For the past few weeks we have been talking about our favourite books.
For 5ThingsTuesday this week, let’s do something different. Let’s list some unfinished or Un-finishable books.
Here’s my list:
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Maybe I made the attempt to read it too early, I must have been about fourteen or fifteen. I got through the “peace” times and urban settings quite well. It was the war descriptions that killed me.
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Maybe U have a problem with translated literature. I was quite disappointed by this book and could not get beyond the first four or five chapters.
Twilight by Stephanie Meyers
This book was extremely popular when it was published. Although the basic concept wasn’t too bad I didn’t find it well written.
Wild
Again, this is probably a genre I am not too fond of. “Finding oneself ” is very appealing to some but it puts me off.
Several nonfiction books
While I can read fiction by my preferred authors despite one of my phenomenal headaches, I have to struggle with non fiction. Well written biographies I can manage.
I would love to see your list too. You can let me know in the comments section or write a post of your own — please remember to tag it #5things
Salted Caramel 
I have never read the Twilight series, lol
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Good for you.
Don’t ever make the attempt.
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I tend to read a lot of books on spirituality and lean toward non-fiction, but there are way more than 5 that I just couldn’t finish, they were so unremarkable I cannot even remember titles. LOL
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That happens a lot with me and non fiction.
I have found that I can listen to non fiction audiobooks especially during a walk or on an exercise bike.
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I read more novel than I could ever hope to count when I was young but for the past couple of decades I lean more to non-fiction and books on spirituality. Yet I have a few novels I cannot part with that I read over and over again. They’ve become good friends I cannot leave. 🙂
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I can relate to books being good friends.
I can even read novels through my recurring headaches.
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Reading can be a good distraction from what ails us. Hope your headaches are not too severe.
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Sometimes they are.
I’ve had them since I was ten years old.
They are part migraine part tension headache.
I’ve been very lucky. Inspite of them I have pursued a career and raised a family.
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It is such a blessing to overcome the pain that would disable us if we let it. You’re very brave!
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Thank you Carol. 😊
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Here’s my very long post. Although I didn’t come up with five titles, I think I covered the challenge “unfinishable’ premise well. https://sparksfromacombustiblemind.wordpress.com/2022/03/15/five-things-tuesday-3-15-2022-books/
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Good. I have continued the “bookish” challenges primarily with you in mind.
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I read books from a variety of genres, rarely do I not finish them. A couple were so bad I had to put them down (forever). The most recent was Divergent (a YA post apocalyptic saga). I enjoyed the first movie so thought I’d read the book. Oh no I didn’t. It was so juvenile and immature I never made it to page 25.
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Hats off to you for being able to read across various genres.
Dystopian fiction whether as books or movies is just not my thing.
Hence I passed on the Divergent series altogether.
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I read my first Stephen King book last year (The Shinning) and enjoyed it thoroughly
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I did finish “War & Peace”, and there were parts of it I enjoyed, but other parts were really hard going. But I prefer Alexandre Dumas and Victor Hugo.
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I am impressed Mel !
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There are a LOT of books I couldn’t finish and even more I wasn’t willing to start, beginning with ANYTHING by James Joyce and the newly revised version of Stephen King’s “The Stand.” I read the original when it first came out, but then he added another few hundred additional pages and I said nope, sorry.
I read a lot of non-fiction, but typically it’s biography, autobiography, or history. Some history books are stifling and the only way to read them is to be researching a project and needing the information. Otherwise? No can do. Mind you, I have read some history other people couldn’t handle, but I had a particular and strong reason to read them — mainly that I was researching that particular area of history. Okay, it’s a hobby of mine, but I still get deep into researching particular historical eras and cultural periods.
Then, one day, I realize I can’t stand one more MINUTE of this material and fly off into sci fi or something with a lot of magic. Harry Dresden or a long and joyful rereading of Lord of the Rings.
I loathe self-help books, can read “youth novels” because they seem at best rather silly. I won’t read horror stories — not by any author. No zombies, thank you. If there are vampires, I expect them to behave like proper vampires and sleep in coffins and drink blood. Politely. Nothing gruesome, please.
As for Tolstoy? It was a non-starter for me. I looked at it, weighed it, refused to try it EVEN as an audiobook. Sometimes I can listen to a book I won’t read — but not often. If I don’t like it, I just don’t like it and it doesn’t matter what format it’s in.
My list of unfinishable and non-starters is huge. I can’t even begin to list them. It includes books that I liked when I was 20, but can’t even think about at 75. I don’t know how many years I have left, but I’m not going to waste any of them reading books I find boring!
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I can’t read horror at all.
I agree that one shouldn’t waste precious time and energy on boring books.
Life is too short.
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