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Books You Couldn't Finish


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On 10/4/2017 at 5:04 AM, Callan S. said:

Grunts by Mary Gentle. I think it was the 'oh I'm so cool I'm satirising fantasy fiction by having halflings murder a family in their sleep' bit that finally did it for me, as she used the reader as kleenex for her masturbation.

I don't know why someone would think just parodying fantasy per se, with no actual social agenda in mind, is worth a fuck. Oh, right, masturbation - I said that already. Uhnnn uhhnnn uhnnnn - I'm such a good writteeaaahhhoooohhhhI'mreallymakingadifferenceahhhhhhAHHHooohh....

I  remember this one. I think I finished it, but I'm not sure. I remember it started to get weird, so I might have dropped it. I do remember wondering when a half-way likable character would show up.

It did feel like that book was asking the reader to emphasize with the typical evil-cannon fodder normally plowed down by the Good Guy Heroes, but then had them doing a bunch of evil stuff...  so... kind of disproved itself...

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On ‎9‎/‎28‎/‎2017 at 1:08 AM, BigFatCoward said:

i'd be surprised if 1/10 of the people i've talked about the Silmarilion to have finished it.  Utter dogshit. 

I finished it.  Utter slog in deep dogshit and depressing as hell.

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Too Like the Lighting.   Nope, read the first several pages, couldn't get into.   Lighting won't strike on that book for me.

On ‎10‎/‎4‎/‎2017 at 11:39 PM, Ordos said:

I couldn't continue Stephen King's Pet Sematary because it was too scary.

I finished Pet Semetery and that killed off Steven King for me because I thought the book was stupid and it was easy for me to figure out what was gonna happen.  

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I couldn't finish The Price Of Spring (the last of Daniel Abraham's Long Price quartet), but not because I didn't like the book or the series.  I just found it too upsetting to finish.

I also gave up on Cat Valente's Palimpset for some reason -- I've managed to lose the book since and I can't remember what bothered me about it.  I like pretty much everything else Valente's written, so I'm not quite sure why this didn't work for me.

And earlier this year I gave up on Stefan Zweig's Beware of Pity but I'm still half-hoping to go back to it.

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On 10.10.2017 at 5:30 AM, Nasty LongRider said:

Too Like the Lighting.   Nope, read the first several pages, couldn't get into.   Lighting won't strike on that book for me.

 

Nearly gave up on it after 50 pages, but than deceided to continue because it had some interesting stuff in it and I rarely ever dnf books. I liked it overall though I had some issues with it. 

I gave up on "Mobby Dick" twice. My father gave it to me when I was 14, because he thought that I should read the classics instead of just  reading Fantasy. I tried it back then and didn't make it past the first chapter. Tried it again several years later and didn't make it past the second chapter. Haven't started reading it since then, but I want to read it one day. 

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There are plenty of books that fall to the wayside of 'oh more shiny' but I refuse to admit I could not get through them.

One I actually decided not to finish was "The years of rice and salt" by Kim Stanley Robinson

another one "Song of Kali" by Dan Simmons; while his "The Terror" is one that drifted away.

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2 hours ago, Seli said:

There are plenty of books that fall to the wayside of 'oh more shiny' but I refuse to admit I could not get through them.

One I actually decided not to finish was "The years of rice and salt" by Kim Stanley Robinson

another one "Song of Kali" by Dan Simmons; while his "The Terror" is one that drifted away.

What was your issue with KSR? Asking as I seriously disliked another book by the same author. 

The Terror may be worth a second shot. 

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1 hour ago, Andorion said:

What was your issue with KSR? Asking as I seriously disliked another book by the same author. 

The Terror may be worth a second shot. 

If I remember correctly the lack of diversity and too large coherence in his nations/blocks. A thing that tends to get on my nerves in alt-historical scenarios.

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The Hobbit, and Lord of the rings. I have tried and tried. Just couldn't get into them. Even after I watched the movies, I thought I would be able to, nope just couldn't. And I actually feel bad, cause so many ppl keep telling me to try again, that after the fifth chapter I'd be hooked. Still nothing, I have given up, maybe it's me:ph34r:

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On 10/9/2017 at 9:30 PM, Nasty LongRider said:

Too Like the Lighting.   Nope, read the first several pages, couldn't get into.   Lighting won't strike on that book for me.

I finished Pet Semetery and that killed off Steven King for me because I thought the book was stupid and it was easy for me to figure out what was gonna happen.  

Yep.  Didn't find it scary nor interesting.  Could not figure out why people like it.

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On 16/10/2017 at 0:36 AM, Seli said:

If I remember correctly the lack of diversity and too large coherence in his nations/blocks. A thing that tends to get on my nerves in alt-historical scenarios.

Ah, yes that is definitely a problem. For me I could not stand the enforced pessimism of Aurora

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I really try to finish most books, probably from a compulsion to complete rather than any profound principle. Some notable examples where I just had to abandon a book midway through:

- Bakker's first of the PoN trilogy; the prose and characters felt so trite and cliche.  Not ridiculous, just dull and definitely not worth getting into a trilogy.

- Eames' Kings Of The Wyld; if you write a parody spoof then it needs to actually be funny; the spoof concept alone does not make the book worth reading.  Similar rule applies to books like Kerby, The Palace Job and many others that intend to be humorous but never draw a single laugh.

- Thomas Cahill's Desert Of The Everlasting Hills; after enjoying the earlier books in this non-fiction history series, this installment saw the religiosity swell to nauseating levels. 

- Dan Brown's Inferno.  Similarly every airport bestseller, or of that ilk, that I've picked up in the past twenty years.  I honestly don't think I'm a literary snob like Myshkin, but how can people read that pap?

- Stover's Blade Of Tyshalle; what a whiny melodrama of cliches.  I still think all the praise for this is a prank like the Goodkind recs. 

I did actually finish Hurley's The Stars Are Legion, despite agreeing will the problems described by other posters here. 

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16 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said:

I really try to finish most books, probably from a compulsion to complete rather than any profound principle. Some notable examples where I just had to abandon a book midway through:

- Bakker's first of the PoN trilogy; the prose and characters felt so trite and cliche.  Not ridiculous, just dull and definitely not worth getting into a trilogy.

- Dan Brown's Inferno.  Similarly every airport bestseller, or of that ilk, that I've picked up in the past twenty years.  I honestly don't think I'm a literary snob like Myshkin, but how can people read that pap?

You stopped with Bakker already in the first book? I don't share the enthusiasm of many others here (and got myself stuck somewhere in the 3rd book) but with all its problems I think it is quite original at the beginning. The main problem of the first book is the "double false start" that tends to confuse and irritate readers.

As for Dan Brown, I completely agree. I managed to finish the Da Vinci Code but it is a horribly bad book in almost any respect from the poor writing to the fake history and overall plot. One reason I have little hope for our civilization is the fact that Dan Brown is the most successful writer.

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Wilful Child by Erikson.  Love Malazan.  Like Star Trek.  Seemed like a humorous idea.  Probably the least funny thing I've ever read that was actively trying to be funny.

Slow Regard of Silent Things by Rothfuss.  One of the most painful things I've ever tried to get through.  And failed, despite its short length.  I curse the person who talked him into publishing that.  Still hopeful to read book 3 before I die though.

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39 minutes ago, Darth Richard II said:

I think @Iskaral Pust is going for the "how many enemies can I make in a single post" board record. :P

That post wouldn't even make it onto my top ten list in the enemy-spawning stakes.  Maybe top five if restricted to just the Lit forum.  But throwing some shade on Myshkin was a fun new twist. :)

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12 hours ago, Jo498 said:

You stopped with Bakker already in the first book? I don't share the enthusiasm of many others here (and got myself stuck somewhere in the 3rd book) but with all its problems I think it is quite original at the beginning. The main problem of the first book is the "double false start" that tends to confuse and irritate readers.

I missed out on all the raging controversy because I felt bored within the first 100 pages.  Kellhaus' opening was a bit over the top but still interesting, and then it got horribly bogged down.  I can't remember details well but it jumped from the super jedi-ninja monk to a western-proxy diplomat/spy in the Middle East-proxy, and a prostitute with a heart of gold, a holy war brewing and OMFG I've read this a thousand times before and Malazan (!) did it far better.  (Am I remembering the right book?) The thematic elements had potential, albeit not that original, but the prose, dialogue and characters just felt so flat.

Perhaps it would pay off it I stuck at it longer but if something's still really boring after 5 chapters or so then it's probably not going to get that much better.

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