Where Angels Fear To Tread - E.M. Forster

I think that I have always finished a book but have sometimes skipped to the end.

I mostly read mysteries so I want to know the outcome, especially if there is someone or a pet in peril!

Kathy, I read all of Evelyn Hugo and didn’t care for it.

I’ve been DNF-ing a lot, too:

Finlay Donovan is Killing It - Elle Cosimano

Swamplandia - Karen Russell

Ink and Bone - Rachel Caine

Florida - Lauren Goff

Flags on the Bayou - James Lee Burke

That’s just December and January

Donna - I want to say that I'm glad I'm not the only one DNF-ing like crazy, but why am I glad? Because misery likes company? Not sure... Anyway, those are interesting titles, but I've not tried any of them.

Too many to mention! That's due to ADHD and also having way too many books in my possesion that I haven't read so I pick one up and if I am not engrossed by the end of the first chapter, it goes back on the shelf. And actually sometimes only after reading the first two pages. I also tend to analyze the writing for the first few chapters until I can lose myself in the story.

It took me years to finish Bonfire of the Vanities. I must have started that book a dozen times and finally got past the part where I lost interest and loved the rest of the book. Intererestingly, my daughter stayed with me over the weekend, bringing with her no other than Bonfire of the Vanities. She started it in high school and triumphantly announced that she finally finished the book while here. We both got stuck in the same place!

Gigi - That's a great story about Bonfire of the Vanities! (Which I have not read, by the way. Do you recommend?...)

Well, here I go again. I'm giving up on Hamnet by Maggie O' Farrell. I know many people loved it (though I don't know why), but after 47 pages, plus a good leafing through later pages to look for something that draws me in, I am officially DNF-ing it this morning.

After a few chapters I could not read The White Lady by Jacqueline Winspear because it was too close to the current news at the time about the Ukraine and the woman sniper.

A book which I absolutely hated and couldn't get past the second chapter was A Tale Of Time Being by Ruth Ozeki.

Life is too short to waste on books which do not resonate.

I am not a reader who feels an obligation to the author to "power through" a book if I do not enjoy it.

I read Bonfire of the Vanities (all of it, lol), and hated it. Hated the movie, too. Now I can’t remember anything about it. Which reminds me of another DNF - Atlas Shrugged. I’ve tried several times and just can’t get into it.

Donna

Hi - Sarah Canary here. I used to be a frequent visitor here, but wandered away several years ago. I saw this thread and like others I have many books unfinished in thee last few years. LookLooking bback at my Goodreads lists I see that there have been at least 52 books I didn’t finish…and I probably dldn’t keep track of them all. Two that I didn’t finish last year were: Good for You by Camille Pagan and The Ghost Bride by Yangtze Choo.

Regarding coming back and finishing a book…it took at least two tries to get into The Hobbit. Plus, I had a hard time getting into Michener’s Hawaii, but ended up loving it.

I particularly liked the first part of Hawaii. Going to Tahiti is still on my wish list. Funny how different we all are, isn't it? I loved the whole book, BTW.

oh no I loved ( LOVED) Hamnet and read Bonfire so long ago but I do remember really liking it as well. History of Love I had a hard time with and wished I had read it for a book group to discuss.

I think I did like it though.

I guess we shouldn't try to suggest books for each other? lol

Reading tastes are very different and depending on my moods I choose various kinds of stories.

I enjoy seeing which books are popular and there are readers in here whose tastes frequently match mine, in which case I'll consider a book that they have enjoyed.

Sarah Canary, good to see you again.

I am losing too many people both online and in real life. I usually know what happens to them in life but online people just vanish!

I mostly follow Carolyn as she reads mysteries and got me here over twenty years ago when I needed to discuss books after my DH died.

Hi Annpan. It It’s ggood to be back. I am, however, having trouble getting things posted.

Sarah, so nice to have you back!

I have lots of books in the DNF pile, not necessarily because I wasn't enjoying them. Sometimes life gets busy and I have to put a book on hold for awhile and then I lose the plot and never get around to picking it up again.

Possession - A.S. Byatt Just a nope for me, hated the characters and the dull, long poetry.

The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love - Oscar Hijuelos. This was a book group book. So many descriptions of men's private parts. It was tedious and plodding.

The Enchantress of Florence - Salman Rushdie. Rushdie has so many great stories and I enjoy his writing. My problem is he wants to weave all the great stories together. So many characters, so many plot lines, I need a guide to keep it all straight. I should have started reading him when my brain was younger.

Last Report of the Miracles at Little No Horse - Louise Erdrich Wow, the first 50 pages of this book move like the wind! And then I get into a similar issue as Rushdie. I put it down and lost the plot. One of these days I may try again, or try something else of hers.

I thought Hamnet was OK and I finished it, but I really loved The Marriage Portrait because the writing is wonderful (the chapter about the first tiger in Florence was superb) and it had a great ending.

Thanks, merryworld. I could never get into Possession, either. I find that I need certain types of books for certain moods, too. Lately mysteries and fantasy are fulfilling my reading needs.

Possession did me in, too. I seldom quit on a book, but I sure did on that one.

Welcome back from me, too, Sarah Canary. I always liked your name.

Sarah, good to see you back here! I don’t ppost as often as I used to but still like to check in now and then.

Thanks, Carolyn and rouan. I’m enjoying being back.

Carolyn, you may remember my name comes from my favorite book of the same name by Karen Joy Fowler.

Yes, I remember, and I read the book because of you.

I think we actually had a discussion about. Not everyone loves it as much as I do. 😅

sarahcanary - According to a 2015 entry in my reading journal, I also read Sarah Canary because you mentioned it as your favorite book (and because I really liked another Karen Joy Fowler book, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves). I'm sorry to say I'm one of those who did not care for it. At the time, I wrote "It was like a John Irving novel taken too far over the line." which now seems rather amusing.

kathy_t, I also liked the Beside Ourselves book. An interesting comparison to an Irving novel. I am a fan of many of Irving’s novels, although some scenes from his novels still haunt me: Cider House Rules and A Widow for One Year for example.

Vicki - I also am a big fan of John Irving, but I have not liked everything I've read by him. Some of his complicated plots do verge on the absurd, which I believe is why I made that statement in my reading journal. But it was 9 years ago (Yikes!), so I can't say for sure. Anyway, as you say, he does provide some truly haunting scenes that stay with you. He's an intense and very interesting man and a great writer, in my opinion.

I had to toss this one : A Rosie Life In Italy by Rosie Mcleady. It is a memoir of her life in Italy, however, after many chapters of bad decisions, grief, alcoholism and failures in Ireland ( and she still isn't in Italy ) I simply could not continue this dreary book.

As a "memoir" , her memories are best kept to herself !

The Ark by Boyd Morrison. The premise was this guy who decided he was going to "save the world" by killing billions of people with a flesh-eating bacteria so only the ones he deemed worthy were left. The heroes are a woman archaeologist whose father had found Noah's Ark (and was murdered) and a guy who is an engineering genius. Not sure how they were going to tie the ark in with the evil guy, but after about 10 chapters I thought, "I really don't want to read this."

Donna

Yesterday, I gave up on a new and much praised novel, The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon. I actually was liking the book. It's well written. It's the story of an 18th century midwife in Maine, who examined a dead body found frozen in the river and determines that the man was beaten and hanged before being thrown into the river. But important men in town disagree with her. After reading about 80 pages, I decided there was too much "gruesomeness" for my taste. I still think it might be a good book though.

Just about to return to the library with only 40 something pages read Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda. The 'heroine' appears to be a vampire/half devil half human and has moved to London where she is finding it difficult to find a reliable source of blood for meal-times. I really can't be bothered with stuff like this even when The Times describes it as 'a gripping contemporary fable about embracing difference'. Apparently at the very end it is made clear that the story is a metaphor for the heroine's mixed racial heritage. And even knowing this it doesn't appeal to me.

Vee, what made you choose this book?

I have the latest Mrs. Pargeter book waiting for me. I am rather smug as I asked Simon Brett years ago by email if he would write some more of her adventures and he did!

He has set them in the sea side area where I grew up but it has obviously changed.

OT, I was watching a program about the Cotswolds, one of my favourite places and the presenter Pam Ayres interviewed the then Prince Charles. To my dismay he got the "I and me" wrong!

What hope is there for us who try to correct our children when even the King doesn't speak the King's English correctly?

Kathy, I with you 1000% !

Let me enjoy a good book that's a winner.

And not be so grossed out I can't eat my dinner !

And I'm with Vee for returning the vampire book. Yuk!

Annpan, you ask why I chose the vampire book. My hand just reached out to the shelf in the vestibule of the library, There was NO mention of vampires/blood etc on the cover just overwhelming praise (this should have warned me) splashed all over the front cover.

I also watched the TV series with Pam Ayres 'doing' the Cotswolds (an area I lived in for many years and now 'look at' over the River Severn) I didn't notice Charles' misuse of "I/me". I thought Royalty used 'We' and 'One'!

"We are not amused" wrongly attributed to Queen Victoria and "One might try on One's crown today."

Vee, I have a blind spot where covers are concerned. I just look at the printed info re title and author.

I was interested when there was a discussion here about the cover shots taken of the character's backs and did check them out.

All the careful thought going into the artwork is wasted on me! Excepting for cats, strangely, as I do notice them.

Lucky you, living in the Cotswolds. We used to go there for weekends using the cheap motel rates and drive around the lovely places with the CKC spaniel. He amused tourists once by suddenly bolting on the extending leash to chase a duck right into the stream running through the village at Bourton on the Water. I had to buy a roll of kitchen towel to dry off his soaked legs!

Hi Sarah, good to hear from you again!

I frequently DNF a book. There are too many books awaiting my attention to waste time on books that do not engage me. That is, unless it is a book club book. In that case, I try to push through. Not always with success, but I usually finish them. Sometimes I am sorry I did.

Hi Rosefolly, I’m enjoying seeing all these familiar names.

I didn't exactly "not finish " this book for I intend to read it but only once I get a copy I can actually SEE !

Have you ever had a paperback printed in such small font and lighter ink that it is a strain?

So , I will read The Last Mrs. Parrish at some point......

Yes to that yoyo, sometimes when I order a book online I am taking a chance on font size and ink so pale it looks as though it has been watered down. Another peeve is with paperbacks that are so badly bound or even glued, opening them and reading at the point where the pages meet is difficult without cracking the spine.

Vee, glad to hear it's not just me ! I wonder why a publisher or author would ever choose such fonts or ink ? It makes no sense.

I usually finish books no matter what but am getting better about stopping. I must confess I closed Harry’s memoir, Spare, after 100 pages. Endless complaining.

yoyo, I'm sure everything . . . . small print, poor binding, low grade ink are all down to cost. Over here we have too many books produced on cheap quality paper. The pages turn yellow in a matter of months. I always notice that books printed in the US use much better paper.