Every one's Choice discussion

I posted this somewhere else and I thought I'd share it with you guys because you are all so quiet.

Have you ever STOPPED reading a book? I am sure you have. Which book(s) was it? I had to stop reading quite a few. I even dedicated a bookshelf for it. Sometimes I am just not in the mood to read it and other times I just wish I never even picked it up. I had to drag myself through quite a few books and at times I fond myself reading but not remembering what I really even read. My eyes and lips were moving but my brain was elsewhere.

So do tell....Which book(s) made you want to stop reading them????

I have to be honest, even if i do not like a book i will read it through until the end however, i could not finish Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. I thought it would be really interesting but it still read like a textbook and it was putting me to sleep i got though half of it and put it aside to read other books, i have not been able to pick it back up.

Like Jennifer I usually will suffer through an ending even if the book is killing me. One that comes to mind that I didn't finish is War of the Worlds. I intended to finish, but it was driving me crazy. I think I was at least halfway through the book.

Some books I just had to stop reading because I thought that everytime I turned the page I lost a point on my IQ. I don't want to mention them

haha!

I couldn't get through Wally Lamb's I Know This Much is True or Edgar Sawtelle. My heart just wasn't in them.

I have both books soo??? I will see. I get a lot of mixed feelings about them. I also am alittle unsure about Three Cups of Tea. I will still attempt to read it tho.

Donna wrote: "I posted this somewhere else and I thought I'd share it with you guys because you are all so quiet.

Have you ever STOPPED reading a book? I am sure you have. Which book(s) was it? I had to stop ..."

I used to make myself finish a book no matter how much I disliked it. But my mom who also reads lots finally told me that if I did not like a book to stop reading it and that if I did the Book Police would not come and cart me away. Giggle.
I Still try and give a book a very fair chance but if by100-150 pages I dont like it at all I may well not finish reading it.

One I can think off that I did not even get to page 100 on was the book Courtesan: A Novel
I just could not get into it and by the part where it went into the King of France urinating into the fireplace for the 2nd time and that time to have his wifes nakie lover hiding within it was just too much silly.

The one that I stopped reading, and a lot of people really like by the way, was Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. I actually tried to read this book twice. Both times, it totally killed the book clubs I was in. I'm not kidding, people wouldn't read it, so instead of picking a new book, the clubs just faded away.

Then there is The Memoirs of Cleopatra by Margaret George. This book is the other side of the coin. I stopped reading it, but not because I didn't like it, and I intend to finish it sometime this year. I had to stop because it is a massive book, and I just do not have the time to allot to it at this point.

O Lyn I totally hear you re Memoirs. i put it down for the longest time and it took some massive effort to pick it back up. And it was good, just LOOOOOOONNNNGGGGG.

Two books I couldn't finish were The Secret Bride: In The Court of Henry VIII and Brief Gaudy Hour. Both are still sitting on my shelves, who knows if I'll ever pick them up again.

Interesting the guilt we feel if we don't finish a book...'the Book Police'...

What does this say about us, collectively???

I try not answer that question!

Tressa wrote: "I couldn't get through Wally Lamb's I Know This Much is True or Edgar Sawtelle. My heart just wasn't in them."
Tressa...wow! I Know This Much Is True is prob in my top 5 favs...I've actually read it twice...very moving.
I didn't hear good things about Edgar Sawtelle so I skipped it.

Lyn M wrote: "The one that I stopped reading, and a lot of people really like by the way, was Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. I actually tried to read this book twice. Both times, it tota..."

I loved Anna Karenina...read Oprahs translation(well, not hers, but you KWIM)it was very good.

Books I've stopped reading:
The Poisonwood Bible...twice!
Midwives
Middlemarch
Falling Man: A Novel
House of Sand and Fog...I know a lot of people liked this...I couldn't get into it..maybe someday I'll try again.

I had to stop reading another books. I have had it started for monthes and just can not make myself red more. I had such high hopes for it but could not get into the fore story. It is one that is split between ancient times and a more recent date but the later story is not remotely something I would typically pick up to read. I got it because it was about Jauna ('mad jauna') but after the forst 100+ pages it had been more about the other story.
The forestory is that of a pushing 40ish man and an older teen girl (17ish) and about their relationship. He has her wear an old period style dress and tells the story of Jauna and they are 'transformed' back to that time during these visits.
The Scroll of Seduction: A Novel

Jeremy, really? I loved War of the Worlds, maybe you could try it on audiobook, that helps me get through some horrendous books (I am talking to you S&S and Tale of Two Cities!).

Hahaha Wen, the book police, I love that!

It's stupid but I feel guilty and a total failure if I can't finish a book, there are some I will FORCE myself through even if it ends up taking years. I forced myself through Pledged: The Secret Life of Sororities and The Orchid Thief: A True Story of Beauty and Obsession but could not, could not finish ever Admitting the Holocaust: Collected Essays. That effing book... the DJ said it was a collection of essay's by holocaust survivors but it ended up being one big tangent/essay by the stupid damn author. I was furious I spent money on it and eventually had to donate to the library because no one would take it, not even for money.

Does anyone have any thoughts on Catch-22? I started it and listened to the first cd and I'm not hooked at all. It is really annoying in parts. Can anyone tell me that I should keep going and not give up?
While trying to decide what to do, I've started Child 44 and it is really good...hooked me right away!

I have never heard of Child 44, what is it about?

Check it out here....Child 44...it's like a thriller...takes place in Russia...very fast-paced so far!

Of interest???

http://www.chicagotribune.com/enterta...

Interesting...thanks Donna!

Colleen wrote: "Jeremy, really? I loved War of the Worlds, maybe you could try it on audiobook, that helps me get through some horrendous books (I am talking to you S&S and Tale of Two Cities!)...."

Funny how it works since I really liked Tale of Two Cities!

LOL, Donna, I feel the same way about Wolf Hall as the author of that article. It's hard to get into.... but I HAVE to finish it!