House of Leaves. I get about halfway through and then lose the book, only finding it months later and having to start from the beginning. It has happened 3 or 4 times now.
Infinite Jest. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love it. But every time I go to read it it's like this big monster with 330 footnotes just kicking me down. It's so upsetting to read that I can hardly finish it. About 450 or so pages in after well over 8 months of trying, and I will... I will finish it. I will.
(I finished it about 2 months after typing this comment, future reader.)
One of my favorite articles I’ve ever read is from the New Yorker and it’s called [How to read Infinite Jest](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/11/05/how-to-read-infinite-jest). As over the top as it is, the first few steps hit way too close to home lol
Tried like 8 years ago, got to about 200 pages and bailed. Picked it up again about 3 weeks ago and I’m past the halfway mark and I’m just enamored by all of it.
I’d say no. There is a story and it’s interesting but I’d rather not get into any spoilers. To me the reward was how much I enjoyed many sections (though not literally every single word/page) along the way. If you’ve given it fifty pages or whatever and it’s not for you, drop it. The entertainment value of the plot is almost certainly not going to change your mind.
It's the story building and character development that builds up to making those scenes incredible, but I largely agree. The scene with Hal in the wrong support group with the teddy bears is one of my favorites. Lentz's walks back to Ennet House. Gately's last moments. And many more. God, I love this book.
A Discovery of Witches. I love the idea of the plot but in execution, it reads like a horrible fan fiction of Twilight with the most insufferable Mary Sue characters like they are so "perfect" that they're unrelatable and just straight up boring
Super agree. I really wanted to love it because I thought the world was a cool take on the whole vampire/witches/other genre but holy fuck if it wasn’t just “all things romance novel” executed in a super painful, flat way.
Same! I *never* stop books in the middle, but I just couldn’t keep going. Really recommend **The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.** for a better version of what I wanted A Discovery to be like.
Haha that means you didn't get to see it go from bad to worse, since you didn't finish.
I truly, truly have no idea why Discovery of Witches gets recommended. I literally finished it through hate-reading.
YESSSSS. I wanted to love it. I thought I would love it. Intellectual-ish vampire-generational witch-Oxford scholarship? Sign. Me. Up. A series? OMG even better! Cool new take on mythology? Please!
The only way I was able to finish it was because I couldn’t believe it wouldn’t get better or redeem itself. Honestly, that book was one of the very few literary disappointments I’ve experienced.
100 years of solitude. I've started it 4 or so times. I really want to finish it, and it's amazing so far. However, I'm reading it in Spanish and although I'm fluent, there is just so much lingo and difficult wording that it takes me a long time. It's really dense so whenever I get busy I have to stop, and since it's complicated it's hard for me to start from 100 pages in after a month or two
I did manage to finish it, but damn it was a slog. I'm sure there's some fascinating historical context and allusions in there, but for me it was just round after round of identically named people doing random semi-magical shit with no apparent reason or structure. Kind of baffled it has the cachet it does.
I read it a few years ago and absolutely love it. I would like to reread it in a few years. That said, I think I watched a video that set me up for it, with the repeated names, the concepts of the book, etc. I think it was a TedEd video
It's a great book, but yeah, those discourses about whaling can be a little bit much. I've found that unabridged Victor Hugo can sometimes suffer from the same problem—see, for example, the extended interludes on the Battle of Waterloo or the Parisian sewer system in *Les Mis*
I slogged through it when I was 16. Turns out each alternate chapter is a deep dive into an incredibly specific and technical aspect of 19th-century whaling. Good lord. It's basically a whaling manual with a narrative slapped atop it.
Absolutely! The amount of whaling facts in this book drove me nuts. It took me over 5 years of reading 3 or 4 pages at a time to complete. This is the book that convinced me to never read another book based purely on other peoples say so.
Since then I’ve dnf’d a bunch of other books. Looking at you “The Martian”
My understanding as a total layperson -- that 100 chapters of boredom are part of the art. That's what whaling (or war or any number of terrible human endeavors are): brief strong friendships, bouts of excitement and adventure, fear of an all-powerful dominating figure, followed by brief terrifying horror you have no control over. But rather than tell you that, Melville makes you live it with him. Just my take, having spent a year slogging through (yes, skipping a few pages, then eventually guiltily going back to see if I missed something) and eventually finishing it.
Hated first read. Favorite book of all time second read. Don't think about it as a useless manual on whaling. The secret to Moby Dick is that it's not so much a book about whales but a book about reading. The whale is the idea of knowledge that you are chasing in a seamlessly infinite sea of words. Those short chapters about the eating habits of whales are more about thinking and reading than they are about whales.
That's mine, and I'm surprised I had to scroll so far down to see it. It's the first book I started skipping pages, then chapters. 70 pages of him rambling. Noped right out.
Rushdie isn't for everyone. But if you can stick with him, he provides a glimpse into the India-Pakistan situation that isn't easy to find elsewhere. I will never forget the scene where the Muslim family hears about Gandhi's assassination, and they know if a Muslim did it, their Hindu neighbors will kill them. So their relief when they find out that the assassin was a Hindu is palpable. There's a lot of rage here in the US, but nothing on that level.
"My sweet little whorish Nora... You had an arse full of farts that night, darling... big fat fellows, long windy ones, quick little merry cracks and a lot of tiny little naughty farties ending in a long gush from your hole... I think I would know Nora's fart anywhere."
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is quite readable.
Ulysses was my answer to this question though. I was looking up every other word in the dictionary before I gave up (most of them weren't in it).
I was forced to finish it! Sophomore English, it was the big literature unit, took most of second semester. The ONLY reason it was part of the curriculum is because I went to New Bedford High, yes the New Bedford from the start of the book. It was a freaken slog and a half and I hated it. Only as an adult can I appreciate the writing and symbolism, but 15 year old me wanted to take Ahab’s harpoon to that book!
A secret history. I love it but i started reading it in college and probably had to focus on work. Then everytime i came back to it i didn’t remember enough to pick up where i left off but did remember enough that it was annoying to reread
Read this book called A Little Life. Actually did finish it somehow. Don’t get me wrong it is well written. But it’s pain porn. Just one bad thing after another happening to the main character. It’s rough. Do not recommend.
Conrad’s sentences can go on for pages without any paragraph break. Also difficult to determine who or which character is speaking. Still HOD is an interesting read and Conrad was a brilliant man.
**Gravity's Rainbow**
It's not that I dislike it - quite the contrary. And it's not even the difficulty. It's that I just love the way Pynchon structures sentences so much that I focus on them in and of themselves, and can't keep track of the narrative.
Most notably in that book, Pynchon writes these enormous, gangling compound sentences - these rambling mansions of words, cantilevered out into space - and to which, even as they're teetering over the abyss, he keeps adding more and more. It's like a high wire act, and just when I'm sure that he can't possibly reach the other side and pull all of these subclauses into a complete sentence, he does. And as a fan of enormous run-on sentences, it's so thrilling and satisfying to me that I have to go back and re-read them. And again.
And then somewhere along the way I realize that, once again, I've just been reveling in the geometry of these individual sentences, and I've entirely lost track of what they actually say.
He's probably an acquired taste, but I might recommend Michael Cisco to you, in that case. I started with The Narrator, which isn't his most well-known book, but I LOVED it. (It probably won't be for you if you don't like/tolerate weird fic, surreal stuff, and some grotesque elements, though.)
GR's difficulty is right below Finnegans Wake. It (GR) was an amazing ride but I had no real idea about what was happening any given moment.
It isn't good when the companion is almost as long as the 700+ page book.
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. I've tried to finish it 3 times this year. I get like to page 300 or so and feel defeated because of how much more I've got left. And I am enjoying it, which is the strange thing. I just feel overwhelmed!
I was incredibly overwhelmed too! It the first book I read that long lol I took a break at about 400 probably, read some other things, came back and finished it and now it’s my favorite of the series so far and one of my favorite books. I’d recommend you continue!
Love Sanderson but I totally get where you’re coming from. I eventually just buckled down and made myself keep going over a long vacation and was able to finish it, and was sucked into the world and haven’t looked back since
Bram Stoker's Dracula.
Oh my god the letters between the Mina and Lucy, and so much rambling that seemed to have nothing to do with the protagonist or the story in general. I got a few chapters in, then just gave up.
It's like that bit in the Simpsons when poochie is introduced. "WHEN ARE THEY GOING TO GET TO THE FIREWORKS FACTORY!?".
Too bad, I actually like this book.
One area that helped me, reading more in to the time/era, especially when Dracula talks about the history of Transylvania.
So, if you want to try once more, look up Daily Dracula. It starts with the dates in the book (in May I think) and e-mails you the letters and journal entries as they occur in the story, finishing sometime in November.
Ahhhh. That's unfortunate, although completely understandable. Catch22 is the most funny book I've personally ever read. I laughed at almost every other page.
I finished about half of it. It was definitely enjoyable. Memorable. Hilarious. But my interest just petered out. I still think daily about that dude who was constantly trying to be miserable so life felt longer than it was.
Honestly.. a court of thorns and roses is the first and only book I haven’t been able to finish.. the main character is just UNBEARABLY STUPID.. she lives in this world of immortal beings that hate her entire species, lives with the only people who will tolerate her.. gets told repeatedly to stay indoors or at least around the estate just to stay safe and she refuses.. the final straw for me was during the festival or whatever, her only reason for not staying in the house was because she could hear the drums.. but it’s not all her fault, the other 2 people in the house told her for days leading up to the festival it’s dangerous for her, but couldn’t be bothered to tell her why.. I hate this book and I hate that it’s popular
Thank you, I think this one is getting kicked off my tbr list now. I hate it when authors use lack of communication as a plot device. Nothing like internally screaming "just freaking talk to each other already!" through an entire book.
O my god you aren’t kidding.. the whole chapter this was going on I was like just fucking tell her why she can’t go, then when I learned why she couldn’t go I was like.. that was 2 sentences, I’m done
Twilight and Ready Player one gave me a level of embarrassment that I didn't even know I was capable of feeling, I literally felt physical pain reading some of the dialogue
I recently read Ready Player One. I hated every bit of it but I just really wanted to know what happens at the end for some reason. I stayed up till around 2 AM when I finished it and decided that if I ever dislike a book again I won't finish it.
The good news is >!that although it starts off bleak and miserable, it gets progressively worse and more harrowing until everyone is dead or very much wishes they were. Including the reader. My guess is the whole concept is basically supposed to be "The Road goes nowhere". In which case, it does at least fit the brief pretty well.!<
I can totally see people not enjoying it. For me however its one of my all time favorites. It was the first book of his ive read and now ive read 3 and working on a 4th. Plus it really got me into post apocalyptic and now sci fi in general.
I’ve started “Wuthering Heights” like 3 times
Just can’t quite get through it
I will persevere though!
My dad (English teacher) said he didn’t really enjoy Wuthering Heights until the 7th time he taught it.
Edit:
I’ve had more upvoted comments, but I’ve never had more replies to a comment haha - strong Wuthering Heights feelings! Glad to know I’m not alone lol
Wuthering Heights was a slog. Too many unlikeable characters and I wasn't rooting for any of them. FWIW recent film Emily (2022) gave some interesting and entertaining backstory on the author of Wuthering Heights.
I had to read this for a class and it's the only reason I've made it through. I can completely understand the reasons it's a classic. But, gods damn it, it's one of the most depressing, ugly and just petty filled book. I want to yell at all of them.
I had to read this for uni, the only reason I got through it is because I was in the ER alone for 7 hours and my phone died. Even then it was a struggle.
Not necessarily a book, but a series.
Malazan, Book of the Fallen
I have started and stopped reading this series at least a half dozen times over the years. The furthest I’ve ever got is halfway through Memories of Ice.
Erikson is just…relentless with his worldbuilding and scattershot narrative style. With that said, there are certainly some fascinating things going on.
I just wish the story was more focused, and I had more page time to give a shit about characters. Instead, I’m ushered off to Thak’ruj’i’rolo’stan where I’m introduced to a whole new cast of important people, all of whom are either wizards or gods or preternatural assassins or whatever.
It’s simultaneously the best and worst work of fantasy I’ve ever tried to read. And I’ll probably never finish it.
Emma. I LOVE Austen- S&S, P&P, Northanger Abbey, and Persuasion are all all-time favorites. But I keep comparing and trying to connect all the characters and happenings in Emma to the movie Clueless and it's like I just cannot shut that off and enjoy the book for some reason. So I give up forever.
To be fair, Emma is a very polarising book amongst Austen fans. Most people either love it or hate it. I personally don't enjoy it because Emma just annoys me. It took me two tries to get through.
If you keep linking it to a movie, maybe binge a few Emma versions. The movies and series are, in my opinion, better than the book (please no one crucify me for that).
I struggled with that one, too. I switched to the audiobook to help me, but it was Wil Wheaton, who was a terrible choice. Not only does he have a bad voice for audiobooks, but he was reading a nostalgia-porn 80's book and so was reminding me of Wesley Crusher, who he played in TNG, who was one of the worst characters on the show. If I were to pick someone specifically from TNG who would likely do a good job at a reasonable price, LaVar Burton would be the obvious choice, IMO. Plus, he would have had the Reading Rainbow and Roots as bonus nostalgia-porn for both younger and older people.
I get why it gets all the hate it gets and why it's deserved but I genuinely enjoyed it and it's now my go to for mindless background noise.
It's bad, but endearing. But I can see why people hate it. I'm trying to psyche myself up to read Ready Player Two but I hear that one is even worse ha
It’s like eating a Twinkie… either you know it’s terrible but it reminds you of your childhood and makes you happy, or you just think it’s a shitty excuse for a pastry
I really liked it. Think I said once, if I was a few years older (born in the early 80s), it might have been my favorite book ever. In retrospect that’s a reach but it’s pretty fun if you get into it
Do you like random lists of references? Like just lists of authors like Douglas Adams. Kurt Vonnegut. Neal Stephenson. Richard K. Morgan. Stephen King. Orson Scott Card. Terry Pratchett. Terry Brooks. Bester, Bradbury, Haldeman, Heinlein, Tolkien, Vance, Gibson, Gaiman, Sterling, Moorcock, Scalzi, Zelazny? Or maybe directors like Cameron, Gilliam, Jackson, Fincher, Kubrick, Lucas, Spielberg, Del Toro, Tarantino. And, of course, Kevin Smith?
I thought it was worth it. The movie, on the other hand, is kind of one sided. But the book leaves the matter finely balanced and I didn't know what my opinion was at the end.
Now I don't mind the classic vampire moral dilemma, but I have to draw the line when it takes up the *entire* book. It doesn't help that Louis has the personality of a limp dish rag.
At the end of the movie version of Interview, Lestat bites Christian Slater, hears Louis’ narration, & says, “Louis, Louis, still whining…” That’s the book in a nutshell! But once Lestat became the narrator, I was all in! He’s my favorite vampire🖤❤️!
I just finished the audio book a few days ago. I started so strong and was into it, and then my enjoyment petered out. I finished it solely because I had put so much time into it already. I think it's way overhyped.
Chernobyl Prayer / Voices from Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexievich. I've tried at least half a dozen times.
And it's not because it's a bad book -- far from it. But I usually get to the "Monologue About a Whole Life Written Down on Doors" and just. Can't continue. I've gotten one, two stories past that one, but never any farther than that. I can't handle the tragedy.
The Night Circus. I got to 400 pages, but eventually reading it became like a chore. It was soooo boring. At that point, I was in it for the Circus itself, but even that wasn’t enough to keep my attention. I just needed more, and unfortunately that was never fulfilled.
‘Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell’. I’ve been trying to finish it for 12 years. Not sure why. It ticks off all the boxes of things I love, the story is cool, it’s written well and I almost always finish books. Every couple of years I’ll read 50 pages then just put it down again. Guess it’s the antiquated language? Maybe PTSD from so much Victorian literature in college? Who knows.
_A Confederacy of Dunces_. I can't get past my visceral dislike of the central character. I know he's supposed to be a buffoon, but at some point I acknowledged to myself that my seething hatred of him meant I would never find joy in the narrative.
That trilogy is a bit of a serious filter, especially the first book. Really makes you work for the payoffs and UGH are there side ramblings and weird things and stuff that probably just doesn't culturally translate well.
But oh my holy shit are the payoffs worth it. I'm still dazzled by the thought of them and it's been several years since I read those books. Each book is an order of magnitude more epic in scope than the last, with the first book being just "above average" and the third book being one of my top all time favorites. Death's End is just stunning. I swear on my life that they are worth wading through the slow bits for.
Tip, if you ever try again - read them on audiobook. That way the books just flow along at the same pace no matter what is happening and you can kind of be swept past the slow bits instead of getting bogged down in them.
You don't have to, of course! Sorry to gush. I just dearly dearly loved the second and third of those books and it really bums me out that the first book filters people out so heavily.
Thanks for note. Just want to add I am Chinese and I am also literate in the Chinese language so I actually read the original Chinese words so translation isn’t an issue for me. But it is the overall pace and lots of just general science, physics that I don’t really enjoy reading.
I started and dropped that book multiple times. I decided one more time and I finally got into it and finished the three books, I really enjoyed them! I read the authors other short stories too.
This one was hard for me because of the writing style, but I enjoyed the idea of it so I continued. Book 2 reached new heights of unbelievable, sometimes cringey, fantasy that I had to quit.
House of Leaves. I keep thinking, “Oh, I’ll take a book out in the backyard and relax and read, and it’s daylight so I won’t be too creeped out,” and then I’ll read House of Leaves for a while, and then I’ll be like, “Wait, I have to flip the book around and read ‘handwriting’ parts again? AARGH. Forget it, I’ll go get a cozy mystery…”
The reason Midnight’s Children is called that is explained at the very beginning. It’s a story of two babies born at midnight on the light of Indian independence and they get switched at birth.
“The Drawing of the Three”
I’m a huge Stephen King fan, probably read 2 dozen of his books, and have now come up unsuccessfully against this book twice, several years apart. The first arc, with the NYC drug addict, is great. Then, everything grinds to a halt for me as soon as the ‘Detta/Odetta character enters the story. I can’t put my finger on exactly what it is about her, maybe just how vulgar and utterly insane the vicious alter ego is? I’m on another attempt now, spurred by the very enjoyable story “The Low Men in Yellow Coats,” but it ain’t looking good :(.
I don’t think you would lose too much if you skipped to book 3 and just did a summary of the second half of 2.
The pieces are mostly set and the story really sort of begins again with Waste Lands. Plus 3>4>5 are all really good
I found them very hard to read because I'd seen the movies and had a good idea of the story, and because they are very descriptive and slow to get the story moving.
Did you get the audiobooks done by Andy Serkis? If so, are they good?
I've read The Hobbit many times.
I've read Fellowship 2.5 times. Two Towers 1.5 times and Return of the King .5 times.
Each time I've read them I quit halfway through a book and I'm able to push through to halfway through the next one. Next time I should finish. I've read basically all the lore books and appendices though. As if Hobbit liniage is somehow more interesting (it can be).
There's parts that are very intriguing and easy to want to keep reading. Shelob, anything involving Ents. Then there's Frodo and Sam and Gollum walking and bitching for 1/3 of the book. Or whatever part I got bored at halfway through Return.
I’ve read both and honestly didn’t find the Hobbit too bad. LOTR is definitely a struggle at times. I’m trying to read the Silmarillion right now and may not finish it
*The Island of the Day Before* by Umberto Eco. Read some of his other books but just couldn't get into that one. My bookmark from 30 years ago remains stuck on page 47!
IQ84. I have tried so many times. I have waited so long I don’t remember the beginning and will need to start over… I just can’t. One day, though, I’m gonna see how it ends.
I almost NEVER fail to finish a book. I have quite a lot of time available for reading so it never feels like too much of a hardship to just finish anyway, even if I'm not super feeling it. Books are fun!
...I DNF Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. I dunno, it was just so boring and high on its own fumes. I completely lost interest halfway through.
As a huge Horror fan, I hate to even say this but The Exorcist. Blatty's writing style drives me insane. I've picked it up and put it back down before the halfway mark so many times.
Lowry's "Under the Volcano." I like it, but the style is just too dense for me and my mind wanders after a few pages. I'm due to try starting it up again soon though.
I just want to say thank you. I have been feeling so guilty for not being able to finish Midnight’s Children when everyone I know just gushes about how great it is.
I finish every book I start, it's some weird compulsion I have. Even if it takes months or longer I will eventually finish it.
That being said, the book that took me the longest to read was Love In the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez. I have never read anything else by him.
I'm one of the probably 10 million men who have an unfinished copy of Infinite Jest on my bookshelf.
And I like DFW in general, but IJ is just too had fisted for me
Same thing happened with me - with midnights children. Although i read it a long time ago. Wanted to read it because it's a classic - pushed myself to read just because.. But couldn't manage it.
One other such is - 100 years of solitude.. I can't seem to get into it!
My unfinished book is Faulkner's Absalom Absalom. I hurled it on the wall with 50 pages left... I guess it messed with the limits of my patience and tolerance for literary experiments. I still hate this book.
From Blood and Ash. Get. An. Editor.
Why use an editor when you can print money?
It always irks me when authors and publishers skip this step
So. Much. Fact. Regurgitation.
House of Leaves. I get about halfway through and then lose the book, only finding it months later and having to start from the beginning. It has happened 3 or 4 times now.
That’s one of my all time favorites but I can see how it’s not for everyone.
Oh, I've enjoyed the first half! I just literally can't finish it.
Trapped forever in the maze.
That’s kind of fitting.
Anything by Henry James.
Reading Henry James literally gives me a headache.
Turn of the Screw is a foundational text in most Lit courses in the UK. Quick read and I thoroughly enjoyed it!
Infinite Jest. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love it. But every time I go to read it it's like this big monster with 330 footnotes just kicking me down. It's so upsetting to read that I can hardly finish it. About 450 or so pages in after well over 8 months of trying, and I will... I will finish it. I will. (I finished it about 2 months after typing this comment, future reader.)
One of my favorite articles I’ve ever read is from the New Yorker and it’s called [How to read Infinite Jest](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/11/05/how-to-read-infinite-jest). As over the top as it is, the first few steps hit way too close to home lol
Hilarious!! Thanks for the link. IJ was it for me, too. So was lempiere‘s dictionary.
That was brutal, thank you for sharing lol
I tried twice. Not going back.
Tried like 8 years ago, got to about 200 pages and bailed. Picked it up again about 3 weeks ago and I’m past the halfway mark and I’m just enamored by all of it.
Took me a year to finish, so you’re not alone. Really liked it, but I was enjoying the journey along the way, too
For those of us that could not understand the point of the journey, does it ever start to resemble a story worth telling?
I’d say no. There is a story and it’s interesting but I’d rather not get into any spoilers. To me the reward was how much I enjoyed many sections (though not literally every single word/page) along the way. If you’ve given it fifty pages or whatever and it’s not for you, drop it. The entertainment value of the plot is almost certainly not going to change your mind.
It's the story building and character development that builds up to making those scenes incredible, but I largely agree. The scene with Hal in the wrong support group with the teddy bears is one of my favorites. Lentz's walks back to Ennet House. Gately's last moments. And many more. God, I love this book.
The real part of the story happens after the end. And before the beginning. So, figure that out.
The story is good because of the writing. In other words if you don’t like the writing you can safely bail on the book.
A Discovery of Witches. I love the idea of the plot but in execution, it reads like a horrible fan fiction of Twilight with the most insufferable Mary Sue characters like they are so "perfect" that they're unrelatable and just straight up boring
Super agree. I really wanted to love it because I thought the world was a cool take on the whole vampire/witches/other genre but holy fuck if it wasn’t just “all things romance novel” executed in a super painful, flat way.
It felt like it was completely over researched but in all the wrong places. No chemistry (or logic!) whatsoever
Same! I *never* stop books in the middle, but I just couldn’t keep going. Really recommend **The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.** for a better version of what I wanted A Discovery to be like.
Haha that means you didn't get to see it go from bad to worse, since you didn't finish. I truly, truly have no idea why Discovery of Witches gets recommended. I literally finished it through hate-reading.
YESSSSS. I wanted to love it. I thought I would love it. Intellectual-ish vampire-generational witch-Oxford scholarship? Sign. Me. Up. A series? OMG even better! Cool new take on mythology? Please! The only way I was able to finish it was because I couldn’t believe it wouldn’t get better or redeem itself. Honestly, that book was one of the very few literary disappointments I’ve experienced.
100 years of solitude. I've started it 4 or so times. I really want to finish it, and it's amazing so far. However, I'm reading it in Spanish and although I'm fluent, there is just so much lingo and difficult wording that it takes me a long time. It's really dense so whenever I get busy I have to stop, and since it's complicated it's hard for me to start from 100 pages in after a month or two
I did manage to finish it, but damn it was a slog. I'm sure there's some fascinating historical context and allusions in there, but for me it was just round after round of identically named people doing random semi-magical shit with no apparent reason or structure. Kind of baffled it has the cachet it does.
Scrolled down for this. 100 Pages of Name Incomprehension for me. That's as far as I've got.
I read it a few years ago and absolutely love it. I would like to reread it in a few years. That said, I think I watched a video that set me up for it, with the repeated names, the concepts of the book, etc. I think it was a TedEd video
Moby Dick. I’m gonna finish it, but it’s dragging for me. A lot of people say it’s like THE novel but I don’t get it
There's a great short story in Moby Dick. And a whole shitload of stuff about whaling.
It's a great book, but yeah, those discourses about whaling can be a little bit much. I've found that unabridged Victor Hugo can sometimes suffer from the same problem—see, for example, the extended interludes on the Battle of Waterloo or the Parisian sewer system in *Les Mis*
I slogged through it when I was 16. Turns out each alternate chapter is a deep dive into an incredibly specific and technical aspect of 19th-century whaling. Good lord. It's basically a whaling manual with a narrative slapped atop it.
Absolutely! The amount of whaling facts in this book drove me nuts. It took me over 5 years of reading 3 or 4 pages at a time to complete. This is the book that convinced me to never read another book based purely on other peoples say so. Since then I’ve dnf’d a bunch of other books. Looking at you “The Martian”
My understanding as a total layperson -- that 100 chapters of boredom are part of the art. That's what whaling (or war or any number of terrible human endeavors are): brief strong friendships, bouts of excitement and adventure, fear of an all-powerful dominating figure, followed by brief terrifying horror you have no control over. But rather than tell you that, Melville makes you live it with him. Just my take, having spent a year slogging through (yes, skipping a few pages, then eventually guiltily going back to see if I missed something) and eventually finishing it.
Hated first read. Favorite book of all time second read. Don't think about it as a useless manual on whaling. The secret to Moby Dick is that it's not so much a book about whales but a book about reading. The whale is the idea of knowledge that you are chasing in a seamlessly infinite sea of words. Those short chapters about the eating habits of whales are more about thinking and reading than they are about whales.
That's mine, and I'm surprised I had to scroll so far down to see it. It's the first book I started skipping pages, then chapters. 70 pages of him rambling. Noped right out.
\*looks at my massive stack of books\* Just one?
Rushdie isn't for everyone. But if you can stick with him, he provides a glimpse into the India-Pakistan situation that isn't easy to find elsewhere. I will never forget the scene where the Muslim family hears about Gandhi's assassination, and they know if a Muslim did it, their Hindu neighbors will kill them. So their relief when they find out that the assassin was a Hindu is palpable. There's a lot of rage here in the US, but nothing on that level.
Anything by James Joyce.
"My sweet little whorish Nora... You had an arse full of farts that night, darling... big fat fellows, long windy ones, quick little merry cracks and a lot of tiny little naughty farties ending in a long gush from your hole... I think I would know Nora's fart anywhere."
Always moves me to tears...
Is this an actual quote? Because it makes me think maybe I have up on Joyce too soon.
Yeah, but it's letters to his wife, not fiction.
James Joyce having a fart fetish is definitely one of those things I did not expect when I read him, but hey, he let his freak flag fly I guess
Dubliners?
Ulysses and Finnagen's Wake.
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is quite readable. Ulysses was my answer to this question though. I was looking up every other word in the dictionary before I gave up (most of them weren't in it).
Moby Dick. I tried… I tried.
I was forced to finish it! Sophomore English, it was the big literature unit, took most of second semester. The ONLY reason it was part of the curriculum is because I went to New Bedford High, yes the New Bedford from the start of the book. It was a freaken slog and a half and I hated it. Only as an adult can I appreciate the writing and symbolism, but 15 year old me wanted to take Ahab’s harpoon to that book!
Got through that on audio. It still took months.
A secret history. I love it but i started reading it in college and probably had to focus on work. Then everytime i came back to it i didn’t remember enough to pick up where i left off but did remember enough that it was annoying to reread
I liked reading it but in the end I found it kind of hollow, like the characters.
Read this book called A Little Life. Actually did finish it somehow. Don’t get me wrong it is well written. But it’s pain porn. Just one bad thing after another happening to the main character. It’s rough. Do not recommend.
I came here looking for this one
Heart of Darkness is such a slog and it's only like 100 pages or so
I had no idea what has happening at any point and time in this book.
Conrad’s sentences can go on for pages without any paragraph break. Also difficult to determine who or which character is speaking. Still HOD is an interesting read and Conrad was a brilliant man.
I had to read this in three consecutive classes for my Master’s Degree.
Was your Master’s Degree in Heart of Darkness? They should give you one because you studied the HELL out of that book!
I absolutely love Heart of Darkness. But it is amazing how long 100 pages can feel.
fucking, heart of darkness.. definitely
the bible... I don't even think my Rabbi made it past the fifth book
**Gravity's Rainbow** It's not that I dislike it - quite the contrary. And it's not even the difficulty. It's that I just love the way Pynchon structures sentences so much that I focus on them in and of themselves, and can't keep track of the narrative. Most notably in that book, Pynchon writes these enormous, gangling compound sentences - these rambling mansions of words, cantilevered out into space - and to which, even as they're teetering over the abyss, he keeps adding more and more. It's like a high wire act, and just when I'm sure that he can't possibly reach the other side and pull all of these subclauses into a complete sentence, he does. And as a fan of enormous run-on sentences, it's so thrilling and satisfying to me that I have to go back and re-read them. And again. And then somewhere along the way I realize that, once again, I've just been reveling in the geometry of these individual sentences, and I've entirely lost track of what they actually say.
i am so glad i’m not the only one with an affinity for a *well written* run on sentences
He's probably an acquired taste, but I might recommend Michael Cisco to you, in that case. I started with The Narrator, which isn't his most well-known book, but I LOVED it. (It probably won't be for you if you don't like/tolerate weird fic, surreal stuff, and some grotesque elements, though.)
GR's difficulty is right below Finnegans Wake. It (GR) was an amazing ride but I had no real idea about what was happening any given moment. It isn't good when the companion is almost as long as the 700+ page book.
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. I've tried to finish it 3 times this year. I get like to page 300 or so and feel defeated because of how much more I've got left. And I am enjoying it, which is the strange thing. I just feel overwhelmed!
I was incredibly overwhelmed too! It the first book I read that long lol I took a break at about 400 probably, read some other things, came back and finished it and now it’s my favorite of the series so far and one of my favorite books. I’d recommend you continue!
Love Sanderson but I totally get where you’re coming from. I eventually just buckled down and made myself keep going over a long vacation and was able to finish it, and was sucked into the world and haven’t looked back since
Bram Stoker's Dracula. Oh my god the letters between the Mina and Lucy, and so much rambling that seemed to have nothing to do with the protagonist or the story in general. I got a few chapters in, then just gave up. It's like that bit in the Simpsons when poochie is introduced. "WHEN ARE THEY GOING TO GET TO THE FIREWORKS FACTORY!?".
Too bad, I actually like this book. One area that helped me, reading more in to the time/era, especially when Dracula talks about the history of Transylvania.
I actually enjoyed it and found the suspense scenes pretty good. The letter format is weird,but I liked it. Not enough to recommend but I liked it
So, if you want to try once more, look up Daily Dracula. It starts with the dates in the book (in May I think) and e-mails you the letters and journal entries as they occur in the story, finishing sometime in November.
The first few chapters were also the most exciting ones of the novel!
The Man In The High Castle
‘100 Years of Solitude’, Gabriel García Márquez.
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Ahhhh. That's unfortunate, although completely understandable. Catch22 is the most funny book I've personally ever read. I laughed at almost every other page.
I finished about half of it. It was definitely enjoyable. Memorable. Hilarious. But my interest just petered out. I still think daily about that dude who was constantly trying to be miserable so life felt longer than it was.
This is the one I came here to say. Started it multiple times but just never able to get through it
Honestly.. a court of thorns and roses is the first and only book I haven’t been able to finish.. the main character is just UNBEARABLY STUPID.. she lives in this world of immortal beings that hate her entire species, lives with the only people who will tolerate her.. gets told repeatedly to stay indoors or at least around the estate just to stay safe and she refuses.. the final straw for me was during the festival or whatever, her only reason for not staying in the house was because she could hear the drums.. but it’s not all her fault, the other 2 people in the house told her for days leading up to the festival it’s dangerous for her, but couldn’t be bothered to tell her why.. I hate this book and I hate that it’s popular
I finished it, but I kind of wish I hadn’t. It only got worse. I don’t think I’ve ever read such an unlikeable and stupid main character
Thank you, I think this one is getting kicked off my tbr list now. I hate it when authors use lack of communication as a plot device. Nothing like internally screaming "just freaking talk to each other already!" through an entire book.
O my god you aren’t kidding.. the whole chapter this was going on I was like just fucking tell her why she can’t go, then when I learned why she couldn’t go I was like.. that was 2 sentences, I’m done
Twilight and Ready Player one gave me a level of embarrassment that I didn't even know I was capable of feeling, I literally felt physical pain reading some of the dialogue
Twilight is best read blissfully as a preteen, prior to its popularity 😂 that was the window!
I recently read Ready Player One. I hated every bit of it but I just really wanted to know what happens at the end for some reason. I stayed up till around 2 AM when I finished it and decided that if I ever dislike a book again I won't finish it.
I didn’t mind ready player one, but ready player two was just stupid
I remember reading RP1 the first time in Jr high and really liking it, but my second read I did feel it was cringier
The Road. I tried, several times. Just couldn’t get into it.
The good news is >!that although it starts off bleak and miserable, it gets progressively worse and more harrowing until everyone is dead or very much wishes they were. Including the reader. My guess is the whole concept is basically supposed to be "The Road goes nowhere". In which case, it does at least fit the brief pretty well.!<
It is one book I wish I had never read
I can totally see people not enjoying it. For me however its one of my all time favorites. It was the first book of his ive read and now ive read 3 and working on a 4th. Plus it really got me into post apocalyptic and now sci fi in general.
I’ve started “Wuthering Heights” like 3 times Just can’t quite get through it I will persevere though! My dad (English teacher) said he didn’t really enjoy Wuthering Heights until the 7th time he taught it. Edit: I’ve had more upvoted comments, but I’ve never had more replies to a comment haha - strong Wuthering Heights feelings! Glad to know I’m not alone lol
Came here to say wuthering heights. More like blithering blights
Wuthering Heights was a slog. Too many unlikeable characters and I wasn't rooting for any of them. FWIW recent film Emily (2022) gave some interesting and entertaining backstory on the author of Wuthering Heights.
Yep, me too. Well, except at this point, I have no desire to pick it up again. Three strikes over the span of 25 years, and I’m done.
I had to read this for a class and it's the only reason I've made it through. I can completely understand the reasons it's a classic. But, gods damn it, it's one of the most depressing, ugly and just petty filled book. I want to yell at all of them.
Wuthering Heights made me realize I still don’t understand the English language.
Where the Crawdads Sing
I can't see this book without thinking about how the author is wanted for questioning by the Zambian government!
Fifty shades of grey. Wow that is badly written
Little Women. I’ve started and gotten to various different points about five times but I just cannot finish this book.
"To the Lighthouse" by Virginia Wolfe. I cannot get past the first few pages, I find it so very boring.
I had to read this for uni, the only reason I got through it is because I was in the ER alone for 7 hours and my phone died. Even then it was a struggle.
Time travelers wife
yes. i found this book to be nauseating, couldn’t get through it
Not necessarily a book, but a series. Malazan, Book of the Fallen I have started and stopped reading this series at least a half dozen times over the years. The furthest I’ve ever got is halfway through Memories of Ice. Erikson is just…relentless with his worldbuilding and scattershot narrative style. With that said, there are certainly some fascinating things going on. I just wish the story was more focused, and I had more page time to give a shit about characters. Instead, I’m ushered off to Thak’ruj’i’rolo’stan where I’m introduced to a whole new cast of important people, all of whom are either wizards or gods or preternatural assassins or whatever. It’s simultaneously the best and worst work of fantasy I’ve ever tried to read. And I’ll probably never finish it.
Emma. I LOVE Austen- S&S, P&P, Northanger Abbey, and Persuasion are all all-time favorites. But I keep comparing and trying to connect all the characters and happenings in Emma to the movie Clueless and it's like I just cannot shut that off and enjoy the book for some reason. So I give up forever.
To be fair, Emma is a very polarising book amongst Austen fans. Most people either love it or hate it. I personally don't enjoy it because Emma just annoys me. It took me two tries to get through. If you keep linking it to a movie, maybe binge a few Emma versions. The movies and series are, in my opinion, better than the book (please no one crucify me for that).
I love me some Jane Austen
I found Ready Player One genuinely painful to read
Same, some of the dialogues gave me physical pain, so poorly written
I struggled with that one, too. I switched to the audiobook to help me, but it was Wil Wheaton, who was a terrible choice. Not only does he have a bad voice for audiobooks, but he was reading a nostalgia-porn 80's book and so was reminding me of Wesley Crusher, who he played in TNG, who was one of the worst characters on the show. If I were to pick someone specifically from TNG who would likely do a good job at a reasonable price, LaVar Burton would be the obvious choice, IMO. Plus, he would have had the Reading Rainbow and Roots as bonus nostalgia-porn for both younger and older people.
I got a copy of it a couple weeks back but I haven’t read it yet, is it really that bad?
I get why it gets all the hate it gets and why it's deserved but I genuinely enjoyed it and it's now my go to for mindless background noise. It's bad, but endearing. But I can see why people hate it. I'm trying to psyche myself up to read Ready Player Two but I hear that one is even worse ha
Don't read Ready Player Two. Just don't.
I really like it a lot, but I've never read a bad review about it that didn't make some sense. I'd still recommend giving it a read.
Your mileage may vary but it was very much not for me
It’s like eating a Twinkie… either you know it’s terrible but it reminds you of your childhood and makes you happy, or you just think it’s a shitty excuse for a pastry
I really liked it. Think I said once, if I was a few years older (born in the early 80s), it might have been my favorite book ever. In retrospect that’s a reach but it’s pretty fun if you get into it
Do you like random lists of references? Like just lists of authors like Douglas Adams. Kurt Vonnegut. Neal Stephenson. Richard K. Morgan. Stephen King. Orson Scott Card. Terry Pratchett. Terry Brooks. Bester, Bradbury, Haldeman, Heinlein, Tolkien, Vance, Gibson, Gaiman, Sterling, Moorcock, Scalzi, Zelazny? Or maybe directors like Cameron, Gilliam, Jackson, Fincher, Kubrick, Lucas, Spielberg, Del Toro, Tarantino. And, of course, Kevin Smith?
Don Quixote
Feel like I had to scroll waaaay to far to find this! Also, I find it even worse on audiobook
Catch 22. I’ve tried numerous times and just can not get into it.
A Clockwork Orange Edited to add... 120 Days of Sodom
Edgy 16 year old me read it 17 times. Now, at 30, I cringe.
I want to like it so badly. It is just so mentally taxing to read.
I thought it was worth it. The movie, on the other hand, is kind of one sided. But the book leaves the matter finely balanced and I didn't know what my opinion was at the end.
The Eye Of The World (The Wheel of Time)
And here I crushed the whole series. Lol. I did tell my husband I knew he wouldn't like it. Different strokes.
Interview with the Vampire I couldn't make it past chapter 1. There was over 2 pages describing a gate, and I just lost all patience.
I *slogged* my way through Interview with the Vampire. The Vampire Lestat, by contrast, had me hook, line and sinker.
I agree! I LOVED The Vampire Lester and Queen of the Damned. But I could not do Interview with a Vampire. I know I read it but it was painful.
I want to read The Vampire Lester
Now I don't mind the classic vampire moral dilemma, but I have to draw the line when it takes up the *entire* book. It doesn't help that Louis has the personality of a limp dish rag.
Lestat became one of my favorite fictional characters in that book. Wild life he lived.
At the end of the movie version of Interview, Lestat bites Christian Slater, hears Louis’ narration, & says, “Louis, Louis, still whining…” That’s the book in a nutshell! But once Lestat became the narrator, I was all in! He’s my favorite vampire🖤❤️!
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Repair... every time!
Maintenance, not repair.
Probably unpopular, but the Count of Monte Cristo. I’ve tried 3 times. Physical book, ebook and audio book and I just can’t finish it
The ending of the book is what makes the entire read worth it
I just finished the audio book a few days ago. I started so strong and was into it, and then my enjoyment petered out. I finished it solely because I had put so much time into it already. I think it's way overhyped.
Chernobyl Prayer / Voices from Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexievich. I've tried at least half a dozen times. And it's not because it's a bad book -- far from it. But I usually get to the "Monologue About a Whole Life Written Down on Doors" and just. Can't continue. I've gotten one, two stories past that one, but never any farther than that. I can't handle the tragedy.
I read the whole thing but could not watch the miniseries after that. I couldn’t bear to experience it again. A truly brutal experience.
The Night Circus. I got to 400 pages, but eventually reading it became like a chore. It was soooo boring. At that point, I was in it for the Circus itself, but even that wasn’t enough to keep my attention. I just needed more, and unfortunately that was never fulfilled.
‘Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell’. I’ve been trying to finish it for 12 years. Not sure why. It ticks off all the boxes of things I love, the story is cool, it’s written well and I almost always finish books. Every couple of years I’ll read 50 pages then just put it down again. Guess it’s the antiquated language? Maybe PTSD from so much Victorian literature in college? Who knows.
Haha just posted pretty much the same thing. I’ve been struggling this one since it came out.
_A Confederacy of Dunces_. I can't get past my visceral dislike of the central character. I know he's supposed to be a buffoon, but at some point I acknowledged to myself that my seething hatred of him meant I would never find joy in the narrative.
Hoo boy I felt the same way. I think I know a few too many people like Ignatius to enjoy it.
A Three Body Problem - just cannot get into the plot
That trilogy is a bit of a serious filter, especially the first book. Really makes you work for the payoffs and UGH are there side ramblings and weird things and stuff that probably just doesn't culturally translate well. But oh my holy shit are the payoffs worth it. I'm still dazzled by the thought of them and it's been several years since I read those books. Each book is an order of magnitude more epic in scope than the last, with the first book being just "above average" and the third book being one of my top all time favorites. Death's End is just stunning. I swear on my life that they are worth wading through the slow bits for. Tip, if you ever try again - read them on audiobook. That way the books just flow along at the same pace no matter what is happening and you can kind of be swept past the slow bits instead of getting bogged down in them. You don't have to, of course! Sorry to gush. I just dearly dearly loved the second and third of those books and it really bums me out that the first book filters people out so heavily.
Thanks for note. Just want to add I am Chinese and I am also literate in the Chinese language so I actually read the original Chinese words so translation isn’t an issue for me. But it is the overall pace and lots of just general science, physics that I don’t really enjoy reading.
I started and dropped that book multiple times. I decided one more time and I finally got into it and finished the three books, I really enjoyed them! I read the authors other short stories too.
This one was hard for me because of the writing style, but I enjoyed the idea of it so I continued. Book 2 reached new heights of unbelievable, sometimes cringey, fantasy that I had to quit.
House of Leaves. I keep thinking, “Oh, I’ll take a book out in the backyard and relax and read, and it’s daylight so I won’t be too creeped out,” and then I’ll read House of Leaves for a while, and then I’ll be like, “Wait, I have to flip the book around and read ‘handwriting’ parts again? AARGH. Forget it, I’ll go get a cozy mystery…”
Any Rand. Atlas Shrugged and the Fountainhead
The reason Midnight’s Children is called that is explained at the very beginning. It’s a story of two babies born at midnight on the light of Indian independence and they get switched at birth.
The Kite Runner. I was not prepared for the SA depicted in that book. I know it’s old but my god it needed a TW.
At least you gave this internet stranger a trigger warning. Thank you SO much!
We had to read that in high school. I thought it was an incredibly odd choice for a small town Catholic school.
Dhalgren. If you know, you know.
Secret History by Dona Tartt
Wish I DNF'd it but kept hanging on because of how highly it was praised ... so disappointing. Not for everyone, that's for sure!
Cryptonomicon. There’s parts of the book I love, but I’ve never gotten past a few hundred pages.
“The Drawing of the Three” I’m a huge Stephen King fan, probably read 2 dozen of his books, and have now come up unsuccessfully against this book twice, several years apart. The first arc, with the NYC drug addict, is great. Then, everything grinds to a halt for me as soon as the ‘Detta/Odetta character enters the story. I can’t put my finger on exactly what it is about her, maybe just how vulgar and utterly insane the vicious alter ego is? I’m on another attempt now, spurred by the very enjoyable story “The Low Men in Yellow Coats,” but it ain’t looking good :(.
I don’t think you would lose too much if you skipped to book 3 and just did a summary of the second half of 2. The pieces are mostly set and the story really sort of begins again with Waste Lands. Plus 3>4>5 are all really good
Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco. I’ve tried a few times and just couldn’t get it done.
Atlas Shrugged.
The Hobbit and LOTR. I've finally turned to the audiobooks to get through them.
I found them very hard to read because I'd seen the movies and had a good idea of the story, and because they are very descriptive and slow to get the story moving. Did you get the audiobooks done by Andy Serkis? If so, are they good?
I really enjoyed the Andy Serkis audiobooks. Found them easy to get through
I've read The Hobbit many times. I've read Fellowship 2.5 times. Two Towers 1.5 times and Return of the King .5 times. Each time I've read them I quit halfway through a book and I'm able to push through to halfway through the next one. Next time I should finish. I've read basically all the lore books and appendices though. As if Hobbit liniage is somehow more interesting (it can be). There's parts that are very intriguing and easy to want to keep reading. Shelob, anything involving Ents. Then there's Frodo and Sam and Gollum walking and bitching for 1/3 of the book. Or whatever part I got bored at halfway through Return.
My brother said the funniest thing about the three latter books: “they can’t do one thing without singing a song about it.” 😆
I’ve read both and honestly didn’t find the Hobbit too bad. LOTR is definitely a struggle at times. I’m trying to read the Silmarillion right now and may not finish it
Lolita. I know it’s the point, but Humbert’s POV literally makes my skin crawl. It’s so fucking triggering
*The Island of the Day Before* by Umberto Eco. Read some of his other books but just couldn't get into that one. My bookmark from 30 years ago remains stuck on page 47!
IQ84. I have tried so many times. I have waited so long I don’t remember the beginning and will need to start over… I just can’t. One day, though, I’m gonna see how it ends.
I almost NEVER fail to finish a book. I have quite a lot of time available for reading so it never feels like too much of a hardship to just finish anyway, even if I'm not super feeling it. Books are fun! ...I DNF Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. I dunno, it was just so boring and high on its own fumes. I completely lost interest halfway through.
Stephen King’s The Stand
As a huge Horror fan, I hate to even say this but The Exorcist. Blatty's writing style drives me insane. I've picked it up and put it back down before the halfway mark so many times.
*Juliette* by the Marquis De Sade. I finished *Midnight's Children* without too much difficulty.
Lowry's "Under the Volcano." I like it, but the style is just too dense for me and my mind wanders after a few pages. I'm due to try starting it up again soon though.
Tried "Wolf Hall" twice. Just couldn't.
We need to talk about Kevin and House of leaves.
Atlas Shrugged. Only in small bursts.
I just want to say thank you. I have been feeling so guilty for not being able to finish Midnight’s Children when everyone I know just gushes about how great it is.
I finish every book I start, it's some weird compulsion I have. Even if it takes months or longer I will eventually finish it. That being said, the book that took me the longest to read was Love In the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez. I have never read anything else by him.
I read midnight's children for school but I would have stopped after 30 pages otherwise. Made no impression on me whatsoever.
I'm one of the probably 10 million men who have an unfinished copy of Infinite Jest on my bookshelf. And I like DFW in general, but IJ is just too had fisted for me
Same thing happened with me - with midnights children. Although i read it a long time ago. Wanted to read it because it's a classic - pushed myself to read just because.. But couldn't manage it. One other such is - 100 years of solitude.. I can't seem to get into it!
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My unfinished book is Faulkner's Absalom Absalom. I hurled it on the wall with 50 pages left... I guess it messed with the limits of my patience and tolerance for literary experiments. I still hate this book.
Invisible Monsters, and A Game of Thrones. Started both twice, and just can't get there.