Here's a nice short post to give you some breathing room after yesterday's epic:
What's the last book you put down without finishing? What made you walk away?
I'm betting that "BORING" beats out "profanity/taboo subject matter" (yesterday's topic) as a reason, but I could be wrong...
You're right; it was boring. And unfortunately, I can't even remember it's name-- just that it was an author and a book I'd never heard of before.
ReplyDeleteYou got it. If the story doesn't grab me by the throat (or any other anatomical area) I can lose interest these days. There is so much going on, so much to read, so much to watch, so much to do, that I've got to be in love with the story. That means not much room for long descriptive passages even if written in gorgeous prose--and that's hard for me to say because I love lyrical writing, but give it to me along with a gripping story.
ReplyDeleteI'm not going to name names but other things that make me put down a book are poor writing skills and head-hopping. If you absolutely must tell me what's going on in several characters' heads you must have the skill to make it clear where I am. If I'm going, huh? that book may get slammed shut.
There's my morning rant. Cheers.
Yep, boring every time. Though i'll usually try and finish it because i don't like to leave books unfinished.
ReplyDeleteOOh, ONCE i stopped reading the 3rd book in a mediocre trilogy becase the main character was heading off into a "why didn't my gods help me when i needed them"/existential cliche, and i just was not going to put up with it.
I SHOULD have walked away from the last book I read. But I was too stubborn.
ReplyDeleteI hated the heroine and hero and I just felt the writing was a bit dry.
Walked away from Funeral in Blue by Anne Perry. Simply could not stay interested in it. Read about a dozen and a half pages.
ReplyDeleteYeah - boring I think fits.
I love this post! This is SUCH an important concept and one that inexperienced readers don't get. We actually need to teach kids how to abandon books they can't get into and find ones they can.
ReplyDeleteI am hopelessly unable to read Toni Morrison. I have tried and failed to read so many of her books, because I feel like I "should" like them.
I put down books that are the same throughout the story-- that is, without peaks and valleys to keep me coming back for more. The story might be decent, the writing good--but if there's nothing to keep me intrigued, then I lose interest. I see this most often in series. I totally lost interest in the Outlander series by book 4, when there was too much WAITING. I love Ian Rankin and his Scots Detective Rebus but in the middle of the series I need a real spark of life out of Rebus, not just his usual woes.
ReplyDeleteAngels and Demons...because I watched the movie and didn't feel like finishing the book. LOL
ReplyDeleteIt was a rom com... the author kept explaining the jokes. She'd give a lovely bit of word play, then explain it. Maybe she was told to do it, by an editor, for the slow readers, but it drove me insane. It ruined them, to my mind. That, coupled with other chick lit staples like name-dropping shoes and such, made me toss it across the room.
ReplyDeleteIt was a Luanne Rice book, and I usually like her stuff. The mc was sooo wimpy and needy. Blech! I just couldn't stand her - I tried but quit after a mere 65 pages.
ReplyDeleteI quit reading a book after getting just five pages in. I know the name of the book, but I don't want to say cause I know the author personally. I just couldn't get what I was supposed to care about in the book. It seemed that nothing of substance was happening or was ever going to happen. Maybe if I had read further I would have been proved wrong. I still might go back and finish it one day :)
ReplyDeleteA book that comes to mind is Pat Conroy's "Beach Music", I just couldn't get into it. Then I visited my sister a few years later and picked it up and gave it a second chance and fell in love. Go figure.
ReplyDeleteThe book was both vulgar AND boring. And it didn't make any sense. 'Vilnius Poker' by someone whose name I don't remember, because it was so awful that I tried to put it out of my memory. *shudder*
ReplyDeleteA Regency romance, I won't mention the author! I've read many, many of these, and this one just felt as if it had been written before. Nothing new, you know what I mean?
ReplyDeleteLast I know the name: Lord of the Rings #3. I got that far and I just. couldn't. finish. it. It's been years now since I've even pretended to want to finish it.
ReplyDeleteActual last was last December, I brought a book with me on a road trip, read 5 pages and realized I should have started it before leaving to make sure I liked it. I don't remember what it was called but I traded it in at a used book store for two piers anthony books.
Violence so vile and prevalent it approached pornographic. I actually did wade through the book - skimming the worst scenes - because I'd said I would review it (and it was by a talented writer) but was very very sorry I did. The nastiest scenes are still embedded on my memory.
ReplyDelete