It has taken me 20 years to get thru this book.....

The Importance of Being Ernest

One of my favorite plays!  Isn't it funny how one person's favorite is the bane of another?  Of course, I'm very partial to Mr. Wilde; I wish I were one-tenth as witty as he.

Moby Dick, War and Peace and One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Try as I might, just can't do it.

I have to say, I have alway held onto my copy of War and Peace just in case I might finish it someday.  I have only ever made it half way through. I have forgotten so much that I probably need to start all over!

One of my favorite plays!  Isn't it funny how one person's favorite is the bane of another?  Of course, I'm very partial to Mr. Wilde; I wish I were one-tenth as witty as he.

I liked The Picture of Dorian Gray... but yeah I didn't like Ernest!

I liked The Picture of Dorian Gray... but yeah I didn't like Ernest!

See now, Dorian Gray is probably the only thing Oscar Wilde ever wrote that I don't like! Ernest is one of my favourites, too!

See now, Dorian Gray is probably the only thing Oscar Wilde ever wrote that I don't like! Ernest is one of my favourites, too!

How funny We're opposites!

See now, Dorian Gray is probably the only thing Oscar Wilde ever wrote that I don't like! Ernest is one of my favourites, too!

I've never tried Dorian Gray.  Hmm... perhaps I should so I can see whose side I'm on.

I've never tried Dorian Gray.  Hmm... perhaps I should so I can see whose side I'm on.

Yes, but what if you like both?! it'll be a COUP!

I've never tried Dorian Gray.  Hmm... perhaps I should so I can see whose side I'm on.

Yes! Read it! Be on my side!!

 

(I was quite young when I read it which perhaps accounts for my lack of appreciation for it. Maybe I need a re-read?)

I recently picked up a book which is meant to be a best seller, The Shadow of the Wind.  I just can't get into it.  I'm a fast reader...but I'm only at page 67 after a few days.  It sounded like a book for me, but it's boring me to tears.

Dune.  I keep trying though.  Each time I read it I add a chapter, so the next time I should finish chapter 5.  I liked Dorian Gray, but haven't read anything else by Wilde.  I don't like Austen though, but I did like Northanger Abbey, sort of.

for me it has been the Illuminatus Trilogy(sic?)
just cant chew through it

It took me several years and several tries to get through Gravity's Rainbow.  Worth it in the end, though. 

The one I'm on now, where I know it will be the same thing, is Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace.  I'm not going to push myself - I know I'll get there in the end.

And then back to more recent Pynchon.

Oh I'm much too much of a teacher's pet not to finish a book, even when I hate it.   I agree that it would be more sensible to quit if the book is no good.  The only book I can think of that I've started and not finished is a biography of Yeats.  It's a scholarly work, but I was so down at the time I was reading it (not because of the book) that I had to switch to something light and funny.  I still have it so I guess that I'll finish it someday.  But just as I'm writing this I'm thinking I've probably developed a mental block about it.

The way I protect myself from having to finish books I don't like is that I screen everything before I start reading.  I read reviews, the covers, the authors bio, some bits from the beginning, the middle, etc.  How I love private bookstores - they're so patient with people like me who have to read half the book in the shop before they buy it!   

I have two:

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell -- and for a stupid reason.  The book doesn't fit comfortably in my hands!!

Tess of the d'Urbervilles.

Tess of the d'Urbervilles.

Also known as Tess of the d'Ullsvilles to my 12th grade English class.