I told you I had mixed feelings about that book, Uke. I thought a couple of sentences in there were brilliant, though.
Oh, and to answer your question: All the Pretty Horses and Bonfire of the Vanities.
I used to always finish a book no matter what. (“Used to always”?? hmmm…) But, life is too short…
Confederacy of the Dunces is on my “made it through, but sorry I did” list.
Ones I didn’t make it through:
Money by Martin Amis. I really liked Time’s Arrow (BTW, the only book I know written backwards in time. Not flashbacks. Backwards in time.) But Money, another book with a total jerk as the protagonist, I couldn’t do even for the sake of my book group.
Don Quixote - I got to the windmills about 1/10 of the way into the book: Why bother going further?
Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie. Satanic Verses is on the “made it through, and glad” list, but I got bogged down near the end of Midnight’s Children - still haven’t finished.
Same story for Paradise by Toni Morrison.
Tried to read Finnegan’s Wake. Tried to read Finnegan’s Wake. Tried to read Finnegan’s Wake. Gave up.
Haven’t been able to plough through Bleak House or Tom Jones, either.
Barn Stormer: I love “insufferable and maddening stylists”! Some writers are “writers’ writers” - they love the noise they make, but don’t have anything to say, or say it in WAY too many words. Give me someone who knows how to tell a story!
FTR, I made it 144 pages before running into one of Ignatius’ interminable essays which, in addition to holding no interest for me, have the added benefit of being set in an even smaller font than the rest of the book. I freely admit that I found his filing method at the pants factory mildly amusing, but certainly not sufficiently so to stick with it any further.
I can understand ACOD as an exercise to create a descpicable protagonist, but just because an author succeeds in creating a detestable character does not mean I need to read his work. In a wierd sort of analogy, I find myself reminded of the Seinfeld episode where Jerry and George are selling their show concept, and George is adamant that it is about “nothing.” The somewhat bemused TV exec asks, “Why am I watching it?” George enthusiastically responds, “Because it’s on TV.” The exec retorts, “Not yet it isn’t.”
So, for me it is now on to Percy’s The Last Gentleman.
cranky - I remember taking A Suitable Boy out of the library when it first came out. As a new book, I only had a couple of weeks and no renewal to read that massive tome. I enjoyed it enough, but only made it halfway through. Have always had a vague idea of re-reading it one of these years but could not quite remember the title. Thanks.
Another one I’ve started a couple of times and never finished is Bleak House. I normally have a pretty high tolerance for Dickens, but BH exceeds even my tenacity.
Wuthering Heights is my wife’s favorite book. I generally like Bronte. My daughter’s middle name is Jane after Jane Eyre. But count me in the group that doesn’t care for Heathcliff or Cathy. I liked the film version done with signal lanterns (aldis lamps?) better! 
Bashere,
If you’re still reading this thread, the only advice I would have for “The Brothers Karamazov” is, unfortunately, that you read 2 or 3 other Dostoyevsky books in chronological order, if you haven’t already.
Although I loved "A Distant Mirror " and “The Guns of August”, I just can’t get into “The March of Folly”. Tuchman loses me in the the first few pages and never recovers.
AUGGGHHHHHH!!! What are YOU doing reading this thread?
(Note to everyone else: JillGat’s the one who recommended 92 in the Shade to me. I was planning on sending her a nice e-mail thanking her and saying that I didn’t really care for it all that much, but then I decided to share my opinions with 19 or 20,000 other close friends first)
** Erofeev ** , which two? I loved Crime and Punishment, and I liked the part of The Idiot that I made it through (life interfered, and I haven’t made a second attempt). I’d be willing to make another go of it if there was something that would help me get through it. Any suggestions?
I almost always stick with a book once I’ve started it. However, it took me a couple of false starts to read The Lord of the Rings.
I keep trying to finish Moonwise by Greer Ilene Gilman—premise sounds good, but somehow I can’t get through it. I’m pretty picky about what I read, but my consolation is that I’m a speed reader so if I get something I don’t really like, I can just whip through it.
The island of the day before : There’s probably a good story somewhere in there, can’t seem to find it. So far it’s been: Struggle to page 200, shout "bugger this ", throw it across the floor, find another book [repeat 5-6 times]
Dickens, tried Great Expectations, Tale of two cities, Copperfield, lose interest after 50 pages.
bashere
Looks like you’ve already made an attempt. Hmmm… I’d say if you were to try it again, go with The House of the Dead and then The Possessed. The former is an account of prison, and remarkably matter of fact compared to the other works. The latter starts to really show his reaction against Russian intellectuals, which in my view reaches full bloom in TBK.
Frankly, since you’ve already read other stuff, you may simply not like TBK to get through it. What I found interesting about reading Dostoyevsky in chronological order was watching his transformation from dispossessed brooding intellectual to virtual apologist for the tsarist system.
I don’t know that I RECOMMENDED/recommended that book to you. Something we were discussing reminded me of it and I asked if you had read it. I told you the “plot” was hard to follow (if there was one, at all), and the main character was wacked out. I was confused by some of it, disliked some of it, and - as I said - there were a few brilliant run-on paragraphs that I enjoyed. I finished it and wasn’t sure what it had been about. It’s not a book to pick up if you’re looking for a good story. Sorry, Ike! I’ll try to point you to something really good next time!
I tried to read The Satanic Verses too, but i know that i did not make it past page 80,IIRC. I just could not make any sense out of it.
I have read * Paradise* by Toni Morrison.
Philip K Dick’s “Counter-clock world” too. (Technically, time is running backwards in Dick’s book, so maybe that’s different :rolleyes: ) Hey, PKD gets a mention further up this thread!
Last book I didn’t, sorry couldn’t, finish was Tom Robbins’ “Even cowgirls get the blues”. Eugh! Even thinking about how hard it was to struggle through…This was, for me, the Book I Struggled Through So Much It Made Me Determined Not To Struggle Through Any More. Or “literary epiphany”, for short.