Foo - Books you never finished reading but felt you should have

War & Peace - Tolstoy (3/4 of the way)
Watership Down - Adams (Man, it's about rabbits...maybe I'll try again)

The Bible

Some of the first ones that come to mind....


We The Living - Ayn Rand
The Bible (read most of it though)
The Sorrows of Young Werther - Van Goeth
Candide - Voltaire
Paradise Lost/Paradise Regained - John Milton

Same here, haven't finished the bible. I skipped over many of the Psalms except the pretty ones talking about love and sex. I also skipped over most of the letters in the NT because I thought they were horrible. But I generally finish books even if they're terrible just because I can't stand not finishing them.

ARGH! I'm 1/3 way through Stephen Donaldson's latest "Final Revanant" and ... it sits on my desk :(

Same here, haven't finished the bible. I skipped over many of the Psalms except the pretty ones talking about love and sex. I also skipped over most of the letters in the NT because I thought they were horrible. But I generally finish books even if they're terrible just because I can't stand not finishing them.

When I tried (years ago), I managed to make it through the whole NT and about 2/3 of OT.

I was adamant about not skipping things, so Numbers, Leviticus and early books like that were REALLY HARD to get through.

When I tried (years ago), I managed to make it through the whole NT and about 2/3 of OT.

I was adamant about not skipping things, so Numbers, Leviticus and early books like that were REALLY HARD to get through.

Oh I liked the OT--very entertaining, except for some psalms. It's the NT that bored the heck out of me. It's a matter of taste, I guess.

Oh I liked the OT--very entertaining, except for some psalms. It's the NT that bored the heck out of me. It's a matter of taste, I guess.

Wow...I can't imagine how anybody could find OT interesting and NT boring. You found Leviticus entertaining? Chapters and chapters and chapter ad chapters of laws and rules?

Wow...I can't imagine how anybody could find OT interesting and NT boring. You found Leviticus entertaining? Chapters and chapters and chapter ad chapters of laws and rules?

The rules were funny :lol:

But another book I should finish reading is Treatise on Harmony by Jean Philippe Rameau...it's important to what I'm doing, but like most treatises from the 1700's, it's a boring read.

Grapes of Wrath - Steinbeck, bought the Cliff's Notes during senior year high school last quarter. Senior slide. Should've done the right thing.

Blink: The book about thinking without thinking - Malcomn Gladwell
Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky

Grapes of Wrath - Steinbeck, bought the Cliff's Notes during senior year high school last quarter. Senior slide. Should've done the right thing.

I did that one as a book on tape with a guy who had the PERFECT voice for the story. That was quite an amazing book!

East of Eden - John Steinbeck

I did that one as a book on tape with a guy who had the PERFECT voice for the story. That was quite an amazing book!

Does that count if it was a book on tape? For me, oral storytelling is almost a lost art. I was telling a friend about another person I know who has a powerful ability to tell a story, the truth is secondary, you listen to hear how it's told. That aside, you finish Grapes of Wrath?

You know, if I weren't so anal about finishing books, I probably would never have gotten through anything the Russians wrote. I mean, the books they write are wonderful, but so. long. winded.

Does that count if it was a book on tape? For me, oral storytelling is almost a lost art. I was telling a friend about another person I know who has a powerful ability to tell a story, the truth is secondary, you listen to hear how it's told. That aside, you finish Grapes of Wrath?

Touchy question whether it counts or not. I've seen it vehemently argued both ways.

Personally, I say it's not quite the same as reading it, but you do still have the affect of knowing/experiencing the story. Sometimes you experience it better because the reader can tell it so well, other times you experience it better by reading it yourself. Either way, you experience the story and your imagination makes up the images.

You don't get the intellectual benefit from hearing it though, IMO. You don't miss the story when listening, but you do miss the intellectual benefit of reading the words.

Did I finish it? I finished the book on tape - yes. I never attempted to read it.

You know, if I weren't so anal about finishing books, I probably would never have gotten through anything the Russians wrote. I mean, the books they write are wonderful, but so. long. winded.

You read any Solzhenitsyn? Yeah...like pulling teeth.

You read any Solzhenitsyn? Yeah...like pulling teeth.

I've read the Ivan Denisovich one, which is not so bad, as it's a short novel. Still long-winded as hell though. Haven't read any of his longer other works aside from that one.

Ive begun to read One Hundred Years of Solitude at least 5 different times. I still haven't finished it.
The next time I try, Ill take notes so I don't lose track of all the characters.

You read any Solzhenitsyn? Yeah...like pulling teeth.

I thought the Gulag Archipelago was a good read (though I have only read the first volume of three).

I agreed to read Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon with my brother, but I just couldn't finish it. I got about 600 pages into it and had to stop. I really, really, really, dislike that book. I only feel bad about not finishing it because I agreed to read it along with my brother (he soldiered through to the end though).

I know Pynchon has his ardent fans, and I'm even willing to accept that I just don't "get it". but I have no urge to ever read another novel by him after Against the Day.

Crime and punishment. For the life of me, I just can't finish that book....

Crime and punishment. For the life of me, I just can't finish that book....

See! Another vote for the long-winded Russians!

Walden, I actually have it right here by my chair. If it were not for BF I would be done with it by now. I also want to read Chesty, which is right behind me on my bookshelf. I think the word tome would describe it.

Crime and Punishment is one of my all-time faves. I love Dostoevsky, and I went through a serious Russian Lit. phase in high school and college.

All of my text books for school.

War & Peace - Tolstoy (3/4 of the way)
Watership Down - Adams (Man, it's about rabbits...maybe I'll try again)
I think the last chapters are some of the better ones. It's worth another look.

Although I read the English version, I did not make it all the way through the Russian original. Aside from being written in a 19th century style that is harder to follow, there is loads of French in the book.

Also failed to complete Don Quixote in original -- again, the old style is hard to follow.

I used to read all the time, but now that I have an egghead job, I hardly read at all. When I did physical labor for work, I was far better read than I am now.

Also failed to complete Don Quixote in original -- again, the old style is hard to follow. There's another one I was missing in my list. I started this years ago and had trouble sticking with it too. It was a good story, just hard to read.

Crime and Punishment

I think the last chapters are some of the better ones. It's worth another look.

Although I read the English version, I did not make it all the way through the Russian original. Aside from being written in a 19th century style that is harder to follow, there is loads of French in the book.

Also failed to complete Don Quixote in original -- again, the old style is hard to follow.

I used to read all the time, but now that I have an egghead job, I hardly read at all. When I did physical labor for work, I was far better read than I am now.

I tried to read Crime and Punishment in the original Russian...OMG. Couldn't do it, partly because of my very basic understanding of Russian, and the style it was written in too. I'm sticking to poetry until my Russky gets better.

It's hard to finish reading a book when you've already looked at all the pictures and the centerfold.

The Brothers Karamazov (Fyodor Dostoevsky) ... I got to page 10 and realized I just purchased a really nice coaster.

And...yet another vote for the Russians. We should keep a tally of how many people think Russian novels are hard to get through. :roflmao:

Ive begun to read One Hundred Years of Solitude at least 5 different times. I still haven't finished it.
The next time I try, Ill take notes so I don't lose track of all the characters.

Notes won't help ... all the names are the same ;). I'm reading it now, and loving it (I'm coming to it as a sucker for magical realism thanks to an early introduction to Rushdie)... but it's hard keeping track of the characters. Rushdie does the massive families, too, but at least he gives people different names.

Anyway, I'm almost done, but will have to read it again when I finish :D

Books I haven't finished: The top one would be Dostoevsky's The Devils, which I haven't touched for years, but started about four times. Others that I couldn't really get into were Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin and Eco's Name of the Rose.

For those of you who want a taste of Russian literature without the pain, go for Turgenev's Fathers and Sons. An amazing book, and not just because it's Russian and short! Also, Gogol is probably the most digestible Russian of all, and a hoot to read.

moby dick.

enjoyed crime and punishment.

the final chapters of war and peace were too deep for me.

Catch 22

War and Peace

Don Quioxte

Dr. Zhivago

and many others. I used to be sooo well read and I found it so easy to read. Now I start falling asleep after a page or two.

Moby Dick - I got about halfway through last summer and loved it, but haven't gotten back to it. I'm an English major, so there are things I have to read that have taken precedence. Both the Old and New Testaments, for example. I had to read those for classes, so I read them. I've never attempted any Russians though.

Watership Down is definitely worth going back to! I love that book.

Iliad -- too much glorification of savagery

Ulysses -- tried several times, still can't even figure out who's standing where in the first scene on the stairway. Fail.

Proust Memory of Things Past -- Narcissism to the max, insufferable

First time I tried Don Quixote it was really tedious; tried again a few years later with a different, more sparkly translation and loved it!

Iliad -- too much glorification of savageryI've read it a couple of times both in English and Latin. If you end up liking The Illiad I recommend getting your hands on The Aeneid and The Odyssey. :)

I've read it a couple of times both in English and Latin. If you end up liking The Illiad I recommend getting your hands on The Aeneid and The Odyssey. :)

Wow! you are very multi-talented ms.gio.:D I've got and read the Iliad and have read The Odyssey, but only English translations. I haven't tried the Aeneid yet.

I tried to read Moby Dick but haven't managed to get to the end of it yet.

I got about three quarters of the way through the Bible, from start to finish, decades and decades ago.

I've been remiss and spending too much time on the interwebs and haven't had a good session of reading books for a while.:o

War & Peace - Tolstoy (3/4 of the way)

War and Peace rocked, but I admit the end was sort of hard to get through, which was fitting in retrospect. Tolstoy ends up showing hints of cynicism regarding the value aristocratic life.


Grapes of Wrath - Steinbeck, bought the Cliff's Notes during senior year high school last quarter. Senior slide. Should've done the right thing.

Go back and re-read it. Steinbeck is amazing, not just for his storytelling and his infusion of moral questions, but for his writing style, too.

I did the same thing in high school with Great Expectations, although I did read enough to become fascinated with Dickens which later got me into A Tale of Two Cities (excellent), and David Copperfield (lame). Hopefully the rest of his stuff is more like the former than the latter.

Catch 22

What? Were you sober or something? I find it hard to believe that anyone could have trouble reading Catch 22, so long as you can make it past the first two chapters to start to get into Heller's bizarre sense of reason.

Practically the only reason I ever put that book down was the pain of laughter was too much...and yet I always knew at the same time he was serious.


Continuing on, I barely made it through The Three Musketeers. Pure, unabashed romance, as George Shaw would have defined it. It was fun at first, but almost absurd by the time he was done. It slightly scares me that he was able to write two sequels and several spinoffs. Dumas was the veritable Louis Lamor of his day.

You read any Solzhenitsyn? Yeah...like pulling teeth.

seriously? i love solzhenitsyn. i read the crap out of him when i was in infantry training

I've read it a couple of times both in English and Latin. If you end up liking The Illiad I recommend getting your hands on The Aeneid and The Odyssey. :)

Pfft, you have to read it in Greek to get the full flavor

:D

The Bible

Then let me tell you the ending: Your putrid soul burns in Hell for all eternity, The End.

Me? I spent endless & sleepless nights agonizing over how I'm unable to finish Green Eggs & Ham.

Then let me tell you the ending: Your putrid soul burns in Hell for all eternity, The End.

Me? I spent endless & sleepless nights agonizing how I'm unable to finish Green Eggs & Ham.

Funny I read that yesterday at the doctors office.:)

Funny I read that yesterday at the doctors office.:)

Then please don't tell me how it ends. I'm so enthralled by the first 4 pages or so that if I continue reading, I'm afraid that the next 20 pages or so will only lead to disappointment.

'The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman', by Laurence Stern. Hugely entertaining, but looooong. Must get back to that one day.

Books I did finish, but wish I hadn't - The Lord of The Rings Trilogy, and Moby Dick.

Then please don't tell me how it ends. I'm so enthralled by the first 4 pages or so that if I continue reading, I'm afraid that the next 20 pages or so will only lead to disappointment.

It plods a bit in the middle, but you'll like the surprise ending.

I've read it a couple of times both in English and Latin. If you end up liking The Illiad I recommend getting your hands on The Aeneid and The Odyssey. :)

Er... The Iliad was written in Greek.