Pick-a-Shelf discussion
Pick-a-Shelf: Monthly -Archive
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2017-08 - Abandoned-What will you read?
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by Markus Zusak. I know that a lot of people rave about this book, but when I tried to read it several years ago, I just couldn't get into it. Maybe I'll feel differently now. In addition, I am already slated to readIt
by Stephen King. Lastly, I might consider The Handmaid's Tale
by Margaret Atwood ( I have been working on this book since February and really need to finish it. ) There are several on the list that I have been wanting to read, including:
The Nightingale
American Gods
The Help
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
A Game of Thrones
and several others, but I probably won't get to any of them. IT is huge, as is The Handmaid's Tale.
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City of Bones
Sense and Sensibility
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
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If I were to pick up one I've personally abandoned and try again, it would be Swann's Way. Reading the hard copy, I just couldn't stand how Proust uses so many words to say so little. But I've tried listening to the audiobook to help with that, and it puts me to sleep every time.
As for agreeing or disagreeing ...
Several of the books there are ones I found either difficult to read or disappointing. I noticed that Gabriel Garcia Marquez makes two appearances on the first page, and his books, though rewarding, are often very confusing. And some are just plain long. I certainly would've given up on Ulysses too if I hadn't done it as a buddy read.
Books on the first few pages that I agree might be worth giving up on -- I rated them 1* or 2* -- are The Lovely Bones, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, The Alchemist, The Road, Fifty Shades of Grey, Life of Pi, The Martian (much better suited to a movie than a book, in my opinion), and, yes, Ulysses (Yes, I know it's a "classic," but still -- so many words and so little to show for it.)
Seeing someone chose The Handmaid's Tale reminds me to ask: I haven't started watching the Hulu series based on it. Has anyone seen it, and does it live up to the promise of the book? That is not a book I could've abandoned!
Interesting shelf! It would be great to push myself to try again on a book I abandoned, but I feel I'm not up to it at the moment, lol!I do agree with some of the books on the shelf, for instance I abandoned Catch-22 and Infinite Jest. On the other hand, I loved some of the most abandoned books, such as 1984 or The Book Thief... but I realize not all of us have the same reading tastes!
I have Moby-Dick or, The Whale waiting for me on my bookshelf, so I might consider reading it at long last, although I have a feeling I might abandon it, too... If that is the case, I will choose something else, but I don't know what as yet.
I thought this might be a fun shelf! I didn't have any particular book in mind when I picked it, but I do have a few on my TBR that are on the list:Robinson Crusoe
Freedom
A Confederacy of Dunces
A Gate at the Stairs
The Pox Party
... and The White Tiger, which I keep listing for challenges over and over and never get to. So maybe this will finally be the time ...
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Robinson Crusoe
[book:Freedom|79050..."
I thought about reading Robinson Crusoe. Wonder how it is.
It's funny to see a book one person hates is the favorite book of someone else. So a list named Abandoned doesn't have to mean all books on it are bad. I think this shelf is a great pick!I don't agree with all books. I looked at page one, and there are some book I loved and gave 5 stars:
,
But on the other hand there are books I was very tempted to abandon or did abandon but picked up again several months later
And some I actually did abandon, like
There are several books on this list I still want to read, but I think I'll go for one of these:
I may finally read Water for Elephants which I have been meaning to read for some time now. It's the first one I got to on that list on my tbr, but I may look farther down, too.
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I will be interested in how you like it. It is an interesting book.
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I don't ..."
I have tried to read The Book Thief a couple of times and never gotten very far. It would definitely go on my "abandoned" shelf. On the other hand, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo I actually finished and was glad I did, but I have never read any of the other books in the series.
I think I may read Wuthering Heights. I just read Jane Eyre and loved it, so I'm interested in seeing if I will love the other Bronte sister's writing.
For this month I am going to read The Night Circus. Maybe I will do a better job than I did last month... still working on that one.
I won't even try to pick a book for this shelf...I'm sure that whatever I end up reading, has been abandoned by somebody.
Sassafrass wrote: "I think I may read Wuthering Heights. I just read Jane Eyre and loved it, so I'm interested in seeing if I will love the other Bronte sister's writing."I love Jane Eyre! But Heathcliff seems like a prick, that's why I've never wanted to read WH.
Have you guys abandoned any book in the first 3 pages of the shelf? I have one per page...
Yes, D.G.! In the first 3 pages, I abandoned Catch-22 and Infinite Jest (actually, both are on the first page).
I have Catch-22 on my "maybe later" shelf but it's likely I'll end up abandoning it at some point. I really don't feel like continuing.
Yes D.G. here are the books I abandoned for the first 2 pages:
but picked this up again later, you don't miss much if you don't read it. But that is my opinion. I know there are people who love this book.At page 3 is a book I should have abandoned:
are among my favorites! I think I rated them all 4.5-5 stars.That's the funny thing about this shelf...different strokes for different folks!
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I totally agree, D.G. pretty much any book has been abandoned by someone.
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I loved Jane Eyre, but had a hard time getting through WH. Strangely enough, I have it on my list of unfinished books, but I haven't totally decided to abandon it yet....
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"I have nothing abandoned on pages 2 or 3, but on page 1 I have:
The Book Thief
Cloud Atlas
Wuthering Heights
My favorite book on the first page is Anna Karenina, which has been shelved as abandoned 323 times. I think 300 of those times by me alone, lol. Only kidding, but I have tried to read that book so many times and I just do not like it.....I have it listed as read because I finally made it most of the way through, but I don't think I ever really finished it.
I think I'm going to use Whiteout by Ken Follet as my personal Abandoned book for August. It's also on my Moving Mountains list, so huzzah for two birds/one stone! I think I was just not in the right frame of mind when I picked it up earlier in the year.I'm also going to try Anna Karenina because I've been meaning to read it for a long time, so this is the perfect opportunity!
I rarely abandon books completely. I try to work my way through them, but I can see where some of those could have been given up on.
Anna Karennina is a chunkster.
Lyn (Readinghearts) wrote: "D.G. wrote: "I won't even try to pick a book for this shelf...I'm sure that whatever I end up reading, has been abandoned by somebody."I totally agree, D.G. pretty much any book has been abandoned by someone."
This is true, but it doesn't mean it will be on the shelf :)
From what I can see, it has to have been shelved as Abandoned at least 28 times to make it onto the last page of the link.
Lyn (Readinghearts) wrote: "I will be interested in how you like it. It is an interesting book."I saw the movie, so that will affect how I see it, but since I will be reading all the parts left out of the movie or changed in the movie, I'm not sure how I'll like it.
Of all my abandoned books I think I'll probably try to start either The Summer Without Men, The City & the City, The Summer Tree or Speaker for the Dead, which have been in my mind for the last couple of months and I've been trying to include in different challenges, so far without much success, so perhaps this monthly shelf gives me the much needed push. :)Many of my abandoned books weren't bad but simply weren't what I wanted to read at the time. I think among those I could place some really popular ones like Outlander, Clockwork Princess, So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, The Passage, Edenborn, Half a King and The Silver Chair...
I made a shelf for all the books I thought were duds.
Rosemary wrote: "From what I can see, it has to have been shelved as Abandoned at least 28 times to make it onto the last page of the link."There's a glitch with the shelves...even though the Abandoned shelf has 98,325 books, it only shows up to page 25, with 1250 books.
That's why I use other methods to find out if a book in on a shelf. For example, I can see that 8 people have shelved Chasing Fire (a book I'm reading now) on the abandoned shelf.
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/users...
If you click on the link below, you can check my friend Lisa Kay's post as to how to check if a specific book in on a specific shelf:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
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Wow, D.G. That is such a huge timesaver! Thanks for sharing.
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Thanks, D.G. ;)
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Interesting mix of books on this shelf, of course, as everyone has different tastes though I'm sure quite a few of times a book could've been abandoned if a reader's not in the mood for it!
I might go for My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry or And the Mountains Echoed
D.G. wrote: "Rosemary wrote: "From what I can see, it has to have been shelved as Abandoned at least 28 times to make it onto the last page of the link."There's a glitch with the shelves...even though the Aba..."
Yes, thanks - amazing! Is there any way this link can be posted in the "How To" post so we can find it easily every month?
Nice shelf. I have read many and still a lot of them on my TBR. I am going to go with:
since it's also on my 12 Days of Aussie Christmas & Scattershelves challenges.
I got my book for this "Station Eleven"
D.G. wrote: "I love Jane Eyre! But Heathcliff seems like a prick, that's why I've never wanted to read WH. "..."
He is a prick. And I wanted to slap him for most of the book. The writing however was as beautiful as all of the people were ugly.
I turns out a different book I was reading falls under abandoned, but I might still read Water for Elephants.
I am going to read The Gunslinger. This is a book I tried to read when it first came out but it didn't seem to take and I cannot remember much of it. Since the movie is coming out soon. I figure I could try it again.
Christina wrote: "D.G. wrote: "I love Jane Eyre! But Heathcliff seems like a prick, that's why I've never wanted to read WH. "..."
He is a prick. And I wanted to slap him for most of the book. The writing however ..."
I loved Jane Eyre as well. It is my favorite book. Yes Heathcliff is a prick in every way. I will take Rochester anytime.
I have decided to re-visit
. I abandoned this earlier this year, (the bookmark is still where I got to - page 76). I was enjoying it at the time but got bogged down in other books and it got left behind.
Think I will re-start from the beginning.
. I abandoned this earlier this year, (the bookmark is still where I got to - page 76). I was enjoying it at the time but got bogged down in other books and it got left behind.Think I will re-start from the beginning.
I read both Pride and Prejudice and Emma
Pick-a-Shelf
Books mentioned in this topic
A Spool of Blue Thread (other topics)The Gunslinger (other topics)
On the Road (other topics)
Kiss an Angel (other topics)
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Markus Zusak (other topics)Stephen King (other topics)
Margaret Atwood (other topics)
Of course the list includes books that others have abandoned that we have not, but I'm going to try to revisit at least one of the books that I have abandoned in the past and take another crack at it!
What about you? What will you read?
And in the interest of discussion, what books on the list do you agree with, and which ones are on the list that you loved?