books youve never finished

[Penfold]

Around Ireland With a Fridge. I managed to keep up with the author for the first leg of his journey, but didn't have the stamina to finish and left him thumbing a lift on the Northern Ireland border.

That's a shame Toothy, I really enjoyed that book and his follow up (?) "Playing the Moldovans at Tennis".

Not quite within topic; The series of books I finished but wish I hadn't were "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant" by Stephen R. Donaldson.

[Paranye]

I've only read Nation once, but I'm glad I did. I can see why someone might not finish it though.

The thing about Nation that made it worth reading for me was not the story itself; it was the story behind the story. Nation was written around the time Terry found out he had Alzheimer's, and I don't think it's a coincidence that the book is about someone whose whole world has just been destroyed, suddenly, inexplicably and arbitrarily. I'm not saying Mau is a straight author insert, but I think Mau's rage and frustration and fear and grief, and his urge to rail against the Gods he doesn't believe in, come pretty directly from Terry's state of mind at the time. It was that window into his emotional state and into how he was dealing with that awful, crushing blow that made it worth a read for me. It's by far the angriest of his books, and one of the saddest, and I couldn't see myself reading it again any time soon unless I wanted to make myself miserable for some reason, so I get why someone might not enjoy it enough to finish it!

[BatrickPatrick]

Lord of the Rings

After that part in the Fellowship where Aragorn talks about a plant's history and uses for half a page before throwing it into a pot to boil it up and heal Frodo, I gave up. >.>

Quite a lot of young adult fiction that was just too dreadful to continue with...largely involving vampires...

[HazelRah17]

Can't believe how many people said Lord of the Rings, I read it when I was 10 and loved it for years. I must have read it 20 times. Crime and Punishment as well, I thought it was great and pretty readable.

Catch 22 and Gormenghast are both currently on my unfinished list, but I know I'll get round to it eventually. Since I managed to get through War and Peace last year I have faith that I can pretty much make it through anything. Though the closer it got to the end the more I wanted to throw the book at a wall.

Oh and the 4th Game of thrones one, A Feast For Crows, I read it but it was just horrible and such an effort to get through.

[Paranye]

Can't believe how many people said Lord of the Rings, I read it when I was 10 and loved it for years. I must have read it 20 times. Crime and Punishment as well, I thought it was great and pretty readable.

Catch 22 and Gormenghast are both currently on my unfinished list, but I know I'll get round to it eventually. Since I managed to get through War and Peace last year I have faith that I can pretty much make it through anything. Though the closer it got to the end the more I wanted to throw the book at a wall.

Oh and the 4th Game of thrones one, A Feast For Crows, I read it but it was just horrible and such an effort to get through.

See, that's the funny thing - War and Peace and Anna Karenina are long, but I thought they were a breeze to read - the characters were so engaging and the prose was light - but Crime and Punishment, which is much shorter, just left me cold. I guess it all comes down to whether you're enjoying something - if a book feels like a chore you just won't want to finish it and it'll seem insurmountably difficult to read.

Except for Lord of the Rings. I'm convinced that everyone will grow to love LOTR if they finish it once. Anyone who says otherwise must be burned at the stake without delay. Yep, I'm a Lord of the Rings fundamentalist. I should go door to door with a copy asking people if they've heard the good news about Aragorn!

[HazelRah17]

I had no problem with Anna Karenina, but War and Peace, I just ended up so frustrated with all of the characters. I wanted to slam Natasha's silly head into a wall. Had the same problem with The Mill on the Floss I think. There's a point where realism just makes the characters annoying, for me anyway.

[Paranye]

I had no problem with Anna Karenina, but War and Peace, I just ended up so frustrated with all of the characters. I wanted to slam Natasha's silly head into a wall.

She's such a monumental dope, isn't she? There are very few actually likeable characters in War and Peace, I found. Most of them annoyed the hell out of me. Pierre! Oh my God, could anyone be more flipping limp? I had a weird liking for Berg though - his utter, serene selfishness really tickled me.

Still, I did enjoy it - I think it was Tolstoy's own voice coming through it that made me like it. He was so interested in the war and its ramifications, and his passion for his subject was kinda contagious. I had Wikipedia open the whole time I was reading it, looking people and battles up to figure out what the hell was going on!

[HazelRah17]

The only ones I liked were Sonya and Andrei, I think reading too much fantasy and Victorian fiction has given me a taste for honourable characters.

Side note for people struggling with LOTR - I read the 2nd and 3rd books before the 1st because I couldn't afford them all and I figured I'd already seen the first film. But in a lot of ways that's probably an easier way to get into the book. A lot of the things people I know don't like about LOTR (the bombadil stuff, how long it takes for them to go anywhere) are in the fellowship, also you can always skip the songs. BUT YOU MUST READ IT!

[stripy_tie]

Since I managed to get through War and Peace last year I have faith that I can pretty much make it through anything.

Have you attempted David Foster Wallace's "Infinite Jest" yet? my copy's still staring down at me contemptously from the stack. I shall vanquish it, just maybe not this year.

[HazelRah17]

No but it is on my incredibly long reading list. Don Quixote and Ulysses are the ones that really worry me because they are on the list of books I decided to work my way through but I never really had any interest in reading them.

[Hvitveis]

Infinite jest is morbid and weird, but worth it, it leaves you with a feeling of being blessedly normal and healthy...

[author3]

I never finished Mort(on my second reading though)

[Hvitveis]

I began Don Quijote in spanish, laughed my way through the introduction, witch was brilliant and not too hard to understand and then got stuck in the first chapter. I had no clue what was happening and faced with having to look up every other word I decided to wait until my spanish got better. That was about 10 years ago.