When do you give up and decide a book is too fucking stupid to continue?

[charlie and algernon]

We've done movies, concerts, and relationships, let's do books now.

I tried reading Harry Turtledove's alternate book where Shakespeare is a revolutionary and couldn't get past the first chapter. It was like Turledove decided to see how many old english words and phrases he could use. I hate when authors try and sound really smart at the expense of actually telling a story.

[TZ]

1. awww

I liked that book. My dad lent me a book about the genetics of Jews and I got about three chapters into it and dropped it when it began to sound like a biological justification for proving the intellectual superiority of Jews...

[charlie and algernon]

2. i so wanted to like it

I love his series with the Confederate States of America, so I rented that book out of the library. Maybe i need to brush up on my olde english because I found myself rereading sentences to figure out what they said.

I think I'd have trouble reading any book that tried to justify the superiority of ANY group or race, etc.

[GaYellowDawg]

30. There are others you can try by Turtledove...

"Days of Infamy" and "End of the Beginning"
"In the Presence of Mine Enemies"
"The Two Georges"

you might also like

"The Peshawar Lancers" by S.M. Stirling

but I did like the book you're referring to, although the olde english did take a little getting used to. Once that happened, the story rolled right along for me.

[XemaSab]

3. When you find yourself skipping huge chunks of the book

just to stay awake. x(

(PS I LOVE one-star reviews at Amazon. :) )

[Mike 03]

4. This is more difficult than cinema. As a rough estimate, depending on the length of the book

and whether it is fiction or nonfiction, I would say two chapters, or fifty pages.

If it is non-fiction book I might cut my losses sooner, say, after twenty to thirty pages.

If it is a biography, I would skip the first third and get into the book at that point to decide whether or not I am interested in this person's life, because the childhood of a person doesn't interest me all that much.

[alarimer]

5. My friend recommends the 50 page rule.

Read the first 50 pages and decide if you like it enough to continue. At that point, it is as good as it is going to get.

[mitchum]

14. I follow the 50 page rule

[Danger Mouse]

6. When it's Thomas Harris' 'Hannibal'.

Seriously, it's the stupidest book I've ever read. I finished it, though, because it was entertaining in its incredible stupidity.

[charlie and algernon]

7. I actually liked Hannibal Rising

but then I didn't actually have to read it. I got it as an audio book for my 16 hour drive from Illinois to PA.

[Danger Mouse]

10. I have yet to read it.

I can't see how it can be any worse than Hannibal. The biggest problem with it was that it was poorly written. Simple as that. Poorly written.

[mitchum]

13. And his contract for that tripe demanded no editing

Losers like Faulkner may need an editor, but not the mighty Thomas Harris!

[Bunny]

8. One book pissed me off so much I actually threw it across the room.

I'm blanking on the name of the book and the author, but it was a feminist book, and one of the author's claims was that women's lives are shit because our mothers teach us to hate our vaginas. I thought that was completely off the wall and I was more than just irritated by it.

[Richardo]

20. ...

Holy shit Bunny

The book I threw across the room was fiction: "The Day After Tomorrow" by Allan Folsom (not the weather movie)

Here's an exchange between me and terrya about this book (I miss him):

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=208&topic_id=1728&mesg_id=1784

[Bunny]

23. Wow, that book sounds awful.

I miss terrya, too. :(

[Rising Phoenix]

22. I read that

C**T, right? I didn't want to offend so the asterisk's, though that is the title. I actually enjoyed it. The book I hated was Body Wars, I forget the author. Another feminist book. I am very into reading books on body image. A first look at the book gave the impression its contents were mainly being happy with your body, or at least don't torture it because of societies expectations on women. However the whole book she kept saying how everyone should be fat, that skinny people were in fact sick and that it was more dangerous to lose weight than to be overweight, and she was referring to healthy weight loss, not just eating disorders. I threw it in the garbage. Man she pissed me off.

[Bunny]

27. Well, I'm pretty sure it wasn't called C**T, because I would probably have remembered that!

But isn't it interesting that there could be more than one book discussing mother-promoted vagina hate??? Body Wars sounds pretty bad, too.

[arbusto_baboso]

9. When it's anything written by Dean Koontz or Orson Scott Card.

[GaYellowDawg]

31. That's a shame, too... Card's early short stories were pretty good.

And Koontz did have one really good book in "Watchers," or so I thought.

[Mike 03]

11. Sometimes a book is SO FUCKING STUPID you have to read and collect it.

I can think of some angsty memoirs that are so fucking stupid that I have three copies of them, because they are unintentionally hilarious.

[underpants]

12. I started reading "The Nine" by Jeffrey Toobin

not that it was stupid it was just too boring of a subject at the time

[Jade Fox]

15. I once read a book up to the last few pages......

before it dawned on me, "This book is never gonna get good, is it?"

Slow, I tell ya. :dunce:

[Left Is Write]

16. For some reason, I am unable to abandon books. I made an exception once.

When I start a book, I feel overwhelmingly compelled to see it through, even if I don't like it (the atrocious Bridges Of Madison County comes to mind).

The one exception I made was for a Danielle Steele book. I have no idea which one. The writing and editing were so horrible I just couldn't go on. I have never picked a DS book since.

[madinmaryland]

17. What's the name of the book? I've read a lot of his stuff.

[charlie and algernon]

19. Ruled Britannia

[vadawg]

18. for me its anything written by a female author, jusr cant get into it

dont know how to do the hiding icon, but yes im hiding

[Rising Phoenix]

21. I find if I end up day dreaming or staring at the wall instead of reading

not a good book. Also, if every morning I don't look forward to reading it at some point in the day, or if I don't put the bookmark in reluctantly when having to return to the task of life.

[Left Is Write]

24. I've done that, and it's not *always* that the book wasn't good -

sometimes it was because the daydream was better. ;)

[Rising Phoenix]

26. good point

[ScreamingMeemie]

25. When I realize I have read 5 pages and have retained absolutely

nothing, but have remembered a dentist appointment I have scheduled. That's my rule.

[femmocrat]

28. Page 100.

If it doesn't improve by then, forget it!

[mentalsolstice]

29. "Running With Scissors"

I'd read a little bit, and then sit and stare at it for weeks and weeks before I'd pick it again to read 20 pages and then repeat and rinse.

[Orsino]

32. When I see Dan Brown's name on the spine.

Funny that you mention what I think is Ruled Brittania. It sounded like the perfect book to me, but I didn't get far in it. Not because it was stupid, necessarily, but because it didn't make me care soon enough. I can't be any more specific than that--it just failed to engage me.

I've been assuming that I was just in the wrong frame of mind, and that I'd find something to like in a second attempt. Maybe not.

Dan Brown writes terrible, stupid books.

[hedgehog]

36. Dan Brown writes the same book , over and over and over.

[Blue_Tires]

33. i read a good amount of mysteries...

if i figure it out early, or if the plot is on "cliche character/situation" overload, then i stop

[raccoon]

34. “The Drowning People” by Richard Mason really sucked.

I listened to it on audiobook. It sucked, but after having gone more than halfway through it, I wanted to see how it turned out.

Some reader review said they thought this book got published because the author was a good-looking young guy and had a cute accent. I'm inclined to agree.

[Arkansas Granny]

35. I'll give it two or three chapters. If it hasn't sparked my interest by then I'll put it away.

Sometimes I can try the same book a few weeks later and get right into it. I think sometimes it just depends on my mood.