(Before I get into the meat of this blog post, I have to say that I am currently in The Coffee Shop Across The Street on my Mac. It's our first field trip out together. Connecting to WIFI and such was easy-peasy! I couldn't be more happier with my decision to get a Mac instead of a PC.)
I was thinking yesterday about books that I haven't been able to finish (whether I didn't like them or for other reasons). I could only think of one: Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway. I'm not sure what the deal with this book was/is. I had to read it for 11th grade English (we did mostly reading that year, was my favorite English year), and it was the only book I didn't like/couldn't finish. I don't remember anything about it, to tell you the truth. I asked around on Twitter what books people weren't able to finish and got the following titles:
Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead (Which I loved, but admit took me a while to get into.)
Watership Down by Richard Adams (Made me remember I tried to read this in 7th grade and couldn't either.)
The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon (It's #5 in the Outlander series. Heard okay things about this series, but haven't read it yet.)
Eragon by Christopher Paolini (Took me FOR-EV-ER to get into this. Then made me remember I couldn't finish Eldest, the second in the series.)
Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld (I own, but haven't tried to read it yet.)
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (Haven't read)
Graceling by Kristin Cashore (I LOVED THIS BOOK!)
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Had to read in High School, honestly don't remember much.)
So my list has now grown to three books: Farewell to Arms, Watership Down, and Eldest. What books have you not been able to finish? What didn't you like about them? Do you think you could go back and re-read them? I think Watership Down was a little over my head at the time I tried to read it. Not sure about Farewell to Arms or Eldest.
Edited to add:
Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (Read The Hobbit and loved it. I've tried multiple times to read Fellowship of the Ring.
Vampire Diaries by L.J. Smith (Not sure what I didn't like. I think it just felt too dated for me?)
I've started East of Eden a bunch of times and never get far. I've tried (more than once) the following:
ReplyDeleteA Confederacy of Dunces
One Hundred Years of Solitude
To the Lighthouse
Wicked
Lord Jim
ReplyDeleteThe Man in the Iron Mask
The Once and Future King
Rifles for Watie
I don't know *how* many times I've started them and then put them aside...
What kind of weirdo doesn't finish Graceling?!?! ;)
ReplyDeleteThe only book I can think of that I haven't finished is The Life of Pi. I want to try reading it again. I was in the middle of a really intense semester and I needed a book to escape to, not one I had to think about.
Amy- Hahaha! I know, right? I still bug her about it. Any chance I get. ;)
ReplyDeleteI didn’t finish The Dark Material (Book #1) the world building was so confusing. Also I really like Vampire Diaries but the last book was too weird for my taste.
ReplyDeletePeace
Michelle
(http://windowpane-memoirs.com/)
The Dark Materials series took me a while to get into, Michelle. Once I did... I LOVED IT! One of my all time favorite series. I laughed, I cried... it was great. Add Vampire Diaries to my list as well. Totally forgot about those.
ReplyDeleteI started LoTR Fellowship 5 times and can't get into it.
ReplyDeleteLove the movies.
The book, THE HOBBIT.
Can't get into the trilogy.
OMG totally forgot about LOTR, too. Man.. I'm not doing as well as I thought!!
ReplyDeleteLOTR is really, really hard to read! I was in high school before I could actually read--and finish--the series. So yeah, I think that series is really hard to read! It took me forever... :D
ReplyDeleteI read The Hobbit and loved it (took me a while to get into it), but I've never made it more than halfway through Fellowship. :(
ReplyDeleteI forgot I never finished LOTR either, I'm the one that didn't finish The Fiery Cross and I really liked that series until I got to that book and could not finish it, I think it was mainly because I had so many other books that I wanted to read and that book was just really really long. =) I will give it another chance some day.
ReplyDeleteI also loved Graceling! In fact, that was one of those stay-up-all-night-because-I-had-to-finish books... In answer to your question, I have yet to make it through a Faulkner. I know he's brilliant and everything, but I can't get into his books. The writing style, the pace, the tone, none of it clicks with me. Sorry, Faulkner.
ReplyDeleteI read the entire LOTR Trilogy on the train... took me about a month. Loved it!
ReplyDeleteI never finished The Grapes of Wrath in high school. It was the only book assigned to me that I just could not finish, super snooze-fest.
I've started Dune: The Battle of Corrin three times. It's the third book in a trilogy and something always happens when I get about half-way through and I never finish it. (I've read books 1 and 2 twice to refresh my memory!). I'm going to have to start it a fourth time, I really want to know how it ends.