I just suffered through a book....

[Princess_Nikki]

Fifty Shades of Grey

The Hunger Games

Yes to both!!

50 Shades of any of those books were 50 shades of terrible!

 

[cfriend416]

I actually had issues with Tolkien--I read and mildly enjoyed The Hobbit, but barely finished Fellowship of the Ring and got maybe a chapter or two into The Two Towers before I literally dropped the book and walked away, never looking back.

I forgot what a struggle Tolkien's books were for me until I read this! I trudged along through The Fellowship but didn't bother trying the other two. Everyone says The Hobbit is so much better, but I have started it 2 or 3 times and just cannot get into it. I think it's because he writes so much descriptive text, and I am an impatient reader - I would rather know what's going on in the plot rather than what the scenery looks like. I love love love the movies, so I find it kind of embarrassing that I can't appreciate the books. It makes me feel uncultured or something.

 

[diamondpixienc]

Hunger Games 3: Mockingbird I finished it just for the sake of completing the trilogy. Didn't enjoy it at all...

Ok, ditto on this one. It got very predictable and boring but wanted to know how it ended. However, DS enjoyed it he was 9 when he completed the trilogy so his opinion may not be that reliable. Now, I know they are doing all 3 into movies but after reading the Mockingjay i think they could have just combined the last 2 books and wrap this up on screen. Just my 2 cents. :0)

ETA: We did enjoy the first movie but after reading the trilogy i think The Hunger Games could have made a very TV series.

 

[JLiz]

Cousin Bette by Balzac. I hated it so much but I stuck with it. Boy am I glad I did!

The first half is very slow and trudging but the second half was great. It's one of my favorite books.

 

[MomofIndigo]

Ugh. I waited for years for Jean Auel to publish her final book in the Clan of the Cave Bear series. Geez, over 75 pages of " now they went here, drank tea, saw some caves, nursed the baby, now we went there, drank tea, saw some caves, nursed the baby..." I kept with it because I thought surely it would improve. Nope, never did. I want my $21 back!

THIS !!!! I was so mad. I was thinking: "YOU ARE GOING TO GO OUT LIKE THIS??? REALLY?"

I wish she had ended it two books prior and then just let us dream up our own ending.

 

[jen0610]

I have a stack of about 8 books that I am at various stages in. For one reason or another, I just can't make it thru them. I leave a sheet of paper to mark my spot and put it aside for when I need something to read that will put me to sleep or I have read everything else and I just need something to kill time with.

 

[ravendas]

Twilight! I hated the whole premise of the series before I even picked up the book and told myself I wasn't going to read it. But, my best friend said "It's not that bad" and I hate judging a book I haven't actually read, so I dropped $5 on a used copy and made myself slog through every page of that horribly-written dreck, then promptly traded it back in. He keeps telling me that "it gets better as the series goes on", but I'm not wasting anymore of my time or money on it.

 

[ravendas]

I forgot what a struggle Tolkien's books were for me until I read this! I trudged along through The Fellowship but didn't bother trying the other two. Everyone says The Hobbit is so much better, but I have started it 2 or 3 times and just cannot get into it. I think it's because he writes so much descriptive text, and I am an impatient reader - I would rather know what's going on in the plot rather than what the scenery looks like. I love love love the movies, so I find it kind of embarrassing that I can't appreciate the books. It makes me feel uncultured or something.

Try reading The Silmarillion! OMG....my mother bought it for me for Xmas one year because she know I loved LoTR. Think of the driest, most ponderous history text you've ever had to slog through and add elves....that's The Silmarillion. It took me months to get through the whole thing and only because I wanted to see how the history tied into the LoTR/Hobbit series.

 

[minnie mum]

Try reading The Silmarillion! OMG....my mother bought it for me for Xmas one year because she know I loved LoTR. Think of the driest, most ponderous history text you've ever had to slog through and add elves....that's The Silmarillion. It took me months to get through the whole thing and only because I wanted to see how the history tied into the LoTR/Hobbit series.

THIS!!! OMG, I can relate to this. I adored The Hobbit. And I sailed all the way through the LOTR. But The Silmarillion was like slogging through quicksand. I just could not get into it- never did finish it.

My latest failure to finish was JK Rowling's Casual Vacancy. OMG was it awful. I made it through less than half the book and shelved it. Permanently.

 

[wendy46001]

THIS!!! OMG, I can relate to this. I adored The Hobbit. And I sailed all the way through the LOTR. But The Silmarillion was like slogging through quicksand. I just could not get into it- never did finish it.

My latest failure to finish was JK Rowling's Casual Vacancy. OMG was it awful. I made it through less than half the book and shelved it. Permanently.

That was going to be mine. Love me some Rowlings but i hated every min of this book. Yes, i made it to the end as i was hoping it redeemed itself. Nope horrid story (well written yes) but i can easily say i hated every one of those characters.

 

[ckay87]

Na, I majored in English and a perk of graduation was that I would never have to force myself through another novel against my will. There are some that I will grant more of a fighting chance, such as books I am stupid enough to purchase (The Round House is one)

However, I did notice that if I start a book too slowly, only reading a little at a time in the beginning, I am almost never able to get engrossed in it.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

THIS!!! OMG, I can relate to this. I adored The Hobbit. And I sailed all the way through the LOTR. But The Silmarillion was like slogging through quicksand. I just could not get into it- never did finish it.

My latest failure to finish was JK Rowling's Casual Vacancy. OMG was it awful. I made it through less than half the book and shelved it. Permanently.

That was going to be mine. Love me some Rowlings but i hated every min of this book. Yes, i made it to the end as i was hoping it redeemed itself. Nope horrid story (well written yes) but i can easily say i hated every one of those characters.

I enjoyed the Harry Potter series so much that I don't want to read anything else by her just because I do not want to me disappointed. I'm glad I didn't read it.

As for Misery - Stephen King is a good writer. For some reason, I just hated that story.

 

[lovemygoofy]

I have only quit one book and that was Eat, Pray, Love

I am suffering through the new Janet Evanovich because I have read all the other books. I cannot get into this book for anything. I keep tapping the screen to see how much is left and then groan. I keep hoping it gets better.

 

[kt_mom]

I agree on both of these.

I will add The Outlander by Diana Gaboldon that I've seen recommended here on the boards too. I think there's 975 books to this series but I only choked my way through the first one.

My aunt and several friends kept telling me how good the Outlander series was but I was hesitant to try it because it just sounded weird to me. But I finally decided to give it a try. I really struggled through the first book trying to keep up and get used to the language style. I really didn't enjoy it at all. But I had the first three books so I went ahead and started the second book and still didn't think it was all that great. But I started the third book and ended up loving the series. Its one of my favorites now.

I also loved both Pillars of the Earth and World Without End as well as the whole Dragon Tattoo series, the latest Dan Brown book and Gone Girl. I have no desire to read the 50 shades books. But I did surprisingly enjoy the Twilight books and Hunger Games.

I recently read the Great Gatsby and thought it was okay. I started Wuthering Heights but I just can't get into it at all. I wanted to add some classics to my list. I'm hoping to pick it back up later and try again.

I used to make myself finish a book if I started it, but I've learned to let it go if I really don't think I'll enjoy it. Its hard to decide sometimes though after my experience with the Outlander series. I hate to miss out on something that I might end up really liking.

I do encourage DD to finish the ones she starts becuase she's still young and learning what styles of books she likes best. And I think it will help her later in life get through books for school and college that she might not enjoy.

 

[kt_mom]

I have only quit one book and that was Eat, Pray, Love

I am suffering through the new Janet Evanovich because I have read all the other books. I cannot get into this book for anything. I keep tapping the screen to see how much is left and then groan. I keep hoping it gets better.

I used to love the Janet Evanovich books but they have steadily gone down hill since around book 12. I keep reading them hoping she'll come through for us again, but they are just dumb at this point.

 

[capshockeygrl]

My aunt and several friends kept telling me how good the Outlander series was but I was hesitant to try it because it just sounded weird to me. But I finally decided to give it a try. I really struggled through the first book trying to keep up and get used to the language style. I really didn't enjoy it at all. But I had the first three books so I went ahead and started the second book and still didn't think it was all that great. But I started the third book and ended up loving the series. Its one of my favorites now.

The Outlander series was also my first non-school-related, struggle-through-the-beginning-but-end-up-loving-it book. Except I started with the third book. I saw it in the store one day, it looked interesting, so I picked it up. I didn't know at the time that there were books in the series before it. The first time I read it, it took me four whole months to get through the first 10 chapters. But eventually I picked it up again to continue reading and got to a point that I just couldn't put it down again and proceeded to purchase every other book in the series (at that time, it wasn't quite so many) and devour them in less than a month. To this day I still struggle through the first part of that third book every time I pick it up, but I love it so much that it's worth it to me!

 

[Dancind]

I just put one down last night, Revenge Wears Prada. Liked the movie, but this was not interesting to me.

I utilize the Hold at our local library, so don't feel bad about stopping if the book hasn't caught my interest. I have the Game of Thrones books on my Kindle, and I read them all. But I skipped an awful lot of chapters!

Two recent books that I read in one sitting, both very different: Life After Life, and Crazy Rich Asians.

 

[superme80]

Another one who can't get through the Hobbit. I tried in high school and the book eventually went flying across the room. I haven't tried since. I keep saying I am going to try Les Mis again, it is so long! I have tried twice but can't get through it.

 

[Mel522]

This is what happens when authors become popular and their editors lose influence (although Martin may be proving to be the most extreme example ever). There are lots of brilliant writers who would ramble endlessly and never get a coherent story on paper if they didn't have good editors.

I've got my doubts about Martin ever finishing book 6, let alone starting book 7.

I agree about the editors. I think that's what went wrong in Harry Potter. The books just rambled on once Rowling decided she didn't need an editor. The 6th book was about a 200 page book stretched out into 700 pages.

I forgot what a struggle Tolkien's books were for me until I read this! I trudged along through The Fellowship but didn't bother trying the other two. Everyone says The Hobbit is so much better, but I have started it 2 or 3 times and just cannot get into it. I think it's because he writes so much descriptive text, and I am an impatient reader - I would rather know what's going on in the plot rather than what the scenery looks like. I love love love the movies, so I find it kind of embarrassing that I can't appreciate the books. It makes me feel uncultured or something.

I love reading the differences in opinions on this thread. Tolkien is my favorite author for the exact same reasons you don't like him. I loved the descriptive text. I found his descriptions and word choices to be beautiful.

 

[minkydog]

I have only quit one book and that was Eat, Pray, Love

.

Me too. I don't think I even made it past the 2nd chapter.