Jump to content

Failure to Launch


Frosty

Recommended Posts

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad - had to read it for English Lit. never got past the first chapter.

Swords of Shannara by Terry Brookes - I've started this book about 5 times in my life and never managed to get past the halfway point.

Intervention by Julian May on Ser Stubby's recommendation - tried a couple of times, but nothing doing.

I've read WoT up to book 9 and just can't bring myself to read the next books.

I have a fairly high tolerance for crappy books (I confess that I have not only read the Fifth Sorceress from start to finish but the follow up as well - I didn't enjoy either one) I tend to feel obliged to push on and finish the damn thing once I've started.

_________________________

laoise / Ser Stubby's Strumpet

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a fairly high tolerance for crappy books (I confess that I have not only read the Fifth Sorceress from start to finish but the follow up as well - I didn't enjoy either one) I tend to feel obliged to push on and finish the damn thing once I've started.

I have the same curse. There are few books I have not finished once I have started them. And it takes a long time for me to give up on a series, too. I finally gave up on Goodkind after Pillars of Creation and Laurell K. Hamilton after Danse Macabre. There are a couple of mystery series I have stopped reading as well.

I have tried to be kinder to myself - I stopped reading that one series with Eragon, and never went on to the next book. And I never even tried to read Fifth Sorceress after hearing how bad it was...

I'm not sure if it is simple stubborness or a masochistic streak that kept me reading some of these series so long... :leaving:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I suffer the same ailment. I find it very difficult to throw down a book that annoys me.

The signle exception that I remember is S. King's "It", which disgusted me so much in so few pages that I dumped it and later gave it away.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan. I got perhaps seven pages in before quitting.

Ah, one of the Thomas Covenant books, I can't remember which one, put down after about twenty pages.

Battleaxe by Sara Douglass. However, I was about ten when I started it, and a friend has previously recommended to me and praised it most highly, so I'll pick it up again sometime and give it another chance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

'Jude the Obscure' - Thomas Hardy for me as well. Also - 'The Pickwick Papers' - Charles Dickens (I love Dickens, but this early work was just too episodic and lacking in structure), and 'Anna Karenina' - Tolstoy.

Finally, I'm afraid to say - many years ago after ploughing through Fellowship and Two Towers, I stuttered to a halt midway through 'Return of the King'. Even though, perversely, I was enjoying that stage of the story far more than 'Fellowship' - I was just tired of fantasy. Didn't read another fantasy novel for about 15 years, till Mr Martin started writing a certain series...........

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So many to mention: WoT after the sixth book, The Dark Tower after the third book, The Time Traveller's Wife, The Wings of the Dove, most bestsellers I buy in airports for a flight -- I just can't bear a thought of that rubbish after I get off the plane, etc, etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used to feel compelled to struggle through books I hated. No longer. Recently I've given up on:

Getting Rid of Mister Kitchen - Charles Higson

Left Behind - Tim Lahaye & some other fella

Witches' Brew - Terry Brooks (don't think I made it past the first page of this)

City of Saints and Madmen - Jeff Vandermeer (though I may give this one another shot)

On the other hand, I struggled through the first few books of Katherine Kerr's Deverry series because a friend had lent them to me and I was being polite, and eventually got quite hooked on the series and now really enjoy it... :unsure:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are only two books I picked up to read for myself, started, and failed to finish at all.

One is Speaker for the Dead, by Orson Scott Card. I actually didn't make it past the introduction.

The other was... some New Jedi Order book in the Star Wars series, following after the pair by Salvatore and Stackpole, respectively. I forgot the name, but I just didn't care. It was the last time I bought a Star Wars book.

Sadly, I finished through all the SoT paperbacks that were out when I read... even though after Pillars, I wasn't keen on reading Naked Empire, I made myself finish it. And decided never again.

Edit: While I didn't pick it out, my father once tried to force me to read Catch-22, and I couldn't. However, it bears noting that I had no desire to read it, but had a book shoved down my throat, so I can't say if I'd actually drop the book if I chose to read it myself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The One Kingdom, by Sean Russell. I just found it dull and uninspiring.

Yup, me too. Same goes for First Rider's Call by Kristen Britain.

Gardens of the Moon, Steven Erikson: I certainly appreciated how dense his world was, but his characters did nothing for me, and I found his writing style rather impenetrable. Also kept falling asleep while I was reading it. Still, I'll probably try it again at some point.

Godslayer, Mickey Zucker Reichert: I thought it started promisingly, but then I found I couldn't get past the third chapter; something about her Earth characters just rubbed me the wrong way.

Kingdom of the Grail, Judith Tarr: First Tarr book I've tried, and while I think she has a nice writing style, this story did nothing for me, and the characters annoyed the hell out of me, especially the sorceress woman or whoever she is. Made it about a quarter way through before packing it in.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Battleaxe by Sara Douglass. However, I was about ten when I started it, and a friend has previously recommended to me and praised it most highly, so I'll pick it up again sometime and give it another chance.

I like this series. The first three. Don't go on though - the last three are absolutely disgusting.

@Rhaegon Targaryen: It's rubbish because its old...I think they were published in the 1970s. How can you expect a series written for the fan base at that time to fit in with the fan base of this time? Would have even ASoIaF made it in that time? Don't judge a book by it's cover....judge it by the people it was written for.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad - had to read it for English Lit. never got past the first chapter.________________________

laoise / Ser Stubby's Strumpet

You lose this game as that book is about 17 pages long. Cop out. :P

So many to mention: ...The Time Traveller's Wife,

*Diez and iz ded.*

I have never heard a bad word about that book until now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...