11-19-2022, 11:27 PM | #46 |
Wizard
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I just read The Road, and his tenuous grasp on punctuation is obnoxious, indeed.
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11-20-2022, 11:47 AM | #47 | |
Grand Sorcerer
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05-03-2023, 09:55 AM | #48 |
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If a book is really bad I will skim the rest of the book or skip chapters/pages that are not relevant
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06-07-2023, 03:43 PM | #49 |
Onyx-maniac
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DNF: "White Noise", Don DeLillo.
Nice writing, good characters, but when the narrative went into outer space he lost me (about page 200). |
06-09-2023, 10:55 AM | #50 |
Professor of Law
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06-09-2023, 11:06 AM | #51 |
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Well, outer space would have been good. There's some reality in that.
I just sensed that I was losing grasp/interest in whatever was happening. Edit: I just finished "Arrowsmith", Sinclair Lewis so I went to my library's OverDrive and "Dune", Frank Herbert was on "Lucky Day". I've never read it. I got about three pages before it became a DNF. I don't dig hierarchical, religious or mystical future societies. "Lem scoffed at the wretched creature scraping dog poo off the Gildeatron. He could tell that he was only a Grade 23 sanitizer by the insignia on his cap. It had been years since Lem was a Grade 23." Last edited by Renate; 06-09-2023 at 08:20 PM. |
08-26-2023, 01:17 PM | #52 |
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Sometimes I just get bored by a book and do not bother to finish them, and I rarely remember them afterwards. There are however some books which I loathe enough to remember the reason why I did not finish them for years afterwards:
The Road by Cormac McCarthy: started reading it because I usually like post-apocalyptic stories, chucked it at a wall at about the 20th time someone said "i am cold and this story is not getting anywhere yes no i said" or something to that effect, which was around page 20 (slight exaggeration, but not by much). Obnoxious, pretentious, and unbelievably boring. Jerusalem Commands by Michael Moorcock: I like Moorcock, a lot, but after struggling through the previous two novels in the trilogy despite their rather unpleasant protagonist, I just couldn't anymore. Priest-Kings of Gor by John Norman: this is entirely my fault, as I already knew that the Gor books had a reputation for misogny, non-consensual S&M and plenty of exposition for no particlarly good reason, but I wanted to see if it was really that bad myself... Well, yes it was bad, and I've heard it only gets worse as the series progresses. Reading it was like picking a scab, except not quite as rewarding. |
10-04-2023, 10:02 AM | #53 |
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This year I chose one too many books I gave up on or skipped chapters because I was bored and could not keep an active interest. So next year my reading goal is going to be pages read not number of books read. That way I will not feel as guilty.
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11-30-2023, 04:49 AM | #54 |
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I'm halfway through Stephen King's Holly, and am debating whether to put in the time to finish it. King seems be plowing the same field that he did in another Holly Gibney book I read not too long ago, the characters don't resonate with me, and I'm afraid the remainder of the book is going to wind up being a fairly standard chess game, or a predictable puppet show.
I like King's work (he's always an entertaining storyteller), but I can't shake the feeling I'm reading a rehash. Pity: I'd looked forward to this release. AA |
12-06-2023, 10:29 AM | #55 |
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If I abandon a book I usually skim over the remainder of the book instead of all out abandoning it. Had a few this year such as Beautiful. If I knew it was a sports book I would of never bought it. i don't want to read about basketball or whatever
Last edited by HLS; 12-06-2023 at 10:31 AM. |
12-06-2023, 10:32 AM | #56 | |
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12-08-2023, 05:37 AM | #57 | |
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Oh, my friend. My friend! If you want to try a Gor book that will make Priest-Kings of Gor read like the King James Version of the Bible, might I suggest ANYTHING beyond book 5 or 6? The torture - for the reader - is exquisite. |
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12-09-2023, 07:02 PM | #58 |
o saeclum infacetum
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I abandoned Perfume by Patrick Süskind. I'd not got around to it, but I thought it a slam dunk for me. I love perfume and I love that era. But it was... gross. I'm not someone who needs to like protagonists, far from it, but after quite some time invested in it, I didn't see the point of continuing. It was just a lot of nastiness. I suspect that the huge failure for me was that I didn't buy the concept of such a very sensitive nose.
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12-09-2023, 07:59 PM | #59 |
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01-18-2024, 07:28 PM | #60 |
o saeclum infacetum
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I've ditched my first book of the year. It wasn't absolutely awful -- a short story collection and I enjoyed reading at least a couple -- but it would have taken up too much precious reading time to finish. Sigh. It's not the terrible books that are the issue, because those are easy to jettison in full self-righteousness, but those that have redeeming qualities. And you keep reading, and then you start to think you might as well finish....
For 2024, I'm going to try to hold the thought that "it's not worth precious reading time". And, "no point in throwing quality time after bad". |
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