Great novels you own but avoid for some reason

[kenikki]

I own Birdsong, Catch-22, Lord of the Rings among many others which all claim to be essential reading. However, I have not got round to or am avoiding reading them even though they stare at me from the bookshelf. I have owned Catch-22 for over 4 years. There is really no excuse.
Does anyone else share this problem?

[zwita]

life without literature is nothing

[zwita]

the beautiful thing in literature is when your soul directly contact the characters ......

[Idril]

I generally read everything I buy but occasionally books come into my house in other ways, gifts or 'inheritence'. A couple of the more notable books on my shelf that I've never read and can't seem to muster the interest to read are Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Winter of our Discontent by Steinbeck, Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad and books of poetry by Whitman and Lawrence.

[Pendragon]

Well, Iown Moby Dick, which I am convinced is one of the most boring books ever written, but I still hang on to my copy. And I have a large volume of Charles Dickens' short storys, although I know I will never read anything in it except A Christmas Carol. Go figure. http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l108/AbsalomKane/read.gif

[Nossa]

I bought Digital Fortress by Dan Brown, but for some reason, I couldn't bring myself to read it!!! Which is weird, cuz, and after The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons, I claim to be 'almost a fan' of his...:lol:
I have many more, that I didn't have time to read, not that I'm avoiding them..and they're on the list!

[Panflute]

'The World According To Garp' by John Irving. I've never read anything by Irving, and the book is quite long. If I start reading it, and conclude that it sucks after 50 pages, I'll have to force myself through the other approx. 500 pages, to at least prove myself to be a good sport.

[Idril]

'The World According To Garp' by John Irving. I've never read anything by Irving, and the book is quite long. If I start reading it, and conclude that it sucks after 50 pages, I'll have to force myself through the other approx. 500 pages, to at least prove myself to be a good sport.

For what it's worth, I think Garp is a fantastic book and Irving, as long as you stick to his earlier stuff is a very clever author, funny, insightful, perverse, heartbreaking. I would have no hesitation in encouraging you to give it a try. :thumbs_up :)

[Janine]

I generally read everything I buy but occasionally books come into my house in other ways, gifts or 'inheritence'. A couple of the more notable books on my shelf that I've never read and can't seem to muster the interest to read are Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Winter of our Discontent by Steinbeck, Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad and books of poetry by Whitman and Lawrence.

Hi Idril, I can't speak for the other two books your mentioned, but "Frankenstein" is a fantastic read and a really great book. I have read it at least 3 times now (it is not long and I am a slow reader), and I recently listened to the audiotape, which I enjoyed very much. You know that Mary Shelley and her husband and another author/poet (not sure now of his name) made a wager or contest and they all were to go away and write a horror story that night. Mary was the only one to deliver; she got right to the task, and her fantastic tale has stood up to the test of time. Many schools/universities study it to this day. It is a very 'complex' book with terrific meaning and it will make you think long after reading it. On the tapes I have, Kenneth Branagh narrates and he says in the preface that it is often referred to as the 'Modern Prometheis'. I thought that interesting and appropriate - I had not thought of that before.
Most of the problems people have in reading it, I believe, spring from preconceived notions of what Frankenstein and the monster are like - from movie images, etc. Believe me, the book will surprise you; so much different than those images and a very unique book. I hope someday soon you read it.

[barbara0207]

'The World According To Garp' by John Irving. I've never read anything by Irving, and the book is quite long. If I start reading it, and conclude that it sucks after 50 pages, I'll have to force myself through the other approx. 500 pages, to at least prove myself to be a good sport.

Hi Idril,
that is an attitude I can't understand. Why should I be a good sport if the author isn't (to my taste)? Mostly I give a book about sixty pages. If the author hasn't managed to get me interested by then, I give up. My time is too valuable to spend it being bored.

[Mark F.]

I bought Digital Fortress by Dan Brown, but for some reason, I couldn't bring myself to read it!!! Which is weird, cuz, and after The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons, I claim to be 'almost a fan' of his...:lol:
I have many more, that I didn't have time to read, not that I'm avoiding them..and they're on the list!

Throw it away, as well as the other two.

I bought Moby Dick a while ago and started reading it but had to give up due to work, but this Summer I'll give it another shot. Gogol's Dead Souls is also sitting on my bookshelf, but I tend to pick up books in second hand stores and read them when I feel like it.

[JuggleDoug]

I used to have that problem, but I solved it when I stopped buying books . . . use the library for the "essential reading". If I haven't finished a book in a week, that usually means I won't finish it so I take it back. No worries.

[kenikki]

I used to have that problem, but I solved it when I stopped buying books . . . use the library for the "essential reading". If I haven't finished a book in a week, that usually means I won't finish it so I take it back. No worries.

That is a really good idea...may have to try if I wasn't so hellbent on buying books all the time. I really should use the library more like I used to when I was younger.

[Aunty-lion]

That is a really good idea...may have to try if I wasn't so hellbent on buying books all the time. I really should use the library more like I used to when I was younger.

Me too! Sometimes I'll come home after an afternoon second-hand shopping with like, 8 books. However, I am a pretty quick reader so I tend to get through most of them, it's like my own personal library (but I am seriously running out of space for more bookshelves!).

I am yet to begin War and Peace, purely because I want to have a week or so to really read it and get immersed in it. Aargh, no free time!!

[niroomi]

I sometimes buy books intending to read them but they remain untouched for years. Frankly, if Moby Dick was not a course requirement, I would not have read it in my entire life. Sometimes, I just wish I could have the time to read all the books I have. Ironically, sometimes you read a book more than once; whereas, other untouched books stare at you waiting to be given a simple glance... no way!

[barbara0207]

Same with me. A few months ago I went on a study trip to London with my students. Before we set off I cautioned them not to make their suitcases too heavy. (We went by plane.) But when we were in London I couldn't resist the second-hand book stalls at Camden Lock - and on our way back I was the only person whose suitcase was too heavy ... And now I'm waiting for the summer holidays to finish all my precious finds. :D

[Idril]

Hi Idril,
that is an attitude I can't understand. Why should I be a good sport if the author isn't (to my taste)? Mostly I give a book about sixty pages. If the author hasn't managed to get me interested by then, I give up. My time is too valuable to spend it being bored.

I do understand that argument but sometimes, if you stick with it, a book can surprise you. I think of Lord of the Rings, the first half of the first book is excruciatingly slow and meandering, if I had given that up after 60 pages I never would've discovered the depth and focus it eventually achieves and I never would've discovered it was one of my favorite books. :D The Brothers K by David James Duncan is another book that had a crazy slow start, the characters and action were so stagnant but then it hit a point, almost half way through where it really took off and again, ended up being one of my favorite books. I have certainly stuck to books that ended as horrible as the began but even then, there is a sense of pride I get from finishing something I started. Silly maybe, but that doesn't stop me from slogging through a book I can't stand in the hope that at the end of it all, I will consider it time well spent.

[Shalot]

I bought Heart of Darkness several years ago and haven't read it. I've stared at the first few pages, "read" some and realized that I was thinking about what color I should paint my toenails.

I also have Mrs. Dalloway and Jacob's room, although I have read a book of essays by Virginia Woolf. Don't know why I can't get much further in these two books.

I also need to read War and Peace. I simply must do this before I die and can't seem to get to it.

[Bebbin]

I sometimes buy books intending to read them but they remain untouched for years.
That's definitely true for me. I have owned The Odyssey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and The Return of the Native for a couple of years now and I still haven't gotten around to reading them.

Hopefully I'll get read the books this summer to finally get them off my chest. :p

[Pendragon]

I sometimes buy books intending to read them but they remain untouched for years. Frankly, if Moby Dick was not a course requirement, I would not have read it in my entire life. Sometimes, I just wish I could have the time to read all the books I have. Ironically, sometimes you read a book more than once; whereas, other untouched books stare at you waiting to be given a simple glance... no way!Exactly! I am currently behind at least 100 books on the ones I have bought, yet I have read The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings Trilogy multiple times, as well as Twain's The Innocents Abroad, and other favorites. It would seem that I would want to explore new territory, but I return to Rivendale time and again! http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l108/AbsalomKane/BC.gif

[kratsayra]

A month or more ago I found Toni Morrison's Paradise in a used bookstore, and I was so excited because just the day before I'd heard a talk about it and it sounded excellent. But since buying it, I've had no motivation to actually read it.

Also, my boyfriend keeps encouraging me to re-read some Harry Potter books before the new one come out. And I really want to re-read 5 and 6, but I also don't seem to have the right motivation to do it.

[Niamh]

Where do i begin!:lol: :p
You see i've managed to acumilate an aweful lot of books that i havent read all because i have an addiction to buying books. (doesnt help that i work in a book shop!)
so here is a few;
This burning Absense of Light
My oedipus Complex
Chocolat
War and Peace (which i'd had for ten years and just gave up looking at it and gave it to charity)
Woman in White
The Warden
The tenent of Wildfell Hall

[manolia]

Where do i begin!:lol: :p
You see i've managed to acumilate an aweful lot of books that i havent read all because i have an addiction to buying books. (doesnt help that i work in a book shop!)


:lol: What you say here reminds me of something. Every time i pass in front of a certain bookstore (probably once or twice a week) i have to go inside and buy something. Honestly i don't know why. I just feel the sudden urge and can't fight it :lol: It makes me feel better. (Have you seen the movie 'Conspiracy theory' with Mel Gibson? If you have you'll know what i mean. The only difference in my case is that i don't buy the same book many times). So to get back on topic with that habbit of mine i have accumulated many books and some of them (like ' Crime and Punishment') remain un-read.
It's not that i avoid that book but i am more in an english literature mood the last..ehmm..many years :D

[grace86]

Oh goodness Niamh, I am just like you (except for the working in a bookshop part)! I buy books just for the heck of it...that is..until the fiancee told me I couldn't buy anymore until I got through the ones I had.

Keeping that in mind I try to get through as many as I can.

I have The Count of Monte Cristo that's been sitting there for two or three years...I told myself I wasn't going to read the abridged edition, which was the copy I had. So I bought the unabridged, and now I have two copies sitting there!!

Journey to the Center of the Earth has made the journey to a storage box.

Umm...I think most of my books sit there cuz they have no other choice. All of them have to wait. But certain ones, like Lord Jim, I am very hesitant to start (especially after heart of darkness).

[Stieg]

Currently, I have had China Mieville's King Rat and The Scar for a couple of years. I can't seem to pick either of them up though I've tried.

Read Perdido Street Station right around when the author was becoming a rage.

Now I'd rather read M John Harrison's work when I can afford them.

Also Dorothy Dunnett's books too.

If I dug in some these book boxes I have strewn around I could probably find more unread books.

[Aunty-lion]

Exactly! I am currently behind at least 100 books on the ones I have bought, yet I have read The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings Trilogy multiple times, as well as Twain's The Innocents Abroad, and other favorites. It would seem that I would want to explore new territory, but I return to Rivendale time and again! http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l108/AbsalomKane/BC.gif

Yeah, I read and reread certain books. But there are some books that take basically no effort to read, so it's almost more relaxing to read them than to do nothing. I dunno, but for me rereading Kawabata and Jane Austen is like what watching tv would be to some people ( actually, I am one of those people too:D )

[malwethien]

I've never read and can't seem to muster the interest to read are... Winter of our Discontent by Steinbeck...

Idril...you must read Winter of our Discontent...it is a really good book!!

Mine would have to be A TALE OF TWO CITIES. I have had it for ages...and ever since High School I have avoided reading it. I know I have to, but I just can't seem to make myself read it!

[Janine]

Idril...you must read Winter of our Discontent...it is a really good book!!

Mine would have to be A TALE OF TWO CITIES. I have had it for ages...and ever since High School I have avoided reading it. I know I have to, but I just can't seem to make myself read it!

:wave: Hi malwethien! Read it someday - one of the most fantastic books I have ever read! I must have skimmed ATOTC in high school, because when I read it recently (within past two years) I could not recall anything about the love story - which is the key element in the book, in fact the love triangle. I think you would miss out on not reading it. Funny, I have never been into reading Dickens, but I hope to someday soon. I have several of his novels here in my bookcase begging to be read. But first things first, right?

[Adolescent09]

Idril...you must read Winter of our Discontent...it is a really good book!!

Mine would have to be A TALE OF TWO CITIES. I have had it for ages...and ever since High School I have avoided reading it. I know I have to, but I just can't seem to make myself read it!

For someone who reads as prolifically as you do this surprises me immensely.. I read this book in the sixth grade and instantly classified it as Dickens' best after David Copperfield. The reason is surprises me that you haven't read it is because I have seen you post some obscure and heavy books while this one is easy and omnipresent in the literature world! C'mon try to force yourself if you have to! :D

[malwethien]

For someone who reads as prolifically as you do this surprises me immensely.. I read this book in the sixth grade and instantly classified it as Dickens' best after David Copperfield. The reason is surprises me that you haven't read it is because I have seen you post some obscure and heavy books while this one is easy and omnipresent in the literature world! C'mon try to force yourself if you have to! :D

Wow...thanks for the compliment...though I wouldn't really say that I have read all that much...I don't know why I never got around to reading ATOTC...bad first impressions maybe? But since you and Janine have said that it is good and worth reading...I might just read when I'm done with the book I'm reading ;) Thanks!

[Janine]

Wow...thanks for the compliment...though I wouldn't really say that I have read all that much...I don't know why I never got around to reading ATOTC...bad first impressions maybe? But since you and Janine have said that it is good and worth reading...I might just read when I'm done with the book I'm reading ;) Thanks!

Malwethien, Yep, it is probably your first impression of the book that turned you away. I know when I was in high school ATOTC was required reading - right there that is probably why I hated to read it and thought it boring; no doubt I probably just skimmed it fast or maybe I read Cliff notes, who knows? Now I just could not believe how wonderful the story was. I kept saying to myself "I couldn't have read this book before" but I knew I had. Maybe also I was not ready for it when I was younger.

Adolescent, thanks for backing me up on this one and I think it is Dickens best book, too. It is to me a perfect novel.

[subterranean]

I have Shakespeare's collection of plays. I read Measure for Measure and decided not to continue with the rest.

[Taliesin]

Well, considering our family has about two thousand books and one could say that technically they belong to us and that we haven't read a half of them...

Still, there are books we have bought ourself and have not yet read on the account that : "We shouldn't take up new books until we have finished at least some of the eight we are reading now. "

[Nebula]

Not books per se, but Jane Austen as an author. I just haven't had the urge to read her at all.

[Francis Parker]

Gravity's Rainbow.

Magister Ludi.

[insomnia lodge]

i have a copy of this side of paradise that i started, never finished, and don't really see myself finishing. don't ask me to explain it, i just...don't.

[JuggleDoug]

"but sometimes, if you stick with it, a book can surprise you. "

I completely agree; you will usually be rewarded for perseverance.

I just forced myself through the beginning of _Razor's Edge_, and I'm glad to say it is turning out to be an interesting book.

[IrishMark]

a lot of the books listed here i have read and are actually brilliant reads that once u get into i would advise you to read, including hear of darkness, frankenstein, catch 22, bartleby by moby dick is exceptional (thought i would through it in since melville(thought i would throw it in since moby dick is mentioned) and lord of the rings.

[JuggleDoug]

Does it sting a little when you watch Good Will Hunting and Matt Damon's character, Will, says "You people love to collect books, but you collect the wrong ones."?

I don't know what the "right" books are, but that line helped me with my book-buying addiction.

[Domer121]

East of Eden ~ John Steinbeck... I don't know why, it scares me:blush:

[NickAdams]

Does it sting a little when you watch Good Will Hunting and Matt Damon's character, Will, says "You people love to collect books, but you collect the wrong ones."?

I don't know what the "right" books are, but that line helped me with my book-buying addiction.

Then I watch the Robin Williams speech during the tasters choice moment.;)


Moby Dick- Herman Melville
Against the Day- Thomas Pynchon
I feel that I could be reading a lot of smaller books instead. I'm trying to cover ground.

[Niamh]

East of Eden ~ John Steinbeck... I don't know why, it scares me:blush:

thats the only book that when i'd finished it left me hysterical! spent two hours crying uncontrolably.

[Behemoth]

That's definitely true for me. I have owned The Odyssey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and The Return of the Native for a couple of years now and I still haven't gotten around to reading them.

Hopefully I'll get read the books this summer to finally get them off my chest. :p


I can't speak for One Flew Over..., but both The Odyssey and The Return of the Native are excellent and well worth reading. Personally I have an aversion to anything by Jane Austen having read Mansfield Park. I am yet to forgive her for this. I also have a boxed set of Paulo Coelho novels that leers at me from the shelf whenever I look at it...

[kenikki]

Does it sting a little when you watch Good Will Hunting and Matt Damon's character, Will, says "You people love to collect books, but you collect the wrong ones."?

I don't know what the "right" books are, but that line helped me with my book-buying addiction.

there is another quote like that which goes something like 'we buy many books but we cannot buy the time to read all of them'

I NEED to read catch-22 because it is staring me right in the face but my 'to-read' pile/book queue is oh so long.

[kathycf]

I didn't think I had anything to add to this thread, but this odd thing happened last night. I was shifting around some books in one of the bookcases and found not one, but two copies of Portrait of the Artist as a young man. I have no idea how that happened, (I guess they were given to me) but I can't recall having any desire to read that book.

[Danzamx]

I have the Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer but I can't quite get to reading it

[Artemis Noir]

I have owned War and Peace for many years, I even went to the effort of locating a nice hard copy in a used bookstore *rolleyes*

However, I simply cannot read more than about 50 pages before retiring it. I think it has something to do with the fact that the characters are so utterly superficial and unpleasant, and I just don't care about them or the myopic little worlds they live in.
I realise this was part of the point and that Tolstoy was critiquing his society, but knowing that doesn't help me, it still gives me an allergic reaction. :D
I have read Anna Karenina which I enjoyed, but I just can't get through the former work.

I've also heard that apparently Tolstoy does not translate well into English, so that may have something to do with it as well, I'm not sure.

[Dorian Gray]

War and Peace
Les Liasons Dangereuses
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Wuthering Heights
Anything by Dickens.

[crjs1]

Catch-22, has been staring me in the face, whenever i pass my bookshelf, also Invisible Man keeps getting pushed down my to read list.

[Demona]

I have no reason why this happens but really...some books just don't have a chance...in my case that would be Native son by Wright. Since i'm not at home now cannot really recall what else is doomed to stay untouched in my bookcase...

[Gracewings]

The Brothers Karamazov -- I started it once but didn't stay with it; was confused by different names for the same character. Plan to get back to it...

Lady Chatterley's Lover -- Don't know why I just keep letting it sit there.

Don Quixote -- Actually I don't own this but have checked it out from the library often enough to feel as if I do. I started it as well, and really enjoyed it, just too many distractions, I guess. Think I'll try again this summer. I really love this story.

[_Shannon_]

*giggles* There are way more books in my house that I haven't read than I have!! There are some books that people have been telling me to read forever- and I just don't- like Henry James and Proust. Interestingly- I did just recentlt get to both Lord of the Rings and Catch 22!!

[kratsayra]

I have the Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer but I can't quite get to reading it

I would never have gotten through those if I didn't have to for class. And now, unfortunately, I barely remember them except for the most significant parts. Maybe I should try again.

[Virgil]

George Elliot's Middlemarch. It's so long and I know it's not fast paced. Unless I have to I probably will never get to it.

[CaptureLife]

For some reason, Gulliver's Travels sat on my shelf for years. I finally read it; it wasn't that bad.

[kiz_paws]

Wow, what a good thread. And how refreshing it is to note that I am not the only one who has a book or two on the shelf gathering dust....

Off the top of my head are Catcher In The Rye (J. D. Salinger) ... one of these days ...
and Cancer Ward (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn)

I will get to these books, but I have the same problem as so many others, in that other books just keep piling up and leaving the two mentioned (shamefully I have a few more, too...) in the proverbial dust. But I WILL get to them... :)

[symphony]

Haha so I'm not the only one eh?! Hmm it really feels good to know... :D

I have many books awaiting my touch in my dad's collection, but for some reason I cant quite get into them. I have tried a few and lost interest and there they are now, little show-pieces in the book shelf. :p
I do have a number of high caliber books I havent even touched, but the one name popping right now into my mind is a book I've really tried hard to read, but in vein, in vein! A Family Romance by Anita Brookner :( I've made several attempts to read this book, first when I was in the 7th grade, but at that time I could condone this lack of interest with an excuse that english is NOT my first language and this book is so full of words that are beyond my vocabulary, and calls for constant dictionary correspondance :( . Anyway I tried again at 9th and 10th grade, and once again was repelled by the use of tough words. And now that I have finished my 11th grade, I'm sure I'll never touch that damned book again :flare: it continues to question my vocabulary :bawling: . I know my vocabulary is by no means unquestionable, but hell there are books I can read without having to cram the whole dictionary! :(

[Tasartir]

This is funny: I've been waiting to read Moby Dick! I'm actually reading it right now although, at first, I thought it would be one of those "I'll leave it for later" books that you never get around to. It's a long book, huge in its scope, those of you who are not ready to spend 3 weeks with one book and who don't care the least about whaling don't even start reading this one...you'll grow tired by page 50.
But, to those that are insterested in this book, I recommend it: it's very well written and it's extremely cryptic...you'll never know what the book is really telling you...

[ceetee]

Anything 18th Century, Robinson Crusoe, Tristram Shandy :sick: Actually I mean to order Pamella and Clarissa by Richardson and give them a try, but I'm not hopeful I'll get beyond the first page. Tom Brown's Schooldays by Fielding was so so.

[xaqxit]

Non-recent acquisition on my bookshelf (I've probably had them longer than a year) or somewhere in storage (that comes to mind):

Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
Focault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco
The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
Dubliners by James Joyce
Ulysses by James Joyce
1984 by George Orwell
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov

There are probably quite a few others too.

[Redzeppelin]

Joyce's Ulysses. I read the first 300 pages some 9 years ago, got lost, put the book down and now I've forgotten those 300 pages! I can't bring myself to start that book over again. (I'd rather read Moby Dick backwards than try Ulysses again).

[Mortis Anarchy]

House of Leaves and Naked Lunch...and The Secret Garden and Little Women.

errr, I don't know if the first two are GREAT...but whatever.

[Abdulbagi]

hello evry one. i am new to this forum and i do not know exactly what is going on here. in fact i come to know this forum while i am looking for information on a book named Ulysses. i have come across this book during watching a film called The Good Shephered.
i am interested to know how other people especailly in the west think and from where they get their knowledge and information.

I buy books of interest to me by reading the summary at the back. I do not buy a book without knowing the main subject of that book. However it happens to me that I get disappointed when I start reading a book. But most of the books I buy are good.

[FrozenDuchess]

Joyce's Ulysses. I read the first 300 pages some 9 years ago, got lost, put the book down and now I've forgotten those 300 pages! I can't bring myself to start that book over again. (I'd rather read Moby Dick backwards than try Ulysses again).

Ditto.;)

[Dickens59]

I've had Middlemarch sitting on my shelf for over 10 years. Atlas Shrugged was a gift I still haven't had any interest in reading. Moby Dick has been staring me in the face since my freshman year of college (25 years ago). There is really no excuse for the last one. I either have to read it or dump it. I refuse to move it again when I find a new apartment.

[FrozenDuchess]

AH Dickens, thanks for reminding me- I also have Middlemarch...somewhere!

[firefangled]

Ulysses is actually entertaining if you can go through it once to get the language and structure and then take a deep breath and do it again.

Can't do Finnegan yet, maybe when I retire. I think it is a full time job. Joyce took 14 years to write it and said he expected the reader to at least work that hard.

[Julian Koller]

Ulysses is actually entertaining if you can go through it once to get the language and structure and then take a deep breath and do it again.

Can't do Finnegan yet, maybe when I retire. I think it is a full time job. Joyce took 14 years to write it and said he expected the reader to at least work that hard.

I completely agree with you on Ulysses. Reading it a second time becomes a joy.

I am also not ready for FW either. I need more free time in my life for that sort of commitment.

[apples of gold]

I've been on Book IV of the Iliad for about 5 months ...

The Odyssey may never be opened.

I haven't been able to get through Gilgamesh or Paradise Lost.

War and Peace is noisily sitting there.

Anna Karenina is ignoring me.

And I made the mistake of watching Dicken's Bleak House TV series so now the like-new hard cover book which I got for $5.00 at a sale, is taking up badly needed room on my bookshelf.

So many books .... so little time.

[BroadwayBaby]

I've actually been reading Gone with the Wind for almost 2 years, but I keep getting bored, and then I end up going to a bookstore and reading a whole bunch of novels and not getting back to it for months, this summer though I am doing a school report on it so I have to finish it before the fall, hopefully enough motivation to get me to finish it ;)

[poofyhead15]

A Tale of Two Cities. I can't explain the reason, because Dickens is pretty much my favorite author. Maybe it's because I'm afraid to be done with what might be his greatest novel and I'm trying to preserve the experience of reading it for the first time.

[Stieg]

Victor Hugo's

The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Miserables have sat on my shelf for awhile now. No prejudice just the impression that these books require work.

[Jamilah]

The Grapes of Wrath. I am afraid I won't come away understanding all of the social messages relevant to American during the depression. Maybe reading a bit of history before I tackle this classic? Anyhow, another books that rests on the shelf taunting me is Brave New World.

[aabbcc]

Quite a few of them, actually. Off the top of my head I can think of:

War and Peace, which I have never read in its entirely; I have frequently, throughout the years, been reading it fragmentarily (as in opening random places in the work and reading them :D), which has given me a basic idea of the structure of the work, but I could never bring myself to take it and read it properly. I have tried a couple of times, but never went past 150 pages.

Anna Karenina is another one, I was bought by a dear person one beautiful Moscow edition, but I ended up "reading" it fragmentarily again; I remember when it was studied at school, but neither then I did not quite read it, rather, I speed-read it. One of these days... :D

Idiot, I do not know why do I avoid it because in the principle I adore Dostoevsky; this is, however, the book I have simply been putting away for a couple of years. I suppose its time is yet to come, as I certainly plan on reading it soon. ;)

Lord of the Rings, I have got two copies (original language + translation), both in beautiful editions, but I could never force myself to read them properly. Again, I have been skimming them at most.

Zlatarevo zlato (ajme, when Bazarov sees this :D) is one of the "classic" Croatian books which I never bothered to read, and I was out of country both of the years when it is usually studied at schools, so I nicely got away without having read it. I have learnt how to keep my mouth shut when it is discussed, and nicely nod the head here and then, so I leave the impression of somebody who had read it, whilst in all honesty, I have no idea what it is about. :D I swear there is another copy somewhere in my family's library (as my own copy I have given to Russian friend), but unless it finds me, I will not search for it.

La Conscienza di Zeno di Svevo, which I have been planning to read for at least a couple of years, but always putting it away in favour of other books. I will read it this summer.

The Silent Don and Поднятая целина (I do not know how is this translated into English) by Sholokhov, which my grandfather has been yelling at me for years for not having read it yet... :D I always see them amongst my books and feel guilty, so I have now found a new place to keep them on my shelves - in the second row, so I do not see them and am not reminded of having to read them. Tis better to leave yourself in the dark ;)

Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann - I like Mann's opus a lot, at least that which I have read from it so far, but for some reason I have been avoiding this work.

Great Expectations by Dickens (same as with Dostoevsky - in principle I like Dickens, but I still avoid this for some reason).

Okay, I need to quit writing, this is getting too lenghty and as it is probably better not to reveal the shame list any further :D

[NotWoodhouse]

Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Of course that may be caused by the fact that it's part of my summer assignment.

[bibliophile190]

Moby Dick and Les Miserables for me. Moby Dick because I've heard that it's very boring, and Les Mis because it's just so long! It doesn't help that I got the unabridged version either.;)

[ThousandthIsle]

Yes, I have tons of books that I haven't got around to reading yet. Probably due to my habit of "stocking up" when I take trips to a book store. Offhand, I've had Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man & The Dubliners by James Joyce that I keep meaning to read, but after several years it still hasn't happened.

"My eyes are bigger than my stomach"... I hope not!!

Anyone with this problem who has taken any college lit courses - maybe try imposing schedules on yourself like your professor did. (You must be to page 250 by Wednesay and to page 473 by Friday, no exceptions!) Structure sucks, but where would we be without it?

[ThousandthIsle]

Joyce's Ulysses. I read the first 300 pages some 9 years ago, got lost, put the book down and now I've forgotten those 300 pages! I can't bring myself to start that book over again. (I'd rather read Moby Dick backwards than try Ulysses again).

If you can't get it out of your mind - Sparknotes to "refresh" your memory and then pick up from there. :) It's not cheating!

[ThousandthIsle]

Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Of course that may be caused by the fact that it's part of my summer assignment.

Go for it! I read it in one sitting, you can strike this one off the list easily! :)

[ThousandthIsle]

Non-recent acquisition on my bookshelf (I've probably had them longer than a year) or somewhere in storage (that comes to mind):

Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
Focault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco
The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
Dubliners by James Joyce
Ulysses by James Joyce
1984 by George Orwell
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov

There are probably quite a few others too.

Xaqzit, have you started 1984? I found it to be most addicting once I picked it up. That's always the hardest part!

[apples of gold]

Victor Hugo's

The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Miserables have sat on my shelf for awhile now. No prejudice just the impression that these books require work.

Actually the Hunchback of Notre Dame is quite an easy read and you can really get the feel for Gothic architecture. It doesn't end how I wanted it to though.

[Orpheus]

The only one that I have neglected to read is Dantes Inferno. I started it a while ago, but just kindof stopped. I suppose the Three Musketeers as well, but I know I'll get to that soon.

[Annabel Lee]

I suppose the Three Musketeers as well, but I know I'll get to that soon.

The Three Musketeers was very good! Once I got through the first chapter I couldn't put it down.

The unabridged Les Miserables is what I avoid. And I've started The Hunchback of Notre Dame but I can't seem to get into it. So I just leave it there, setting on my shelf with the very large Les Miserables.

[bibliophile190]

The Three Musketeers was very good! Once I got through the first chapter I couldn't put it down.

The unabridged Les Miserables is what I avoid. And I've started The Hunchback of Notre Dame but I can't seem to get into it. So I just leave it there, setting on my shelf with the very large Les Miserables.




Oh, I loved the Hunchback of Notre Dame. I felt like you did. I was intimidated, but once I actually got started, I felt it was quite brilliant, and an easy read. I [I]did[I] cheat a bit and skipped a few of the descriptive chapters, but I still thought it was quite good.

[Dori]

The Hunchback of Notre Dame was superb.

I have quite a few on my shelf that I don't necessarily avoid, but haven't got to yet. Here they are:

The Count of Monte Cristo, The Iliad, The Odyssey, The Brothers Karamazov, On the Origin of Species (read the intro today though), War and Peace, Anna Karenina, Kant's Logic, Kant's Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Morals, Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche's The Antichrist, Nietzsche's The Will to Power, Plato's Dialogues, The Chronicles of Narnia, Ovid's The Metamorphoses, and more.

I will read them sooner or later though...

[Stieg]

Actually the Hunchback of Notre Dame is quite an easy read and you can really get the feel for Gothic architecture. It doesn't end how I wanted it to though.

I need to put an effort into ranking this title near the top of my read pile then. :D

[tscherff]

as a teenager i bought a series of books by william faulkner. they sat on my bookshelf and traveled from new place to new place for about 40 years. finally i picked up "as i lay dying". since then i have not only read the other three, but 6 more by him.
be patient, the right time will come for all of them.

[Metanoia]

I dont buy a book unless I'm going to read it.Call me crazy.

[firefangled]

30 years ago, after ploughing through James Joyce's Ulysses for the third time and realizing, for the first time, what an amazing and entertaining story it is, I thought I was ready for and bought Finnegans Wake and was I sursprong!

[Riesa]

wow. so Ulysses, three times? and then to feel sursprong! I envy you. I hardly made it through the Portrait.

I own The Return of the Native....and have yet to plough my way through the first 20 pages.

[poofyhead15]

I have to add a couple more to my previous post...

1. Moby Dick because of it's "long and boring" reputation.

2. The American by Henry James because I've read somewhere (probably the introduction) that it's so ambiguous as to what exactly James was trying to say.

3.The Thorn Birds, because I watched the mini series and I don't think I would make it all the way through.

4. The Scarlet Letter - read it in high school but I got it together with some other books when I was going through a classics phase. I can't bring myself to open it up again

that's all for now...

[Domer121]

East of Eden~Steinbeck

[PabloQ]

I bought a copy of Our Mutual Friend by Dickens for 95 cents over 25 years ago. Although I've read many of Dickens' novels, I've never opened it.
I have a copy of Don Quixote that's almost as old.
I've got a long list of novels by American authors queued up which I've posted in another forum. I think I share the book-buying impulse expressed by several folks earlier in the thread. If I walk out of book store without a purchase for myself, I actually feel anxious. It's weird.

[dramasnot6]

Hmm
My books are so internationally scattered, it is hard to say anymore....

I own but have not read "Lord of the Flies". I have no idea why.

[Tersely]

Hmm
My books are so internationally scattered, it is hard to say anymore....

I own but have not read "Lord of the Flies". I have no idea why.

I was like that with Lord of the Flies for two years. Its short but theres so much going on I stopped acouple of times.
For me its Don Quixote (even though I heard it was good.) It just sits there staring.

[Etienne]

Middlemarch...

[Takeahnase]

To Kill a Mockingbird, Macbeth, Great Expectations and Animal Farm sat on my bookshelf for a long time unread. The first three were set texts in my English class and I still have no desire to pick them up and read them again. In fact, prior to this year, anything I've studied for school has put me off ever even glancing at the book a second time around, let alone reading it in my own time for pleasure.

Animal Farm I've now read, but for a substantial amount of time I avoided it because of all the hype I'd heard about it; strangely enough, the more I hear about certain books, the less it makes me want to read them for myself. I also remember really despising the particular cover of the copy we owned from a very little age, so I grew up never feeling much inclined to read it. Silly reasons, really.

I bought myself a copy of War and Peace some time ago which I doubt I will be getting around to any time in the near future, for fairly obvious reasons... it's a monster of a book! And I really have no desire to tackle it when I'm far too busy at the moment to stick with it through to the end, without forgetting what's going on, who's who etc.

[intoxicatedsoul]

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand *sigh** ...does The Complete Works of Shakespeare counts?

[annakarina]

Ulysses... though I don't really feel guilty about this I have to admit... I think I'm one of many...

[Etienne]

Also, one I should have left on the shelf: The Death of Virgil by Broch where there are some strong moments, but most of it is "mystico-poetico ravings" where he repeats himself all the time and tries too much to put in nice words (which he repeats all the time) and tries too much at the same time to be poetic and mystical, which in the end forms only a mass of words, which makes barely any sense, and where he formulates ten contradictions by sentence, for the so-called style, I must guess, which is a failure to me, it is also quite dissonant and to much pretentious, but I put the blame on the translation for this, not that it's a bad translation, but there is almost necessarily something to be lost, especially the poetry parts, although it's considered a great work, my opinion is that it's bad.

His sentences are also longer than the one I wrote there, although I think that was a good idea for the concept he was trying to make (although he failed for the most part, I must say). Definitely a hard book to read, but it ain't worth it, unlike Ulysses, for example (which I consider to be much better).

[thelastmelon]

Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky

[Kafka's Crow]

A Glastonbury Romance by John Cowper Powys:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Glastonbury-Romance-John-Cowper-Powys/dp/0715636480/ref=pd_bbs_3?ie=UTF8&s=gateway&qid=1202490617&sr=8-3

It is a huge book and the worst thing is that it is not boring, it is not slow and I have already read more than half of it still I can not bring myself back to it. Started reading it in 1999!!!

[johann cruyff]

Well,pretty much anything by Victor Hugo...Also,is it just me or is Pride and Prejudice extremely boring?I tried reading it,stopped around p60,and never picked it up again,so yes,I'd say it's a novel I avoid.

[Scarlet'sWalk]

is it just me or is Pride and Prejudice extremely boring?I tried reading it,stopped around p60,and never picked it up again,so yes,I'd say it's a novel I avoid.

I guess it is you.

Just kidding of course =). You know, it is probably boring to you because it is not of your interest. It is one of the greatest novels to me.
:)

[ballb]

A Glastonbury Romance by John Cowper Powys:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Glastonbury-Romance-John-Cowper-Powys/dp/0715636480/ref=pd_bbs_3?ie=UTF8&s=gateway&qid=1202490617&sr=8-3

It is a huge book and the worst thing is that it is not boring, it is not slow and I have already read more than half of it still I can not bring myself back to it. Started reading it in 1999!!!

Powys seems to divide the reading public. You love him or hate him. I gave up on the title you mention. Just couldn`t get into it at all. Perhaps I should give it another go. Some the threads on this site are persuading me to give Lawrence another chance... So why not.

[kilted exile]

Well,pretty much anything by Victor Hugo...Also,is it just me or is Pride and Prejudice extremely boring?I tried reading it,stopped around p60,and never picked it up again,so yes,I'd say it's a novel I avoid.

I have had a terrible time trying to get through P&P, I have started and stopped around 5 times. It is getting one more time before I consign it to the scrap heap (I am told however that Persuasion may be a better read.

[Dori]

Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky

I just started reading this book after putting it down once. Hopefully, I'll be able to stick with it...:p

[Kafka's Crow]

I just started reading this book after putting it down once. Hopefully, I'll be able to stick with it...:p

What? You folks can't bring yourselves to read Crime and Punishment[I/]? This is Dostoevsky's [I]Macbeth. Once the events start rolling, there is no stopping them. It is fast-paced, eventful and very very frightening as you find yourself saying, 'don't do it, for God's sake, don't do it!' If you find it difficult reading Crime and Punishment, try The Idiot which must be the slowest of Dostoevsky's novels but his best one after the Daddy of them all, The Brothers Karamazov.

[johann cruyff]

What? You folks can't bring yourselves to read Crime and Punishment[I/]? This is Dostoevsky's [I]Macbeth. Once the events start rolling, there is no stopping them. It is fast-paced, eventful and very very frightening as you find yourself saying, 'don't do it, for God's sake, don't do it!' If you find it difficult reading Crime and Punishment, try The Idiot which must be the slowest of Dostoevsky's novels but his best one after the Daddy of them all, The Brothers Karamazov.

Yes,I was a bit surprised as well - as a matter of fact,how can anyone find ANYTHING of his boring or tiresome?Oh,I guess de gustibus non est disputandum...

[thelastmelon]

What? You folks can't bring yourselves to read Crime and Punishment[I/]? This is Dostoevsky's [I]Macbeth. Once the events start rolling, there is no stopping them. It is fast-paced, eventful and very very frightening as you find yourself saying, 'don't do it, for God's sake, don't do it!' If you find it difficult reading Crime and Punishment, try The Idiot which must be the slowest of Dostoevsky's novels but his best one after the Daddy of them all, The Brothers Karamazov.

I haven't even opened the book yet, but I will. :) I won't avoid it forever, and I'm sure it's a wonderful book to read.

[optimisticnad]

Jude the Obscure by Hardy. Its not that I don't have the time, I've had that for four years now and only read the first chapter. Maybe I'm a book-pleasure-delayer? :-)

[Dori]

What? You folks can't bring yourselves to read Crime and Punishment[I/]? This is Dostoevsky's [I]Macbeth. Once the events start rolling, there is no stopping them. It is fast-paced, eventful and very very frightening as you find yourself saying, 'don't do it, for God's sake, don't do it!' If you find it difficult reading Crime and Punishment, try The Idiot which must be the slowest of Dostoevsky's novels but his best one after the Daddy of them all, The Brothers Karamazov.


Yes,I was a bit surprised as well - as a matter of fact,how can anyone find ANYTHING of his boring or tiresome?Oh,I guess de gustibus non est disputandum...

I know, I know. I'm not sure what I was thinking my first time through. I just finished the part where Raskolnikov has the dream about the horse (in the beginning). An extremely powerful scene in my opinion.

I've tried The Idiot, but I couldn't quite finish it (for what reason I have forgotten).