# Books You've Started More Than Once **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 15, 2016, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-started-more-than-once/743182 "2016-01-15T01:21:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Memnon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Memnon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Memnon)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-started-more-than-once/743182/21 "2016-01-15T13:11:05Z")
Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy - Tried it twice. It starts off well, but then just goes _way_ up its own arse. Dune, by Frank Herbert - I have _no idea_ what all the fuss is about with this one. It’s just a dull, dull book to me. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-started-more-than-once/743182/22 "2016-01-15T13:35:46Z")
_Hyperion_. I started it on paper several years ago, got a couple of chapters in, and just didn’t pick it up again. Then I tried it on audiobook while walking the dog. I got about a third of the way in, and just couldn’t maintain the interest to keep going. I don’t necessarily subscribe to [Brotman’s Law](https://books.google.com/books?id=Q-U8ZWC-Ip0C&pg=PT8&lpg=PT8&dq=law+if+nothing+has+happened+by+the+end+of+the+first+reel+nothing+is+going+to+happen&source=bl&ots=GoNcyj5eZ7&sig=EmH-lp-55eW11cHI-QN6mUtVpCI&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjc3aPv9qvKAhWGYyYKHRR5CsEQ6AEIHDAA) > [@](#): > > If nothing has happened by the end of the first reel, nothing is going to happen. but if nothing draws me in during the first three chapters, I find it difficult to force myself to keep going in hopes that something will in the next three. It doesn’t always have to be a gripping page-turner, but there has to be _something_. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-started-more-than-once/743182/23 "2016-01-15T14:13:28Z")
**Until I Find Yo** u-Irving Huge fan of John Irving, read everything else, some multiple times, cannot get into this one ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-started-more-than-once/743182/24 "2016-01-15T14:25:03Z")
I attempted to start Game of Thrones three times before the TV series began and had a hard time with it. The names and multiple characters were hard to keep straight so each time I gave up. I have watched every episode of the series and know all the characters now but feel like I don’t need to read the books anymore (even though I know they are different and contain more). ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-started-more-than-once/743182/25 "2016-01-15T14:29:14Z")
_The Jungle_ by Upton Sinclair. It’s not that I don’t find it interesting, it’s just depressing, and I can’t ever make it more than about halfway through before I set it down. ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-started-more-than-once/743182/26 "2016-01-15T14:42:17Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > Took me two tries to get into Dune, but the second one took. _Dune_ is an honorable mention for me. On my second try, I forced myself to see it through to the end. Looking back, I don’t know why I did that; it didn’t take for me. I even got about 10 or 15 pages into the second book before I thought “why am I torturing myself like this?” ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-started-more-than-once/743182/27 "2016-01-15T14:46:48Z")
_Doctor Zhivago_. When I pick up my copy of that book, I know it is time to head to the library. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-started-more-than-once/743182/28 "2016-01-15T14:46:51Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > I don’t necessarily subscribe to [Brotman’s Law](https://books.google.com/books?id=Q-U8ZWC-Ip0C&pg=PT8&lpg=PT8&dq=law+if+nothing+has+happened+by+the+end+of+the+first+reel+nothing+is+going+to+happen&source=bl&ots=GoNcyj5eZ7&sig=EmH-lp-55eW11cHI-QN6mUtVpCI&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjc3aPv9qvKAhWGYyYKHRR5CsEQ6AEIHDAA) but if nothing draws me in during the first three chapters, I find it difficult to force myself to keep going in hopes that something will in the next three. OTOH, for me I go with what my English professor said: Read 100 pages before making up your mind to quit. **Gravity’s Rainbow** took 200 pages (which is about the same percentage of pages of most other books) and was worth it. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-started-more-than-once/743182/29 "2016-01-15T15:06:04Z")
**House of Leaves**. It’s a tough read. I swear I’ll get through it one of these days. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-started-more-than-once/743182/30 "2016-01-15T18:02:42Z")
The Simarillion. I think I’ve tried four times. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-started-more-than-once/743182/31 "2016-01-15T19:50:04Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > **House of Leaves**. It’s a tough read. I swear I’ll get through it one of these days. Aw, let yourself off the hook. _Lord of the Rings_ was one for me, though I did finally get through it, and then years later, got through it again. I just don’t like it either, **Lsura**! I quit _Heart of Darkness_ just a few pages from the end, when I realized nothing could redeem it and I’d wasted too much time already. If I ever feel any guilt about laying a book aside, I say to myself, “I’m just not\* ready\* for this yet.” And it’s true. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-started-more-than-once/743182/32 "2016-01-15T19:50:22Z")
_Gone with the Wind_. I really like the opening, before the war, when everything is happy and full of promise, but I can’t seem to get past that part. ---
**Author:** ![OffByOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/45deac/32.png) [@OffByOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OffByOne)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-started-more-than-once/743182/33 "2016-01-15T19:55:34Z")
> [@Lsura](#): > > _Lord of the Rings_. I want to like it, so every two or three years I try to read it - usually I buy a copy at the used book store, because I’ve given the last one away. It’s probably the book I’ve bought most in my life. > > I just don’t like it. This. I was 15 when I read “Fellowship”. I liked it at the time, but the other Fellowship novels were not available to me (1965). I read “The Hobbit” and liked it, but I really wanted to know what happened to the Fellowship. Finally, sometime in 1966 or '67, the other two books were published, and I bought them as soon as I could. But in the interim, something had changed inside me. I started reading “The Two Towers”, and I just could not stand that every other page was some song that someone just had to sing for the others. I remember thinking, “If there’s another song, I’m outa here!” I turned the page, saw the song and never read another word of that again. Pretty much put me off of all fantasy, too. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-started-more-than-once/743182/34 "2016-01-15T20:03:02Z")
The Harry Potter books, well one of them. Just could not do it and I felt bad about it at the time as I was 13 aND wondered what was wrong with me when most all kids loved it, even the grown ups? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-started-more-than-once/743182/35 "2016-01-15T20:20:13Z")
For me, it’s _One Hundred Years of Solitude_ by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Now, it’s not necessarily a case of boredom or anything like that – it’s a beautiful book, so much as I’ve read of it. But the problem was that I’d read two hundred pages in a couple of sittings and then put the book down for a week or two, being distracted by life and all that, and then forget or get confused by all the family names/lineages, that I’d just give up. ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-started-more-than-once/743182/36 "2016-01-15T21:39:27Z")
Until I Find You - John Irving - Took two tries, the second time I got sucked in. Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand - Took two tries but after the second try I finished it and have read it since The Baroque Cycle books by Neal Stephenson - Good god are these dense and meandering and ion need of an editor. I finally finished all three after having to try each multiple times. ---
**Author:** ![journeyman\_southpaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5e9695/32.png) [@journeyman\_southpaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/journeyman_southpaw)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-started-more-than-once/743182/37 "2016-01-15T21:56:26Z")
Another vote for Lord of the Rings. I’ve started it three or four times, I get a little further every time, but I never get even close to halfway. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-started-more-than-once/743182/38 "2016-01-15T21:56:27Z")
> [@4d3fect](#): > > Being and Nothingness. > > I just keep losing it when the sentences turn into paragraphs. Are you kidding? It really picks up around _dasein_! Okay…no it doesn’t. I bailed on it too. ---
**Author:** ![NVME702-redux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a183cd/32.png) [@NVME702-redux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NVME702-redux)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-started-more-than-once/743182/39 "2016-01-15T22:14:03Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > For me, it’s _One Hundred Years of Solitude_ by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Now, it’s not necessarily a case of boredom or anything like that – it’s a beautiful book, so much as I’ve read of it. But the problem was that I’d read two hundred pages in a couple of sittings and then put the book down for a week or two, being distracted by life and all that, and then forget or get confused by all the family names/lineages, that I’d just give up. This one is mine… In Spanish. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-started-more-than-once/743182/40 "2016-01-15T22:27:28Z")
The following is sacrilege. \*\*Mort \*\*by Terry Pratchett I keep thinking Discworld is right up my alley, but I keep getting stalled. I also read Colour of Magic all the way through, though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-started-more-than-once/743182.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-started-more-than-once/743182.md?page=3)