We all have at least one: the title(s) that you still haven’t finished weeks, months, even years after you started reading it, but nevertheless you are determined to finish… someday.
Let’s commiserate. What’s on your stuck book list?
Gödel, Escher, Bach. A philosophy reading neighbor was excited for me to read it but it SUCKS. I must finish it so we can talk about it but I’m not into it AT ALL.
I’m also most of the way through a book called The Martian Inca. It’s fine, just not very compelling.
Little Men by Louisa May Alcott.
I’m mostly a genre reader (SF, Fantasy, sometimes horror), but my mom adored these books. So to honor her (and for connection to her) I’ve slogged through Little Women twice. Little Men… I’ve had it out for three years and am still only halfway through. I’ll get there though!
The Player Of Games, the second Culture novel, by Iain Banks.
Use Of Weapons by Banks and Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie have been next on the list for ages, too.
(I thought Rushdie would be arid/academic prose, but boy was I wrong about that, The Ground Beneath Her Feet was a true joy to read)Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeer. I loved Annihilation, but Authority, while not bad, was so different (and slow) that it killed my momentum through the series. I’m maybe 1/3 of the way through Acceptance, but every time I try to go back to it, I just put it back down after a couple of pages.
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Don Quixote. I have been reading at it for years. I am going to try with a different translation one of these days.
2666 by Roberto Bolaño - it took me a couple of goes to get through the first section, but I was finally getting into it, when it suddenly just changes completely, into an entirely different story.
I will have another go at some point, but I’m in no rush.
This is how I generally read books, so there are dozens.
If you only count books I’m more than a couple chapters into, then in descending order of how long they’ve been on the list:
Gödel, Escher, Bach
Beelzebub’s Tales to his Grandson
Finnegan’s Wake
Gravity’s Rainbow
House of Leaves
They’re all great books, but they require a bit more dedicated reading time than I generally have.
Gravity’s Rainbow was a tough read. Took me about two months to complete it, and that’s with the help of the companion wiki and a few chapter summaries whenever I didn’t understand a single sentence no matter how hard I tried.
House of leaves for me too 😅 got 80% and loved it, then got busy again… now I’m intimidated to pick it back up
I got to chapter IX, flipped through it to estimate how long it would take to read it properly, and dutifully put the bookmark in it.
This is one of my favs! It’s worth finishing.
Also, if you like House of Leaves, check out Bats of the Republic by Zachary Thomas Dodson. It’s also Egrodic.
For me currently, it’s Ursula K LeGuin’s The Left Hand of Darkness. I’m a little over halfway through, but for whatever reason I can’t seem to read more than a few pages before I have to take a break, making progress really slow. I also struggled to get through A Wizard of Earthsea, even though I enjoyed the setting, plot, and characters, so I think the problem is simply a matter of not jiving with her writing style.
Fortunately the book isn’t in high demand at my library so renewing it hasn’t been an issue, but I just picked up three other books (holds that finally came in) and I’ve been struggling to justify starting them until I can get LHoD finished first. Ironically one of the new books is a long-time stuck book for me: as a teenager I dropped Xenocide midway through (IIRC it wasn’t as fast-paced as the first two Ender books so I got bored) and now years later I’ve challenged myself with finally finishing it.
LeGuinn in general has a problem where she does a lot of slow world building and the “can’t put it down” part is pretty late. I started with LHoD and felt for a lot of it like I must not jive with her style, but then it hit and I not only couldn’t put it down I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I’ve learned I need to be ready to slog a bit when I start her books despite loving them
Nice to know there might still be hope for me yet!
Tried that book 3 or 4 times. No idea what it’s about, just can’t care. Saw it on my tablet for the 100th time while looking for a new book. Just don’t think I can try anymore, but I feel I’m missing something great.
The left hand of the darkness was such a revelation for me! I think I might have read out in two sittings.
I also didn’t know LeGuin at the time and picked the book up because it was one of only two books in English at a second hand shop. The other was “This is Water” by Wallace. Didn’t know him either, loved that book too.
The Silmarillion. I can only get as far as Valaquenta before I have the urge to do anything else other than read a book as dense as that.
The Color of Magic. I’ve started that book so many times, and I enjoy it while reading it, but as soon as I put it down loose all motivation to pick it up again and I move on to other books. No idea why. It’s just that my enjoyment does not stick with me once the book is closed. I just don’t get hooked and wonder what will happen next.
In case you haven’t read other books in the series: try other books in the series! The Color of Magic and The Light Fantastic are kind of rough and fall victim to trying to parody something by just doing the thing but while smirking. The plot wanders around in a way that’s not especially compelling. Give Mort a try, or Guards! Guards! for a neater plot and better example of Pratchett’s style
I second trying Mort first, Color of Magic was good but I loved Mort.
I’m stuck on Gideon the Ninth.
It’s not even a bad book! It’s actually quite good and I want to see what happens. I guess I’m just not in the mood for grimdark in space? It’s been sitting there for two months. I’ve read like three kindle books rather than read Gideon. :/
I had good time with that one, I felt it was fun despite the grimdark. Gideon really carried it for me.
I’m reading Harrow the Ninth now, but about 3rd of the way through it has not gripped me yet.
Keep going, it will grab you when it grabs you
I loved it and couldn’t put it down, but you’ve gotta be in the mood for it as it is. I think it’s best not to think of it as grimdark, but as basic humanity as an act of rebellion, and catholic traumacore.
Harrow on the other hand is probably the best book I’ve ever read despite it being crazy difficult to read.
道德经 (Dào Dé Jīng / Tao Te Ching). I’ve tried and bounced off this one five times now and am in the middle of try #6. I’ve got the classical Chinese next to a modern Chinese translation with commentary next to at least three English translations and it still hurts my brain.
Consider Phlebas has me stuck. I can tell it’s going to be good, but it’s not grabbing me
This may just be me, but I’ve read a handful of books by Iain M. Banks, and found them all to have uneven or odd pacing that can make it easy to get stuck. If you like the overall vibe it’s worth pushing through, and it’s not just you!
Thanks! That does help to know. It came so highly recommended and I think I’ve had about three false starts with it over the last year.
I read that one and a few of his other books but I don’t really love his style so I don’t think I’ll read anything else by him. I can’t really put my finger on it but the few books that I read had endings that came out of nowhere and left me unsatisfied.
I also thought his books tended to have weak endings. It seems to me that he likes to keep the reader guessing, so he’ll introduce characters and entire plot lines that in the end are irrelevant and since they never get tied into the ending they are just loose ends left hanging out there. Some of it can be considered world-building, which I do have to say he’s pretty good at, but other times it’s just a chapter of gratuitous gore with characters that you never see again and where everything that happened doesn’t advance the plot or even matter.
I have to agree with the pacing too, particular in Consider Phlebas where the final act
spoiler
with the underground train system
just seemed to drag on and on.
Gave up at the hungry cannibals bit and now I’ve forgotten the plot entirely.
Infinite Jest
I totally DNF’ed that book
I love that book so much, just got better and better for me.
