Challenge: 50 Books discussion

I've had to abandon some reads lately. Wuthering Heights and Freedom come to mind.

Occasionally, I finish a book I don't enjoy for the sole purpose of being able to write a fair Goodreads review (The Gargoyle, The Iron Thorn, Forever), but often it's just not worth my time.

So what books have you abandoned recently, and, if given the opportunity to give your review of them anyway, how would that review go?

I don't abandon books. I just slog along until I hit the final page. Sometimes I'm in the middle of a library book which I know I can't finish in time and knowing I can't renew it I give up. But that is mostly never the book's fault.

Not really answering the question but it's my POV.

Since joining Goodreads, I have taken refuge in the fact that I can mark my place with a 'currently reading' review for as long as I need to. So I haven't had to abandon books yet. Although, I never bothered keeping a place for The Sound and the Fury, so that's currently abandoned. I do plan on reading that again, so it won't be abandoned in the future...? Actually, now that I think about it I did refuse to keep reading Anansi Boys. My review ended up being a sort of apology to the author, who I usually love. So I guess my review would be that, half apology and half reasons why I just couldn't continue the book.

One Day by David Nicholls. I took this book with me on my beach vacation and got about 2/3 of the way through but can't bring myself to pick it back up. I also tried reading A Game of Thrones, but the narrative style is my least preferred narrative style and so I don't see myself going back into that series either.

I abandoned the Host at page 80. HORRIBLE BOOK!

As previously stated, I unsually subscribe to the "Swiss Family Robinson" protocol when it comes to books, but there've been a few this year that got more of a scim than an actual read. The only reason I finished "When Harry Met Molly" was because I had committed to a review for SBTB. But the one that got the big DNF was "Passion" by Lisa Valdez. I'll put up with a lot in a romance novel, but this, this was just, argh!!!!!!

I, too, could not get into Wuthering Heights. I managed a decent start, but the characters seemed so reprehensible. I did not sympathize with Heathcliff or Catherine in the slightest. I have also added Minerva's turn and The Phenomenon of Man to my will not read list.

I rarely give up on a book. I'll keep reading if it's boring, or poorly written, or even hits my pet peeves. If I give up on a book, it's got something really awful in it that I just can't bear to read. For example, I didn't finish even the first chapter of Angela's Ashes, but I still have nightmares about it.

I did recently "quit" a book before I read the first page. It was a topic I despise, and I was only going to read it out of guilt because it was a gift. I wrote a little blurb here in my thread about how good it felt to rip it up and throw it away instead.

I know what you mean about Angela's Ashes, Michelle. I had to read this for a course and it was so painful I ended up writing an essay on it having read a third of the book at most.

I abandoned The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

I just could now get into it. The lack of inverted commas for speech irritated me more and more. I got to the stage I had no desire to pick the book up to read more... and that was the point I abandonded it.

I abandoned Cloud Atlas (but perhaps not forever?)

as crazy as it seems I almost abandoned and gave up on The Help last week. I had just started it and so I kept plugging along and after i got through a chapter and a half, i finally started to like it. Im glad I didnt give up on it!

i almost gave up on The Help last week. i had just started it and couldn't get into it. im so glad i didn't though. it took me a chapter and a half to get to where i liked it. im now on chapter 3.

I always struggle with ADD behaviour so I have to have a rule that any book I start I have to finish...otherwise I would have nothing piles of half read books! Oh look a bike...

I have to finish everything I start to read. I'm afraid if I don't, I'll miss something that really would have resonated with me somehow. I do take a while to read some books. One of my currently reading selections, is a book of poetry. I like it, but I can't sit and read poetry for long stints.

I abandon Black Boy by Richard Wright about once a year. I really want to get into it, but I just can't.

When a book is not getting my attention and i find i am forcing myself to continue reading, it's always a bad sign. When it happens, I usually just set them aside for a few days and then resume reading, and if i still feel no motivation to continue i give up on the book and don't finish it.

When I'm reviewing the book i like to state there why i didn't finish it, so that way i remember if i ever stumble upon that book again.

I used to force myself to finish every single book i started, but now i don't because there are so many books i want to read to get stuck reading something i am not enjoying.

The only books i have not finished are: The War of the Worlds, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and Insurgent.

i proudly say that i have become much, much better at abandoning books. i used to force myself to continue reading any book that i started, no long how long it took or how much i disliked it. now, i'm happy to stop reading a book that doesn't have my attention.

just recently i gladly gave up on Fifty Shades of Grey before i even finished the sample from kindle. not because i object to the subject matter, but, DAMN, the writing was so horrible.

i gave up on Infinite Jest last year. i just couldn't make sense of all the different story lines. when i read that they don't necessarily come together and make sense, i decided that the book just wasn't for me. now a colleague of mine is reading it and extolling its virtues...he may persuade me to give it another shot.

i've also abandoned The Castle by Franz Kafka recently. i understand that it's meant to be absurd, but it was just too absurd for me to continue. although i may decide to give it another try in the future.

I've abandoned a few books this year, though it took many weeks [and in some case, months] for me to admit that the book mark wasn't going to be moving any time soon on them.

They are:
The Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer - This book is so tenderly written and beautifully composed, I'm sure I would like it if I could get myself to keep reading it. I started reading it before an accident and afterward..I had just lost the desire to keep reading it.

Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi. - A book which has been widely discussed and loved and which, undoubtedly, the work accomplished by the author is very meaningful. The writing was so, terribly dry for me. She was overly-descriptive in all the wrong ways. I tried very hard to press on and get through; I ended up putting it down a little under halfway through. I passed it on to another friend to read, who is very invested in Middle Eastern women's lives, and even she put it down. It reads like a clinical paper meshed with a thesaurus. I firmly believe that people can reach a state of being too educated on a subject to write an effective book about it.

Sigh. It tugs at my book strings to abandon writings, I will likely try again in the next few years..

I set books aside all the time. The reason is this. About five years ago I discovered that Libraries have used book sales. And I live in a densly populated area that is within easy driving distance to about 7 libraries. So I have a lot of books. About 900 that I have not yet read.

If a book does not capture my attention in the first 50 pages or so, I put it aside and move on to something else. I might get back to it later. It took me three tries to get through the first Harry Potter book.

I had set aside By Schism Rent Asunder, the second book of David Weber's Safehold saga. But I got back to it later and then buzzed through the next two books in the series. Now I'm waiting impatiently for the next book to hit the bargin book table.

I did the same thing with Peter Hamilton's The Dreaming Void. Couldn't get into it. But when I got back to it, I buzzed through it and the rest of the series.

I can't think of anything that I've set aside because I've hated it. But I stay pretty firmly in my comfort zone, which is SciFi and Fantansy with the occasional Crime Drama.

A few years ago I started Possession, by A.S. Byatt, but only made it about halfway through before abandoning it. Don't know why, I just couldn't get interested, in spite of all the rave reviews.

I literally threw Why Are We In Vietnam? across the room. I tried it twice, & each time it was ridiculously horrible.

The very first book I abandoned was The Happy Hooker :). I found it at my grandmother's house, got a good way into it, and was finally horrified as it dawned on my 10-year-old mind what I was reading.
And the last book I abandoned was Twilight.

I stopped reading Freedom by Jonathan Franzen as well. I like Franzen's writing, but not his characters. I finished Corrections, I liked the writing, but not the book. I think it's because I have to like at least one character to like the book.

Only one comes to mind: Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. I kept tried to get on with it but there seemed to be no point to it other than repetitive violence. Maybe I'll go back to it eventually and see if I feel the same.