Friday, February 5, 2010

Books Never Finished

Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte; that’s one book I never finished no matter how many times I tried.

I found it flatly boring, even in its landscapes and portraits of physical and mental cruelty. I now know that the unquiet passion of Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw sees no dream ending, but I’ll never know firsthand.

Which book did you never finish?

25 comments:

  1. Catch-22. Seriously, that book is something else. I know a couple of people who couldn't finish it too....

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  2. Pity! i got that book for my 12th birthday and thought it was really great...oddly unnerving at certain bits but re-readable on the whole...I think Im gonna go look for it now; thank you!

    Adeventures of Huckleberry Finn is one I couldn't finish...it was just a let down after Tom Sawyerr.

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  3. OH MY GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWD

    nOoooooO wuthering heights is FAB!!! Ahhh i enjoyed every moment of it...ok maybe not "enjoyed" the psycho over-protective Heathcliff parts...guy's super annoying.

    I loved that book so much I read it twice. lol jst 'twice' yea, dats how many times i can repeat a book if it's good.


    Anyhow to your question...oh Lord there's been many. Alice in Wonderland & through the looking glass, Great Expectations, Tess of the d’Urbervilles...can't remember more.

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  4. Everyone says the book is so good and is a classic and all...

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  5. Every book I have ever set out to read, I have finished. With the exception of a book by rebecca brown that I doubt anyone would want to read. Religious propaganda telling us the catholic church is evil and teaches witchcraft is not my piece of cake.

    Loved the adventures of huck finn. Read the two alice books and I own tess of the d'Urbervilles. I also have half of Jane Austin's books and an endless supply of historical romance. Each copy well thumbed through :)

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  6. @ Daixy, what's the Rebecca Brown book called; sounds promising :)...for real

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  7. Loved wuthering heights (as a twelve year old)! I have too many unfinished books to list. Let me state one: Mine Boy. I'm sorry, will give it back to you soon!

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  8. Shocking i tell you, John Grisham's "innocent man" i just cudn't finish it, and i can't bring myself to.

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  9. Kwame Mensa-Bonsu05 February, 2010

    I've finished all books and, now, keep them as well! NY, cann't blame you, i used to find it difficult to transport myself to the English countryside. Too big a leap!

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  10. I have a couple; there's this non-fiction book my sister got me a couple of years ago. It called 'Geisha' ...Covers the history of the Geisha culture in Japan from BC times to present. So sad to say that it quite snooze-worthy. Another book I have to add to my list is the only Harry Potter I attempted to read: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Couldn't finish it despite several stops and starts. Oddly enough, the film had the same effect on me!

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  11. 'War and Peace'. It kept coming up on many people's favourite book list but alas its not on mine

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  12. I usually finish all books I start, the question is how long would it take?

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  13. One book by a Bronte (Jane Eyre) was enough for me. Did not even open the first page of Wuthering Heights. Wuthering what? So many books on my unfinished list, including Stevenson's hospital bed book, that has won so much acclaim, though I keep on wondering what the fuss is all about.

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  14. @ Tye, It was called "He came to set the captives free"

    This is her website http://www.harvestwarriors.com/ and here's a wiki aticle on her http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_Brown_%28Christian_author%29

    It's weird but she says in the prologue for you to pray before reading it as the devil will stop you from completing it. Hmm....I wonder if THAT's why I never finished it? If i wanted to, I guess i could find it online or buy it. But to be honest, after reading that my church was a coven of witches and that I would burn in hell for eternity, I wasn't inclined to go any farther.

    @ Abena, Harry Poter was a good escape from reality, but nowhere near as good as the "Wheel of Time Series" by Robert Jordan and the "Tales of Alvin Maker" by Orson Scott Card. I intend to collect those books :)

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  15. Read Wuthering Heights...a classic.Loved the adventures of Huck Finn. Like Abena, Harry Potter is my Achilles heel could not n would not finish reading. I preferred good old Roald Dahl. "The half Blood Prince". I did make up by reading the Adventures of Barry Trotter..the blurb goes like "shhh don't tell JK Rowling..."

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  16. I LOVED "Barry Trotter and the Unauthorised Parody"!! I need to get a hold of the rest of the series. LMAO at Professor Bumblemore and Ermine Cringer. Let's not forget Lon Measly lol.

    Huck Finn felt different from Tom Sawyer but then I fuly enjoyed it. I should look for my copies of both books and read them over. Been years and I wonder if they're still in my possession.

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  17. "Love in the time of Cholera" by Gabriel García Márquez - as great as the book promised to be, I could never read past a few chapter. The author was quite lengthy with her descriptions and lost me fast. Will try and catch the movie version ;)

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  18. @ all: y'all must be great readers - some classics I expected to see on the "unfinished list" did not come up at all!

    @ anon #1: like you, i started and never got to finish "catch-22".

    @ tye: amazing! maya mame also read "WH" at 12! "Huck Finnn" bored me to death, too.

    @ x-omotade-x: you read "WH" twice? you're amazing! i read "tess of the d'urbervilles" (under duress) but i ended up loving it. i didn't finish "great expectations", and i hate dickens's style generally.

    @ harry-rami itie: i know! now, they're claiming that emily's only book is greater than all of charlotte's (including "jane eyre")!

    @ daixy: you've finished every book ("huck finn" twice)? you're also ... amazing!

    @ maya mame: peter abraham's style is so cool (he reminds me of hemingway). you have to finish "mine boy". please!

    @ lucci: if you're looking for a boring grisham, try "a painted house".

    @ kwame mensa-bonsu: good for you. You've read every mark twain, r.l. stevenson or ayi kwei armah and every great in between, that you've started? about the "imaginary leap" to the english countryside in "WH" i actually love those things. i am a big-time dreamer!

    @ abena serwaa: harry potter really tests how much is left of the child in you, doesn't it?

    @ nana: i am ashamed to admit that i have not heard of "war and peace". gotta get it!

    @ myne whitman: yes, the question is often how long it takes to finish a book. if i am not almost done in a week, a book is doomed to the "unfinished list".

    @ kissi: i thought stevenson was quite readable! well, other books i quit several times are "the count of monte cristo" and "20,000 leagues under the sea".

    @ anon #2: bring me "barry trotter" now!

    @ yny: see, that is why ernest hemingway may forever be my favourite. i hate lengthy writing.


    @

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  19. I'm lateeee! Sorry sah! hehe
    Couldn't get my head around Half a Yellow Sun..pardon oh. But I'll read it again..promise!

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  20. Lol! I guess NYA, there is v. little child in me left. @Nana Darkoa: Interesting thing about War & Peace, never read it but the first page was one of the passages for our O'level English literature exam so I can never forget it! Really have to find it. @Juanita do try Half of a Yellow Sun again. One of best books I've read in the past 2 years.

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  21. @ Abena. Don't worry. There's enough child in me to last us both :P

    Haven't read war&Peace. Also missed out on Love in the time of cholera. Although I caught the movie on Friday on DSTV. I still have mixed feelings about it :(

    At Nana....Read Huck Finn more than once. Like I said, all my books are well thumbed through an more often than not, dog eared lol. What I said was I'd read both "alice books" as in Alice in Wonderland and through the looking glass.

    I read Geisha. Not sure if it's the same one....back in high school. Can't remember the author though of the one I read. I doubt I'd be able to list all the books I've read in my short lifetime even if I tried. I simply inhale the words and move onto the next titilating read. I guess that's why I keep so many, so I can revisit and refresh my memory lol

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  22. @ Nana Yaw - I'm more than happy to lend you my copy - Its a huge tome by some Russian fellow, cannot even be bothered to google his name now. Perhaps Doetoevesky or something like that

    @Abena Serwah - Ermm, how did you manage to write your O'level exam then? Was it not on your compulsory reading list?

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  23. @ JuaNita: Half a Yellow Sun, huh? I have not even tried it yet, though many are those who recommend it. And better late than never.

    @ Daixy: Well, it shows in your writing. Congrats.

    @ Nana: Yes, "War and Peace" sounded decidedly Russian to me. Thanks, and I will call and come for it. Speaking about Russians, I was becoming a bit worried that we were concentrating on Anglo-Saxon Writers. No Cervantes, or Russians like Dostoevsky, Nabokov, Tolstoy and Solzhenitsyn. Hmm.

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  24. Russians like who, who, who and who? LOL!!

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  25. Anon, what do you have against Russian names? Lol.

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