Wednesday 9 May 2007

Oh god, must I? Books we couldn't be bothered with

Since the 100 books seem to have stalled let's keep that on hold and think about something else.
What are the books you had to read for whatever reason and could not, come hell or high water, get more than a chapter or two in?

To kick us off I'm touting that old favourite:
1. The Da Vinci Code - My only wish for Dan Brown is for a violent accident to befall him. His smugness on Oprah saying it was a work of fiction based in fact while he's licking his lips thinking of his bank account will never cease to irritate me. Die!

2. Ulysses - I actually feel a great deal of shame at this one - I like Joyce, I was in love with modernism. I got about halfway through and in my confusion about what was going on, I admitted defeat.

3. Trainspotting - Irvine Welsh: what were you thinking? And as if one wasn't enough he wrote a whole series of them.

Over to you.

3 comments:

Bolton said...

To be honest I got so bogged down in Jonestown with all the rugby stories that I never finished it... and totally missed the exciting allegations everyone was going on about. I know it's not a work of fiction, but it is still sitting on my computer desk at home with the jacket leaf noticeably marking a page about a third of the way through.

Lindsay said...

Under the Volcano (I'm sure I'll let that one go eventually)
Sophie's World. I've tried THREE times and gotten nowhere
Most of Jeanette Winterson after Written on the Body. Although the books are still on my bookshelf.
Wings of the Dove(James). Excruciating.

my name is kate said...

Embarassingly Crime and Punishment. It actually started off great and I got well into it before I put it down for a week and could NOT get back into it. A year or so later I did the same thing but couldn't make it through. Maybe one day...