I’ll go first. I hated Kindred by Octavia Butler. I think I got through 50 pages before I quit. For me it was the prose and dialogue. So bland. It didn’t invest me in the story at all. And I found the characters dull because of it, especially the husband. Also, there was a lack of interesting descriptions that made it hard to see the environments in my mind. Of course, the author doesn’t have to describe every little detail, but she didn’t have enough detail in my opinion. I’m tired of having this book recommended to me.
by you_gotta_hold_on
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Couldn’t finish the Starless Sea because of so many one sentence paragraphs.
So many.
When I got to the third book in the Game of Thrones, I threw all three into the trash. The writing had become like a bad TV series from the very early 80’s or something and that is when I realized the the author was a TV writer.
Wheel of time… started reading it but the authors writing style just turned me off. It was so over dramatic that it just really took out of the story. I like the tv show and really wanted to like the books but just couldn’t do it.
I loved William Least Heat-Moon’s first book, *Blue Highways*, a chronicle of his travels around America exclusively on back roads. I was excited to pick up his next book, *Prairyerth,* but I couldn’t get past the first few pages. Every chapter started out with a long quotation from another source.
Omg so many booktok books.
Addie Larue, Fourth Wing, It Ends With Us, Behind Closed Doors. When it comes to booktok, either they’re great, like Tender is the Flesh, Verity, Pretty Girls. Or they’re straight trash that rely on overused tropes instead of actual writing skill.
I wish I dnfed Lessons In Chemisty
One of those Dan Brown ones that gullible people think is non-fiction. I didn’t buy it but a colleague *insisted* I read it and lent me her copy. I showed willing but it was awful. I can’t remember how far I got in, but not very far.
For me, it’s ***Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas***. I’ve tried it multiple times over the past 15 years, and just cannot get into it.
A Confederacy of Dunces. I am no prude but i couldn’t understand why anyone would find it funny. Just one gross-out joke after another. I “got it” after the introduction of the New Yorker character who plays guitar for homeless people but that was probably the last nail in the coffin. Gave up maybe a third of the way through.
Before the coffee gets cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi and 100 years of solitude 100%. But I dislike magical realism in general so that might be why I didn’t like them at all
The Fall of Hyperion for me, I devoured Hyperion, but the sequel was a freaking slog to finish ever though the story was super cool on paper, the writing style and pace were horrible.
We Need To Talk About Kevin
Hated The School for Bad Mothers with a passion. -0000 stars and I didn’t even finish it. I did Google the ending though and I’m still not mad that I didn’t finish it.
Good Omens. I tried. I tried so hard. But I gave up at 82%, according to my kindle, and in the four years since I’ve never once wondered how it ended. Life is just too short.
Battlefield Earth is the only book I stopped reading.
I was kinda excited to see that, because I came across the whole series of them in the university library. I thought hey this looks like a classic epic science fiction story. Nope.
The Stand. I swear I’ve tried to read it five times in as many years. It’s just too damn long! If it was broken up into two books, that might have helped me tackle it from a psychological standpoint (tricking myself into believing it’s not *that* long). I like other Stephen King books, I just can’t seem to get through this one.
That list is too long. I’m a fussy reader, especially in the self publishing world we live in now.
I could not continue reading ‘It ends with us’ after ryle(?) carried Lily into a bedroom, looked the door and basically forced her to make out with him despite her screaming ‘No’ several times. I immediatly stopped reading. (Also why tf did nobody help??)
I’m a huge fan of consent and if anything goes against/without consent, even if the character whos consent was broken secretly wants it deep inside, I’m done. I need a clear okay on both sides, or else I cannot enjoy the read. 🙃
The younger Herbert’s expansions of his father’s books. I just… I just can’t with this.
Speaking of, I’m currently listening to an old audiobook of The White Plague, digitized from Books on Cassette, so I do giggle sometimes when it tells me “end of cassette so-and-so.” I’m 16 hours and 45 minutes in. I have issues with the premise, but at least it’s bloody science-based.
I consider Y The Last Man premise foolish and inane, but at least the comics were better than the TV series. Not that there was enough time, but there were issues. (pun accidental) Bloody heck every creature with a Y chromosome? EVERY? Because reasons?! Sorry, to continue would be to spoil, and then I’d have to use the spoiler function.
Wheel of Time. Finished the fourth book and couldn’t stomach the thought of ten more of these with a slog oncoming.
It’s funny because I loved Kindred! Different strokes. I can’t think of a specific book I couldn’t finish, but there were definitely some modern romances that were just too predictable and basic. I wish I hadn’t finished some of them.
Shantaram
The Pillars of the Earth and Project Hail Mary are the two books I have given up on at the 50 page mark. I hated the writing style of both of them (Pillars is terribly written) and hated the protagonist of Hail Mary.
The Bridgerton Series. Made it to book 2. They just aren’t deep, and I like to think.
Chelsea Handler’s autobiography. She comes off as such an arrogant, entitled asshole it’s unreal. I read that book when she was at the height of her Chelsea Lately days, and I watched the show every night laughing my ass off. I read the book hoping for the same. Except I got a mean, narcissistic story about an asshole who proudly comes from a family of assholes. I think I was a few chapters in when she told some story that was supposed to make her sound cool but instead was like a confession of assholery.
I threw the book across the room, then got so mad I stomped over, picked it up, and took it outside to the dumpster where I threw it in with gusto.
I never watched her show again.
Saaaaaaame. I don’t like her writing at all.
In contrast, I was glued to Kindred, and couldn’t stop reading it!…
I don’t know if this counts but I couldn’t finish a book recently because it was so poorly written. How poorly? It was literally changing viewpoints between first and third person in the same paragraph.
American Gods – Neil Gaiman
Just couldn’t get into it. And I gave it a good honest effort.
50 Shades
Had the books given to me. Absolute trash writing. Didn’t understand the hype but I admit at the time I was curious. Then got super infuriated about the fact that such terrible writing and a cliche storyline could be so damn successful.
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
Writing was good but again just couldn’t get into it.
Yellowface
Eat, pray, love. Good god I hated that book
*The Midnight Library* by Matt Haig. It’s been a couple years since I attempted to read it, but I remember just hating the writing style. Everything was so oversimplified and over explained; I felt like the author was talking down to me the whole time.
Most recently I couldn’t finish The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk. I felt that he felt way too much power listening to and sharing horrific stories that his clients shared with him. There was a story near the end where he inadvertently triggered a client when she dropped a tissue and he said, “let me get that for you,” and I had to stop reading.
I wished I’d stopped earlier, but a friend gushed at how helpful it was for him, so I kept reading after the first trauma story.
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow. Really not a fan of plots driven by constant miscommunication, but I also hated the MCs. I don’t see how it’s praised for being a celebration of friendship when they are just so awful.
I had to read Kindred for uni. Hate read it all, will never read it again.
>I’ll go first. I hated Kindred by Octavia Butler. I think I got through 50 pages before I quit. For me it was the prose and dialogue. So bland. It didn’t invest me in the story at all. And I found the characters dull because of it, especially the husband. Also, there was a lack of interesting descriptions that made it hard to see the environments in my mind. Of course, the author doesn’t have to describe every little detail, but she didn’t have enough detail in my opinion. I’m tired of having this book recommended to me.
So so so much to unpack here, so I’ll just say lol
1Q84 every woman was introduced by a description of their breasts😬
Three Body Problem for me. Read pretty far until I realised I didnt like anything about it.
The secret History by Donna Tartt.
Total catfish with the blurb.
The chosen narration didn’t fit the premise of the philosophical elements.
By the way the “philosophical” elements and old language just comes off pretentious and used as garnishments to sound smart.
The kids met a god but is over here boohooing about stupid shit. If I met a god I promise you I would not care about most of the vices these kids have. It’s only been brought up 2 times in the entire +500 pages. All they do is drink and smoke in silence. This the first and last time I’m listening to the “dark academia” booktok
Do people on r/books even like reading? Every other post is just “what book did you hate?” “What’s a book you didn’t finish?” “What’s a book you just couldnt get into?” “What’s a book that everyone else liked but YOU didn’t?” Good grief!
Is not caring about how a book/series of books ends and abandoning it the same as not finishing a book because I dislike/d it so much? Because I got to the 11th book in The Wheel Of Time and stopped reading after that. I know the other three books are available and the series was finished by Brandon Sanderson (sic), but I really don’t care.
Infinite Jest. I read it in kindle for a solid amount of time, who knows, and then noticed I was like 15% through. I have other books to read dude get an editor.
100 Years of Lenni and Margot … too much teenage angst and slow-going
The Pillars of the Earth. At page 350 I just could NOT do it anymore. I don’t even know how I got that far in.