Books You Had to Put Down

[Wander89]

15 hours ago, ILuvHats said:

 

Yeah. It took me a 3 attempts over the course of 2 years to get into WoT. I actually enjoyed the second book, though I didn't think it was amazing, but Eye of the World was soooo Tolkienesque and slow paced that it was a pain to get through.

Same here. I put down Red Seas a hundred pages from the end. Probably should have just finished it, but (shrug). I'll probably give the series another try, but it'll be a year or two because I have so many books on my docket, not the least of which is finishing WoT, and I'm only on book 7.

I can't believe that I said that in June of this year but I'm now already finished Eye of the World and part way through The Great Hunt! I remember initially reading Way of Kings and not getting into it until I read Mistborn and I feel like that's happened with Wheel of Time also.

[+AbroadKew]

The Doors of Perception/Heaven and Hell by Aldous Huxley

I went in completely blind and just assumed that because I loved Brave New World that I would love this. I don't have a problem with non-fiction and read quite a bit of it but I didn't realize it was based on his true life experiences with of a drug until like a quarter of the way through some how. I just wasn't connecting with it at all. It's the only book that I made a conscious decision to stop reading.

I might go back to it some day though.

[ToaCalune]

For me, I had to put down Brisingr. I read Eragon when I was in 6th grade and really enjoyed it, but by the time I got about halfway through, and I remember that the pacing just ground to a halt, so I decided to take a break. And then I never felt the desire to pick it up again.

[Honorless]

The Desert Spear and other following sequels to the Painted Man. Book 1 started out very strong, with the fear and callous disregard of the world stoking the main character, Arlen's anger in a very relatable way, another main character is introduced here, Rojer, in a very visually stunning sequence. I actually recommend reading the first book. Book 2 is not badly written, it's a kind of villain's perspective that's really unpalatable.

I skipped to book 3 and the whole thing turned out to be a disaster. There are demons, and studs who fight them and there are some "strong female characters". The sexism in these books don't just exist in the world that it creates. It gets really bad after a while.

Edited March 2, 2020 by Dreamer

[Wyndlerunner]

3 hours ago, ToaCalune said:

For me, I had to put down Brisingr. I read Eragon when I was in 6th grade and really enjoyed it, but by the time I got about halfway through, and I remember that the pacing just ground to a halt, so I decided to take a break. And then I never felt the desire to pick it up again.

@ToaCalune, your Username wouldn't happen to be a Bionicle Reference would it?

[ToaCalune]

@Wyndlerunner Why yes, it is. Toa Calune is my self MOC, a Male toa of lightning. Don't ask me how, as I haven't figured it out myself...

[Wyndlerunner]

Just now, ToaCalune said:

@Wyndlerunner Why yes, it is. Toa Calune is my self MOC, a Male toa of lightning. Don't ask me how, as I haven't figured it out myself...

Nice! I mean wasn't there that one male toa of psionics in the Yesterday Quest? It's not entirely unheard of to have an abnormally gendered toa. Although, as I grow older, I find myself more discontent with the weird gender rules in that world

[ToaCalune]

12 hours ago, Wyndlerunner said:

Nice! I mean wasn't there that one male toa of psionics in the Yesterday Quest? It's not entirely unheard of to have an abnormally gendered toa. Although, as I grow older, I find myself more discontent with the weird gender rules in that world

Me too! Like, why can't I just have a self MOC that matches my gender, as well as has the powers I want. Ah Greg. He can really drive me up the wall sometimes.

[Draginon]

19 hours ago, ToaCalune said:

For me, I had to put down Brisingr. I read Eragon when I was in 6th grade and really enjoyed it, but by the time I got about halfway through, and I remember that the pacing just ground to a halt, so I decided to take a break. And then I never felt the desire to pick it up again.

Same. I got halfway through and just stopped before restarting it a year later because the final book was coming out and I just wanted to finish that series for good. What really killed that series for me was the main character himself and the overglorification of the elves. I guess this series is what killed any interest in elves for me, do like them but not as much as most fantasy lovers do.

Currently reading Wild Cards and I’ve had to put it down a few times for life reasons and because a couple of stories just got really boring to read in one go. Nearly done now but I’m interested enough to go read the sequels though it’ll be a while before I get back to this universe.

A book I just couldn’t get into was Pride & Prejudice. I guess I’m not into bad relationship stories where the guy is abusive or manipulative and the girl still wants to be with him.

[Eluvianii]

3 hours ago, Draginon said:

A book I just couldn’t get into was Pride & Prejudice. I guess I’m not into bad relationship stories where the guy is abusive or manipulative and the girl still wants to be with him.

Wow, you're the first person I see getting that impression from the book. The way I see it, both characters are pretty bad in the beginning, which is why the story works as a comedy. But they slowly get better.

[Draginon]

11 hours ago, Eluvianii said:

Wow, you're the first person I see getting that impression from the book. The way I see it, both characters are pretty bad in the beginning, which is why the story works as a comedy. But they slowly get better.

I’ve seen other people put it in the ‘Twilight and Fifty Shades’ category as well (as in ‘what do women see in this guy???’) so take that as you will. There are some things where it’s excusable because it was a different time but there are others where it wasn’t right then and still isn’t. While I didn’t like the story I do appreciate that Darcy becomes a better person unlike Edward, Bella, Christian Grey and Anastasia Steel.

[Snakenaps]

Recently, for me, it was The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon. It was one of last year's top fantasy books and I waited two months for my hold at the library. Finally got the book, dived in...and got a quarter of the way through this chunker when I realized I just didn't care about anyone or anything. There were cool elements, but nothing sucked me in. I am an incredibly fast reader, and when a good book has its claws in me, I can't put it down. It took me two weeks to get a quarter of a way through this book, and I realized I was never going to finish this book before the due date. So I just returned it. 

[Karger]

Twilight.  Big copy at the library and a really bad recommendation.  I could not believe that humans actually subjected themselves to it.

[Iarwainiel I]

On 6/7/2019 at 3:58 PM, Draginon said:

More the second.

I love that this thread is allowing both! though there are already several threads about "lem-ing" books. (Verb: to "lem" = To stop reading a book because it's so bad you can't continue; definition courtesy of the Sword & Laser book club.)

There have been a couple times when I've put down a Sanderson book and had to take a moment to process my emotions - several in each volume of Stormlight Archives, but the most extreme time was the last 2 paragraphs of The Bands of Mourning. It was all I could do to not throw my hardback book across the room! Thankfully I was home alone, because I was literally screaming

Spoiler

AAAAAAAAHHHH! Kelsier! Kelsier! Kelsier! Survivor of Hathsin!!!!

and running around in (small) circles. That was epic.

The works of C.S. Lewis are so dense (packs a lot into so few words) that I sometimes have to put his books down & just ponder the implications of what was said/meant. Being a Christian, I had to put down his Perelandra dozens of times, re: Mind.Blown; however, that related to doctrine so prolly my reactions were pretty rare.

My strongest memory of needing to put a book down is from the first time I read The Lord of the Rings. In the chapter "The Battle of the Pelennor Fields," this is the passage: "upon the foremost ship a great standard broke, and the wind displayed it as she turned towards the Harlond." ... When I read the next 5 words, I just put down the book & cried for hours. It is literally the most moving thing I have ever read in a work of fiction - nothing will ever top it, in my heart. I have read that chapter probably a hundred times, and it gets to me Every.Single.Time. I hope it always does.

Edited March 5, 2020 by Lump-wing
spoiler tag didn't seem to work! gah! trying again

[Eluvianii]

On 3/3/2020 at 6:35 AM, Draginon said:

I’ve seen other people put it in the ‘Twilight and Fifty Shades’ category as well (as in ‘what do women see in this guy???’) so take that as you will. There are some things where it’s excusable because it was a different time but there are others where it wasn’t right then and still isn’t. While I didn’t like the story I do appreciate that Darcy becomes a better person unlike Edward, Bella, Christian Grey and Anastasia Steel.

What I gather from this, since you mention stuff like Twilight, is that you and I have different definitions for abusive relationships and bad romance stories so we probably should leave it in an "agree to disagree".

As for stuff related to the thread, i just remembered when I read Mockingjay and people started dropping like flies and then I got to that scene where they're tending the wounded if I recall correctly and then

Spoiler

a bomb drops and Prim just so suddenly ceases to exist...

I don't know, at the time that left me pretty, well, bad. I probably hadn't seen a scene quite like that in a book before so it was just so new, and shocking, and incredibly sad.

[Feruchemical Bowser]

Personally I don't like the SW books. 

I put down a book called Deltora Shadowlands. I know tons of books that are better than this one, and their Brandon's.

[Spren of Kindness]

I put down The Great Hunt fairly quickly.  I might go back, but it was a very daunting series.  I almost put down City of Brass out of frustration near the end, but I don't put down a lot of books.  I like to finish, even if I'm not really invested.

[Snorkel]

A couple of books from when I was a young kid that I really wanted to read, but couldn't.  I tried about 3 times each.

Black Beauty - I was terrified of fires (thanks horrific fire safety video I watched in school), so couldn't read past the chapter with the fire.

A Hardy Boys book that I can't remember the name of.  It started off with the boys going to their clubhouse and making a big deal of the "NO GIRLS" sign on the door.  I was getting a lot of "you can't play with us/on this cool thing because you're a girl" in real life, so I got very sad and angry every time I tried to read it.  But it was the only boys' adventure book I could find in my school library.  And I wanted to read a boys' adventure book because, in the old girl adventure stories, the girls didn't get to do any of the really adventurous stuff.

[Dunkum]

5 hours ago, Snorkel said:

A Hardy Boys book that I can't remember the name of.  It started off with the boys going to their clubhouse and making a big deal of the "NO GIRLS" sign on the door.  I was getting a lot of "you can't play with us/on this cool thing because you're a girl" in real life, so I got very sad and angry every time I tried to read it.  But it was the only boys' adventure book I could find in my school library.  And I wanted to read a boys' adventure book because, in the old girl adventure stories, the girls didn't get to do any of the really adventurous stuff.

it has been a long long time since I read the Hardy Boys.  I don't remember them having that sort of thing.  granted I mostly remember those books as being the only thing I've ever read to use the word "jalopy"

[Snorkel]

I expect the plot most likely had a bit about learning to play nice with a girl they came across.  But I couldn't push past the first chapter.

Did you know - the Hardy Boys series was ghost written by a bunch of different authors! The name the printed on the books was not a real person!  Same with a bunch of series that were coming out around that era.

[Mat]

Two Wheel of Time moments:

First: In Lord of Chaos, where:

Spoiler

Nynaeve heals Logain. This was one of those ones where it was just a plot-shaken shock, not a get-me-out-of-this-boring-book moment.

Second: Crossroads at Twilight

Spoiler

Yeah here is the get-me-out-of-this-boring-book moment. Stopped reading WoT around here, I just couldn't do it :P. I barely made it through book 9 as it was... Hopefully will return to those and make it to the Sanderson ones.

And two SA moments, both in WoR:

Spoiler

1. When Amaram shows up. I was mad :P.
2. When Kaladin asked for his boon. I was madder, but at him. Like I cringe every time I read that scene. It was just such a... stupid move.

 

Edited August 28, 2020 by Matrim's Dice

[NameIess]

I'm currently reading The Wheel of Time, and with book nine, although I haven't really "put it down" I just haven't been reading it. I think it might have something to do with my college transfer classes starting, or maybe me reading the first eight books in august, while staring school. I think I'll get through it, but I just don't really feel motivated to do so. Which is why I started re-reading The Way of Kings Prime.

[Dunkum]

1 hour ago, Matrim's Dice said:

And two SA moments, both in WoR:

  Reveal hidden contents

1. When Amaram shows up. I was mad :P.
2. When Kaladin asked for his boon. I was madder, but at him. Like I cringe every time I read that scene. It was just such a... stupid move.

 

100% agree on that second one.

[Iarwainiel I]

On 3/1/2020 at 10:31 PM, Honorless said:

The Desert Spear and other following sequels to the Painted Man. Book 1 started out very strong, with the fear and callous disregard of the world stoking the main character, Arlen's anger in a very relatable way, another main character is introduced here, Rojer, in a very visually stunning sequence. I actually recommend reading the first book. Book 2 is not badly written, it's a kind of villain's perspective that's really unpalatable.

I skipped to book 3 and the whole thing turned out to be a disaster. There are demons, and studs who fight them and there are some "strong female characters". The sexism in these books don't just exist in the world that it creates. It gets really bad after a while.

I agree with you entirely. This series is waaaaay violent - I got through book 4 (of 5), but I had to skip lots of parts because real life is hard enough without having images in my head of awful stuff that happens to fictional people. It's a shame, because the magic system and worldbuilding were interesting, and Brett is a decent writer. But he said in interviews that he wanted to write books that were violent and (as you said) very sexist, so it was intentional, not an accident. I wish the publisher or someone would put out a "PG-rated" version of the series, because I'd probably buy it & like it.

[revelryintheart]

I had to put down A Wise Man's Fear (book 2 of the Kingkiller Chronicles). I thought the first book was fine, but University was a bit boring. Book 2 was more of University, so not great. And Kvothe (MC) was such a Mary Sue but at the same time SUCH AN IDIOT. I didn't really love any of the characters, and the actually interesting parts of the plot were sidelines. And flipping through it I found a scene with Felurian...... yeah I don't want to read that.

I also had to put down Dune Messiah (book 2 of the Dune series). I loved the first book, and was excited to read the rest of the series, but there was this really weird plot where someone was trying to get the main character to have a kid with his sister. So yeah I stopped after that