-->
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
March 29, 2024, 12:09:07 AM

Login with username, password and session length
Search:     Advanced search
News: Carnival Of Sound
Home Help Search Calendar Login Register
+  The Smiley Smile Message Board
|-+  Non Smiley Smile Stuff
| |-+  The Sandbox
| | |-+  Books you can't finish reading
Pages: 1 [2]   Go Down
Print
Author Topic: Books you can't finish reading  (Read 30946 times)
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
KDS
Guest
« Reply #25 on: March 07, 2018, 06:22:30 AM »

My wife and I watched the show Black Sails on the STARZ channel. 

On chance, I picked up a copy of a book of the history of pirates at the Dollar Tree called Under the Black Flag by David Cordingly. 

I was expecting a fascinating history of piracy and separating some of the myths and realities, but the writing just didn't speak to me for some reason.  It was very dense, and maybe a little too much time devoted to pirate fiction.  I did eventually finish it, but not as fast as I usually get through a book.   I read Mike Love's book, which was at least 100-150 pages longer, in less than half the time. 
Logged
Loaf
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 838


View Profile
« Reply #26 on: March 25, 2018, 05:52:59 PM »

The most recent book I almost finished but didn't was Thomas Pynchon's Vineland. I'd read both V and Gravity's Rainbow twice (extraordinary books both) but Vineland didn't grab me the way its two predecessors did.

I have another fat Pynchon tome waiting in the wings. I bought The Mason-Dixon Line on a whim at a book launch where they had been serving white wine but I don't hold out much hope for it. Grin   

Pynchon is my favourite author, and I've read everything he has written.

Mason & Dixon is such a beautiful book. Full of some of Pynchon's best prose and descriptions. Read the first few pages and savour it! If you like Gravity's Rainbow, it will hopefully resonate with you. Think of the description of the parabola of a thrown snowball as a great in-joke Smiley

My personal favourite Pynchon is Against the Day. A 1000-page monster of ideas, conscience, humour and changing styles. His magnum opus, imo. There is a great web resource for read-alongs, http://chumpsofchoice.blogspot.co.uk/2006/12/now-single-up-all-lines.html

Vineland, and it's cousins Inherent Vice and Bleeding Edge, are less satisfying to me, but still contain enough Pynchon to elevate them above most other authors' works.
Logged
JK
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 6053


Maybe I put too much faith in atmosphere


View Profile
« Reply #27 on: March 26, 2018, 05:05:32 AM »

The most recent book I almost finished but didn't was Thomas Pynchon's Vineland. I'd read both V and Gravity's Rainbow twice (extraordinary books both) but Vineland didn't grab me the way its two predecessors did.

I have another fat Pynchon tome waiting in the wings. I bought The Mason-Dixon Line on a whim at a book launch where they had been serving white wine but I don't hold out much hope for it. Grin   

Pynchon is my favourite author, and I've read everything he has written.

Mason & Dixon is such a beautiful book. Full of some of Pynchon's best prose and descriptions. Read the first few pages and savour it! If you like Gravity's Rainbow, it will hopefully resonate with you. Think of the description of the parabola of a thrown snowball as a great in-joke Smiley

My personal favourite Pynchon is Against the Day. A 1000-page monster of ideas, conscience, humour and changing styles. His magnum opus, imo. There is a great web resource for read-alongs, http://chumpsofchoice.blogspot.co.uk/2006/12/now-single-up-all-lines.html

Vineland, and it's cousins Inherent Vice and Bleeding Edge, are less satisfying to me, but still contain enough Pynchon to elevate them above most other authors' works.

Many thanks for the heads up, Loaf. I've had this "reader's block" for years now and hardly read anything of length anymore, including long posts! I'm hoping to break it with The Great Gatsby, after which, if successful, I shall give Mason & Dixon a go (sorry about getting the title wrong). 
Logged

"Ik bun moar een eenvoudige boerenlul en doar schoam ik mien niet veur" (Normaal, 1978)
You're Grass and I'm a Power Mower: A Beach Boys Orchestration Web Series
the Carbon Freeze | Eclectic Essays & Art
RangeRoverA1
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 4336


I drink expired tea. wanna sip or spit?


View Profile
« Reply #28 on: March 26, 2018, 04:53:36 PM »

Plenty & don't plan to finish them, too boring.
« Last Edit: March 29, 2018, 03:58:16 AM by RangeRoverA1 » Logged

Short notice: the cat you see to the left is the best. Not counting your indoor cat who might have habit sitting at your left side when you post at SmileySmile.

Who is Lucille Ball & Vivian Vance Duet Fan Club CEO? Btw, such Club exists?

Zany zealous Zeddie eats broccoli at brunch break but doesn't do's & don't's due to duties.
JK
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 6053


Maybe I put too much faith in atmosphere


View Profile
« Reply #29 on: April 02, 2018, 02:22:17 AM »

Pynchon is my favourite author, and I've read everything he has written.

Mason & Dixon is such a beautiful book.

Many thanks for the heads up, Loaf. I've had this "reader's block" for years now and hardly read anything of length anymore, including long posts! I'm hoping to break it with The Great Gatsby, after which, if successful, I shall give Mason & Dixon a go (sorry about getting the title wrong). 

And yes, I'm now a good fifty pages into The Great Gatsby! There's hope for me yet (with the occasional push)...
Logged

"Ik bun moar een eenvoudige boerenlul en doar schoam ik mien niet veur" (Normaal, 1978)
You're Grass and I'm a Power Mower: A Beach Boys Orchestration Web Series
the Carbon Freeze | Eclectic Essays & Art
RangeRoverA1
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 4336


I drink expired tea. wanna sip or spit?


View Profile
« Reply #30 on: November 03, 2018, 03:41:34 PM »

Bumping this thread by blah/ meh/dullard poster SCarolineZzzzz. Read 5th time "Lord Of The Rings" & didn't finish. It's impossible to do.
« Last Edit: November 04, 2018, 03:01:58 PM by RangeRoverA1 » Logged

Short notice: the cat you see to the left is the best. Not counting your indoor cat who might have habit sitting at your left side when you post at SmileySmile.

Who is Lucille Ball & Vivian Vance Duet Fan Club CEO? Btw, such Club exists?

Zany zealous Zeddie eats broccoli at brunch break but doesn't do's & don't's due to duties.
RangeRoverA1
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 4336


I drink expired tea. wanna sip or spit?


View Profile
« Reply #31 on: November 05, 2018, 07:56:17 PM »

M. Sholokhov "Quiet Don". I shall admit - epic novel isn't sth. I'm patient about. But, now & then I give chance to it - it's challenge, if you will. Looks like it's not meant to be sth. I'd like. Then again, like I said in the other Reading thread, am nearly exclusively interested in lines, dialogs, monologs, polilogs, sometimes inner speeches by characters, what they think about. Bottom line - I prefer plays. Classic example - A. Chekhov "Cherry Garden". Back to QD, it's 0/5.
Logged

Short notice: the cat you see to the left is the best. Not counting your indoor cat who might have habit sitting at your left side when you post at SmileySmile.

Who is Lucille Ball & Vivian Vance Duet Fan Club CEO? Btw, such Club exists?

Zany zealous Zeddie eats broccoli at brunch break but doesn't do's & don't's due to duties.
RangeRoverA1
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 4336


I drink expired tea. wanna sip or spit?


View Profile
« Reply #32 on: November 10, 2018, 04:30:54 PM »

Bumping again SCaroLoonZzzzz's thread. This time, it's "Eugene Onegin". I detest poetry - symbolic/ abstract/ nature etc. & that which tells tale. Besides, I despised each character & didn't wish to read it till the end.
Logged

Short notice: the cat you see to the left is the best. Not counting your indoor cat who might have habit sitting at your left side when you post at SmileySmile.

Who is Lucille Ball & Vivian Vance Duet Fan Club CEO? Btw, such Club exists?

Zany zealous Zeddie eats broccoli at brunch break but doesn't do's & don't's due to duties.
RangeRoverA1
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 4336


I drink expired tea. wanna sip or spit?


View Profile
« Reply #33 on: December 01, 2018, 07:07:41 PM »

Bumping shcaLOLinezzzZz's thread - Alexander Ostrovsky's "Without A Dowry" (1878). I didn't like it to the degree to continue reading.

Edit: hmm. Weirdly, JK didn't mention celebrating the OP's birthday at PS that surflowery turns 43 today. Aka "Happy 43rd Birthday!" since it's in calendar too. Interesting fact omission...
« Last Edit: December 04, 2018, 04:46:38 AM by RangeRoverA1 » Logged

Short notice: the cat you see to the left is the best. Not counting your indoor cat who might have habit sitting at your left side when you post at SmileySmile.

Who is Lucille Ball & Vivian Vance Duet Fan Club CEO? Btw, such Club exists?

Zany zealous Zeddie eats broccoli at brunch break but doesn't do's & don't's due to duties.
RangeRoverA1
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 4336


I drink expired tea. wanna sip or spit?


View Profile
« Reply #34 on: December 05, 2018, 05:28:00 AM »

Bumping SCroonerlinezzzZ's thread - Ostrovsky's "Thunderstorm". It being short, yet difficult to read thru speaks.
Logged

Short notice: the cat you see to the left is the best. Not counting your indoor cat who might have habit sitting at your left side when you post at SmileySmile.

Who is Lucille Ball & Vivian Vance Duet Fan Club CEO? Btw, such Club exists?

Zany zealous Zeddie eats broccoli at brunch break but doesn't do's & don't's due to duties.
Alex
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 2660



View Profile
« Reply #35 on: December 07, 2018, 09:52:53 AM »

When I was 14 I read the first two chapters of thr first Harry Potter book. I absolutely hated it, don't really remember why, but I disliked it enough to swear off the rest of the books and all of the movies. I would probably dismiss it as a children's book if I tried going back to it now at age 33.
Logged

"I thought Brian was a perfect gentleman, apart from buttering his head and trying to put it between two slices of bread"  -Tom Petty, after eating with Brian.

https://givemesomeboots1.blogspot.com/
Chocolate Shake Man
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 2871


View Profile
« Reply #36 on: December 07, 2018, 11:00:09 AM »

When I was 14 I read the first two chapters of thr first Harry Potter book. I absolutely hated it, don't really remember why, but I disliked it enough to swear off the rest of the books and all of the movies. I would probably dismiss it as a children's book if I tried going back to it now at age 33.

I've just finished teaching a three month university course on the book series!
Logged
JK
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 6053


Maybe I put too much faith in atmosphere


View Profile
« Reply #37 on: January 23, 2019, 01:27:53 PM »

When I was 14 I read the first two chapters of thr first Harry Potter book. I absolutely hated it, don't really remember why, but I disliked it enough to swear off the rest of the books and all of the movies. I would probably dismiss it as a children's book if I tried going back to it now at age 33.

I've just finished teaching a three month university course on the book series!

Wow, Choc. Roll Eyes I must confess to never having read a page of anything from the series. Grin

I started The Hobbit years ago, but from what I remember of the experience, I got so pee'd off with the endless stream of visitors to Bilbo's (?) house that I gave up in despair.

Same with Dune. I guess I just don't like science fiction, although I do recall enjoying Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land...
Logged

"Ik bun moar een eenvoudige boerenlul en doar schoam ik mien niet veur" (Normaal, 1978)
You're Grass and I'm a Power Mower: A Beach Boys Orchestration Web Series
the Carbon Freeze | Eclectic Essays & Art
JK
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 6053


Maybe I put too much faith in atmosphere


View Profile
« Reply #38 on: March 18, 2019, 07:25:55 AM »

 LOL  Sorry, I'm in one of those moods today...

Logged

"Ik bun moar een eenvoudige boerenlul en doar schoam ik mien niet veur" (Normaal, 1978)
You're Grass and I'm a Power Mower: A Beach Boys Orchestration Web Series
the Carbon Freeze | Eclectic Essays & Art
Pages: 1 [2]   Go Up
Print
Jump to:  

Powered by SMF 1.1.21 | SMF © 2015, Simple Machines
Page created in 0.867 seconds with 22 queries.