The book I can't seem to finish

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visiondr

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I'm currently mired in a book I am just not getting along with. It is a fine novel, with an excellent pedigree and a stellar reputation. But, try as I might, I can't seem to finish it. The book in question is "Midnight's Children" by Salman Rushdie.

There have been other books that have tested my intellectual mettle: "Moby Dick " and "A Thousand Years of Solitude" come to mind. But I've always been able to muscle my way past the difficult parts and carry on. And in all cases, I've been richly rewarded with a very satisfying read. On the flip side, there's a strange "reader's guilt" that I suffer from whenever I can't finish. And that guilt is some crazy motivator!

So, the question is, dear reader, has this ever happened to you? Are there books you have picked up and never quite finished? Why?
 
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I must confess to "almost anything by Dickens":

His problem, should he be said to have a problem, is that in the matter of the deployment of words he tends to use an abundance so exceptional that those of us who are by training and predeliction more content with a rather greater degree of concision in the expression of ideas than he seemed to practice tend to be overcome with the sheer proliferation of his prose to the extent that we become frustrated by being subjected to the reading of single sentences that go on and on at lengths more appropriate to paragraphs without ever seeming to get around to expressing the idea that he is probably trying to convey encouraged, one imagines, by the then-common publishing practice of paying authors by the word, thus giving them an incentive to expend profound numbers of words in the conveyance of simple ideas that could be passed on in single, concise, sentences but which, if conveyed in that manner, might lead to the author receiving somewhat less recompense that he otherwise might and hence predisposing him to the penury he often described in the lives of the characters set out in his books for our edification and entertainment.

...Mike
 
It happened to me .... Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness". It simply exceeded my language skills (not native speaker...) and even a dictionary didn't help anything. I really hope to finish this book some time ...
 
I have found Salman Rushdie difficult to finish. Especially Satanic Verses.

Right now I am about to try Andrea Camilleri's 'The Shape of Water' again. Tomorrow afternoon (Tuesday) I have four hours of dead time in another city. I often use those four hours for photography, but this week I am using the time for reading. The book is already in my bag.

If the book is too hard going I'll have a camera with me also, so photography is not out of the question.
 
Absolutely spot on!!!

That is perfect. You sir, are a genius.

There is another wordy author, who I am acquainted with: José Saramago. I am currently reading his novel "The Cave" aloud to my wife. I have come across sentences that are more than a page long!

mfunnell said:
I must confess to "almost anything by Dickens":

His problem, should he be said to have a problem, is that in the matter of the deployment of words he tends to use an abundance so exceptional that those of us who are by training and predeliction more content with a rather greater degree of concision in the expression of ideas than he seemed to practice tend to be overcome with the sheer proliferation of his prose to the extent that we become frustrated by being subjected to the reading of single sentences that go on and on at lengths more appropriate to paragraphs without ever seeming to get around to expressing the idea that he is probably trying to convey encouraged, one imagines, by the then-common publishing practice of paying authors by the word, thus giving them an incentive to expend profound numbers of words in the conveyance of simple ideas that could be passed on in single, concise, sentences but which, if conveyed in that manner, might lead to the author receiving somewhat less recompense that he otherwise might and hence predisposing him to the penury he often described in the lives of the characters set out in his books for our edification and entertainment.

...Mike
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For me it appears to be "War and Peace" - I'm more than halfway through but just can't seem to get any further. One of my friends asked why I do this to myself...
 
Well played, Mike- that was hysterical!

mfunnell said:
I must confess to "almost anything by Dickens":

His problem, should he be said to have a problem, is that in the matter of the deployment of words he tends to use an abundance so exceptional that those of us who are by training and predeliction more content with a rather greater degree of concision in the expression of ideas than he seemed to practice tend to be overcome with the sheer proliferation of his prose to the extent that we become frustrated by being subjected to the reading of single sentences that go on and on at lengths more appropriate to paragraphs without ever seeming to get around to expressing the idea that he is probably trying to convey encouraged, one imagines, by the then-common publishing practice of paying authors by the word, thus giving them an incentive to expend profound numbers of words in the conveyance of simple ideas that could be passed on in single, concise, sentences but which, if conveyed in that manner, might lead to the author receiving somewhat less recompense that he otherwise might and hence predisposing him to the penury he often described in the lives of the characters set out in his books for our edification and entertainment.

...Mike
Click to expand...
 
I'm halfway though Sontag's "On Photography". I find it quite entertaining so I'll probably finish it this week.

There are quite a few books that I haven't finished like e.g. Dostojewski's "The Brothers Karamazov". Read about 400 pages of it but then school started and I had to read other books. I still want to finish it but I would probably have to start from the beginning.
 
Ossifan said:
For me it appears to be "War and Peace" - I'm more than halfway through but just can't seem to get any further. One of my friends asked why I do this to myself...
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I think I never finished that one, although it was in school curriculum. The most annyoing thing was that half of the book was in footnotes, since supposedly Russian text was peppered with dialogues in French.
 
Hate conciseness, me. Like long sentences.

mfunnell said:
I must confess to "almost anything by Dickens":

His problem, should he be said to have a problem, is that in the matter of the deployment of words he tends to use an abundance so exceptional that those of us who are by training and predeliction more content with a rather greater degree of concision in the expression of ideas than he seemed to practice tend to be overcome with the sheer proliferation of his prose to the extent that we become frustrated by being subjected to the reading of single sentences that go on and on at lengths more appropriate to paragraphs without ever seeming to get around to expressing the idea that he is probably trying to convey encouraged, one imagines, by the then-common publishing practice of paying authors by the word, thus giving them an incentive to expend profound numbers of words in the conveyance of simple ideas that could be passed on in single, concise, sentences but which, if conveyed in that manner, might lead to the author receiving somewhat less recompense that he otherwise might and hence predisposing him to the penury he often described in the lives of the characters set out in his books for our edification and entertainment.

...Mike
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:D
 
I just finished "Jevgeni Onegin" by Puškin. I had to find a summary on the internet to understand what I had just read. And its only 206 pages. And I have a test on it later today.
 
What Mike said! But not Dickens, I love Dickens. The last I attempted was the Good German. A good reputation but I could not read a page without falling asleep. Most certainly NOT a page turner. Most Russian writers have a certain style and once you crack it, it isn't too bad. Try the Nose for something surreal.
 
Strange ... I had the same problem with 'The Moore's Last Sigh.' I eventually finished it but it was hard work ... I did enjoy it though!

I'm currently trying to read "Stalingrad" by Antony Beevor and have stalled about three quarters through. The facts and figures of that part of the 2nd World War are mind boggling and I start to feel saturated after a while and have to put it down!
 
For me, it was Stephan Hawking's, A Brief History of Time. I haven't tried lately, but I have started it several times in the past. Another one is Ghost Rider, by the drummer for Rush, Neil Pert. Reading about someone else's motorcycle trips is just not as interesting as doing them yourself.
 
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Not quite on topic:I once read "Moby Dick" in one sitting. In the Army 25 years ago I had to stay awake for a 24-hour security shift and assumed, correctly, that the action would pick up toward the end, keeping me alert. I still marvel at the chapter on "the whiteness of the whale."

My less heroic failures include never getting past the first hundred pages of "Crime and Punishment" -- twice -- despite an earnest desire to do so.

I did once read a wonderful essay by Sommerset Maugham on how to read great literature. He stressed that skipping is not only permissible but sometimes essential to appreciate the work from a modern viewpoint. Even the best writers let their guard down, and the older writers lived in an age was editing was less stringent and wordiness too often encouraged.
 
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maddoc said:
It happened to me .... Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness". It simply exceeded my language skills (not native speaker...) and even a dictionary didn't help anything. I really hope to finish this book some time ...
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OMG... that's the BEST book ever written! I've read it a least six times, and consider Apocalypse Now the best film adaptation of a novel in the history of cin-e-MAH! Try harder! :D

For me, it was Magister Ludi by Hermann Hesse assigned to our college sci-fi lit class years ago. What an inaccessible impenetrable mess of a novel! I wanted to wing the glass beads on Hesse's and our lit prof's forehead. I got the questions wrong on the test - just skipped them, I hated that one so much. Refused to read it. Yet, if you read the Amazon reviews of that one it gets five stars, reader slobber on and on about how great a masterpiece it is. Now, the masochist in me wants my to give it another go.

Different strokes I suppose so I can relate to your take on Heart of Darkness.
 
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