"Once I put it down, I couldn't pick it up again"

richardb70

I forgot the Silmarillion, i didnt get far with that at all.  I think i also tried Unfinished Tales and equally struggled, but that was many years ago.  I generally persevere but if i am not enjoying it i will drop it, but i will try to give it 200 pages to ensure i am not just giving in.

CH_2009

I guess Unfinished Tales was just that, then

Sorry to hijack the original thread, but I'd definitely recommend another go at the Silmarillion. Just flick through the first bit and you're set. Sure, it's fragmented and the cast is enormous but I loved it. You realise the War Of The Ring is just a footnote in an epic conflict.

dekelster

Hannibal by Thomas Harris - I finished reading this but was bored for most of the book. Wished I hadn't bothered!

Steve N

The stand by Stephen King, my all time fav.

BlueOrange25

I'm determined to finish Moby Dick.

I've tried several times over the years but am now about two thirds through it now - but only by dipping into it between other books.

The trouble with it, apart from the olde worlde language, is its constant diversions from the actual story.
You'll read a bit about the men standing on a deck then you'll get a long convoluted chapter about types of decks.
Then there are loads of archaic or obsolete references with keys or explanations at the bottom of each page that need to be read (deciphered) if you want any idea of what he's talking about.
So there's no linear flow of the essential story.
Very educational but a bloody hard work

sniffer66

Anything by Charles Dickens.  I hated reading the stuff in school, and all these years later I still struggle to maintain interest.

More recently, I found Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell to be really tough going.  Took me about a year to finish it as I kept trying to forget it.  By the end, I wished I hadn't bothered in the first place.

Greg Hook

I was about to post about Jonathan Strange. My wife bought it for me as a present so forced myself to wade through it. Written in the Victorian style. Absolute pain to read and dead boring

It won loads of awards apparently. God knows why

FishDUDE

Another one that hasn't read the OP or the thread title.

Flashy

This is one I've been trying to read for about a year, just cannot get into it.

sniffer66

Catch 22 has beaten me on numerous occasions, but I will go back to it one day. Currently struggling through Hilary Mantel's Beyond Black, which I just can't seem to get into.

I think there are only two books I've tried to read and permanently abandoned. The first was Paul Hoffman's The Wisdom of Crocodiles and the other was Birdsong. They just weren't for me. Couldn't get into them, didn't care about the characters and, yes, I did get that sense of a light weight being lifted when I decided not to persevere.