Any book regrets? Mine is Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy. Tedious, redundant, and disturbing in ways that I'm not interested in. I finished it, but it's definitely okay not to finish a book if it's not for you.
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I read the start where he talks about knocking people’s hats off. My teacher saw and thought “If this can read the book, maybe I should too.”
That poor man…
I never finished the first chapter.
What's next on your list to read? I'm looking for something fun, easy, and beguiling for over the holidays, like a well-written historical fiction piece. I've never read the Lymond Chronicles...
Oh thank you. I absolutely hate it when there's songs in writing in a book. It completely removes me from the story. I've never admitted that I couldn't finish LOTR before! 🤭
I read a book years ago called "The Sixteen Pleasures". Didnʻt get a single pleasure out of it. Iʻm going to get skewered for this, but I also didnʻt much care for "Immortality" by Milan Kundera.
Yes and just recently- I can’t write the title because I don’t want anyone else to suffer. All I can say is read the reviews carefully. It was a great writer but …. it was beyond uncomfortable.
Is it weird that I often find myself regretting entire series? I will Really like the first book and get so sucked in and then the remainder of most series lead to dissatisfaction and the only one I will go back to is #1? There are definitely exceptions.
I started reading Ready Player One and despite everyone loving it, I just couldn’t get into it and had to stop. Maybe I’ll pick it back up another time.
I think I got about 100 pages in before giving up. I generally have a strong stomach for disjointed, dense absurdity and my life is a sequence of vignettes where I mostly donʻt really know whatʻs going on, but Iʻm going to have to take it on word that itʻs the masterwork itʻs claimed to be.
Question- do you slog through a book if you don’t like it or put it down and grab a new one? I vary. A lot of times I will put it down and come back to it later.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I read this almost 40 years ago when I was in college. It never drew me in and mostly just aggravated me. I didn't like the style or the tone. It took me so many tries to finish it. I've always regretted ever picking it up.
Canal Dreams. Tried to stick with it because I love Iain Banks, but eventually it beat me.
Heard an interview with him later where he said it was the book he liked the least of his own, so didn't feel quite so bad about it after that!
This is a hard lesson for people. Especially perfectionists! I used to feel like such a failure if I didn't finish a book! Now I realize i have so many in my TBR list I don't need to keep reading if it's not enjoyable.
I don’t think that I have ever regretted reading a book, but there are a few that I wouldn’t pick up again. I read a lot of books on my Kindle. If I really like it, I will buy a hard copy. If not, at least I didn’t have to pay for it. I cannot bring myself to throw away a book. Even if it is awful
Ann Rice’s Mayfair Witches trilogy. I read them just before the TV series launched, because I always like to read the book first. But then I was like, nope, done with this. Never watched the show.
No, me either. I do like witches, though. The All Souls series by Deborah Harkness is probably my favorite on the subject, although vampires are deeply involved.
I was going to phrase the question as is there a book you would throw across the room, but some people get upset at the idea of a librarian condoning throwing books. Go figure.
I reread A Prayer For Owen Meany recently. I wish I hadn't. It went from one of my favorite books (in my memory) to a kind of "that didn't age well". Hester the Molester indeed.
I have a shelf of books that I couldn't finish. They still have bookmarks where I stopped. When I run out of money to buy new books I'll go back to them
I may be outing myself a bit here, but I don't regret reading Atlas Shrugged or The Fountainhead. I think it's important to read them and think about why that philosophy wouldn't survive contact with reality.
I’ve read a few of Thomas Hardy’s books and greatly enjoyed them. Thank you for the heads up. If I start a book it’s rare that I’ll not finish it… but … I couldn’t get past the first few chapters of “Last of the Mohicans”
"The Last Undercover: The True Story of an FBI Agent's Dangerous Dance with Evil "
Don't let the title fool you, it's all about this agent who goes undercover to bust a CSAM ring. It came out when Catch A Predator was at its height and the descriptions are almost pornographic. Hard pass.
Verity by Colleen Hoover. I kept reading hoping it would get better and everyone was like omg the twist is so good. And... just no... Not my cup of tea. At least it was a quick read lol
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That poor man…
I never finished the first chapter.
AND every other page: "let's go on a quest... but first! A SONG!"
I finally got through the series, on my e-book, where I could bump up the font AND skip the songs.
Don't get me started!
At least the movie version is short... 💀
Snoozefest!
I tried twice to read the first one. Gave up after the "baseball game", won't be trying again.
Heard an interview with him later where he said it was the book he liked the least of his own, so didn't feel quite so bad about it after that!
Life of Pi.
My two big DNFs
Maybe I should try again... 🤔
Don't let the title fool you, it's all about this agent who goes undercover to bust a CSAM ring. It came out when Catch A Predator was at its height and the descriptions are almost pornographic. Hard pass.