# Movies/books you gave up on **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 5, 2010, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-books-you-gave-up-on/556188 "2010-10-05T23:31:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![PhiloVance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e19adc/32.png) [@PhiloVance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhiloVance)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-books-you-gave-up-on/556188/101 "2010-10-08T18:38:26Z")
_Angela’s Ashes_ by Frank McCourt Too weepy, not enough focus. Seems the author couldn’t want to tell us more bad things. Very depressing. ---
**Author:** ![NetTrekker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nettrekker/32/2909_2.png) [@NetTrekker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NetTrekker)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-books-you-gave-up-on/556188/102 "2010-10-09T01:57:31Z")
> [@PhiloVance](#): > > _Angela’s Ashes_ by Frank McCourt > > Too weepy, not enough focus. Seems the author couldn’t want to tell us more bad things. Very depressing. That’s one book (& movie) I did finish and enjoyed it a lot. But yeah, it did suck to grow up in the slums of Limerick in the Depression with an alcoholic father, lots of disease, etc. I also put down [The White Spider - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_White_Spider) about halfway through. I was into mountain climbing stories for a while but kinda got burned out..this book was very detailed and dense and thick and the German to English translation was somewhat formal-sounding and wore me down. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-books-you-gave-up-on/556188/103 "2010-10-09T18:48:30Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > **BOOKS** > > Ditto the \*LOTR \*books. I feel like a heretic but I tried several times- can’t get into them at all and think Tolkien desperately needed an editor. > > Tom Wolfe _You Can’t Go Home Again_- I love some of Wolfe’s prose but he’s far too wordy. > > **MOVIES** > > _How to Make an American Quilt_ > > _Crossing Delancy_ I never bothered to watch the movie of **…Quilt** because the book was so bad. I just remember a whole bunch of sentence fragments and nothing else. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-books-you-gave-up-on/556188/104 "2010-10-09T20:07:29Z")
[QUOTE=Truman Burbank] I wonder if Crossing Delancy works better for a straight guy, Sampiro. I enjoyed it mostly because I could fall in love with Amy Irving. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her in anything else so good. [/QUOTE] Have you seen _Yentl_? I thought she was drop dead gorgeous as [Hadass](http://bjsmusic.com/Yentl15/hadass.jpg). > [@PhiloVance](#): > > _Angela’s Ashes_ by Frank McCourt > > Too weepy, not enough focus. Seems the author couldn’t want to tell us more bad things. Very depressing. I agree it was very depressing but I enjoyed it. I enjoyed _Tis_ a lot less, however, and have yet to finish _Teacher Man_ after several beginnings. ---
**Author:** ![jordanr2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@jordanr2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jordanr2)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-books-you-gave-up-on/556188/105 "2010-10-09T20:10:44Z")
> [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](#): > > > [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > > > A friend recommended that book to me. I’m very glad I checked it out of the library instead of purchasing it. I didn’t even last until the end of the pot-smoker thingy in the very beginning of the book. Poorly defined characters without names delivered in SoC narration just isn’t going to interest me. > > > > I’m with all the reviewers who felt the name of the book was referring to an act by the author with regard to his readership, rather than a reference to anything in the actual story. > > As usual when confronted with something one has only made a trivial investment in and doesn’t like, it’s probably the safest bet to assume that everybody else is only pretending a phenomenal work of art is a phenomenal work of art, because they’re sheep and they got tricked, don’t you know. seriously. What’s wrong with just saying “it wasn’t for me, so I couldn’t finish it” - an attitude I can totally understand? Why the rush to judge others who do find value in something? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-books-you-gave-up-on/556188/106 "2010-10-09T20:31:24Z")
A super popular book that came strongly recommended (which almost sounds like a sequel to said book) was _A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius_. I know it’s super popular and I like a good memoir but (just speaking for myself- I know it has many fans here) I felt the author was one of the most narcissistic and self-amused writers I’d ever read. When I read his sister’s complaints about the book later it came as no surprise because I was already calling bullshit on several of the claims he made that were not among the tongue in cheek parts (some of which were good) but were obviously meant to be taken literally. I probably read half the book and skimmed the rest to get the jist of the story. The Adam Rich part was funny and some of the opening notes were funny but most I thought was way too “Ferris Bueller wannabe encounters personal tragedy but is still Ferris Bueller”, and I’m one of the few who always wanted Ferris to be caught and expelled and if possible jailed for a few days. ---
**Author:** ![anya\_marie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@anya\_marie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anya_marie)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-books-you-gave-up-on/556188/107 "2010-10-10T09:11:50Z")
Tried to read Mansfield Park, also Pride And Prejudice and didn’t get the point nor enjoy the reading. I didn’t get why it was such a big deal that Elizabeth refused the parson and took Darcy… i’d have told both of them to take a hike. ---
**Author:** ![Mrs.Cake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs.Cake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs.Cake)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-books-you-gave-up-on/556188/108 "2010-10-10T22:40:03Z")
I gave up trying to read _Harry Potter_ about halfway through book four. Kept waiting for a time when I would find JKR’s writing less than painful to read. Friends kept telling me that she got better but I couldn’t spend any more time waiting for it. Movies - too numerous to list, but _Rob Roy_ sticks in my mind because I usually love costume dramas, Liam Neeson, and Tim Roth. ---
**Author:** ![Saganist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Saganist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saganist)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-books-you-gave-up-on/556188/109 "2010-10-10T23:51:55Z")
> [@moejoe](#): > > I’ve tried One Hundred Years of Solitude three times, no dice. Yep, same here. I also quit reading Harry Potter after the second book as I couldn’t take the simplistic writing and story-telling anymore. I have plenty of other unfinished novels, but that’s just because I’m lazy. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-books-you-gave-up-on/556188/110 "2010-10-11T00:08:15Z")
> [@Gil-Martin](#): > > Although I’m not guilty of the heresy committed by several posters above–_Lord of the Rings_ is great!–I did have a heck of a time with _The Silmarillion_. Couldn’t slog my way through it as a kid. Couldn’t slog my way through it as an adult. I love Tolkien, but I think his market is way oversaturated. Many more copies of his books have been sold than there are people who really like them. ---
**Author:** ![Truman\_Burbank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@Truman\_Burbank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truman_Burbank)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-books-you-gave-up-on/556188/111 "2010-10-11T14:38:55Z")
Add \*Yentl \*to the list of movies I couldn’t take… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-books-you-gave-up-on/556188.md?page=5)