Sunday, May 4, 2014

Reader Beware: Books We Couldn't Finish

(from tressugar.com
by Colleen Barrett)



It takes determination, probably pride, and lots of time to persevere through a book you don't hit it off with. (You might be going through that right now since it's National Reading Month.) Sometimes we finish and it's worth it; other times, it's not. A little while back, Goodreads released an infographic on the psychology of book abandonment, listing these five as the top most abandoned books on the site:

JK Rowling's The Casual Vacancy
E L James's Fifty Shades of Grey
Stieg Larsson's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love
Gregory Maguire's Wicked

You agreed with some of these selections when we asked what books you cut loose, but you also shared a plethora of other books that were hard to finish. On a Facebook post, your unfinished reads included City of Bones, Freedom, The Time Traveler's Wife, and Outlander. Now check out our list of books we just can't seem to turn the final page on, and share yours in the comments!



This was one of Goodreads' top five most abandoned books, and I have to agree. I couldn't stand either of the protagonists (Anastasia, especially), and for all the sex hype, I didn't really find the sex scenes that titillating.



"Worst book I've ever read. Garbled, pretentious writing, horrible characterization, and awful plot development. I slogged through 3/4 of the book waiting for it [to] get good, and when I finally realized that was never gonna happen, I stopped."

— girlgreen



"By the time she got to India, I had had enough."

— Anonymous



"Gave up after he described a vase for like two pages."

— Anonymous


 

J.K. Rowling's first post-Harry Potter novel made Goodreads' top five abandoned books, and it's also one I haven't finished. I haven't been able to get into the characters, and the plot just hasn't drawn me in, but I'm not throwing in the towel just yet.


*Blogger's note: I thought you would enjoy these five. I lost the link and I have the name and the site name and could not find it! Weird right. I will bring you something else. I promise. :) I have started books I could not finish and I will name them. One is a popular YA one. And I just read one chapter of one the other day and could not finish it. So I will share if you will share. ;)

2 comments:

  1. I find it interesting all the books listed and books I looked at and thought I wouldn't like. Nice to know I'm not the only one that didn't think they were worth the time.

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  2. That is what I liked about this article also. I have only not been able to finish four books in my lifetime of book reading. One was so bad I could not even get past the first chapter. i am a finisher. I have to finish a book even if it isn't that hot. But again, the bad ones I have put down. And as far as passing up books I think we all have done that.

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