Second (Third, Fourth...) Time's a Charm!

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K.L. Bennett

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This may not be the right forum for this, but I read the guidelines, and they didn't help me out too much! :)

I'm currently reading Glen Cook's The Black Company series, about half way through the third book, and I'm loving it! It's a fantastic series, and I've sped through the first two books in record time, and the story doesn't seem to be slowing down at all.

What I'm starting this thread for is the fact that this is the third time I've tried to read the Black Company series, and the first two times, I was bored instantly and didn't make it past the first couple of chapters. But I kept coming back to the books because they get great reviews, and I really wanted to like them. This has happened several times to me with different books and series, the Amber series being another one, and it's probably the overthinker in me wondering, "How does that happen?"

So I thought I'd ask ya'll what your experience with this kind of thing are, because I'm curious. :) What books have you tried reading, became bored with, threw across the room at the wall in frustration, and then still came back to months or years later? You can tell I'm a SF&F fan, but you don't have to limit your responses to those genres.
 

quicklime

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hmmm, I forced myself to re-start and read through ONE book in my life, because it was a classic.....although the name escapes me now. It was a self-imposed "assignment". The book did bet better, to the best of my recollection, but it remained a chore. And I take that back, it was not a classic, it was a mind-mapping book.

Anything I read for pleasure gets about an hour of "not pleasureable" and I'm done....I currently have well over a dozen books in queue to read, so I put very few books down, but if I do, they stay down.
 

Calla Lily

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Back when dinosaurs ruled the earth, AKA when I was in HS, I started the first Thomas Covenant book and dropped it at the rape scene. A few years later, a friend urged me to pick up the books again despite that.

I read all 6 initial books at age 16, and at the time liked them a lot, despite the overwrought language and the unlikeable antihero. (I liked the Shannara series back then, too, but hey, I was 16.)

When I tried to reread the Covenant books in my 40s, I didn't get past 3 chapters. Looking back, I think I read them only because of the dearth of decent fantasy.
 

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Books I didn't finish the first time, but loved the second:
Anne of Green Gables

Books I finished the first time but thought "meh", and loved the second time:
Pride and Prejudice
To Kill a Mockingbird

In all cases, I was quite young the first time I read the book.
 

jjdebenedictis

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I've had a few cases of the opposite happening--I loved something as a kid or teenager but couldn't stand to read it as an adult.
 

gothicangel

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I abandoned Wolf Hall first time, I recently re-read it and loved it. I can't wait to buy the sequel when I get paid on Friday. :)

Strangely enough this subject was on my mind as well. I tried reading Lindsey Davis about a year ago and abandoned the book. I tried again this weekend, nope couldn't do it. I'm of the opinion life is too short for books you're not enjoying [particularly when you have a reading pile like mine!]
 

Mr. Anonymous

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I remember it took me a few tries to get into Robert Charles Willson's Spin. But once I got hooked, I loved it.
 
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Phaeal

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I had several runs at War and Peace before I got through it. Not because I didn't like it, or even because I didn't find the historical/philosophical asides interesting. But those asides did make me lose enough momentum so I could put the book, well, aside.

Wolf Hall rocks the hell out of all other contemporary historical fiction. But you DO have to get used to Mantel's narrative style and the way her extremely close 3rd limited POV works.

Learning a new author with modus operandi quirks (China Mieville, for example) can really slow me down at the start of a novel or series, but I still know within a few pages whether it's worth my while to perservere. Lit from earlier centuries can be an initial brake as well. I can remember, oh, way back in the mists of time, when I thought Austen's diction difficult. Now reading her is like chatting with an comfortable old friend.
 

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For me it was The Guns of August, the Pulitzer Prize winning history of the beginning of WWI, by Barbara Tuchman. It's brilliant, but the scope is so vast I was overwhelmed. I got halfway through a couple of times, and one of these days...
 

kaitie

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I actually read the first Dark Tower book when I was 14 and hated it. I can't begin to describe how much I disliked this book. I was a sweet innocent girl and I just couldn't stand my "hero" doing some of the things that happened in that book.

I went back and read it again a few years ago after some friends were raving about it, and decided it's one of my favorite books ever, and I promptly read the whole series.

Oddly enough about Spin...I read it, and I didn't really like it. I can recognize it as a great book, but just not my style. I can even understand why the author did the things he did, and yet...

So yeah, I'd basically given it up as "I don't like sci-fi" and decided to leave it at that. I've recently heard there's a second book, though, and I find myself super intrigued and wanting to read it. Odd, huh?
 

Mr. Anonymous

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Haha, Katie I had the similar experience with the Dark Tower books. I got through the first and half-way through the second before deciding that the MC was too unlikable. But I was younger then. The reason I haven't given the books another shot is that there's something about King's fiction writing that just doesn't click with me for some reason. I don't know what it is. I loved On Writing. But when I read his fiction, a lot of times I just feel off. Like we're on different wavelengths. So that's why I haven't given Dark Tower another shot.

What I most liked about Spin was that it had a sci fi backdrop but it read like a literary novel, in the sense that the sci fi didn't feel to me like it drove the story. Rather it felt like the characters were the ones propelling the narrative, and they were so wonderfully drawn, though I did have a hard time with

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diane becoming super religious and joining that church/cult

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Felt it was a little contrived/forced. Like he wanted to tackle how people would respond to something like what was happening, and obviously a lot would turn to religion for answers, so he decided in advance that one of his characters would go that route. But it just didn't feel quite natural to me.

I'm actually having the same issue with the second book that I had with the first. I need to devote like 3-4 hours of my time to sit down and see if it hooks me. I have high hopes that it will. But Wilson is the sort of writer that (to me at least) takes a while to get into.
 
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K.L. Bennett

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Thanks for the responses, guys. :)

I agree, life is too short to waste reading something you don't enjoy, but like some of you, I've found that sometimes, my dislike of a book or series has more to do with my maturity level at the time I read it, or how distracted I am by other life events, than the book itself. That's why I tend to give them second and third chances.

One book I will not be giving the benefit of the doubt to is Steven Erikson's Garden of the Moon series; I don't know what it is about it, perhaps his style, or the slow as molasses pacing, but I've tried twice and nearly gouged my eyes out both times by the third chapter. :Shrug:

Haha, Katie I had the similar experience with the Dark Tower books. I got through the first and half-way through the second before deciding that the MC was too unlikable. But I was younger and more naive then. The reason I haven't given the books another shot is that there's something about King's fiction writing that just doesn't click with me for some reason. I don't know what it is. I loved On Writing. But when I read his fiction, a lot of times I just feel off. Like we're on different wavelengths. So that's why I haven't given Dark Tower another shot.

I feel the same way about King, to the point where I don't even try to read his stuff anymore. I've been disappointed and bored to tears one too many times. I'll never forget the scene in, I think it was The Dark Half, where there was a super minor character that King spent 4 pages describing his backstory, only to kill him off and leave him in the parking lot of McDonalds, never to be spoken of again. I was flabbergasted that the passage got past the editor, it was just so pointless! That's the last time I've tried to read any King. I will continue to watch the movies and mini-series they produce from his books, because he is a great story teller. Just not fond of his prose.
 
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kaitie

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Haha, Katie I had the similar experience with the Dark Tower books. I got through the first and half-way through the second before deciding that the MC was too unlikable. But I was younger then. The reason I haven't given the books another shot is that there's something about King's fiction writing that just doesn't click with me for some reason. I don't know what it is. I loved On Writing. But when I read his fiction, a lot of times I just feel off. Like we're on different wavelengths. So that's why I haven't given Dark Tower another shot.

What I most liked about Spin was that it had a sci fi backdrop but it read like a literary novel, in the sense that the sci fi didn't feel to me like it drove the story. Rather it felt like the characters were the ones propelling the narrative, and they were so wonderfully drawn, though I did have a hard time with

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diane becoming super religious and joining that church/cult

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Felt it was a little contrived/forced. Like he wanted to tackle how people would respond to something like what was happening, and obviously a lot would turn to religion for answers, so he decided in advance that one of his characters would go that route. But it just didn't feel quite natural to me.

I'm actually having the same issue with the second book that I had with the first. I need to devote like 3-4 hours of my time to sit down and see if it hooks me. I have high hopes that it will. But Wilson is the sort of writer that (to me at least) takes a while to get into.

Yeah, that bothered me, too. Thought what I remember getting me more than anything was just that the main character was so distant. I understood it, it made sense considering who he was and everything, but it drove me crazy. There were so many times I just wanted a reaction from him. I think I'm going to try the second, though. It'll probably take me a fair amount of time to get through, but Spin did have a lot of good things going for it.
 

Seth?

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When I was in about 5th grade, my mom thought I would enjoy Fahrenheit 451 (I was into the classics)so she gave me her copy and expected me to read it. I would get to like the middle of the book and become so bored. I tried reading it two or three times, and I only just picked it back up and read through it.

My grandma's absolute favorite book was Black Beauty, and she'd always wanted me to read it but I could never, ever get into it. Don't get me wrong I'd try to read it several times a year but I never finished it. Then when she died I was feeling kind of nostalgic and sad, because she'd wanted me to read it since I was a little kid, so I finally forced myself to sit down and read through it ALL THE WAY and now it's probably one of my favorite books. :) And she would be happy with me which is probably a large factor into why.



-Seth
 

alimay

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Thanks for the responses, guys. :)


One book I will not be giving the benefit of the doubt to is Steven Erikson's Garden of the Moon series; I don't know what it is about it, perhaps his style, or the slow as molasses pacing, but I've tried twice and nearly gouged my eyes out both times by the third chapter. :Shrug:



I feel the same way about King, to the point where I don't even try to read his stuff anymore. I've been disappointed and bored to tears one too many times. I'll never forget the scene in, I think it was The Dark Half, where there was a super minor character that King spent 4 pages describing his backstory, only to kill him off and leave him in the parking lot of McDonalds, never to be spoken of again. I was flabbergasted that the passage got past the editor, it was just so pointless! That's the last time I've tried to read any King. I will continue to watch the movies and mini-series they produce from his books, because he is a great story teller. Just not fond of his prose.


I feel exactly the same way about the Steven Erikson Malazan books -- I think I read the first one and half of the second and just. did. not. care. so I gave up. Which is a shame, because they're good books, but something about them just didn't click with me.

It felt like the characters (who were interesting, btw) ran over here, and then they ran over there, and then they... I don't know. But I would recommend other people to give them a try.

I've found the same thing with K. J. Parker's books, again which I've seen people rave about.

(Stephen King, on the other hand, I love.)

I gave up on the first read of Wolf Hall, BUT I then bought it as an audiobook and listened to that instead -- so glad I did, and I'll be buying the sequel on audio as well.

Ali
 

jaksen

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Jane Austen's books, all of them. First time I tried I was like what the heck is this woman babbling on about? Get to the point!

As an older reader, however, I liked the babbling and could happily wait until she got to the point. In fact, she was doing it all the time and as a young reader I just couldn't see it.
 
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