So thinking back on my reading history, I've come up with two books that I 100% gave up on and didn't finish. Then I came up with 2 books that, looking back, I wished I had given up on because I hated them with the fire of a thousand suns. Yes.
So, first the two reads I actually did give up on and have mixed feelings as to whether I will ever try to read them again. These could be controversial.
1. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien: I got about 1/3 to halfway through this and just couldn't take it anymore. I guess I just got bored. I felt like nothing was really happening. They were just journeying and singing and telling long poems. And all the history at the very beginning really bored me to no end. I wasn't excited to pick this up and continue reading, so I ended up just giving up on it. I don't know if I'll try to ever read this again or not. I know there are so many people out there who love it, but I just couldn't seem to get in to it.
2. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll: This one is so short that I should have been able to power through, but I just couldn't for some reason. I think it was too weird for me. Plus it was written in that older language that I just don't really like. I also have mixed feelings about the author, or suspicions. I read a book that I really liked that was a fiction tale of Alice all grown up and looking back on her life and the book that kind of made her famous. In that book, Lewis Carroll kind of came off like a creepy, older guy who liked to take photographs and hang out with 8 year old girls. So, I now have the belief in my head, with really no evidence to back it up, that Lewis Carroll kind of sounds like a pedophile. Yes, I know I'm besmirching the name of a famous author, but he sounds weird. Why would an older man want to hang out with young girls? And if you look at some of the pictures he took of Alice Liddell, it just looks really creepy.
Anyway, I gave up on this book. I've also had a little trouble with the Alice in Wonderland re-imanginings I've read, because they've all been too odd. Too whimsical. I don't know if I'll ever pick it up and try to re-read it again. Maybe.
Now for the two books that I powered through but probably would have been happier if I had just given up on them. The ill-will and hatred I feel for them probably wouldn't have been as intense if I had.
3. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski: This was such a waste of time. I had heard such good things about it on booktube, got it, and then just got so frustrated when reading it. The style it was written in is so aggravating to read. And usually, I like books that have different styles. And I did want to DNF it so bad. It was so slow to read and I just had to push myself to finish it. I would look at it and not be excited about picking it up.
4. A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness: I don't know if it's even fair how much I hate this book, but I do. I was so excited to read this because, at the time, there was a lot of hype going around about it. But then I got my hands on it and read it and became so aggravated. I think there were various factors that went into this. First off, it was really long for no real good reason. I didn't like the two main characters. They aggravated me to no end with all their wine drinking and bragging about how smart they were. I also felt the summary misled me. There was all this talk about this rare, magical book, and then in the actual story, the main character holds the book for less then 5 minutes and we never see it again.
The other reason I disliked it so much might be an unfair reason to not like the book. I think I read this while I was in college, and college professors have this way of putting down YA books or any fun fiction book in general, as literature that is worthless and a waste of time. They praise the classics, and I don't necessarily like reading classics, I think they're boring. But this was also the time when the Twilight hate train started going around. How Twilight was such an awful book with subpar writing, a weak main character who girls' shouldn't strive to be, and a creepy stalker vampire love interest. So, I'm getting bombarded with YA is an insult to great literature everywhere at college. I pick up A Discovery of Witches and notice it's by a college professor. Then I'm reading it and the main character Diana is constantly going on about how smart she is and how she's in the Oxford Library looking up all sorts of scholarly things. And then I get a book that has so many of the Twilight elements that people have been criticizing to no end, and they are raving about this one. I guess it just rubbed me the wrong way.
I would probably be happier and not harboring such an intense hatred for this book, if I had just given up on it. I have not yet read the rest of this series and doubt I ever will.
So those are the Top 5 but really 4 Books That I Did Not Finish or Regret Taking the Time to Finish. What do you think of my picks? Agree Disagree? What are yours? Please let me know because I love talking books all day, every day. If you want to join in on the Top 5 Wednesday fun, you totally should. Each Wednesday is a new topic to contemplate and enjoy. Check out all the other Top 5 Wednesday-ers here!
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