Read, Want to Read, Currently Reading and... Abandoned?

[Letícia]

What do you do when you give up reading a book? Did it stay forever as "Currently reading" (because maybe you gonna give it a second chance) or did you just shelve it as "Adandoned" (and never look at it again)?

What are your abandoned books? Why did you stop reading them?

[Marta]

I have a did-not-finish shelf. I used to have "will not finish" and "set aside but plan to finish" but I figured it doesn't really matter, there are only 12 total. This way I can just remove books from my currently reading shelf when I figure I won't read them in the near future, and add them again when (if) I pick them up. Some I never will, some I know I will when I am in the mood.

I never finished Catch-22 and A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius probably because I wasn't in the mood for them at the time. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was on there, too, but re-read it this year and loved it - I think I just was not in the mood for it the first time. Some others are non-fiction that got repetitive or not well reasearched, or some were difficult to read, like A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

[Marina]

I have an "unfinished"-shelf. I don't like the word abandoned. It's too harsh!
I move the books to my unfinished-shelf, because I might give it a chance another time.
If I know that I will never ever try to read a book again, I would probably remove it from my shelves.

The last book I marked as unfinished was Sarum: The Novel of England. It's quite a door stop and I was halfway through, but I had some issues with the book from the beginning.

Watership Down is another book on the list. I just found it boring and I really didn't appreciate the bunny language.

There's only 6 books on my unfinished-shelf, so it's not often, I give up and don't finish a book!

[Jody]

I have a "Happily Abandoned" shelf, for those books that I know without a doubt I will never, ever return to. There are only three books on there though: Fifty Shades of Grey, Ketchup Is a Vegetable: And Other Lies Moms Tell Themselves & The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared. They are the first three books that I had the courage to completely abandon, with no intention of trying again.

The others, some I just leave on my "Currently Reading" shelf & hope that at some point I will eventually finish them (I recently finally finished a book that I started in December 2013 & hadn't picked up for months & months - it was non-fiction), others I move back to TBR as I know I'll have to start them again to remember what's going on.

[Zaz]

I've absolutely no problem in skipping pages when the book is boring, so most of the time, I succeed to finish it. For the others, for the moment, I remove them from my bookshelves.

[Michelle]

I have an abandoned shelf. It is an exclusive shelf (like to to-read, read, and currently reading shelves). At present, there are 3 books on it. There were 4 but I plucked The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender from abandonment and finished it this year.

The books that remain on my abandoned shelf are The She-Hulk Diaries, The Witches of Echo Park, and Life After Life.

The She-Hulk Diaries was abandoned because it was nothing like what I expected. That isn't necessarily a bad thing. Maybe it is a book I could/would enjoy at a later date, but I went in expecting a heroic superhero story and got more Sex and the City. It wasn't what I wanted to read then and there. I just couldn't get into it so... abandoned!

The Witches of Echo Park was picked up because it was written by Amber Benson who, if you are a Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan, you will recall played Willow's witchy girlfriend Tara. It was a short book and I was intrigued enough so I figured why not? The Witches of Echo Park now has the distinct honor of being the only book I've ever abandoned before the end of the prologue. The author either has an impressive vocabulary that she's aching to show off or a really big thesaurus because, wow, the entire prologue was one unnecessarily lengthy word after another. It was like reading someone's thesis paper.

Life After Life had a lot of promise. I got nearly half of the way through it before giving up. My struggle with this book is that it is a story about a girl who dies frequently and, when she dies, is brought back to the day of her birth to do it all again. So much of the story, at least what I read of it, is a giant do-over. I got tired of reading the same story over and over again, with slightly altered wording, so I gave up.

[Aglaea]

I've marked them as Read, added them to a did-not-finish shelf, and left without date finished to avoid distorting the GR yearly challenge.

I do want to alert possible curious souls to their status, but deleting them would defeat that purpose. On the other hand, I don't want them on Currently Reading or TBR messing those up either, so Read it is.

[Aglaea]

Emm the Elf wrote: "I have an abandoned shelf. It is an exclusive shelf (like to to-read, read, and currently reading shelves). At present, there are 3 books on it. There were 4 but I plucked [book:The Strange and Bea..."

Didn't see your comment earlier. I have to look at those exclusive shelves, could be an option!

[Michelle]

Aglaea, yeah, when you go to edit your shelves there is a check box to make it an exclusive shelf. You could turn your did-not-finish shelf into an exclusive shelf if you prefer.

[[deleted user]]

I have an exclusive DNF shelf, which currently has 46 books on it. If a book doesn't grab me within the first 50 pages I have no problem ditching it :)

[Aglaea]

Which three exclusive shelves do you have? Mine are Read, Currently Reading and To Read. Have you dropped one of those (which)? It says I can have only three altogether.

That was the reason I had never investigated further :) I have quite a few sticky shelves, though, one of which is DNF.

[Zaz]

I've 5 exclusives ;)
Read, Currently, To Read, To Read Child-lit, To Read Comics.

My Bookshelves > Edit > Add a shelf > New Name > Check the exclusive box > Et voilà!

[Michelle]

Oh, that is peculiar that it will only allow you three. I have five. :x

I have read, currently reading, and to read. I also have abandoned. And I have one called to read challenges (where I put the books that I have designated for challenges).

[Aglaea]

You know what? I have this disease and it is called "When it is possible to interpret a text in several ways, I pick without exception the wrong way." It is extremely frustrating.

Re-reading the directions for exclusive shelves made me realise that once again has my disease resurfaced... I just made my DNF into an exclusive shelf. Thanks for sticking with the discussion, so I had a chance to shake things up.

[[deleted user]]

I have 4 exclusives-you should be able to add more than three? In the shelf edit section, on the top there's a space to create/name a new shelf. After you've created a new shelf, chose the square to make it 'exclusive'. It will then give you a pop up asking if you're sure you want to make it exclusive. Hit yes and you're good to go :)

eta: just read your last post Aglaea, glad you figured it out!

[Bana AZ]

I have another exclusive shelf called "partially-read". Under those are either books that I hope to pick up again, or books that I also shelved in "waste-of-time". (But my "waste-of-time" shelf has both partially and fully read books under it.)

Abandoned books:
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris - I just found it absolutely pointless. It tried to be funny, but it was only funny for me in the first chapter and tedious after that.

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis - I already dislike the stream of consciousness narrative style in general, and to have that style in a psycho's mind is way too much.

The Shack by Wm. Paul Young - It's an apologetic novel and I'm an atheist.

Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice - It was too slow for me and I think I also had too high expectations. Or I just don't like Anne Rice's writing style.

Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella - It made me feel more stupid with every page I turned.

[[deleted user]]

Ana wrote: "I have another exclusive shelf called "partially-read". Under those are either books that I hope to pick up again, or books that I also shelved in "waste-of-time". (But my "waste-of-time" shelf has..."

I'm a Christian and The Shack drove me batty lol. I don't think it's a religious thing, I think it's an 'this is an horribly written book' thing :p

[Letícia]

So many answers! =)

I used to let my abandoned books in Currently Reading forever but some of them I really didn't like so I won't give it a second chance. Now, those books are in a exclusive shelf as "abandoned".

Marta wrote: "I have a did-not-finish shelf. I used to have "will not finish" and "set aside but plan to finish" but I figured it doesn't really matter, there are only 12 total. This way I can just remove books ..."

Marta, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is one of my favorites but when I read it for the first time I also had problems with it. It was too "crazy" for me!

Marina H wrote: "I have an "unfinished"-shelf. I don't like the word abandoned. It's too harsh!
I move the books to my unfinished-shelf, because I might give it a chance another time.
If I know that I will never ev..."

Marina, I have the unfinished ones and the abandoned ones. The last ones are those I truly didn't like and won't read it again, like Lolita. I couldn't stand the first few pages with that pedophile talking about the little girl. As harsh as it seems I really abandoned this book!

Zaz wrote: "I've absolutely no problem in skipping pages when the book is boring, so most of the time, I succeed to finish it. For the others, for the moment, I remove them from my bookshelves."

Zaz, I can't do that! Every time I try to skip some pages or even paragraphs I feel that I'm missing something even if it's boring.

Aglaea, good that this discussion help you out with your exclusives shelves!

Ana, you should try other books from Anne Rice. I love her but Interview with the Vampire is not one of the best. I like Blackwood Farm which is part of the Vampire Chronicles series, but I think you can read it as a standalone. The Witching Hour and its sequences are good too.

[Raeann]

Now that I know about exclusive shelves, I'm definitely going back and making an "abandoned" one. That's such a good idea!! I have an "unfinished" shelf, but that's for books I started reading and had to give back to the library before I managed to finish them. I fully intend to revisit every book shelved there; it's more for my reference than anything else.

[Sophie]

Letícia wrote: "Marta, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is one of my favorites but when I read it for the first time I also had problems with it. It was too "crazy" for me!"

I totally agree, H2G2 is very crazy and I had some difficulties reading the 3rd book (the last one I read) because I couldn't rely on anything and there wasn't a story, really. I do want to finish the series, but I need to brace myself ;)

[Jody]

Letícia - don't feel bad about abandoning Lolita. I have a very visceral hatred for that book. I read it this year and I wish that I hadn't. It was truly disgusting.

I thought I was alone in not loving Hitchhiker's! It was very meh for me when I read it some years ago. I just didn't find it all that funny, and fail to see the attraction.

[Marta]

Hah, Lolita is one of my favorites, but I can see how someone could not deal with that truly loathsome subject matter. What makes it brilliant for me is the language - and the ability to get inside the head of a horrible person and understand him - yet not symphatize with him. I absolutely understand though that learning what it feels like to be a monster is not for everyone. It is one of those "love it or hate it" books.

[Krissy]

I have a DNF shelf. And once it's there I won't bother with it again. I will usually stick it out to the end but if I give up on it then it's because I just couldn't force myself to continue. There are only 16 books on that shelf so far.

Broken Phoenix
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
The Scarlet Letter
The Glassblower
Insurgent
Bitten
Dollhouse
The Fall
Darkness of Light
The Longings of Wayward Girls
Station Eleven
Falcon Brown
Checking Him Out
His
Second Chances
Sacrificed: Heart Beyond the Spires~(this is the only one on the shelf I might pick up and try again)

[Aglaea]

Hey, pretty please, those of you who have one shelf for multiple challenges, do you use notes to keep track of where a particular volume "belongs"?

I've added some data on my alphabet challenge books, but despite my very best efforts, the Notes column refuses to stay visible next to Dates added and read. Is this something you have noticed as well? Or is it me again, fiddling with stuff the wrong way? (lol)

ETA
Haha, I was supposed to save changes, too. There's a button to the lower left... Deep sigh. Never mind, carry on. I'll leave this up in case someone else might find the information useful, though.

[Michelle]

I have an exclusive shelf called to-read challenges where I put all the TBR books that I am reading for challenges. The reason I separate them is so that way I, if I am mood reading, can easily go to that shelf and select books that are for at least one of the challenges I'm doing.

But I also have non-exclusive shelves for the individual challenges. So, for example, if I want to read a book for the 2016 PopSugar challenge I can pull that shelf up.

[Jody]

Ooh. I like that idea Emm. I've already pinched the formatting from your Google Doc, I might pinch this idea too. :)

[Michelle]

Haha. I stole the idea for that from Manda (the Google spreadsheet) so I can't really object! ;) I think it is great that we've all been able to share ideas. I love the community of our group! :)

[Letícia]

Omg, Aglaea, I didn't know I could add notes to the books!

[Aglaea]

This thread cracks me up big time for some reason.

[Bana AZ]

Letícia wrote: "Ana, you should try other books from Anne Rice. I love her but Interview with the Vampire is not one of the best. I like Blackwood Farm which is part of the Vampire Chronicles series, but I think you can read it as a standalone. The Witching Hour and its sequences are good too. ."

I also tried Rice's Vittorio, The Vampire, which although I finished, I didn't really enjoy, so I'm quite skeptical about reading more of her. But I'll keep those titles in mind if ever I'm in the mood to give second chances.

[Letícia]

Ana, I didn't read Vittorio, The Vampire or Pandora yet. So I can't say if those are high ranked or not. As you said before, maybe you don't like her writting style.

[Claudia]

I have an "on hold" shelf which is typically for books that I've lost interest in but I'm determined to finish at a later time.

[Marina]

Marina H wrote: "I have an "unfinished"-shelf. I don't like the word abandoned. It's too harsh!
I move the books to my unfinished-shelf, because I might give it a chance another time.
If I know that I will never ev..."

In Danish we have a saying that goes something like "You take a stand, till you take a new". It sounds stupid directly translated into English, but I don't know if there is a similar saying in English?
Nevertheless that's what happened to me. I'm now the official owner of an "Abandoned" shelf on Goodreads. And it's all because of "The Martian". I cannot keep reading it, but I don't want to remove it completely from my shelves because I want a reminder not to start reading it again. It can sit there right next to "Watership Down" %#"@#!

[Adam]

I have Z Abandoned Books because I never want to see them again and I don't want to have them cluttering up my shelves. I only have three books on that shelve though. It takes a lot for me to abandon a book.

[Jennie]

I "abandon" books and put books "on hold". The books on my abandon shelf are books I will never go back too. They're mostly young adult books that I had a glaring problem with. Like Mariana, I like the reminder that I tried it once and it did not work.

The on hold books are books that I started reading and then stopped reading for some reason, like I got distracted by other books or didn't have enough free time when I was originally reading it.

[Biana]

First things first....thanks everyone for admitting it. I am such an avid reader and take some pride in knowing that I will read just about anything from start to finish that when I don't...it's like a guilty point I can't get around. I think I usually leave mine in the active reading position even though it fills me with dread every time I see it.

There are quite a number of books I finished because I should just do it. And then I write bad reviews. And I feel like a meany. The challenge last year helped me get over that a little. There were books I never would have read without that encouragement and some just didn't work for me. That's reasonable.

And finally...I would like to thank you folks for listing the books that you didn't enjoy. Some of these books were rated high but they didn't work for me either. It's nice to know that just because it's on someone's Top 40 list doesn't make it the read for everyone.

Oh, I love it when you all help me justify my own reading style!!