I would enjoy reading a meme about people’s abandoned books. The books that you start but don’t finish say as much about you as the ones you actually read, sometimes because of the books themselves or because of the circumstances that prevent you from finishing. So . . . what books have you abandoned and why?
It bugs me to abandon books, so for years and years I tried not to. But now I value my time far too much to waste it on books that I can’t enjoy, which means that I will no longer plod through a boring just to say I finished it.
Some recent books that I’ve abandoned are:
1. Scoop by Evelyn Waugh. It’s on the Observer’s list of the 100 greatest novels of all time, and I have loved Waugh’s other works, but I simply couldn’t get into this one. It was supremely boring to me.
2. Money by Martin Amis. This is another case of me being led astray by the Observer list. While I enjoyed the general writing style and some of the humor, I couldn’t get a feel for the protagonist, so I ditched the book about halfway through.
3. Ulysses by James Joyce. I’m not a Joyce fan at all. Granted, I’m no literary scholar, but I honestly don’t get what all the fuss is about regarding his works. I’d much rather prefer to read something comprehensible, thank you very much.
Well, those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head (but there are a lot more than what’s listed here!).
October 25th, 2007 at 9:23 pm
Ulysses is on my list too - it’ll be interesting to see how many people list this doorstopper!
October 26th, 2007 at 9:22 am
Ulysees - I never got past page 4. If you wnat to read Joyce and can’t bear the thought of incomprehensibility, try Dubliners, it is really surprisingly easy to read.
October 28th, 2007 at 8:29 pm
“The Sound and the Fury.” Last month, about 142 pages into it I realized I had no idea what was going on. I also didn’t know who was who. Or where anything was taking place. Or when.
Otherwise, an easy read.