoyed it!

Life of Pi
1/4 of the way through
I know how much everyone loves this book, but I find it mind numbingly over descriptive in some parts, really I would get the point that you saw a bunch of animals when you left the zoo if you described 2 or 3, the 6 or 7 you used is overkill...
Bah!!
This is also the 4th time I've tried to muscle through this book...

Eye of the World from the Wheel of Time series
3 chapters in
The premise was pretty great, and the characters well fleshed out, but its the over descriptive writing that makes it a pain to sludge through.

58 Name: Bookworm : 2011-07-22 22:45 ID:EyTYPgm1

>>57

Theres no point in reading the Wheel of Time series, since the author died.

59 Name: Bookworm : 2011-07-27 18:23 ID:Ep+f+OjY

I Am Legend
I got half way through
It was fairly good but I got distracted, if there's a better book lying around that I want to read then that tends to take over...

60 Name: Bookworm : 2011-08-05 16:30 ID:vFxP/25x

Middlesex...started off pretty good, with good historical fiction, but I lost interest when they got to more modern times and the focus was shifting...moved on to other interests...

61 Post deleted.

62 Name: Bookworm : 2011-10-02 21:25 ID:EyTYPgm1

I'm fairly certain I was >>58 trying to troll, but in case >>58 is not me...

The last book is being ghost written. Apparently Robert Jordon gave his notes and stuff to the ghostwriter before he died.

That being said I dropped the Wheel of Time series on like book 4 or 5 because I just didn't have time to read 1000+ page books.

63 Name: Bookworm : 2011-10-05 19:58 ID:NdWybrxp

>>62 that's a good example of a series which lost it completely. Also liked it until book 4 or 5, but then was completely disgusted by the waste of time.

64 Post deleted.

65 Name: Bookworm : 2017-09-06 20:46 ID:pB2+H0ty

1000 clowns
I read the first page of the play
It had a cast of 100 children laughing in the background, put it back on the store's shelf.

66 Name: Bookworm : 2017-09-16 08:08 ID:E609Lwei

>>64
That's a rather interesting book.

67 Name: Bookworm : 2018-05-07 20:38 ID:er2Jy5On

Three men in a boat.
142p.
It's boring. I don't get this english humor.

68 Post deleted.

69 Name: Bookworm : 2018-05-28 06:19 ID:x540+Axi

Silence of the lambs
About a quarter through
Idk, kind of slows down after the beginning. Maybe my attention span is poo

70 Name: Bookworm : 2018-09-07 22:28 ID:i8aiSm6F

Thinking in Systems: A Primer
about halfway through
destroyed it: please don't ask

71 Name: Bookworm : 2018-10-20 10:52 ID:96DuNXfk

The Monk Who Sold his Ferrari
almost 10 pages through
got suggested in a workshop, its a self book so thats enough reason for me to hate on it.

72 Name: Bookworm : 2018-10-21 01:19 ID:qlguLp/3

i havent read a book in a year
ive still managed to pass all of my comp lit classes and have two TA positions in my department

73 Name: Bookworm : 2018-10-24 09:52 ID:8HeF8yMS

>>72

you can probably go through your whole adult life not reading any books. doesn't mean that you should

74 Name: Bookworm : 2018-11-11 19:34 ID:lG1Zu/7t

Naked Lunch
About one third in.
I can only stand so much graphic gay sex and semen splurging.

I've yet to properly stop, but rather put it on a kind of hiatus. Hoping to eventually forget about it lest my stubbornness dictates I get around to finishing it.

75 Name: Bookworm : 2019-02-03 20:41 ID:k6sDCxzT

Infinite Jest. I keep trying to to read it again and again but I always give up after the first few chapters. Probably read the first two chapters 5 times now.

76 Name: Bookworm : 2019-02-17 08:26 ID:YUX+/rRi

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.
1/3 of the way through
Couldn't connect with the story or the language.

77 Name: Bookworm : 2019-06-18 03:04 ID:A6+v5KCB

Anti-Oedipus by Deleuze and Guattari

I want to read it but it makes no sense to me.

78 Name: Bookworm : 2019-07-14 03:34 ID:X3v8KqSU

Walden by Thoreau.
Given up for a second time, even after skipping the longwinded first section.
Heavy horrible prose. Sanctimonius sarcasm throughout.

79 Name: Bookworm : 2019-07-27 01:40 ID:Av/7qVAE

3 Musketeers
I got around a third of the way through.
I wound up so lost and clueless about what the fuck was going on and didn't know where I should flip back to catch up. I also wasn't very interested in the first place, hence why I let my mind wander while reading.

80 Name: Bookworm : 2019-08-20 00:46 ID:Heaven

>>77
lol

81 Name: Bookworm : 2020-08-04 18:28 ID:B8kBaXLz

Philip Mainländer's philosophy of redemption. I got into it for the cool hyper pessimism but after like 100 pages of convoluted ontology I dropped it. I knew all the juice stuff beforehand anyway. Now I read the original instead (Schopenhauer)

82 Name: Bookworm : 2020-08-12 01:14 ID:tDt2WMUg

Logic of Sense by Deleuze. I read it after Difference and Repetition but it was a bit boring imo.

83 Name: Bookworm : 2020-12-31 04:36 ID:Heaven

i am a heron. i ahev a long neck and i pick fish out of the water w/ my beak. if you dont repost this comment on 10 other pages i will fly into your kitchen tonight and make a mess of your pots and pans

84 Name: Bookworm : 2022-12-28 03:37 ID:mgyGDzgl

Biological Exuberence. I started reading it for completely childish reasons(wanted to see how many gay birds there were) but got bored of the concept quite quickly.

85 Name: Bookworm : 2023-01-03 03:41 ID:r/KXWVSB

Mein Kampf. Bought it when I was going through a childish edgelord phase and took it to high school to everyday to piss everyone off. I never managed to read it all because it’s boring as fuck, especially the biographical parts which are just whiny and annoying. It’s just a dude bitching about his life.

>>82
I’ve never been able to get through any of the books he co wrote with guattari, but his books on Spinoza, Foucault etc are a pretty good read

86 Name: Bookworm : 2023-04-17 06:21 ID:C6u6R58n

Ai no Kusabi
In my first attempt the first five page filtered me greatly with its cuckold + rape + bdsm combo.
In my second attempt it was the horrible prose, I could not tell what the hell was going on, who is who and why does what.
I think I read the first 10 pages.

The anime was ok.

87 Name: Bookworm : 2023-06-26 18:59 ID:hSyy9z+R

>>76
Just be glad you got out before the second two thirds of the book, which consist entirely of the main character spiraling stream-of-consciousness style into catholic guilt.

88 Name: Bookworm : 2023-08-01 02:24 ID:KMRCzBHh

150 days of sodom by marquis de sade. I couldn’t stop fapping and interrupt my reading.

89 Name: Bookworm : 2023-08-30 17:09 ID:MyAMl+9T

The Man Who Knew Infinity
Page 80 or so
Found it kind of boring. Maybe I hadn't gotten to the more maths parts of the book, but it was dry and too autobiographical for me. I'll probably try and read it another time, but there are other books I would read before then.

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