# What book(s) have you abandoned?



## pheasantplucker (Feb 20, 2007)

Most of us abandon books from time to time. Occasionally we may trudge through them if they are assigned and required. I'm kind of curious as to which titles / series have you attempted and are not to your liking. This, I hope, recognized people's right to their own opinion, and I urge people from belittling some who have a different perspective.

I taught elementary and middle school for thirty years, so I have read many books which were not to my liking. These are ones for which I had a particular dislike: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe or any other book by C.S. Lewis.
I didn't care for Harry Potter though I tried...(I would venture that "fantasy" is my least favorite genre.)
I dreaded "The Stinky Cheese Man". I didn't care for "The Indian in the Cupboard". Really disliked "I am the Cheese"...Didn't like Dogsong by Paulsen.

Books that I've tried, as an adult reader that I haven't been able to complete or that were not very palatable, include:
Clan of the Cave Bear, A Separate Peace, and most anything by Grisham, who wrote Pelican Brief...The Client, etc.
I've read a Tale of Two Cities, which has a great idea for a plot, but to be honest, I think Dickens' writing is very difficult to trudge through.


Hope I didn't step on anyone's toes...I know there are many who relish writers whose work I have yet to appreciate. If you mention a book you dislike that I embrace...we can still be friends.


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## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

A Passage to India


I just can NOT get through it. I know it it a 'classic', etc...but I think it is just too many foreign words. I get really hung up on pronouncing the names of all the characters, and lose sight of the plot. (I am sure there must BE a plot)...I have kept a copy around for a long time and try to read it when I have Nothing else at hand...but to no avail.


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## farmergirl (Aug 2, 2005)

I'm dragging myself through The Golden Compass now, but it has been a SLOW go! I read a few pages here and there and will eventually finish it, more out of sheer determination than anything else. My DH just brought home the DVD of the movie made from the book; I keep telling myself not to watch the movie before I finish the book because if I do, I'll be giving up on the book for sure!


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## shelljo (Feb 1, 2005)

Moby Dick. Lord, why on earth is that a classic? Worst piece of literature I've ever attempted.


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## ELOCN (Jun 13, 2004)

I started Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray, in high school, but I never finished it. I read the whole thing two or three years ago and felt a great sense of accomplishment, although it will never be my favorite book.

For those who don't know, Vanity Fair is the story of the rise of a high-grade wh***, her fall, and her partial rise again.


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## mtc (Dec 23, 2005)

Crime and Punishment. Good lord man, get to the point! 
Golden Compass I tore through and then got really peeved when I realized it was part of a trilogy (and the rest hadn't been released yet. I hate that.)


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## RoseGarden (Jun 5, 2005)

'George Washington's War'. I enjoy the genre, but this is one I just can't pick up again after reading about 100 pages. Don't know what the problem is, I usually devour books of that genre. 

I try to make sure I really want to read a book before I buy it, so I will usually stand there and read several pages at random to see if it piques my interest. If I find that I _really _want to know more about what I just read, I get it. If I find that I am just so-so about learning more, I don't get it. It usually works, with the exception of the book I just mentioned.

Books I had to read as part of my college education which I did not like and seemed like torture were 'Death of a Salesman', 'Tristan and Isolde', and all the Shakespeare. Yes, they are classics, but trying to read them was like being clubbed to senselessness. 

My favorite books were, just off the top of my head, 'Atlas Shrugged' of course; 'Life of Luther', a well documented biography of the life of Martin Luther which I just recently read; 'Lives of the Saints' by Alban, a classic; 'Killer Angels'; 'John Adams'; and no doubt many more I cannot recall this minute.


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## BlueberryChick (May 12, 2008)

My 16-year-old daughter was reading this thread over my shoulder and said, "Oh, oh, I've got one--_The Trial and Death of Socrates_!" She kept falling asleep trying to read it and this is a girl who enjoys reading her history text!

I haven't technically given up on _Einstein_ by Walter Isaacson, but it's been on the "to be read" shelf of the bookcase for about a year now.  There are quite a few books on that shelf actually. 

Blue


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## pyrobear (Nov 10, 2006)

i just can't get through the lord of the rings trilogy ( oh come on 3 pages to describ a rock !!! )


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## Otter (Jan 15, 2008)

Terry Goodkind's Seeker series. There is no consistency to the characters!! Whichever character the point of view is at the time is brilliant, ruthless, cunning, capable of astounding feats of logic drawn from knowledge none of the other characters could possibly have, the others kind of bumble around - until it's _their_ turn to be main character, then they are amazing and the formerly brilliant character needs rescuing and is totally incapable. 
I can't read a book where every character is Cybil. I also was really annoyed the way the first books echoed Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. Jealous much?


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## Jaclynne (May 14, 2002)

Lonesome Dove - I just hated this, it was so slow and dull. I didn't like the movie series either, though I've seen it 1200 times and can quote the dialogue. It was a favorite of the ex's. He even named his children after the characters.


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## Guest (Dec 18, 2008)

I'll read almost anything. But I will quit a book when it turns out to have a dirty word in every other sentence. I throw those down in disgust after the first couple of pages. I don't get desperate enough for something to read to read those.


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## beccachow (Nov 8, 2008)

I tried to read "Get Shorty" by...some guy. I made it through about 25 pages and that was 10 minutes of my life I'll never get back!!! Never finished, never even tried.

I am not fond of mysteries, because about 1/3 of the way through the books, I have the killer and motive figured out. I'll abandon those pretty quickly.


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## Guest (Dec 18, 2008)

beccachow said:


> I am not fond of mysteries, because about 1/3 of the way through the books, I have the killer and motive figured out. I'll abandon those pretty quickly.


I usually figure them out quick, too, but I love reading them because I want to see if I'm right. Plus I love watching the process unfold by which the killer is found.


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## beccachow (Nov 8, 2008)

Ah, but I am a cheater, lol. If I think I have it figured out, I flip to the last pages...


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## Seagrape (Aug 4, 2008)

pheasantplucker said:


> Books that I've tried, as an adult reader that I haven't been able to complete or that were not very palatable, include:
> Clan of the Cave Bear,


I really enjoyed Clan of the Cave Bear and Valley of Horses. Then, the books in this series started going downhill. The Mammoth Hunters was so-so, Plains of Passage even worse and I didn't finish Shelter of Stones. If Jean Auel ever does get around to completing this series of books (one more to go), I will pass.


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## Tracy Rimmer (May 9, 2002)

The last couple Patricia Cornwell novels --- just couldn't do it. She used to be a good writer, and her Scarpetta series really drew me in, but the last couple in that series... well, they're pretty bad.

And, as much as I hate to admit it as a lover of the classics, there is one I've never been able to get through -- A Pilgrim's Progress. I think I've probably started to read it and abandoned it fifty times, I just can't get my head into it.


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## mldrenen (Nov 29, 2007)

i'm somewhere around page 750 in _atlas shrugged_, and i really don't think i can go on. it was interesting for the first couple hundred pages, but it is really just dragging on, and on, and on. everybody keeps saying the same thing over, and over, and over. the dialogue is never in the form of a real conversation, but rather a lecture. sometimes one of these lectures will be one solid paragraph taking up several pages (nevermind galt's 90 page speech ::shudder:: ). everything is black and white, two-dimensional, and the characters are lacking subtly and depth. 

i know it's a really popular book, especially on this forum. i really wanted to like it. i agree with some parts of rand's philosophy. however, i think she should have teamed up with a real writer and a bold editor who could've lopped off 500 or so pages. 

as an aside, some aspects of rand's philosophy are disturbing. she reminds me a lot of l. ron hubbard: poor writing combined with wacky philosophy = no thanks.


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## Guest (Dec 18, 2008)

Well, mldrenen, I've never read Atlas Shrugged (just heard a lot about it). But after your description, I think I'll pass on it if I ever come across it.

That does sound boring!


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## greenboy (Sep 5, 2005)

I refused to read, The Castle by Kafka hated it.


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## ShortSheep (Aug 8, 2004)

Tracy Rimmer said:


> The last couple Patricia Cornwell novels --- just couldn't do it. She used to be a good writer, and her Scarpetta series really drew me in, but the last couple in that series... well, they're pretty bad.


Same here. I quit after "Blowfly", and read in the Amazon reader reviews that the series has continued to deteriorate. Darn shame.


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## bluesky (Mar 22, 2008)

Tracy Rimmer said:


> The last couple Patricia Cornwell novels --- just couldn't do it. She used to be a good writer, and her Scarpetta series really drew me in, but the last couple in that series... well, they're pretty bad.


I agree. I've read them all and loved the early ones but the last few are pretty bad. The characters no longer seem appealing and their relationships are strained and weird. 

The ones I like are written from Scarpetta's point of view and lately they're all written in third person as if someone is looking in. Maybe this is an effort to get into the minds of all the characters, but to me it seems impersonal.


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## Otter (Jan 15, 2008)

Seagrape said:


> I really enjoyed Clan of the Cave Bear and Valley of Horses. Then, the books in this series started going downhill. The Mammoth Hunters was so-so, Plains of Passage even worse and I didn't finish Shelter of Stones. If Jean Auel ever does get around to completing this series of books (one more to go), I will pass.


LOL, I know what you mean, the later books would be so much better if she just assumed everyone had read the earlier books - she doesn't need to quote them over and over and over and over.......

I did read Shelters of Stone, but I skipped about half the pages. Every time she started a flashback I'd just start flipping ahead till I saw a new dialogue. At least in that one the minor characters had more depth and complex personalities.


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## Ardie/WI (May 10, 2002)

Seagrape said:


> I really enjoyed Clan of the Cave Bear and Valley of Horses. Then, the books in this series started going downhill. The Mammoth Hunters was so-so, Plains of Passage even worse and I didn't finish Shelter of Stones. If Jean Auel ever does get around to completing this series of books (one more to go), I will pass.



Here and I thought it was something wrong with me! I loved the first books-actually waitied for them. I trudged through Plains of Passage and didn't finish Shelter of Stones either.


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## CamM (Dec 6, 2008)

Les Miserables.
I Married a Communist by Phillip Roth.
Les Miserables is way too drawn out and Roth's book is too much about his views and his sentences are too long and aggravating.


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## CamM (Dec 6, 2008)

Oh, has anybody read any of Chuck Palahnuik's stuff? I've read two books and gotten through them, but the writing style and material is just awful.


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## ceorlgirl (Dec 18, 2008)

_Oliver Twist._ Actually, I did finish reading it, but it took me about ten years to do it. That is, I started reading it about ten years ago, gave up half-way through, and then began reading it again a few months ago. It wasn't worth the wait. I have read some great books by Dickens, but this wasn't one of them. Overall, I wouldn't call it a boring book, but there was nothing to love in the book either. Most of my favorite books are old, and when I am reading an old novel I usually have faith in it that even if it seems boring for a while, by the time I've finished I will love it. Oliver Twist dissappointed me. There weren't any sections that I just had to go back and read again. 
I thought the reason I didn't like it was that it is melodramatic and is about a poor-orphan-who's-basically-perfect-and-everyone-is-cruel-to-him-for-no-reason. But it occured to me that _Sir Gibbie_ and _The Little Princess_ both have *powbpaeicthfnr* too and I still love them and reread them, so it isn't that. I just didn't like most of the characters and I couldn't sympathize with them very often. I think the character I felt the most sorry for was Monks, and he was one of the despicable villains.


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## pookshollow (Aug 22, 2005)

"Anna Karenina" - I struggled through most of the book until the part where she throws herself under the train. At which point, I thought "stupid b**ch" and stopped reading.

I started "Crime and Punishment", made it about 5 pages in. 

Oh, and Jack Whyte's latest about the Knights Templar, can't remember the title. I think I managed 3 pages and gave up.


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## Kari (Mar 24, 2008)

I just abandoned "Memoirs of a Mountain Man" (I bought the book) by Andy Russell and in a sense...I am heart broken.

For those who have not heard of Andy Russell, he was one of Canada's greatest conservationists and without his determination and efforts, our wildlife and wildlands would be in much more dire straits then they are now. 

"Memoirs of a Mountain Man" opened well then went into great and entertaining detail about Mr Russells' childhood and years as a young man starting out in the ranching / guiding business. However by time I was halfway through the book, those entertaining details slowly disappeared and soon the words seemed more meandering to me and were used more as fluff to fill the rest of the book. I stopped reading the book about 2/3 of the way through and this is unfortunate as Mr. Russell (and his son Charlie) were two of my greatest influences in my formative younger years. 

This is the last book of Mr Russell's many books that I have read and more then likely I will pick up the book one day and read where I left off ...I owe that much it to Mr Russell and his achievements and his influence on me.

On a related note, Charlie Russell's work with protecting and saving the Grizzly bears of both Canada and the Russian Far East are to be commended. The extensive research he has done on Grizzlies over the years has benefited conservationists and scientists who study all the remaining North American Grizzly habitats and around the globe.

Charlie's books are also very good and the film documentary "Bear Man of Kamchatka" was a landmark production and is worth seeing for any person who loves the great Grizzly Bear and the outdoors.


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## debik70 (Jun 25, 2008)

shelljo said:


> Moby Dick. Lord, why on earth is that a classic? Worst piece of literature I've ever attempted.


I thought I was the only one!LOL I can't seem to get past 4 pages. I was so proud when I started it. I thought, look at me, reading a classic on my own. Boy what a mistake. I'm glad I only bought it at a used book store. Maybe I'll try it in another year or so!


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## Otter (Jan 15, 2008)

Can I make a confession?
I hate Hemingway. Oh, gag me with symbolism. I really believe if there had been the number of authors trying to get published when Hemingway was published as there are now, then the only place you would see what he wrote was on his MySpace.

I think some things are "classics" because they were one of the few books available at the time they came out. That or it's the Blair Witch effect, you don't want to be the only dope who sat through it, so you tell everyone they really have to suffer through the whole thing or they just don't understand the symbolism.

Debik70, don't bother with Moby Dick. I will hereby and forever give you (and all others on this thread) literary absolvetion(sp?) from reading anything that focuses on how we can only lose the endless struggle that is life. Henceforth! Go All Ye And Read Something You Shall Enjoy!!!!


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## Karenrbw (Aug 17, 2004)

I couldn't force myself to read any of the C.S Lewis books - The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe either. That is fairly unusual because I read almost anything. I usually go through 3-4 books a week.
My M-I-L recently loaned me a set of Grace Livingston Hill books. I can't hardly get past the first chapter.


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## turtlehead (Jul 22, 2005)

Moby Dick
Les Miserables
The Scarlet Letter
Catch 22

I will try them all again, but I don't have high hopes.


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## NoClue (Jan 22, 2007)

Plato's Republic - got about 2/3 through and finally just gave up. It presents itself as a dialogue, but jeez did Plato stack the deck in his favor. No wonder Ayn Rand hated Plato - he perfected all of her techniques 2000 years before she was born.

War and Peace - after 600 pages of nothing more interesting than a drinking contest, I gave up.


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## shelljo (Feb 1, 2005)

Seagrape said:


> I really enjoyed Clan of the Cave Bear and Valley of Horses. Then, the books in this series started going downhill. The Mammoth Hunters was so-so, Plains of Passage even worse and I didn't finish Shelter of Stones. If Jean Auel ever does get around to completing this series of books (one more to go), I will pass.


they wouldn't have been so bad if she hadn't repeated every thing from the earlier books in her "new" books. I didn't mind reading about Ayla's "rape" the first time, nor the second time, but the third and fourth and fifth...sheesh, put something new in!


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## Dwayne Barry (Jan 9, 2009)

shelljo said:


> they wouldn't have been so bad if she hadn't repeated every thing from the earlier books in her "new" books. I didn't mind reading about Ayla's "rape" the first time, nor the second time, but the third and fourth and fifth...sheesh, put something new in!


I remembered becoming annoyed that the "modern human" hero seemed to invent about every major stone age technological advance over a matter of a few years.


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## house06 (Jan 4, 2007)

This is too funny! The absolute worst book I have ever read, is also Moby Dick. As an English major with 2 degrees in English, I have been required to read it FOUR times. Another time while on vacation at the beach I attempted to read it for "fun" Thought I would be motivated by the ocean. NOT! The last time I read it, I read from my husband's favorite HS teacher's treasured copy with notes in the margin. Didn't really help. With this book I have always been strongly MOTIVATED to get a grade. I have finally found a couple of paragraphs worth thinking about but the rest, YUCK!

Also, can't stand War and Peace! once, never again.

On the other hand, I love Thoreau and read his collection several times a year!


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## n2gardening (Mar 1, 2009)

I can think of several that I have absoulutely abhorred but couldn't compel myself to abandon...I hate giving up on a book.

Wish I had abandoned:

Gone with The Wind
I Know This Much Is True
The Law of Similars
The Old Man and The Sea

OTOH...I really have stopped reading 2 that I can think of:

A Dorothy Sayers book...can't remember the title
and
Paradise by Toni Morrison (Why oh why does Oprah love her books?)


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## n2gardening (Mar 1, 2009)

I thought of another one...The Memory of Old Jack. If you have read it...let me know what you thought. I ddin't abandon it but...I do wish I had back the time I spent reading it. Maybe it was the mood I was in at the time?


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## gracie88 (May 29, 2007)

I tried one titled "Alanya to Alanya" the other day, what a waste of paper. I'm not a picky reader either, I've read almost everything listed in this thread and enjoyed a bunch of them, but man, that was a useless book. It was the only one in the house that I hadn't read that week (except for it's sequel) so I kept trying too, but it never got better.


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## cowboy joe (Sep 14, 2003)

mldrenen said:


> i'm somewhere around page 750 in _atlas shrugged_, and i really don't think i can go on. it was interesting for the first couple hundred pages, but it is really just dragging on, and on, and on. everybody keeps saying the same thing over, and over, and over.


I made it through ~700 pages and thought the same thing. The fact that the book is over 1100 pages should have tipped me off that the author would beat a dead horse...:bdh:


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## Tiempo (May 22, 2008)

I've abandoned many, many books.

There are too many good books in the world to waste time on rubbish IMO.


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## greenboy (Sep 5, 2005)

I read Moby Dick 5 times, and I love Ahab. He was my masculine blue print for many things while I was growing up. Just talking about it make me think about it and I wanted to read it


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

I gave up on Atlas Shrugged, too.

I think Anne Rice writes the same vampire novel over and over, simply re-arranging the pages.

The "Left Behind" series is drivel.

I liked Moby Dick.  I taught it to high school students, too, but they read excerpts, not the whole novel.

I became bored with Harry Potter during the third one.


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## greenboy (Sep 5, 2005)

I hate Harry Potter with passion, I think is not good as a book and teach magical thinking to children, that's something my children are not going to have any of the Harry Potter books.


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

Fahrenheit 451 was the only book assigned in a college class that I absolutely could NOT read. Couldn't get ten pages into it, and I'm normally a voracious reader.


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## greenboy (Sep 5, 2005)

I never read the book but I wonder why you hated so much?


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## mama2littleman (Nov 8, 2004)

Otter said:


> Can I make a confession?
> I hate Hemingway. Oh, gag me with symbolism. I really believe if there had been the number of authors trying to get published when Hemingway was published as there are now, then the only place you would see what he wrote was on his MySpace.
> 
> I think some things are "classics" because they were one of the few books available at the time they came out. That or it's the Blair Witch effect, you don't want to be the only dope who sat through it, so you tell everyone they really have to suffer through the whole thing or they just don't understand the symbolism.
> ...


Thank YOU!!!!! I despise Hemingway. The writing style irritates me to no end. 

I thought I was the only one.

Nikki


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## Strange Bear (May 13, 2002)

Quit reading Spooky Plum by Evanovich. Snoresville.
Stopped reading Harry Potter with the Order of the Phoenix. 
Couldn't get into Golden Compass. 
Hated Animal Farm and Lord of the Rings.
I am sure there are more, just have to remember them.


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## willow_girl (Dec 7, 2002)

> i'm somewhere around page 750 in atlas shrugged, and i really don't think i can go on. it was interesting for the first couple hundred pages, but it is really just dragging on, and on, and on. everybody keeps saying the same thing over, and over, and over. the dialogue is never in the form of a real conversation, but rather a lecture. sometimes one of these lectures will be one solid paragraph taking up several pages (nevermind galt's 90 page speech ::shudder:: ). everything is black and white, two-dimensional, and the characters are lacking subtly and depth.
> 
> i know it's a really popular book, especially on this forum. i really wanted to like it. i agree with some parts of rand's philosophy. however, i think she should have teamed up with a real writer and a bold editor who could've lopped off 500 or so pages.
> 
> as an aside, some aspects of rand's philosophy are disturbing. she reminds me a lot of l. ron hubbard: poor writing combined with wacky philosophy = no thanks.


Perhaps you will enjoy THIS: http://www.spudworks.com/article/66/2/ ... The Abridged Atlass Shrugged. ROFL!


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## mldrenen (Nov 29, 2007)

willow_girl said:


> Perhaps you will enjoy THIS: http://www.spudworks.com/article/66/2/ ... The Abridged Atlass Shrugged. ROFL!




that was actually a much better read than the book. thanks!


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## timelord921 (Apr 5, 2008)

pookshollow said:


> "Anna Karenina" - I struggled through most of the book until the part where she throws herself under the train. At which point, I thought "stupid b**ch" and stopped reading.
> 
> I started "Crime and Punishment", made it about 5 pages in.
> 
> Oh, and Jack Whyte's latest about the Knights Templar, can't remember the title. I think I managed 3 pages and gave up.


Russian Literature, eh? I have Crime and punishment on my reading list, and I've started 'The Possessed', but the print in there is so tiny, I'm only on page 17!

And I tried so hard to get through 'Heidi', and it was just... so boring. And I also tried 'Mrs. Dalloway', but the constantly changing point of view just hurt my brain. it made NO sense to me.


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## timelord921 (Apr 5, 2008)

Karenrbw said:


> I couldn't force myself to read any of the C.S Lewis books - The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe either. That is fairly unusual because I read almost anything. I usually go through 3-4 books a week.
> My M-I-L recently loaned me a set of Grace Livingston Hill books. I can't hardly get past the first chapter.


I LOVE C.S. Lewis!!!!! I was in two plays based on his Narnia series. To me, they're just... warm, fuzzy, hot-cocoa-and-a-quilt books.


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