Ever read a book so bad that you actaully stopped reading?

[Abbystraction]

Lord of the Flies. It isn't a bad novel -I'd actually say it's a fantastic novel- it just emotional unsettled my twelve year-old self to the point where I would have nightmares about the pigs head.

The fact that my class adored it terrifed me.

 

[Kiziku]

I feel like I will get my head chopped off for saying this ..but maybe its cause between work and school I'm to tired to pick it up and try to get back into it buuuut Anne Rice's The tale of the body theif.

also The chronicles of narnia and something else but I can't recall it at the moment...it was that bad I have a mind block on it apperently.

 

[zombiestrangler]

Catcher in the Rye.
I picked up a copy because it was supposed to be some big controversial thing and that piqued my interest. Unfortunately, it turned out to be about some whiny bastard and the only reason it was controversial was because it made a couple of whack jobs kill somebody.

I eventually had to sit through the whole thing for school. Bored me to tears.

 

[ace_of_something]

Most of the offending books were assigned reading in middle/high school.
The Scarlet Letter, Moby Dick, Great Expectations. I fucking hate 'period' books and pieces. Always have. I don't even like period films, with a few minor exceptions. My twin brother hated them too and we would take turns skimming the chapters and then explaining them to each other got B's and C's out of it.

great expectations. That book is torture. I really can't understand why Charles Dickens got so famous. He's so drab and boring in the way he writes that it honestly sounds like he'd rather be doing anything else instead of writing the book you're reading.

Cause that's how EVERYONE wrote back then apparently. (now watch as english lit majors jump down my throat to tell me I'm wrong)

 

[luna_moth]

Yes, one called "The Forest of Hands and Teeth", it was very dark and normally I wouldn't mind that. However, at the time I was reading it, I was having some personal problems and reading such a depressing book wasn't helping my mood improve. So I stopped

 

[Lady Nilstria]

Bonfire of the Vanities (1/4 of the way through)
Atlas Shrugged (Half-way through John Galt's speech)
Breaking Dawn (Up until the werewolf falls in love with the hell-fetus)
The Jungle (After the third unspeakable tragedy visited on the poor of New York, it gets old)
Pride and Prejudice (Four Chapters in)

Watch the 1995 Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle. It's much more enjoyable and the acting is superb. I watched it twice just today I enjoy watching it so much. (Don't get me started on the Kiera Knightly version. I try to forget it exists.)

OT:

Oh, several. The most recent is Spellfire by Ed Greenwood. Pardon me, but the story is stupid. It has no sense of verisimilitude and character development at all.

I usually force myself to finish a book, just to make myself feel the time wasted was at least worth something. At least I will have learned what not to do right? Right?

Cause that's how EVERYONE wrote back then apparently. (now watch as english lit majors jump down my throat to tell me I'm wrong)

No, you're right. They were paid by the word in those days. It isn't a system lending itself to concise writing.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

There are a few I've not finished because they were simply too bad. Of course, there are others that were even worse that I finished anyway just because. I just forced myself through 2 Dragon Age books despite them being absolutely terrible.

 

[killcheese]

well, instead of saying what i have stopped reading ill just say the only books i have ever read front to back.

the 7 harry potter books
redwall, the main one. None of the side stories.
the golden compass trilogy
the hobbit
and finally, fear and loathing in las vegas

I have started more books then i can count but just get way to bored when reading them. I cant stand slow and drawn out books with tons of fill. Most notable would be lord of the rings, sooooooooo ssllooowwww! i can deal with the fanboy rage, i like the story, but GOD the pacing in the books are terrible.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Any book that I had to read for school. They knew how to pick 'em.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Stephen Donaldson's Chronicle of Thomas Covenant. Loathsome, boring, vicious main character with no redeeming features.
Halfway through the book he gets healed of his crippling disease, and to celebrate, rapes the main female, who quite enjoys it.

Bin.

 

[Necator15]

I've run across a lot. Usually, I'll stop reading them when I've realized that I just hate the author's writing style. I recently found out that this is the biggest factor for me. I don't care if the story is riveting, if the characterization is wonderful, if the author's word choice and flow don't draw me in, nothing will.

The most recent one I've given up on was something called "Master of None" I got 30 pages in and said "Fuck it." I can't remember a lot of the other one's I've given up on either. Although, someone did just jog my mind with Mogworld. I lasted 100 or so pages into that one because I wanted to like it.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime.

That is all.

You utter utter heathen.

I mean, your milage may vary.

*looks daggers at you*

 

[Captain Ben]

I try to finish every book I start, because even if I hate it, I want to be able to at least explain the whole thing.

Though on the topic of books that honestly enraged me: Zoe Archer's Stranger. It was honestly the worst book I have ever opened, including The Catcher in the Rye, and James Lovegrove's Age of Odin.
Honestly, this book is so bad, please do not buy it. Zoe Archer is undeserving of the royalties.

 

[ChildofGallifrey]

Breaking Dawn (Up until the werewolf falls in love with the hell-fetus)

Congratulations, you just covered my monitor with a spray of White Russian.

OT: I'd best prepare my flame shield for this, but I haven't managed to get through "A Game of Thrones" yet. I just don't find myself interested in the majority of the characters. The only ones I really want to read about are Tyrion Lannister and Jon Snow, but I'm afraid to just skip between their bits for fear of missing something.

And a handful of books that we had to read in school, but I don't count those books that I'm forced to read. Reading should be done for enjoyment, not out of obligation.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

It was a funny idea, until I started reading it and found it to be as boring as the original Pride and Prejudice.

And this. Not even zombies could liven up that 250 page sleep aid.

 

[Dethenger]

The Wheel of Time. I can't say why.

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson: I really enjoyed what I read of this book, and I still adore Sanderson's writing, but for fuck's sake, I got like 400 pages in and fuck all happened. None of the main characters interacted with one another, and when they started introducing more, I dropped it. I'll definitely finish it someday.

Twilight. I don't feel the need to say why.

Huck Finn. I actually probably would've liked it had I chosen to read it, but I had to for class, and I hate being required to do anything.

 

[Stainlesssteele4]

Staying Fat For Sarah Byrns...
Forced to read it in school, which usually isn't a bad thing, I rather enjoyed some of the other required readings.
But this book...
Just terribly written. Little to no plot structure, which amounted to several horribly fleshed out characters bouncing into each other randomly in a vain attempt to form some kind of cohesive narrative.
It was so bad, my teacher later admitted that it was a poor choice.

 

[walrusaurus]

Also The Great Gatsby i found to be unbearable. I read the whole thing though because i had to for school.

Crap. Forgot this one. I never finished it, managed to BS a C on the test and keep my grade good in the class. I was seriously, that uninterested in it that I was willing to stake my grades on not finishing it.

lol I know the feeling, that was the scarlet letter for me. I absolutely refused to try and finish that steaming pile.

Out of all the vast history of literature, don't understand why/how high schools pick the most egregiously dull books to be 'classics'

Seriously, why can't they teach Catch 22, the Jungle, or Treasure Island. Guarantee Mark Twain has had a bigger impact on american culture than Fitzgerald, or *shudder* Emerson....

 

[Johann610]

Atlas Shrugged. The world is falling apart, and no matter how much good the heroes do, it continues to fall apart. I don't care WHAT happens to these people; their fate was sealed. Their enemies are Strawmen, the pacing is ludicrous, the main character is Mary Sue in all but NAME, and every now and then--at least 5 times in 200 pages--a character gets to filibuster for 4 pages or so.
I have tried to read it multiple times, and it's a slog. I stopped at 40%, and cannot bring myself to go any further.