Another book thread - tell me which books or book series...

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

you simply couldn't finish for one reason or another? Or, book series that just didn't live up to the promise of the first book(s)?

I'm bored and would much rather discuss books than study Torts, lol. So I pride myself on making myself finish a book if I start it but there have been a few that I just really couldn't finish (or some series for that matter). If I had to start, I'd have to say:

The Once and Future King - I know many love this, but I think I'm a bit allergic to the Arthurian saga in general

Eragon series - written by a teen, very evident it was written by a teen, plus he seems to have ripped off half a dozen celebrated sci-fi/fantasy storylines in such a way that it's VERY obvious

Piers Anthony's Xanth - I liked the first couple books, but I just couldn't couldn't imagine sticking it through 20+ books

Kushiel (the first book) - just couldn't finish it

Twilight - need I say more?

Narnia - I think I came too late to it (read it only a few years ago) and I didn't particularly care for the very overt religious message in the books

 

[Kismet]

Re: Another book thread - tell me which books or book series

Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series - The first book was quite enjoyable but by the end of the 3rd book I hated every single character and didn't care at all what happened to them.

 

[Gypsy]

Re: Another book thread - tell me which books or book series

I couldn't finish the first book of Kushiel's as well. Twilight just lost me completely in book4. And Codex Alera by Butcher was great right up until the last book when the author just blew it completely. Which was so sad because that series had so much potential.

 

[stephbolt]

Re: Another book thread - tell me which books or book series

I couldn't finish the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Got about halfway through the second book and was bored out of my mind.

 

[rhbgirl24]

Re: Another book thread - tell me which books or book series

you simply couldn't finish for one reason or another? Or, book series that just didn't live up to the promise of the first book(s)?




Eragon series - written by a teen, very evident it was written by a teen, plus he seems to have ripped off half a dozen celebrated sci-fi/fantasy storylines in such a way that it's VERY obvious

I agree. Read the first one, while a bit childish and a clear knock off, I did enjoy it. The second went more downhill and I just couldn't get through the 3rd.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Re: Another book thread - tell me which books or book series

It's not a series, but I never finished War and Peace. And Tolstoy is one of my favorite authors. I started reading it three times, but never made it through more than a quarter of the way through without feeling like it was becoming too tedious.

I never made it through the first chapter of Ulysses.

I couldn't get past the second book of the Twilight series. Honestly, Twilight wasn't that bad. It wasn't good, but it wasn't horrible, so I decided to read the second book. I had a hard time getting through it was all downhill from there. My mother gave me the third and fourth books to read on a long flight I was taking and I did end up reading them and just chalked them up to being entertaining.

For some reason I've never had any desire to read the Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings series. I have a strange aversion to Sci Fi, I guess.

 

[Tuckins1]

Re: Another book thread - tell me which books or book series

Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series - The first book was quite enjoyable but by the end of the 3rd book I hated every single character and didn't care at all what happened to them.

A friend of mine really loved this series and has been trying to get me to read it... I just can't get into it. I have no interest.

 

[zoebartlett]

Re: Another book thread - tell me which books or book series

The two series that came to mind are Twilight and Harry Potter. I've never really been a fan of fantasy, and I had a hard time getting past the fact that Bella loved a vampire...I mean, really! I read the first 2.5 books and by then, I had had enough. In HP, it was, well, everything. It's hard for me to forget reality and get lost in a good fantasy.

I started reading The Time Traveler's Wife, and I couldn't get into it. Again, it can't really happen, and I thought the book was boring. stopped reading it and haven't picked it up since. I saw the movie, too, and didn't like it.

 

[TravelingGal]

Re: Another book thread - tell me which books or book series

Could get past book 1 of Twilight.

Gave up after 7 or so books of the Stephanie Plum series.

Close to not ever reading another Sookie book again.

Won't read another book in the Outlander series (slogged through book 1)

 

[Blackpaw]

Re: Another book thread - tell me which books or book series

I lost interest in Phillip Pulman's series....I lost interest in Harry Potter as well though i did finish all of them...

My biggest problems have been Joyce and Dickens what the dickens?...i hear you ask! Yes ive tried a couple of both author's novels and just cant get into them...but i should have a go again.

Oh exception to the rule, A Christmas Carol of course

 

[Gypsy]

Re: Another book thread - tell me which books or book series

BTW is anyone wants to read a book that is so bad it's funny ... I downloaded a book (for free thankfully) called Regina in the Sun. I DID finish it, but only because I was curious to see if there was ANYTHING redeeming. Nope.

 

[Circe]

Re: Another book thread - tell me which books or book series

My hands-down, standout, number one example of this sort of thing would be Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series. It's noir, featuring a female necromancer/detective, and for the first 7 books, everything was peachy - witty repartee, feminism, the works. Then the author had some personal issues, and the whole damned thing turned into ****. Seriously, you can't go three pages without a monotonous sex scene. SO disappointing.

 

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

Re: Another book thread - tell me which books or book series

Kismet - I was thinking of starting Wheel of Time but I'm feeling daunted by the length of the series and the bad reviews of the later books. Do you think it's still worth reading the first couple, or no?

Gypsy - yeah I tried to stick it out through the first Kushiel but just couldn't. I HATE not finishing books - makes me feel like I wasted my money. Of course, maybe I should think of it as better to waste just the money, rather than wasting both money and time.

Steph - I feel the same way about LOTR actually. I made myself finish it in high school but it was an uphill battle, let me tell you I like The Hobbit though!

Rhb - isn't it awful??? I read it when I was in Tokyo and I had limited access to books in English. I plead that as my excuse. I was SO mad every time I came across a very obvious rip-off of another series/book/movie.

NEL - I've actually never tried to read War and Peace. This reminds me though, I definitely did not get past the first 20 pages of Crime and Punishment, or the first 50 of Proust's Remembrance of Things Past. Ick. Hated those.

Zoe - I'm totally not surprised that Twilight has been mentioned several times. Atrocious writing, awful plot. Forced myself to finish Book 1, then read the summaries of the rest of the series in Wiki.

TGal - I think we talked about this before, but why are you stopping in the Sookie series again? Was it because it got so dark? And yeah, I didn't finish Outlander either.

Blackpaw - I hate James Joyce. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - shudder. I'm also not a big fan of Dickens either.

Circe - lol. I've been tempted to pick up an Anita Blake book - maybe not now!

 

[Kismet]

Re: Another book thread - tell me which books or book series

Kismet - I was thinking of starting Wheel of Time but I'm feeling daunted by the length of the series and the bad reviews of the later books. Do you think it's still worth reading the first couple, or no?

Eh, I read the first one and enjoyed it and found the 2nd to be pretty okay as well. I slogged through the 3rd and hated every second of it. Of course I think it was 15 years or so ago that I read book 1 & 2 so I don't know if I'd like them now.

 

[elrohwen]

Re: Another book thread - tell me which books or book series

The Eragon series - the first one was actually pretty good, but the second was tedious and awful. Part of me wants to read the third just to round it out, but i don't know if I can do it.

Pullman's His Dark Materials. Golden Compass was good, but the other two were just kind of weird. I did finish it, but only because the last book was fairly short and I already owned it.

In general I'm not much of a series reader, but I do love Narnia, Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter. I wouldn't say I like the genre of fantasy in general, but I do really love these books.

 

[TravelingGal]

Re: Another book thread - tell me which books or book series

My hands-down, standout, number one example of this sort of thing would be Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series. It's noir, featuring a female necromancer/detective, and for the first 7 books, everything was peachy - witty repartee, feminism, the works. Then the author had some personal issues, and the whole damned thing turned into ****. Seriously, you can't go three pages without a monotonous sex scene. SO disappointing.

I didn't get past book 1 on this one. Guess I didn't miss much.

 

[TravelingGal]

Re: Another book thread - tell me which books or book series

TGal - I think we talked about this before, but why are you stopping in the Sookie series again? Was it because it got so dark? And yeah, I didn't finish Outlander either.

I finished all the Sookie books that are out there, but it's getting boring and dragging. Put an end to it already.

 

[Octavia]

Re: Another book thread - tell me which books or book series

I've never, in all the times I've tried to read it, managed to finish Wuthering Heights. I just can't bring myself to care about the characters at all. I also never got into the Lord of the Rings series, I read a few chapters of The Hobbit and never went back.

I haven't read as much in the past couple years as I did before law school, so I've got a ton of catching up to do once August comes. But Twilight will definitely not be on my list, some "friends" made me watch the first movie and it's two hours of my life I'll never get back...

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Re: Another book thread - tell me which books or book series

My husband loves the lord of the rings and I felt obligated to read all the books and aside from the Hobbit was so painfully bored that It took me SIX MONTHS to get through Return of the King! ugh.

I love the movies though.