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Worthy books you have started but never finished

BrianPankow
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Yes, Moby Dick! “Call me bored.”

I read “Catch 22” while in the navy (early 70’s) and loved it. Tried reading it again about ten years ago and couldn’t do it.
 
verithingeoff
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Skrv Skrv
Foundation by Issac Asimov. Great book and have not been able to finish more than half.
Stick with it I have a copy of all 7 of the books and read them regularly
 
jsducote
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I've had The Satanic Verses on my nightstand for several months now, gathering dust after getting about 1/4 of the way through. Although I have a dozen other books in the queue, I refuse to quit.
 
SpeedyPhill
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The Name of the Rose (1986 by Umberto Eco) 📖 ... but I saw the movie with Sean Connery
 
Mouse_at_Large
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On the sf theme, Dhalgren by Samuel R Delany. I tried, but failed. To me it was utterly tedious and unengaging. This comes from someone who actually finished Ulysses
 
ejj
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Next question might be: Best book you never want to read again? Or Best movie you never want to see again?
 
vbrad26
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Lots of mention of Catch 22.
That was required reading for me in high school, so I hardly remember it.
Maybe I should keep it that way? Hah.
I have had the urge to re-read a lot of the books that were required reading for me back in high school...
Great Gatsby, The Catcher in the Rye, A Separate Piece, A Brave New World, 1984...
 
timoss
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Looks like the results are in: Moby Dick wins. (For the record, I have never made it past the first five pages myself.)
 
markie916
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The old man and the sea, Hemingway,

Tolstoys Anna Karenina,

Michael Schumacher biography.

I liked The Operator by Rob O'Brien though amongst others.
 
Andy K
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vbrad26 vbrad26
I have had the urge to re-read a lot of the books that were required reading for me back in high school...
Great Gatsby, The Catcher in the Rye, A Separate Piece, A Brave New World, 1984...

I had to read all of those in HS too! We had a summer reading list that these books were on. We were required to read three each summer and come in on our summer breaks and take tests. At the time I completely resented having to do schoolwork over my break but those are some of the best books I ever read.

I have reread Gatsby and Catcher in the Rye a number of times over the years. For me, both get better and better the older I get and they are really easy quick reads.

I remember my mind being blown by 1984 when I first read it. I tried again years later and couldn't get into it at all.
 
Joe_A
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I'm half surprised Finnegan's Wake has not been mentioned.

I'm a fan of Joyce and was lucky enough to start with A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, followed by the short story collection Dubliners. Once that far in, I was later able to read Ulysses early in life and then later on again.

But I could not get very far into Finnegan's Wake and from what I have read about it, it helps to be multilingual - which I am not.

I had no difficulty with Melville, but I find no pleasure in reading Dickens.

Context of the day matters. Lingustic convention matters.

I suspect that educated contemporaries of artists from days gone by had an easier time of it than we do today.
Edited:
 
Archer
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vbrad26 vbrad26
Lots of mention of Catch 22.
That was required reading for me in high school, so I hardly remember it.
Maybe I should keep it that way? Hah.
I have had the urge to re-read a lot of the books that were required reading for me back in high school...
Great Gatsby, The Catcher in the Rye, A Separate Piece, A Brave New World, 1984...

Catcher in the Rye - best read while drinking "Catcher in the Rye" Rye...for any old SCTV fans out there...
 
vbrad26
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Andy K Andy K
I had to read all of those in HS too! We had a summer reading list that these books were on. We were required to read three each summer and come in on our summer breaks and take tests. At the time I completely resented having to do schoolwork over my break but those are some of the best books I ever read.

I have reread Gatsby and Catcher in the Rye a number of times over the years. For me, both get better and better the older I get and they are really easy quick reads.

I remember my mind being blown by 1984 when I first read it. I tried again years later and couldn't get into it at all.

Yeah I had the thought that now that I'm older, I could perhaps have a different take/understanding of some of those I read in school.
Of course back then I only did it because I had to. So that is why I want to give them all another shot, from a better perspective.
Then in college same thing, I had to read a LOT of stuff I was not in the least bit interested in (but hey if you want to know about any early British lit just let me know!).
I quit reading for a few years just because I was burnt out.
But then I picked it back up a few years ago and have been reading a lot of sci-fi! Oh and of course Dan Brown lol.
 
MRC
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vbrad26 vbrad26
but hey if you want to know about any early British lit just let me know!).
Wadddya think of "Musings of a Tax Collector" (aka The Canterbury Tales)?

vbrad26 vbrad26
But then I picked it back up a few years ago and have been reading a lot of sci-fi!

I liked the "hard science" era, 1940s to about 1980, but swords & scorcery don't do anything for me. OK there's Iain M. Banks' Culture books, some work, some don't. I loved some of his "Iain Banks" work, particularly The Wasp Factory, The Bridge, too
 
vbrad26
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MRC MRC
Wadddya think of "Musings of a Tax Collector" (aka The Canterbury Tales)?

Hah to be honest I escaped having to read all fragments. Will I ever go back? Probably not lol!
I remember feeling so fancy as a 21 year old reading Chaucer though, But I just don't have the urge to struggle reading a sentence anymore haha.

MRC MRC
I liked the "hard science" era, 1940s to about 1980, but swords & scorcery don't do anything for me. OK there's Iain M. Banks' Culture books, some work, some don't. I loved some of his "Iain Banks" work, particularly The Wasp Factory, The Bridge, too

Yeah I'm more of a "hard sci-fi" kinda guy I guess. Never got into fantasy or anything like that.
Still have yet to read Dune. Everyone says "read Dune because blah blah blah...."
 
Speedmasterfan88
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Joyce Ulysses .... my english teacher in High School lend it to me when I was around 17-18, I got through 50 pages before returning it. Maybe I should give it a try now.
I very much enjoyed reading MacBeth, Great Gatsby, 1984, Brave New World and all the other stuff we "had" to read back then.
When I started studiyng law the last thing I wanted to do after a day in the library was to pick up a book when I got home.

The last book I bought and didn't finish was " The German Genius" by Peter Watson. It's so densely packed with information that I manage to read about 20 pages before I put it away again. The "Notes and References" section alone is about 150 pages long...
 
Mouse_at_Large
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vbrad26 vbrad26
Yeah I'm more of a "hard sci-fi" kinda guy I guess. Never got into fantasy or anything like that.
Still have yet to read Dune. Everyone says "read Dune because blah blah blah...."

Dune......Game of Thrones with big worms and stupid drugs. The other books are even more tedious. Stick to "hard" sci-fi. I'd suggest Peter F Hamilton and Alastair Reynolds if you haven't already come across them.
 
flw
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Dune is an astounding book, but I admit it took me two attempts to get through it. Absolutely worth it.

I'm encouraged by the fact that nobody has mentioned The Lord of the Rings.
 
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