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The first book you abandoned?
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Amanda
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Apr 04, 2014 08:47AM
Ah, the hunger games! Must say Ken I feel exactly the same about that book also!
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Ken, Hunger Games are worth a read. Not great like HP, but very good. Mehmet, glad you returned to the horror fold. :-) Been a fan of Laymon for decades, but he does have some stinkers.Ken, if you read TBH 1, 2, you don't need to read The Cellar.
Ken i much prefered Beast House and Midnight tour the 2nd and 3rd book in the series
Since I'm not excited about any of those, I'll just wait for them to go on sale...and then make myself read them.
Another 2 books i gave up on was Richard laymons Bite (because i found it boring) and Savage (got upset, when i found out only small part in the begining was set in London) which i only returned to when i finished all the Laymon books i had.
Anyone ever have a book they abandoned that later they almost felt guilty for doing? As if the book was calling to them..'whyyyy why did you abandon meee? I would have left you squirming and jumping out of your seat. why, whyy' Anyone? :/
Mod
It's like leaving a shelter without a puppy.
I abandoned The Stand several times between the ages 15 - 30. It wasn't until I picked it up when I was 34 that I finally got through it and it happens to be a favorite of mine now.Some books only work at certain points in an individuals life.
Me too! It also works the opposite way, some books I read when I was younger and absolutely loved now don't seem
I agree completely. I've also found that some books I loved when I was younger don't necessarily hold the same sway now.
My first book was Little Women. I was in sixth grade and forced to try to read it for Accelerated Reader program. Now that I'm older I've thought of trying it again. Amanda I totally understand. I was the same way with the Harry Potter series. I've thought of trying it again once the hype dies.
I used to never give up on books, trudging on just for the sake of completing it. The first book I gave up on wasn't evwn a horror, it was just too family involved for me to enjoy.The first horror I abandoned was Dracula. Try as I might, after four attempts to read that book abd gettijg just a little further each time, I have not managed to finish that book.
I'm starting ti doubt I ever will at this point.
Kristy wrote: "I abandoned The Stand several times between the ages 15 - 30. It wasn't until I picked it up when I was 34 that I finally got through it and it happens to be a favorite of mine now...."
Yep, that sums it up pretty well! I guess I would rate a number of books different if reading them now.
Interesting book titles coming up here - lots of them which I didn't find bad at all (SK) or still have waiting on my todo list (House of Leaves). As for The Ruins, I was really disappointed but I guess I also had exaggerated expectations because of the hype, which is always a bad condition.
Btw, still wasn't able to abandon my latest read - however, I skimmed through several passages which did not push the plot, which helped a lot and made reading a lot more bearable.
Richard Laymon's "Alarums". I just couldn't get into it although I did complete it later on. It isn't my favourite Laymon novel. I must say that I love Laymon's work as a rule and I spend a lot of time looking for authors that are similar - which thankfully there are.I couldn't read or watch "Hunger Games" as I loved "Battle Royale" by Koushun Takami and read in a few places that "Hunger Games" isn't much more than a rip off of that story.
Amanda wrote: "I gave up on a game of thrones. I wanted to read it see what all of the hype was, but after about 25% in I gave up because I just couldn't keep torturing myself anymore."I have been thinking about trying out the series. Then again, I sometimes have a hard time following along with what is going on in the show so maybe I'll have difficulty with the book series as well.
Apocalypse of The Dead by Joe McKinney I couldn't get behind the old man from a nursing home taking on the undead.
This was a sequel to his previous book called Dead City I believe. I barely finished that one, I don't know what I was think buying it's spiritual successor.
In recent memory? Swan Song. I just couldn't get past the characters. They all just felt so corny.
It was probably a book from the Vampire Academy series. It was suggested to me so much that I gave it a good shot but it wasn't in my realm of interests by any stretch of the imagination.
A Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne. It was 1980, I was a freshman in high school and had just finished 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and loved it. I don't remember what the problem was but I stopped just before Chapter 30 "Terrific Saurian Combat." The book haunted me for 30 years until I finally reread the whole thing in 2010 and enjoyed it very much (though not as much as 20KLUtS--which is one of my favorite books).
The Dreamcatcher... I picked it up again, though. Ironically, SK would later become my favorite author.
For me it was Frank Herbert's DUNE. I tried to tackle that in the eight grade, and I just didn't have the life experience to appreciate it. Came back at it in college, though, and it blew my doors off. Remains one of my top-5.
There's been a few!I threw out 2 copies of the The Exorcist as a Teen because I was so scared.
But I rebrought the book and its still safe in my book shelve and I did finally get round to reading it bloody scary book.
The book I have completely given up on and put down is. The H.P. Lovecraft Omnibus 1: At the Mountains of Madness and Other Novels of Terror I just can't get into his books. and Books of Blood, Vols. 1-3 An other i just couldn't get into.
I could never get into any of H.P Lovecrafts work despite being a big fan of John Carpenters movies.
I'm crying inside for hp lovecraft. I'm over it. Hehe I suppose he can't be right for everyone.I ignore the blatant racism, it was a different time when he wrote this. I delight in the spot on of dialect for folks from the hills.
He is creepy without throwing around too much blood. It's mostly a psychological thrill to read his work for me. Sometimes it gets boring, but if you keep pushing, and can overlook the faults, it can be quite a rush.
Maybe you could try Robert W. Chambers? He is quite good and goes hand in hand with lovecraft.
Sorry! I might give him another chance. I also don't care for the World War Z book. Which probably marks me as a traitor among the rabid horde of zombie fans!
Scott wrote: "For me it was Frank Herbert's DUNE. I tried to tackle that in the eight grade, and I just didn't have the life experience to appreciate it. Came back at it in college, though, and it blew my doors ..."Same here although I may have been in ninth grade. Might have to check it out again.
I also have to admit to abandoning House of Leaves People rave about this book and I was really puzzled when I could not get in to it. Glad I saw a few others here with the same issue!
I hated world war z. I listened to it and tried to read it. I was so dossapponted because I thought it would be a spoof in the tradition of being written by a brooks. It was monumentally easier to listen to than to read, but I still zoned out at a few parts.
Don't be sorry about your tastes, we all must like what we like and love what we love. Be different, it's a good thing! If we all liked the same things it would be so boring to talk to each other. Well I can imagine that it would be boring.
Don't be a lemming, be an eagle.
As a fan of Stephen King, this really pained me to do, but it was The girl who loved Tom Gordon. Couldn't get into it. Too slow. Sorry Mr King!
The Outlander. If she got almost-raped one more time, I was going to punch myself in the face.
Not long ago I abandoned John Dies at the End. I found it really annoying and pointless, just one weird (dumb) episode after another, with little narrative cohesion. It was like the book equivalent of a smug, self-satisfied hipster who thinks he's cool just because he dresses differently and wears a clown hat.
K4tie wrote: "Don't be sorry about your tastes, we all must like what we like and love what we love. Be different, it's a good thing! If we all liked the same things it would be so boring to talk to each other. Well I can imagine that it would be boring.
Don't be a lemming, be an eagle. ..."
Truer words have haven't been spoken to me in a long time.
=)
Thank you for saying that.
Ah yes, House of Leaves. I wanted to like this book.After reading all the reviews and comments, it seemed like it would be right up my alley.I loved the concept but the story wasn't worth all the work. I might attempt it again in the future.
I abandoned King's The Tommyknockers. I've also abandoned The Stand twice now, even though I was enjoying it both times. I plan on starting it again soon. It took me three tries to get through Staub' Ghost Story, but I was certainly glad to get through it. It really was very good! And, I'm proud to say that there are a couple books that have come up in this thread that I had no problem getting through: Dune and Dracula. I loved them both on my first try!
Another archived thread lost in the back pages of time - lol!The first book I abandoned actually was a few months ago - true crime novel by Kathryn Casey
- it probably would have been a good book if there hadn't been so much of a backstory on the woman that murdered her husband.
I sort of hate to admit it but the first book I ever dnf'd was "A Christmas Carol" me and Charles Dickens just do not get along. I tried to read it for the first time in December of 2015, at 26 years old. I had seen it as a play or movie when I was a child, and knew the story. But I can't read it. It feels so long-winded and pretentious. I don't mind looking up words I don't know in a book to learn but I had to look up every other word it felt like and I just could not enjoy it. I had heard that's supposed to be his easiest book, well then I just feel as a dumb as a rock because I can't get it.
I made it to 53% only because it was short so I told myself to at least read over 1/2. I like watching it, I like the moral of the story, I just can't read it and can't stand Dickens writing.
I try not to DNF but I will once in awhile, if a book seems to be pushing me into a slump because it's boring me so much. So many books so little time. Why waste time on a book not being enjoyed?
Edit: I would never throw a book in the trash though. I'd donate it to Charity or something.
As a general rule, I don't abandon books. That and movies, once I'm in, I'm in til the bitter end.With that said, I read maybe a chapter of
if that and never picked it up again. I don't know if that's an abandon, or just failure to really get into it, but I could NOT stand the prose of it at all. Have no clue why it's got such high acclaim.I also started on
a while ago and have yet to finish it. I don't really consider it an abandonment since I do intend to finish it. I just can't seem to bring myself to picking it back up again to keep going.
I ended up dropping Gulliver's Travels 1/3rd of the way through. The crazy amounts of detail, complete with really old political/nautical terminology made it tough to get through. I was enjoying it, but it could also be a headache at certain points. I still have a bookmark in it and I might actually go back to it someday if I feel up to it.
Every time in High School I was required to read something I never did. Even though I read ALL THE TIME. I don't like someone telling me what to read. I do like recommendations though :-)
the only book I've absolutely had to put down and never finish was Proust's In Search of Time. I found it so dull and whiny I had to quit.
I love zombies! But I did not finish World War Z. It was just too boring for me. I didn't throw it away though. I gave it away.
Bleak House. Twice.Then I read it three times in the following years. One of my favourites.
Kimberly wrote: "I love zombies! But I did not finish World War Z. It was just too boring for me. I didn't throw it away though. I gave it away."I am struggling myself to get through it. I guess the former History major in me is sticking to it and appreciating the work, but at times ...
Horror Aficionados
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Peter Straub (other topics)Leo Tolstoy (other topics)
