Books I didn't like/couldn't finish

[Ahtims]

There are a few books which have bothered me by their obstinate nature. I never could understand or finish books like "catch 22", Gabriel Garcia Marquez books etc. inspite of repeated attempts. I wonder why? Many of my friends have had no problem with these, and Catch 22 was recommended by many as a scintillating humorous book on civil war, but I couldn't make heads or tails of Yohanan (the main character) or his ways. So I thought I will devout this folder to books which people didnot like/ couldnot finish. It would be interesting to know why we have mental blocks to certain books while others don;t.

[Muddle head]

Bingo, i had the same feeling when i first read Catch-22 3 yrs ago, never found a book like that again! I just went crazy reading those first 10 pages.. am yet to read pg 11

[Ahtims]

-
This all about a man and a woman (husband and wife) meeting at different points of their lifetime at different age groups.Had read great reviews and was looking forward to this book, but couldn't read past the first 20 or so pages - was so disconcerting and boring, I had to put it down.

[Muddle head]

Agreed this book got a tough beginning, i myself had a stuttered start. The only reason i kept reading it is that i had to know the future from where the guy keeps visiting back and why he has to visit back....sounds like a little logical reasoning puzzle..

[Ahtims]

how did you find the book? is it worth giving another try?

[[deleted user]]

has anybody ever tried to read the Fountain head by Ayn Rand?
oh god! i dont think ive ever had so much trouble reading any other book!
havent put it into my list of books read for the simple reason that after the first half i flipped thro it like as if i was reading a magaziine trying to understand the story! Failed miserably!!!

[Muddle head]

I found the book interesting, yes worth a try. But don't just go by my word, bcoz as is, i understand there are a lot of mixed reviews for this one....either u love it or hate it, it's that kind!

[Muddle head]

hazel wrote: "has anybody ever tried to read the Fountain head by Ayn Rand?
oh god! i dont think ive ever had so much trouble reading any other book!
havent put it into my list of books read for the simple re..."

I once decided that if am going to read Ayn Rand ever, i'd have to tear it to pieces, and go through it piece by piece hypnotizing myself that the current piece is gonna be the last one. Surprisingly i found LOTR, which is even more voluminous, less boring!

[Ahtims]

I had started on Fountainhead and found it quite interesting. But then, like many a time, it got superceded by other books and finally I forgot about it. Now that I am reminded of it, feel like trying it again.

[[deleted user]]

Smitha wrote: "I had started on Fountainhead and found it quite interesting. But then, like many a time, it got superceded by other books and finally I forgot about it. Now that I am reminded of it, feel like try..."

yikes! let me know if u get through it! :)

[[deleted user]]

Aditya wrote: "hazel wrote: "has anybody ever tried to read the Fountain head by Ayn Rand?
oh god! i dont think ive ever had so much trouble reading any other book!
havent put it into my list of books read for t..."

he he! when u put it that way... u should also try gone with the wind! lol! its not boring at all.. except that at the end i felt that all my effort of going through the book was fruitless!
anyway the size of LOTR has always scared me! heard some rave reviews about it... will get through it someday! :)

[Ramakrishnan]

hahaha most amusing; i tried reading fountainhead looooong back...couldnt finish it...but saw the movie and loved it; read atlash shrugged recently and loved it; i recommend you guys try fountainhead again

Aditya wrote: "hazel wrote: "has anybody ever tried to read the Fountain head by Ayn Rand?
oh god! i dont think ive ever had so much trouble reading any other book!
havent put it into my list of books read for t..."

[Ramakrishnan]

few books i could not finish are
- Napoleon biography
- Mein Kamph
- Rise and Fall of the third reich
- something something by J Krishnamurthy (too complicated man)

[Balkha]

I end up finishing most books that I begin even though at some point it is difficult going. The only books which I left unread and I won't be picking them up ever are "Interpretation of Dreams" Sigmund Freud, it was just impossible to sustain interest in this one and Thomas Friedman's "The World is Flat".

[Sanskriti]

The house of night series is a complete waste of time and one of the worst books I have ever read! I don't know how I got through the entire series and I've been stuck on the last book for the past 4 months. I still have 100 more pages to go and I really don't think its likely I'll ever finish it.

[Parikhit]

I am always been a follower of Ruskin Bond but strangely enough I was not impressed by the collection of short stories, "Ghost Stories from the Raj". First it was scarcely scary and second the stories were not gripping at all. I read the entire book but was thoroughly disappointed. Even Agatha Christie's "Pocket Full of Rye" was an impossible plot.

[Manoj]

"3 mistakes of my life"... freak! made 3 attempts... then decided i wont try again... first book i gave up on.

[Ahtims]

Yesterday I was sorting out my bookshelf and was dismayed to see many classics which I had given up due to sheer laziness. Anna Karenina, Bleakhouse being notable two. Maybe the pages long descriptions and miniscule fonts were one deterring feature. I want to reread those. I have decided that I will read a classic per month as I find that nowadays I have got into the habit of reading fast-paced thrillers and best sellers rather than classic stuff. In my childhood and teens I was an avid fan of classics. (isn't it the other way round with most people - flimsy stuff in younger age and more of classics as you mature?)

[Muddle head]

I don't think it's the other way round. We do read the classic stuff when young but still don't like them that much. We don't have the patience to read classics at a mature age, and we even start criticizing the characters as per our own experiences in our lives instead of adopting a neutral point of view. The thrillers, on the other hand are what we like when we are young, but the older we grow, they are the only ones we can read, as they don't add to our already burdened mind and also we can complete them in about 3-4 hours at the most without requiring much of the family time!

I can see the changes in myself just after one and a half years of marriage. I don't think i can manage to read any other books like the LOTR, Exodus or Shantaram.

[Ahtims]

Yes, really true.

[Shreeya]

The God Delusion - the tone is just too self-congratulatory, smug and condescending.

[Muddle head]

Yeah, did read abt the book here on goodreads an year ago i guess. The book seemed a bit too harsh even for an atheist/agnostic

[Shreeya]

Yeah - I couldn't get past the first 20 pages, despite being in his target audience, as an agnostic. I found that his attitude was too sneeringly contemptuous of those who believe in religion. I don't hold to that view. It would have been a more palatable (and I'd argue interesting) read had he simply presented facts and left the value judgments to his readers.

[Balkha]

I actually liked reading the "God Delusion". Even though I do not support the value judgements, everyone has a right to make their own decision about these things, I thought he made some good points.

[billyboneshaker]

hazel wrote: "has anybody ever tried to read the Fountain head by Ayn Rand?
oh god! i dont think ive ever had so much trouble reading any other book!
havent put it into my list of books read for the simple re..."

I tried reading fountainhead.. found it interesting at first but then just cudn't read even a single word. Never picked it up again after reading half of it.

[Ahtims]

billyboneshaker wrote: "hazel wrote: "has anybody ever tried to read the Fountain head by Ayn Rand?
Yes, same thing happened to me. I really liked fountainhead, but I can't recall why I gave up on it. The book is still there in my bookshelf, waiting to be completed.

[[deleted user]]

@billyboneshaker: I actually want to try reading Fountain head again. Its one of the books i feel guilty of not having read properly. Also there are people who swear by the book( my best friend included!)
Maybe sometime in the "far" future! lol!
Love the name by the way! :)

[billyboneshaker]

Hazel wrote: "@billyboneshaker: I actually want to try reading Fountain head again. Its one of the books i feel guilty of not having read properly. Also there are people who swear by the book( my best friend inc..."

one of my friends and I started reading the book at the same time, she disliked it as much as I did but she went on to read the entire one just for the sake of it and I cudn't...

[Manikanta]

One needs lot of patience to read Fountain Head. It took me a whole semester to complete it but I personally feel it was worth it. That book is less a novel and more a textbook on her kind of philosophy.
Her character development takes pages and pages.
The kind of bold statements she makes are shocking! Read the book with patience. At the end, you will feel good for looking at life from a completely different perspective than what we are used to.

[[deleted user]]

I absolutely loved Fountainhead and was done with it in a week. 'Atlas Shrugged', though, was quite an ordeal.

I sit down with War and Peace at least twice a month, with every intention of doing Leo Tolstoy's magnum opus justice. The effort lasts less than an hour and I eventually end up reading some run-of-the-mill spy story. Two novels later, I feel sick of myself and my shoddy taste in literature. The whole cycle then repeats itself.

[billyboneshaker]

War and Peace was another one that I could never finish. I was able to read Fountainhead more than War and Peace.

[Sherin]

"Catcher in the rye" - Even though it's a small book ,I couldn't find the patience to complete it. I rarely leave a book after getting started ; but this one I simply couldn't..

[Sujaritha]

"A Mercy" by Tony Morrison - a noble prize winner for literature. Again the prose is so rich and complex, it just puts you to sleep. But I still feel guilty for not having made an attempt.

[Ahtims]

War and Peace, Bleak House, Catch-22, Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged, many Thomas Hardy novels - a few of my 'Waterloos'

[Sherin]

Oh yeah .. "Catch 22". But I have to confess that I thoroughly enjoyed the dark humour in as much as I read. Have to finish it sometime. :)

[billyboneshaker]

Sherin wrote: "Oh yeah .. "Catch 22". But I have to confess that I thoroughly enjoyed the dark humour in as much as I read. Have to finish it sometime. :)"

I just finished Catch -22. And I agree, the dark humor is too good. ALso, the second half of the book is the real deal, 1st half kinda puts u off.

[Ahtims]

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer- this is one highly acclaimed book which I couldnot finish. In fact, I left it after 20 pages or so. The beginning was so dragging and a bit 'putting off' for me.

[Mansee]

Just could not go beyond a chapter for Catch 22 myself..

Also, the award winnning "Inheritance of Loss" by Kiran Desai - I just could not read beyond 10 pages....and to my dismay, my friend gifted me one on my bday..so i had 2 copies of a book which I just could not read..donated them to a library!

[Ahtims]

I did like reading 'inheritance of loss', though it was a dismal sort of a book. with some books I have had a bad start, but later those seemed okay. But Catch 22 is one book I could never get a hang of.

[Akanksha]

Inheritance Of Loss is fine, just the end is a bit confusing.....and same here about catch 22.....i couldn't get past the first couple of pages.

[Shaz]

Two Lives - Vikram Seth
This is only book I have ever abandoned midway. I am an endurer; I can make myself read through the worst the literary world has to offer. But this was something else.

[Ahtims]

I really loved ' A suitable boy' though.

[Gautham]

[Gautham]

Gautham wrote: "" i tried reading mother,s but not succsesful

[[deleted user]]

Gautham i agree with u! im presuming u wer not successful because it was boring.... i thought so too. finished it off but certainly didnt enjoy it!

[Akanksha]

@Gautham Yeah i know that book is sorta boring. You know you should try Enid Blyton's Run About's Holidays. You'll love it.

[Ahtims]

yes you are right

[Ahtims]

my 8 year old is full of beans. He is not allowing me to be online and he is doing all this mischief above. mesage no. 46 was by gautham

[♥Aicha~high~on~books♥]

Smitha wrote: "I really loved ' A suitable boy' though."

@ Smitha: Me too!!
I like all books by Vikram Seth

There are a lot of silly chick lits i m not able to finish... (but since those tiny bits of literature are all i can manage to finish in the period of a cab ride to my office + my lunch hour)i m with a lot of half read books now...

but probably unlike others i have never been daunted by the size of a book...(except maybe 100 years of Solitude... which if i may say was a complete opposite of the great book it is portrayed to be (for me at least))

@Gautham: u can also try Artemis Fowl series

[Jyoti]

I could not manage to read "Inheritance of Loss" by Kiran Desai. I wonder, either I am not meant for intelligent reading or the book is not intelligent.

and for all those who have "The FountainHead" in their to-read list, follow Manikanta's comment. Read it with patience and enjoy the way Ayn Rand has developed each characters. Give it a go. its a good read according to me.