Here is my embarrassing list.

=Noteworthy

1984 by George Orwell Catch-22 Joseph Heller Dune by Frank Herbert East of Eden by John Steinbeck Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett The Lesson by Cadwell Turnbull The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss The Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

=Less Noteworthy

Black Sea Gods by Brian Braden Mythos by Stephen Fry Smallworld by Dominic Green The One by John Marrs The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce

  • Alien SurferOP
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    91 year ago

    Grrr… I guess I need to work on formatting. Let’s try this again

    1984 by George Orwell

    Catch-22 Joseph Heller

    Dune by Frank Herbert

    East of Eden by John Steinbeck

    Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

    Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

    The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett

    The Lesson by Cadwell Turnbull

    The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

    The Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

    LESS NOTABLE:

    Black Sea Gods by Brian Braden

    Mythos by Stephen Fry

    Smallworld by Dominic Green

    The One by John Marrs

    The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce

    • sloonark
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      31 year ago

      I couldn’t finish Dune either. I’m sure the story is great, but the writing IMO is terrible.

    • @bev@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Grrr… I guess I need to work on formatting. Let’s try this again

      • 1984 by George Orwell
      • Catch-22 Joseph Heller
      • Dune by Frank Herbert
      • East of Eden by John Steinbeck
      • Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
      • Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
      • The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett
      • The Lesson by Cadwell Turnbull
      • The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
      • The Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

      LESS NOTABLE:

      • Black Sea Gods by Brian Braden
      • Mythos by Stephen Fry
      • Smallworld by Dominic Green
      • The One by John Marrs
      • The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce

      You can use the markdown list feature.

      - unordered list

      Or

      1. Ordered list

  • I was also bested by Dune. I never finished “To Kill a Mockingbird” in high school, and have never had any desire to pick it back up. The most embarrassing/shameful is… “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.” I love the movies, and I love learning about the lore on YouTube, but I just cannot make it through that book. “The Hobbit” was such a fun and silly little story, and I loved it! Fellowship just reads like those chapters in Genesis that you tend to skip over.

  • Bill Stickers
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    1 year ago

    The colour of magic isn’t highly rated by anyone. Most discworld fans will tell you to skip the first two books and don’t really count them. I hope you didn’t skip discworld based on that. If your willing to give it another go, most fans suggest starting with Guards Guards! as the feel of discworld is well established by this point and the Watch sub series is a fan favourite.

    There are 5 main sub series; the Witches, Death, the Watch, Industrial Revolution and Rincewind. Rincewind is the least rated. You can read them in pretty much any order but each sub series is recommended to read in the reading order:

    https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Discworld_Reading_Order_Guide_3.0_(cropped).jpg#mw-jump-to-license

    • Alien SurferOP
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      11 year ago

      I found the humor in the first several chapters of the first book to be juvenile. The kind of humor you can see coming from a kilometer away so it’s just too obvious and not really funny.

      • Bill Stickers
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        41 year ago

        Every discworld fan will agree. The first two are terrible. They are straight parodies of the fantasy genre in the 70–80s. The rest of the series are more adult satire of real world issues and institutions and the stories have actual characterisation and pathos.

  • @OceanSoap@lemmy.ml
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    51 year ago

    Well, I don’t feel so bad now that I’ve never finished Dune. My mom raved about that book, and I tried… I really did.

    • @Confuzzeled@lemmy.world
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      21 year ago

      I’ve started infinite jest several times, the last time I thought I’d try on my kindle to make the constant footnotes a bit easier to get back and forth from. Still only got 100 or so pages in. One day I’ll get there.

    • @rsn@lemmy.world
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      11 year ago

      Infinite Jest as well. I just don’t get it 🤷‍♂️ I don’t get the hype, or the humor, or the plot—I feel I’m missing something in order to ‘get’ this book.

  • PhantomAnalSnakes
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    31 year ago

    The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

    I heard so many good things about it but I could not make myself read it.

    • Alien SurferOP
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      21 year ago

      Awe. Sorry it wasn’t for you. I enjoyed it. Very touching for me. I just checked out the follow on book from my local library. I heard it’s pretty emotional too.

      What’s the most emotional book you’ve read?

  • @Candelestine@lemmy.world
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    21 year ago

    I’m pretty stubborn when it comes to finishing books generally, unless they’re just generic trashy NYT bestseller stuff.

    One on my list bugging me though: Three Body Problem. I got it on audiobook, but its too dense for that format. I need a physical copy.

    • I just finished the three body problem on audiobook a few days ago, it definitely would’ve been better to read a hard copy of it but I still found it to be absolutely amazing. As a huge space nerd, certain parts of that book created amazing visuals in my head that fascinate me, I’ve gone back and reread certain scenes multiple times just because they amaze me to think about.

      Almost done the 2nd book and it’s a lot more boring than the first but the end picks up quite a bit at least and I hear the 3rd book is great.

      • Alien SurferOP
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        21 year ago

        Books creating visuals and ideas that are fascinating and demand further exploration and thinking are my favorite thing about books.

  • @yesterdayshero@lemmy.world
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    21 year ago

    The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal

    I usually try push through to the end with most books, but I couldn’t do it for this one.

    Even after it won the Hugo I was never tempted to go back to it. Found it to be so formulaic. I read just past halfway and it felt like a novelisation of a daytime movie.

    • Alien SurferOP
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      21 year ago

      Agreed. Sometimes I can’t understand why some books win hugo and other awards, besides politics of some sort. I mean some have been good, but not that much.

    • @pablonaj@feddit.de
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      21 year ago

      Same here, the first chapter is really good, then it becomes this slow story where nothing interesting seems to happen.

  • The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, I hated how Death keeps spoiling everything. And when it was clear it was going to stay that way I dnfed halfway through. Otherwise, the novel would have been fine.

    Any book by Neil Gaiman. Just can’t vibe with his style and in turn couldn’t get past ch 1 of Good Omens even though I like Terry Pratchett.

  • @Grimezz@lemm.ee
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    21 year ago

    Between Two Fires by Chris Buelhman

    I had heard good things about the book, and while it is fantastic, its very dense and plodding and very depressing. There are chapters that leave me in awe but then there are 4 chapters of slow depression that bring the story to a grinding halt.

    I only have a third of the book left so I might finish it later but man it’s rough to read sometimes

    • @melonpunk@lemmy.world
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      31 year ago

      I read that book after reading The Blacktongue Thief, really enjoyed them both, but Between Two Fires was a dark tale of misery.

      • @Grimezz@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Yeah I got up to act/part 3, but decided to take a break and now it’s been a couple months. I started reading some other stuff so I just haven’t had the time to go back. Really well written, just also really slow to pick up steam lol

  • Welder
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    21 year ago

    War and peace is my white whale, I’ve tried a few times. I’ll put it down for a while as I often do with books but when I pick it back up I’m completely lost in who is who and where I am.

    • Alien SurferOP
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      21 year ago

      Eek. I’ve absolutely no desire. Good luck,

      I’ve been known to document characters and connections between people while reading a new book. It really helps.

  • @Heyassbutt@lemmy.world
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    11 year ago

    I searched the annals of the books subreddit way back when and could quite literally only find one other user besides me who couldn’t stand A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman. I tried two separate times to read that book and just couldn’t do it. I understand the premise of crusty old guy is soft and mushy on the inside, but ffs he is SUCH a massive prick in the beginning I just could never get past it. I also read Anxious People by him and couldn’t stand it, so I think maybe this author just isn’t for me.

    Super noteworthy wise I quit A Tale of Two Cities on like page 4 lol, but that was more because I didn’t understand that style of English than anything else.

    • Alien SurferOP
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      21 year ago

      Interesting. I to almost abandoned Ove. The guy was too much of an asshole. Just over the top. But for some reason I stuck with it and finished the book.

      I mean I’m a grumpy, foul mood person most of the time, but I’m not an ass about it. I’m still nice and kind to people.

      Haven’t read any others by the same author.

  • @Lemmylefty@vlemmy.net
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    11 year ago

    I got to a really early point in Dune where a character was thinking about the various ways to be manipulative (not necessarily evil, just politicking) with their expressions and words and body language and I just got tired of it.

    Also gave up on Wuthering Heights. Was it revolutionary in its day to draw back the gilded curtain and display naked domestic abuse for what it was? Sure. But…I don’t need that curtain drawn away, as I’ve seen far better depictions of DV, and, well, I go out in public, too. So it was just tedious bitching and being cruel to each other until I stopped reading.

  • R.Giskard
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    11 year ago

    Edge of Darkness by Brent Weeks.

    I just couldn’t finish it. Got to the point where Kylar got his hand back and was like okay I guess the story is over now? Felt really weird that there was still around 3/4 of a book left. I just couldn’t bring myself to keep reading after that.

  • Arkholt
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    11 year ago

    The Once and Future King by T.H. White.

    Look, I’m a big fan of Arthurian legend. I’ve read modern retellings by Andrew Lang and James Knowles, and reimaginings like The Mists of Avalon. I’ve also read Thomas Malory, and even some original Welsh and Middle English legends (in translation of course). But I can’t stomach White.

    Yes, I know it’s the basis for the Disney movie (which is great). Yes, I know White came up with the neat idea of Merlin experiencing time backwards. I know several modern fantasy writers were influenced by it. But it’s just so incredibly boring. Every time I’ve tried to read it (yes, it’s been multiple tries) I can’t ever get to the part where he pulls the sword from the stone. Why? Because I looked ahead, and it takes twenty-two chapters for the sword to even appear, and another chapter before Arthur finally pulls it out. The only writer I know of that took longer than that to get to that point was Geoffrey of Monmouth, but only because he was supposedly writing the entire history of England.

    And it’s not just that it takes that long to get to the good part. It’s that nothing interesting happens on the way there. None of it is fun to read. It’s just a slog. Maybe it gets better later, but I’ll never know, because I’ve just given up.