Books wot you have given up on 'cos they are shit.

[newbie]

'the tin drum' gunther grass - unremittingly grim and pointless

Shocked. IMO it's one of the greatest 20th century novels and worth reading over and again for its study of how ordinary people were corrupted into Nazism, little by little.

 

[Dr. Furface]

White Noise - Don DeLillo
A Man in Full - Tom Wolfe (but I love Tom Wolfe and I do intend to finish this someday)
A Tale of Two Cities - Dickens
Ulysses - James Joyce
Money - Martin Amis

...and of course, Catch 22

 

[Dr. Furface]

Shocked. IMO it's one of the greatest 20th century novels and worth reading over and again for its study of how ordinary people were corrupted into Nazism, little by little.

Agreed, and the film is brilliant too.

 

[hammerntongues]

London Fields for me too , I really wanted to like it , persevered but it just got worse , shame because I`ve never had the enthusiasm to pick up another Amis since and I`m sure they cant all be as bad or he wouldn`t carry the reputation.

At the other end of the Literary scale Valhalla by Clive Cussler (?) utter drivel , I lasted about 3 chapters , I don`t ask for every plotline to be believable but it was just bollocks.

 

[newbie]

how did I post that on the wrong thread

 

[felixthecat]

Just thought of another - 'Pride and Predudice'. Couldn't get beyond the first 30 pages and I've tried a couple of times. I was forced to read 'Emma' for A-level and absolutely hated it, and was repeatedly told by other people what a wonderful author Jane Austen was and how I must try another of her books. Tedious, completely tedious.

 

[girasol]

i gave up on the dirty havana trilogy a few weeks back.
i enjoyed the filth for a while, but it draaaaaaaagged onnnnnnn & did get a little tiresome.
i may return to it if i see it second hand somewhere, or in a library.

I read it a couple of months ago! It does get a bit samey, but I liked some bits... so I did finish it. Strange book, things happened but nothing really did happen in the end...

 

[Bob_the_lost]

Anything in the Seven suns serries of books, dull, uninspired, ridiculos and unending.

 

[Chairman Meow]

Ulysses - just unreadable.
A Suitable boy - too damn long!
Tony Parsons - About a boy - god I HATE Tony 'Sexist git' Parsons. Julie Burchill is right about him
Dickens - all of it (although I did laugh when Little Nell died)
Coelho - Veronika deserves to die - probably the worst book I've ever read - just awful beyond words.
Celestine Prophecy - drivel.

Oh, and Catch 22 of course - can't get past page 30.

 

[Donna Ferentes]

Coelho - Veronika deserves to die - probably the worst book I've ever read - just awful beyond words.

I rather liked it actually. Mind you I read it in a psychiatric unit.

 

[Random One]

1984...i just can't do it i have started it so many times but just can't finish it

 

[baldrick]

catch 22 as well - some bits were funny, but...

 

[Donna Ferentes]

1984...i just can't do it i have started it so many times but just can't finish it

Are you struggling with the Goldstein book?

 

[chegrimandi]

'the tin drum' gunther grass - unremittingly grim and pointless

ooo I liked that though I can see why it might not be everyones cup of tea! bit odd to say the least

loved catch-22, 100 years of solitude thought was pants.....

 

[Batley]

Are you struggling with the Goldstein book?

That is a bit cheeky

Translates as 'Are you struggling with the clever political bit?'

Not arguing mind.

 

[Donna Ferentes]

It's the bit people often say they don't much enjoy reading.

 

[Random One]

Are you struggling with the Goldstein book?

 

[Random One]

It's the bit people often say they don't much enjoy reading.

oh right...i don't think i got that far...got bored of it.

 

[Bomber]

Ulysses ~ James Joyce ......... what the hell is that about ??? Runs for cover as Late Show watching literati build my gallows !!

 

[Batley]

It's the bit people often say they don't much enjoy reading.

It can be skipped. Book within book. Depends what you are reading 1984 for. It is not much cop as a love story is it ? - O'Brien is good though isn't he? dead brainy. I ended up on his side against hopeless Winston.

 

[Donna Ferentes]

Blimey. It's like Jimmy in Goodfellas, who watched the gangster movies and sympathised with the gangsters.

 

[Batley]

Blimey. It's like Jimmy in Goodfellas, who watched the gangster movies and sympathised with the gangsters.

I am Robert D'Niro - Yes!!!

 

[Donna Ferentes]

You talkin' to me?

 

[Batley]

Surprised at number of people not to like Catch-22. It is really really funny. Not hard like Joyce or owt. I like the comment from person who mentioned White Teeth - started off ace and then drivel.

 

[Virtual Blue]

No Harry Potter?

 

[MysteryGuest]

Yeah I thought Catch-22 was totally fucking brilliant - blew me away. As did Tristram Shandy. Haven't read Don Quixote... erm... yet

 

[J77]

Only book I haven't finished in recent memory was Catch-22.

And judging by the previous post someone else may of too - goes to read thread...

 

[spanglechick]

A Brief History of Almost Everything (or something like that) by Bill Bryson - it's driving me mad! My "Sun" reading 70 year old father thought it was fab, my "Daily Mail" reading Mother whizzed through it... it sends me to sleep in about 2 sentences... And I used to be an English teacher... it's really stressing me out, actually. I even cracked "A Suitable Boy" (after about the ninth attempt) on holiday this year. Not that that's hard going, more that it's really heavy to hold in one hand.

Anyway, that's my only defeat, although I won't read DH Lawrence anymore - it's just no fun.

Btw - I *love* 100 years of solitude. It's beautiful and epic and human and surreal and all the things Captain Correlli wanted to be, but failed due to outstanding mediocrity.

 

[polly]

Once you get in the habit of not finishing books that displease you, you end up leaving more than you start.

True- I realised I was amassing a huge pile of unfinished books (Women in Love by DH Lawrence - like wading through VERY dull treacle; Labyrinths by Borges - shite; Brick Lane by Monica Ali I think - derivative and awkward, the only humour being 'hahaha, aren't we Indians/Bangladeshis funny with our funny accents'- dodgy; Self by Yann Martel - just silly...to name a few) until I threw Cloud Atlas across the room in disgust, and was forced to pick it up again by my dad. Now I'm really enjoying it and have resolved to make more of an effort in future.

But then I loved One Hundred Years of Solitude so maybe you shouldn't listen to me...

 

[Major Tom]

I love Catch 22 - but nearly gave up on Heller's second book "Something Happened" - a more misleading title for a novel there has never been.

I couldn't finish Heller's final book - the sequal to Catch 22 - not sure if its because its crap or if I'm just stoopid.

I love Dickens, and 1984 by Orwell - have read all the Dickens books others on this thread said they couldn;t - NOT CRAP - brilliant.

I've had to give up on a couple of the thicker Heinlein books just cos I couldn;t stand the pages and pages of pointless waffle.

The later books in the Foundation series by Asimov are pretty bad too - though I'm pretty sure I managed to finish them all.

I started reading a Patricia Cornwell book a little while back - I had nothing else to read at the time - it was so shit I gave up after about 20 pages.