I think I’ve started reading Moby-Dick at least three times. I have finished Moby-Dick never.
I don’t know why – it’s not even that long, and it’s actually pretty interesting. But I cannot get to the end of it.
Same with Interview With the Vampire. I know I’ll love it, but I can’t get past the first few pages.
A couple of years ago I started Primal Fear, and same deal – I couldn’t get past the first chapter. I KNOW I will love that book, so I’m going to blame the fact I had a toddler and a newborn at the time, and couldn’t read much more than the back of the Weeties box.
But I want to know – what’s a book you just can’t finish?
Kerry says
Anna Karenina – I’ve been to the halfway mark twice! Interview with the Vampire is also sitting unfinished on my kindle.
Veggie Mama says
Ah I got through that by taking it on a 7-hour plane trip! By the time we landed, I was invested enough in it to keep going. It didn’t hurt that I was in Japan on a skiing trip, so when we couldn’t go outside and I couldn’t understand the TV, dear old Anna was all I had.
Rachel @ Mother Far from Home says
I think it’s because at some point in that book they wax on for PAGES about the serfs. Not that it isn’t historically important, but it’s like… okay. Whatever. Get on with it!
Jan says
Game of Thrones! I read the first Volume….downloaded the second and gave up half way through.. I didn’t care about any of the characters (and there are so many). And the thought of all the fol,lowing volumes gave me the horrors!
Veggie Mama says
The thought of so many characters actually frightens me!
Tina Lacy says
The book thief……………
Jan says
I’m with you on The Book Thief! Didn’t like it, and I thought I was ythe only person in the WORLD!
Veggie Mama says
I’m beginning to think I will hate it too now!
Kelli Wilson says
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. It’s a really great book, but I’ve tried twice and failed twice!
Rachel @ Mother Far from Home says
I had an Italian friend who kept trying to read Catch 22, but kept thinking he was translating or interpreting it wrong since it didn’t make sense. He had to quit. Ha! I said no… no… it doesn’t really make sense. But can you imagine trying to read that in another language?
Veggie Mama says
I will finish that one day!
Reannon @shewhorambles says
Harp In The South! I should have devoured this book, it’s totally my thing, but three attempts & it’s still very much unfinished .
Veggie Mama says
Never even heard of it! What is it about?
Reannon @shewhorambles says
“Hugh and Margaret Darcy are raising their family in Sydney amid the brothels, grog shops and rundown boarding houses of Surry Hills, where money is scarce and life is not easy. Filled with beautifully drawn characters that will make you laugh as much as cry, this Australian classic will take you straight back to the colourful slums of Sydney with convincing depth, careful detail and great heart.”
I love books set in early Australia & have read a few. This is a classic but I just can’t do it!
Veggie Mama says
I love early settler type books but that just made me gag
Danica Burrows says
Anything by Tolkein. Can’t do it. Also, I was trying to read throught the BBC list of 100 books you should read before you die and i have discovered I cannot do Great Expectations.
And now you mention it, I have the same problem with Interview with a Vampire.
Veggie Mama says
Oh I got a really high score on that list! I love Dickens.
Shari says
The Hobbit is the only book I have never finished. We were meant to read it as a school assignment and I hated it… still got 19/20 on my essay for it. In saying that I have never watched Lord of the Ring either – not my cup of tea.
Veggie Mama says
I don’t like fantasy, but I love Lord of The Rings!
Lila Wolff says
Dracula, I accidentally dropped it in the bath and I was relieved. So much detail, about the clouds and the ocean which is probably great if you’ve never seen earth, but not for me.
Veggie Mama says
Hahah I felt a bit that way about Frankenstein. I pushed on, though.
Rach says
You MUST read Primal Fear, it’s a great book and there are two other follow ups to it Reign in Hell and Show of Evil, both just as good!
As for me, Eat, Pray, Love. That book, I just cannot crack past about the quarter mark!
Veggie Mama says
Oh god, I know. I keep putting it on my bedside but then buy new books. I won’t even start Eat, Pray, Love.
Danika Ehlers says
Catch 22, but I guess that never being able to get comfortable and let it flow is part of the purpose, also Anna Karenina which I think is because it doesn’t flow so much due to the fact that it was translated into English
Veggie Mama says
I started Catch 22 but I was at uni and couldn’t concentrate. I really want to finish it though!
Aggy says
Shantaram. I even got 300 pages in, tried and tried to finish it. No deal.
The bronze horseman however, I can’t put down!
Veggie Mama says
I have never even heard of it!
MotherDownUnder says
On The Road…it was a life changing book for so may of my friends but I just can’t get through it!
I never read Moby Dick either…I feel like it is one of those books that I should read…when you are done with it send it my way!
Veggie Mama says
Ha I remember asking someone in one of my classes if they liked it and they practically shouted “no!” at me. Poor ole Moby. Last time I got pretty close to halfway, too.
Hugzilla says
A few that haven’t made the grade for me are Dune, Mists of Avalon, anything with Harry Potter in the title and The Girl With the Something-Or-Other Tattoo. Total garbage. And yeah, I failed The Book Thief as well. Maybe we should start a support group or something.
Veggie Mama says
FUCK OFF CALLING HARRY POTTER TOTAL GARBAGE! I won’t have it. Not here.
The rest sound horrible.
Hugzilla says
You’re right. I should have used the phrase “unpalatable dross” instead. I tried so hard to like you, Harry. But I don’t. I’m sure that JK Rowling is drying her tears with wads of fresh bank notes as we speak.
Veggie Mama says
Haha I forgot about this until yesterday. But I wanted to say that I’ve read voraciously for the last 31 years, and I find it very difficult to be surprised. I can smell a plot twist a mile away. Which is why I was doubly bowled over by the ending of the third book, which I did NOT see coming. I was flipping back through the pages going “how did I miss this? this is amazing!” and by the end of the seventh book when I saw how much simple throwaway incidents in previous books actually set the scene for so much ahead, I was so impressed. She wove quite the complex world. What a bitch.
Cate Brickell says
The book thief. Everyone keeps saying “try again”, but I have better things to read
Veggie Mama says
Haha I REALLY don’t want to read it now!
Becky says
50 Shades of Grey. I bought it and felt that I SHOULD finish it but my husband gave me permission to put it down when I spent the whole time groaning and muttering about the stupidity. I gave it to my mum who read it that night and went and bought the other two the next day!
Veggie Mama says
Vomit! Can’t do it.
Melissa Mathews says
Catch 22 & Anna Karenina. I only just moved Anna off my bedside after it sat there for a year. I liked The Hobbit but have tried 3 times to read Lord of the Rings and never got past 100 pages. And anything with really small print!
Veggie Mama says
Yep, I can’t believe I forgot LOTR! I’ve tried that one twice, but no dice.
Lilybett and Boy says
My personal book nemesis is anything by James Joyce. Tried Ulysses, Portrait of the Artist, and Finnegans Wake multiple times never got past first chapter… actually never got far enough to see if there were chapters.
Veggie Mama says
Haha I think I’ve held the Ulysses I have on my shelf plenty of times, but never actually cracked it. I will!
mumabulous says
Lolita – I was too disgusted to get past the first few chapters.
Veggie Mama says
Ah that’s a shame. It blew my mind about halfway through. The last half is pure genius.
Erica says
Teas of the D’urbervilles or however you spell it. Lived in my bushwalking pack for years when I was working as a guide, and I kept starting it over and over again then giving up….
Veggie Mama says
Tess! It’s on my shelf, but I’ve never attempted it.
Caitlin says
I had to read it for school, I loathed it. If it hadn’t been for the assignments, I never would have finished it!
Clare Davis Etheridge says
The Book Thief, tried and tried, can’t do it!
Veggie Mama says
Noted!
Aoife Richardson says
Ah Clare, that’s one of my favourite books! I have found over the years that sometimes I need to be in the right mood for a book or type of book. I’ll often start a book and then think, no I’m not into this right now, maybe another time. Then I have to forget what I’ve read so I can try to read it again later.
Clare Davis Etheridge says
Maybe I should just keep trying! One day I might love it.
Jay - Moodie Foodie says
Life of Pi. Keep picking it up and quickly putting it down.
Committed – the sequel to Eat, Pray, Love.
I’m wading through The Book Thief at the moment but reading 2 other books at the same time so that I’ve always got something to read. It’s not an easy read but I’m determined. Determined, I say!
Happy Friday! xo
Veggie Mama says
Haha I think I’d like to read Life of Pi. How come you keep putting it down?
Jay - Moodie Foodie says
Just couldn’t get into it. It was dry and my eyes kept glazing over. I read about a third of it and realised that if it wasn’t happening by then it wasn’t gonna happen. Give it a go though, there are those who LOVE it
Kaila says
Fifty Shades of Grey…Halfway through the third book and guh it’s just the same thing over and over – boring and I just can’t do it!
Veggie Mama says
I couldn’t even start that one.
Serene says
A Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. Tried at least twice. Sorry Mark Twain.
And I was thinking about reading The Book Thief, guess I might give that a miss for now after all the comments about it!
Veggie Mama says
Haha yeah I can’t say I’m interested in reading it either!
DenyseP says
50 Shades of Grey! That book is pure garbage! I read, maybe, the first 20 pages. I have no idea what is the attraction to these books. They are degrading to females and just filthy porn. How much sex can one read??? I was embarrassed to even donate the book to the Goodwill. Threw it in the garbage.
Veggie Mama says
Hahah It’s certainly not my thing but they sure are popular! I wouldn’t be caught dead with it.
Pea Fritters says
The god of small things. Can’t get any momentum!
Veggie Mama says
You just feel it, don’t you?! Like you know you’re just never going to get into it.