# When the book bests me. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 21, 2006, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-book-bests-me/349282 "2006-03-21T15:00:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jenny\_Haniver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Jenny\_Haniver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenny_Haniver)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-book-bests-me/349282/1 "2006-03-21T15:00:39Z")
I’ve been reading the same book for _three weeks_. I’ve at last decided that discretion is the better part of valor, and I’m giving up two thirds of the way through. Storm Constantine, in addition to having an utterly ridiculous name, your books are freaking boring. How can a book about unspeakable love between twins, one of whom is a sea-witch, the other a warlord, be boring? [You have managed it.](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006H0HA0/sr=8-1/qid=1142952525/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-1026481-1412127?%5Fencoding=UTF8) And you made me waste three weeks forcing myself to read on, in the vain hope that eventually something would fucking _happen_. Arrgh! I give up! Neil Gaiman must have been on some heavy drugs when he agreed to do a blurb for your book jacket. I hate it when the book bests me. I even made myself finish [I Know This Much is True](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060987561/sr=8-1/qid=1142952827/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-1026481-1412127?%5Fencoding=UTF8), but I can’t handle any more. Does anyone else experience actual feelings of resentment toward unfinished books? I feel like the time is more wasted than if I read the whole thing and just didn’t like it. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-book-bests-me/349282/2 "2006-03-21T15:02:58Z")
Oh yeah. Have you ever tried **The Shipping News**? It made a better frisbee than a book. It won the Pulitzer, it was lauded to the heavens and I really, really tried. Frisbee-ing that book at 2/3 of the way through was the act that freed me of feeling the need to read a book I am simply not connecting with. It just ain’t worth it… ---
**Author:** ![Jenny\_Haniver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Jenny\_Haniver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenny_Haniver)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-book-bests-me/349282/3 "2006-03-21T15:14:04Z")
As good as frisbeeing the book sounds, I’m going to have to settle for dropping it into the library book return _especially hard_. Heh. “Watch your fingers, kids, this bookdrop is going home to Jesus.” (On the upside, I didn’t pay money for a book I don’t like, which is a comfort.) ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-book-bests-me/349282/4 "2006-03-21T15:52:53Z")
Bad litterature is dumbening. Give it the boot, I’d say. I myself am a completist, but that goes to anything from reading books to eating dinner – I won’t finish half-ways due to obsessive compulsions. But that only made me choose books more critically. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-book-bests-me/349282/5 "2006-03-21T15:57:20Z")
> [@Jenny Haniver](#): > > \ > > Does anyone else experience actual feelings of resentment toward unfinished books? I feel like the time is more wasted than if I read the whole thing and just didn’t like it. Yes, you bet. I used to be very poor and buying a book was a big deal, so I would always slog through one, even if it wasn’t good. Now I give it about 1/3 of the book and if I’m not liking it I toss it aside, but I still resent it. ---
**Author:** ![Crab\_Rangoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Crab\_Rangoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crab_Rangoon)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-book-bests-me/349282/6 "2006-03-21T16:28:10Z")
Prague by Arthur Phillips. By god I finished that book even though it was physically painful. WHAT. WAS. THE. POINT? Grrrrr… The only good thing about finishing the book - is that I am CERTAIN that I did not like it and that it was a waste of time. If I had stopped at 3/4 way through, then I would always wonder… Maybe the last 50 pages would have redeemed it??? ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-book-bests-me/349282/7 "2006-03-21T17:02:38Z")
> [@Jenny Haniver](#): > > I hate it when the book bests me. I even made myself finish [I Know This Much is True](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060987561/sr=8-1/qid=1142952827/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-1026481-1412127?%5Fencoding=UTF8), but I can’t handle any more. I liked _I Know This Much Is True_, but I hated the other one he wrote - I can’t even remember its title and I care so little, I’m not even going to bother looking it up. (I’ll remember it as soon as I hit ‘submit,’ of course.) I could not finish _The Crimson Petal And The White._ It got so many rave reviews here, and from RL friends, when I found it in near-pristine condition at the used book store, I snapped it up. I made it about a third of the way through before finally giving up. > [@](#): > > Does anyone else experience actual feelings of resentment toward unfinished books? I feel like the time is more wasted than if I read the whole thing and just didn’t like it. A little. I used to force myself to finish them, partly to see if it got any better, and partly because I couldn’t let it go unfinished. In the case of something really awful, it’s resentment that I wasted time that could have been spent reading something better. My philosphy now is that life is too short to read bad books. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-book-bests-me/349282/8 "2006-03-21T17:14:21Z")
I seem to have come across a lot of folks who attempt Ayn Rand’s \*Atlas Shrugged \* and given up one half to two thirds of the way through. The breaking point for a lot of 'em seems to have been John Galt’s interminable radio speech. Jeez, who would have thought that a 1000+ page novel set in teensy-tiny 8-point eyestrain print full of two dimensional cardboard characters spouting long, dull speeches constantly repeating over and over the same points about a simplistic, sophomoric philosophy would be unreadable? ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-book-bests-me/349282/9 "2006-03-21T17:28:30Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > I seem to have come across a lot of folks who attempt Ayn Rand’s \*Atlas Shrugged \* and given up one half to two thirds of the way through. The breaking point for a lot of 'em seems to have been John Galt’s interminable radio speech. > > Jeez, who would have thought that a 1000+ page novel set in teensy-tiny 8-point eyestrain print full of two dimensional cardboard characters spouting long, dull speeches constantly repeating over and over the same points about a simplistic, sophomoric philosophy would be unreadable? Hehe. I came in here to post about that book. I had a friend who raved about it so I gave it a shot. I couldn’t make it past the first chapter. Although most of the reason I gave up so quickly was the teensy tiny type and that I was trying to read it on my graveyard shifts. A book that almost defeated me was Stranger in a Strange Land. Many people rave about this book and Heinlein but I wasn’t impressed, I almost gave up half-way through. Still I was determined to finish it and forced myself to read it all. It took me two weeks longer to read than most other books but I finished it. I still wasn’t impressed. ---
**Author:** ![thwartme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@thwartme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thwartme)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-book-bests-me/349282/10 "2006-03-21T17:35:38Z")
I used to do the completist thing, but then I started working at a bookstore and could read new release stuff for free without delay. There was no way I could keep up with everything I wanted to read, so the compulsion to finish something I wasn’t enjoying got beat out by the urge to move on to something more worthwhile. “Big Deal” books I’ve never finished include Salmon Rushdie’s _Satanic Verses_, Ondaatje’s _The English Patient_ and Keneally’s _Schindler’s List._ I don’t blame the books, really. If I was in a bit of a different mood, I might have enjoyed them greatly. I’ve made three attempts at Robert Jordan’s _Wheel Of Time_ monstrosity, thinking I must be missing something, seeing as how so many people enjoy them. Same with Donaldson’s _Thomas Covenant_ series and the _Harry Potter_ books. Multiple attempts, multiple failures. Even two of my favourite authors have failed to hold my attention on occassion. I love Pratchett, but _A Hat Full Of Sky_ sits unfinished on my shelf. And Guy Gavriel Kay’s _Sarantine Mosaic_ fell to pieces early on for me. Life’s too short. Read the good stuff twice rather than force yourself through the bad. thwartme ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-book-bests-me/349282/11 "2006-03-21T18:01:08Z")
> [@BiblioCat](#): > > I liked _I Know This Much Is True_, but I hated the other one he wrote - I can’t even remember its title and I care so little, I’m not even going to bother looking it up. (I’ll remember it as soon as I hit ‘submit,’ of course.) > > I could not finish _The Crimson Petal And The White._ It got so many rave reviews here, and from RL friends, when I found it in near-pristine condition at the used book store, I snapped it up. I made it about a third of the way through before finally giving up. **She’s Come Undone** , maybe? I think I remember liking both of them OK. ☹ about TCPATW, tho’. That’s one of the next ones on my pile, along with Middlesex. Yes, I’m still catching up on the best books of 2004. 😉 As for the OP, I gave up on \*\*American Psycho \*\* because I was just too skeeved out by the gross parts (altho’ I liked the satirical parts fine). And I recently had to return \*\*Prodigal Summer \*\* to the library. I didn’t dislike it, it just didn’t grab me enough to get me to finish it in time; it went back a month late as it was! ---
**Author:** ![Darkhold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@Darkhold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darkhold)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-book-bests-me/349282/12 "2006-03-21T18:01:33Z")
> [@Wile E](#): > > A book that almost defeated me was Stranger in a Strange Land. Many people rave about this book and Heinlein but I wasn’t impressed, I almost gave up half-way through. Still I was determined to finish it and forced myself to read it all. It took me two weeks longer to read than most other books but I finished it. I still wasn’t impressed. It beat me. I gave up after he founded his own religion. The book suddenly changed from an interesting study of someone with a totally different and alien viewpoint of us to a stupid parable about free love and a Christ like figure. As soon as I saw him start his religion I knew he’d die probably via violent mob. I’m so certain of that I haven’t even bothered to confirm it. It’ll be really embarrassing if a doper comes by and tells me different. As for the OP yeah I gave up on the same book he did. I hated all the characters and just wished they’d all die. I gave up shortly after her brother’s lover screwed her against a wall during a party then suggested a threesome. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-book-bests-me/349282/13 "2006-03-21T18:09:12Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > **She’s Come Undone** , maybe? I think I remember liking both of them OK. That’s it! I slogged through it and was pissed off at the end - not so much because it was bad, but because I’d wasted all the time reading it. > [@](#): > > ☹ about TCPATW, tho’. That’s one of the next ones on my pile, along with Middlesex. Good luck! :dubious: > [@](#): > > And I recently had to return \*\*Prodigal Summer \*\* to the library. I didn’t dislike it, it just didn’t grab me enough to get me to finish it in time; it went back a month late as it was! The Barbara Kingsolver book? I have that in my To-Be-Read pile. I’ve loved all her other books, so I hope it’s good. ---
**Author:** ![ddgryphon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@ddgryphon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddgryphon)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-book-bests-me/349282/14 "2006-03-21T18:52:33Z")
> [@http://members.aol.com/Malaktawus/Storm.htm](#): > > Storm Constantine is one of the UK’s premier fantasy writers. She has had twenty two books published to date, and numerous short stories. Her interests lie in the dark side of the genre, with all things gothic and bizarre. Storm is best known for her innovative and exotic vision exemplified in her first trilogy which introduced the hermaphroditic race of the Wraeththu. The books were steeped in occult lore and forbidden sexuality. These are themes that have continued through her other works. > > Storm’s later works explore the themes of dualism and its archetypes. To accomplish this, she has derived her fiction from numerous historical stories that go back to the origins of civilised humanity. Mesopotamia, Kurdistan and Sumeria, the so-called ‘cradle of civilisation’ share many commonalities which illustrate archetypal figures and events in pre-biblical history. Lost and hidden races buried within society have featured in many of her books. The Wraeththu, the Eloim and, most notably, the Grigori all stem from the same mythological root. In the Grigori Trilogy, Storm explored legends of the Lost Race which are now at the forefront of popular millennial anthropology. Her reinterpretation and reinvention of these darkest creations have brought an unequaled originality to the current fantasy genre. I attempted to read some of her “short” work available on her site (quoted above) and the only word that comes to mind is “Turgid” But thanks to [http://thesaurus.reference.com](http://thesaurus.reference.com) I can add: ``` aureate, balderdash, big-talking, bullshitting, declamatory, euphuistic, flowery, fustian, grandiloquent, grandiose, high-flown, highfalutin, histrionic, inflated, loudmouth, magniloquent, orotund, ostentatious, overblown, ranting, rhapsodic, rhetorical, sonorous, swollen, tumid, turgid, verbose, windbag, windy, wordy ``` and begin to scratch the surface of how bad her writing is. Is there such a dearth of Gothic writers that she has ascended to the level of “great?” “It’s shake and bake!” Cried Gimlet, raising his axe. “And I helped!” shouted Legolam, following to do battle with the mighty Thesaurus. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-book-bests-me/349282/15 "2006-03-21T19:18:57Z")
Gravity’s Rainbow. Just too many 100-word sentences for me. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-book-bests-me/349282/16 "2006-03-21T19:45:02Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > I seem to have come across a lot of folks who attempt Ayn Rand’s \*Atlas Shrugged \* and given up one half to two thirds of the way through. That’d be me, except I can’t for the life of me remember whether it was _Atlas Shrugged_ or _The Fountainhead_. One or the other, I got at least halfway through before giving up on. ---
**Author:** ![Jenny\_Haniver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Jenny\_Haniver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenny_Haniver)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-book-bests-me/349282/17 "2006-03-21T19:46:24Z")
> [@ddgryphon](#): > > Is there such a dearth of Gothic writers that she has ascended to the level of “great?” As near as I can tell “dark gothic” is book-jacketese for “ZOMG, they have teh sexxx!” …and even that part sucks. I actually cringed during the first sex scene, which is happening on a beach, when the main female character can feel sand on the male’s hand as he cups her cheek, but makes no protest when he proceeds to put that gritty sand-covered hand someplace sand should never _ever_ go. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Glassy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ea666f/32.png) [@Glassy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glassy)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-book-bests-me/349282/18 "2006-03-21T20:35:26Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > Gravity’s Rainbow. Just too many 100-word sentences for me. That is the book I came here to mention. I read it when I was a college student, and I tried much harder to finish it than I would today. For one thing, I was rather poor and it was an investment. I bought it from the college bookstore at the same time I bought my texts, and it was my little treat to myself (_hah_). Too, I had friends who loved it and discussed it, and I wanted to be seen to be equally smart and literate. I sweated blood trying to get through that thing. I even skipped to the end and read the last chapter, but still had absolutely no clue what was going on. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-book-bests-me/349282/19 "2006-03-21T20:49:02Z")
I forced myself to finish _Look Homeward, Angel._ As soon as my eyes took in the last word, I tossed it across the room, then picked it up and stomped on it. It is now my goal to go to Asheville and kick Thomas Wolfe’s grave as hard as I possibly can. I didn’t finish _Pillar of Salt_ by Alfred (Albert?) Memmi for a class last year. That was the first time I ever did not finish a class book. I only got to the nineteenth chapter of him whining about how uncultured his family was before I gave up and kicked it down the hall. ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-book-bests-me/349282/20 "2006-03-21T20:54:42Z")
I long ago came to the conclusion that if I don’t give a damn what’s happening by page 140, I should call it a loss and move on. I have since been informed that Tad Williams’ _The Dragonbone Chair_ gets really good on page 161, but I can’t bring myself to care. Life is too short and there are too many truly great books out there to waste time reading something that sucks. Of course, there have been many books in recent years that I didn’t realize I hated until _after_ I was finished. > [@thwartme](#): > > I’ve made three attempts at Robert Jordan’s Wheel Of Time monstrosity, thinking I must be missing something, seeing as how so many people enjoy them. If you don’t care by halfway through the first book, then just walk away. There are those of us who _know_ they’re damned, and cannot leave. _Just one more book_, we say. _One more, and he’ll be finished._ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-book-bests-me/349282.md?page=2)