What book have you tried to read but just didn't get it?

[Lisa]

I read 50SOG on holiday and wondered what all the hype was about. It wasn't that bad and it certainly wasn't unreadable, just not worth all the hype. Recently I forced myself to read The Waterbabies by Charles Kingsley and yes, I had to force myself. It is verbose and turgid stuff. I don't do Dickens either, for me his stories are spoiled by the silly character names so I really struggle. Jane Austen was thrust upon us at school and it turned me right off her books.

[Jennifer]

We read Dickens in school and really enjoyed it. The same for 50 shades... not the school part but the enjoying it.
I think a lot of the hype stemmed from shock value. Bondage has always stayed quietly in it's genre and away from mainstream. I bet most people never even knew about BDSM books before it.

[J.S.]

For me it's PS. I love you and Bridget Jones' diary. They're the exceptions to my argument that books always beat film adaptions hands down. I actually quite like the film counterparts to these novels (in a cheesy easy watch way that I am 100% unashamed of) but the books left me stewing in irritation. PS. I love you positively infuriated me beyond reason while Bridget was just meh.

More recently, the boy who sneaks through my bedroom window by Kirsty Moseley has a gazillion 5* reviews and I despised it with unearthly passion.

[K.P.]

Jennifer wrote: "Mine was Lord of the Flies.
My husband said it was his favorite as a boy. I hadn't read it so I gave it a try. I love classics like Catcher in the Rye, Gatsby, Mockingbird. But I just couldn't get..."

i enjoyed Catcher, Mockingbird and Lord of the Flies (great eff'ed-upedness.) Though I couldn't get into Gatsby or any of Fitzgerald's works. I tried. Sober. Drunk. Nope. I had better chances with Sinclair than that dude and at least I got what he was going for (than the unintended noise he made instead with it).

[Jennifer]

K.P. wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "Mine was Lord of the Flies.
My husband said it was his favorite as a boy. I hadn't read it so I gave it a try. I love classics like Catcher in the Rye, Gatsby, Mockingbird. But I ..."

That's funny. I've never been able to get through anything more complex than a picture book when drunk!

[Lily]

Reading drunk... that's honestly never occured to me. Maybe I should try that sometime...

[K.P.]

lolz sometimes some books are so bad, i need some liquid courage to go through it. sometimes it shuts up my inner critic/red line editor and i'm able to enjoy the books. not all the time though. :)

[Lily]

Hey, if it works lol

[Virginia]

There is one good version of 50 Shades of Grey https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K1Rc... :-D

[Nathan]

Virginia wrote: "There is one good version of 50 Shades of Grey https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K1Rc... :-D"

I don't care who you are, that's funny right there.

[Stuart]

Nathan wrote: "Virginia wrote: "There is one good version of 50 Shades of Grey https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K1Rc... :-D"

I don't care who you are, that's funny right there."

I double that. Hilarious!

[Lisa]

Hilarious... it is their expressions I love! :D

[J.S.]

Yep. I hurt from laughing and my hubby deems me a mental case :D

[Justin]

From the Dust Returned by Ray Bradbury. Felt kind of bad giving up on such a well written and respected author but the book just was not coming together for me.

[J.S.]

Oooh and also, 'Hitchhikers guide'. I feel bad for this one cos I so should have loved it but...I couldn't get into it. Been a while since I read it but I didn't finish it.

[Sara]

Joanne - I'd try again. It took me three times to get through the first half of his Dirk Gently series and then I just devoured it. Sometimes his writing takes a little getting used to.

[J.S.]

I know. Fits all my criteria of likeability. It's not even that I feel any hate towards it, I just felt a complete lack of motivation to see it through at the time :/ Same -actually- with terry brooks. And his books had freaking unicorns in em (my ultimate draw). New adds to read list me thinks.

[Duane]

I'm totally with Joanne. I couldn't get into The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy at all, and ultimately ended up not finishing it. I also couldn't get into The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett, or A wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle.

[Lily]

Tht kind of fantasy isn't for everyone, though all the book mentioned are excellent. To each their own.

[These Violent Delights]

Oooh okay. Ya'll are probably going to hate me but, I can't ever seem to get into The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. I just love LOVE the covers and although I will not be reading the last 2 books in the series, I plan to buy them because they're so beautiful lol.

Also, I've tried really hard to like the If I Stay book by Gayle Forman, but I just downright hate it. The trailer for the movie looks great though, I will be seeing the movie adaption.

I'm also currently reading Ashes, Ashes by Jo Treggiari and I'm really not getting into it. I read and finished the first chapter, and it just isn't as awesome, nor up to par with my tastes. I'm just going to set it aside and read other books instead for a while.

[J.S.]

Have you tried the Infernal devises by Cassandre Clare? I actually preferred those (after the first half of the first book). Well worth trying. I know the purple prose is a bit ott but underneath that there is an awesome story.

[These Violent Delights]

No, I haven't tried them yet. I plan on purchasing them because there covers are gorgeous, but I may just have to read them too! Haha :)

[Wren]

I know people who have gotten turned off by The Mortal Instruments after reading the reveal at the end of the first book. I realize that would upset some people, but I've always encouraged them to try the others because there are a lot of surprises in those books. I can see how it might not be everyone's favorite though. I loved them myself, but not as much as the second series like Joanne mentioned. Clare does a much better job of developing the characters in The Infernal Devices (and I agree about the first half of the first book Joanne, it took me a while to get into it). I loved Clockwork Princess, still one of my favorites.

[J.S.]

Adored! but i did make slow progress through that period Tessa was with the freaky sisters.

[Virginia]

Joanne wrote: "Oooh and also, 'Hitchhikers guide'. I feel bad for this one cos I so should have loved it but...I couldn't get into it. Been a while since I read it but I didn't finish it."

I was the same! I loved the TV series but the book felt kind of boring.

[Jojobean]

Virginia wrote: "There is one good version of 50 Shades of Grey https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K1Rc... :-D"

OH...MY...GOD....

Can't stop laughing

[Kevin]

When I was a teenager, I read the first two Hitchhiker's Guides, and had started the third when I met Douglas Adams at a sci-fi bookstore in Houston. He was signing books. There was a long line. I was starstruck. I thought to get him to notice me by asking the first question that came to my head, the brilliant, "Do you have more fans in America or England?" He was quick and dry. "Well, considering the fact that America has THREE TIMES the population of England..." and left it at that. I never read him again.

[Sara]

My favorite Douglas Adams is his non-fic Last Chance to See. It has a lot of his personality in it so it may give those who can't get through the other books a chance to see if it's his style. Last Chance to See is a collection of short stories so you don't have to read the whole book.
I love him. I had a chance to meet him as well and loved him even more but I think it depends on your background. My dad is from England and we had a lot of BBC growing up.

[Lily]

Getting a bit off topic :)

[Sara]

I know but it's not hard to get back on topic.

[Lily]

That's what a mod nudge is for.

[BK]

Catcher in the Rye. I finished it, and then proceeded to get really pissed off that this book gets such high praise.


A Brave New World. Give me 1984 anyday. Sorry.

[Justin]

I agree about Catcher in the Rye. I read it in high school. The teacher talked about it before hand saying the book was a classic and it was controverisal and then as we read it, myself and others kept waiting for something major to happen but it never did. I just didn't get the whole big idea or controversy behind it..I guess maybe the idea of Holden being a bad boy back in the days of when it was suppose to be was shocking but today? It's like uhh no he's every other bad boy and his brother that acts such a way. So yeah, didn't get that book.

[Lily]

I suppose I was lucky with Catcher in the Rye. I had a fabulous English teacher that year. She always let us read first, talk about it after. She never tried to "make us think" before we even had a chance to read.

It was controversial only because it was the first popular novel to have a teenager openly talk about sex. At the time, it was revolutionary. So, there you have it.

[Justin]

Ah, did not know that thanks Lily. I guess I missed that part of the book because I found it so dull and was expecting more that the topic of what you mention went over my head and passed me.

[Lily]

Justin wrote: "Ah, did not know that thanks Lily. I guess I missed that part of the book because I found it so dull and was expecting more that the topic of what you mention went over my head and passed me."

They say, there's no such thing as bad teachers. I beg to differ ;)

It's too bad, because Catcher in the Rye is a good book with a lot interesting historical implications, that changed the face of publishing as we know it. Is it the best book written in all of history? Nope. It's just, interesting, that's all.

[Tiger]

I think the controversy in part has to do with whether you believe Holden is in an asylum for the entirety of the story or not. For what it's worth I too hated that book.

[K.P.]

i couldn't get into the time traveller's wife. it bored me senseless and kinda creeped me out. my friends were gushing about it. i was like ehh no.

[K.P.]

Tiger wrote: "I think the controversy in part has to do with whether you believe Holden is in an asylum for the entirety of the story or not. For what it's worth I too hated that book."

i thought holden was on the couch talking to some psychiatrist? but hey, if he was in his head, all the same. dude was a little out there. :)

[Lily]

Every adolescent going through hormonal surges is out there lol

[Virginia]

K.P. wrote: "i thought holden was on the couch talking to some psychiatrist? but hey, if he was in his head, all the same. dude was a little out there. :) "

The edition I read had that bit and some other parts removed. I had real problems understanding what the reviews and critics were talking about till I figured that out. :-/