Where did you get stuck? *Multiple book spoliers*

[Sharmai]

Where did you get stuck?

Name some of the books you were reading and you found that all of a sudden you just hit a wall and couldn't bring yourself to finish the rest of the book. Tell us why you get stuck there and if you ever went back to finish it. If and when you did finish it are you glad you did?

Amazon.com: A Game of Thrones: George R.R. Martin, Roy Dotrice: Books

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Much has been said about this series on this board and all over the science fiction world. I have made 4 attempts now to continue this book but every time I find myself incapable of being drawn into the book. I usually give it a good 2-3 week hiatus then come back and start over from the beginning again. I find myself getting stuck in around the same places every time which right now seems to be the point at which they are back at the main land (I think?) and they are preparing for the coming winter. This is very early on in this book I know the reference is vague.The reading hasn't been bad at all but it hasn't been very captivating for me either. I truly hope to get into this series to see what its about.

Amazon.com: The Wheel of Time (Boxed Set #1): Robert Jordan: Books

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

I started this off from several reccomendations coming from this board but I just didn't get into the vibe of the first book at all. I really had trouble deciding if I should read the prologues first or jump right into the 1st book. I recall the story starting off with some kids in a town where they see a dark rider who disappears when they look to hard. This started of screaming "Generic fantasy" in my head. The more I read the more the town started talking about this mysterious rider. I found myself saying "just get to his story already and get on with the book!" I never made it any farther. I hope I can come back to this one day and give it more consideration.

Amazon.com: The Innocent Man: Books

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

I managed to get through half of this book before it occured to me that he was going to go through every single last life detail of Ron. I was really expecting and exciting court case thriller style book but the detour to go through Ron's entire life history for two-thirds of the book really bore into me. i put this down somewhere in there but a few books later I was able to come back and finish this book. I must say that it really started to pick up towards the end and I am very glad I finished it. The in depth story of Ron's life really does show the injustice of it all and I can see why there was so much detail but I wouldn't have minded if it was cut a little bit shorter.

I am glad i picked this book back up and finished it.

Amazon.com: Interview with the Vampire: Anne Rice: Books

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

I really loved the movie but Anne Rice goes into extreme detail and descriptions in this book. Usually i love the in depth descriptions but it felt like she was dragging on and on about meaningless crap. I doubt I will ever make it past the first few chapters of this book.

Amazon.com: Digital Fortress: A Thriller: Dan Brown: Books

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

This is one of the more recent books I was reading and got stuck on. It started off pretty good and I got a decent vibe off it but as they went back into CIA headquarters and the place lost power I also lost my interest in the book. When the lights went out it seemed like the book was headed into the "me against the world" style of story telling and I much rather hear about the CIA and how the whole of the organization is using its exceptional abilities to accomplish its goals.

Overall I'd say I am not sure if I will pick this back up at some point or not.

Amazon.com: His Dark Materials Trilogy (The Golden Compass; The Subtle Knife; The Amber Spyglass): Philip Pullman: Books

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

I managed to finish The Golden Compass and found it was pretty enjoyable. The twisted end was very cool how both the wife and husband weren't any good and both made to leave. For some reason I just couldn't get into the next book "The Subtle Knife". I have it sitting here and am just waiting to give it a shot but I haven't found the inspiration.

Amazon.com: Black Sun Rising: The Coldfire Trilogy #1: C. S. Friedman: Books

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

I actually did enjoy this series at the start and still have a fond memory of my initial readings. I didn't get very far into the first book "Black Sun Rising" but I definitely felt this was a series I will make it back to later. I can't really describe why I stopped but it may have been that I was just burnt out on fantasy at the time. The fae (fay?) were a neat way to re-introduce magic into a semi-modern society though it was on another planet. I wonder if the women whose shop got blown up is going to switch to the dark eventually. I stopped right at the point where they are about to set off on their trek to the earth fay I believe.

Amazon.com: The Oxford Book of Science Fiction Stories: Tom Shippey: Books

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

This is really a massive set of some of the most popular science fiction stories out there. I don't know if its proper to really say I am "stuck" with this book since I go to this book when I want some new authors to read. I try and listen to a few short stories until a couple catch my interest then I look up the authors and see what else they wrote. So far it hasn't been a bad collection I really enjoyed that end of the world short story when the sun came to close to the earth and boiled everything. I also enjoyed the war machine short story where they believe they had the battle won but the enemy side showed up with some version of tanks and wiped the floor with them (This story was told from the perspective of a journalist). I should go back to this series on an off many times as my search for the next Discworld/Sherlock Holmes like addiction continues.

I never really sat down and realized just how many books I had started but never finished. Making this list has really surprised me in some ways especially considering I like to finish series and keep up with popular book trends. I really think it might be time to go revisit some of these.

[Chrisb3]

What the fuck. How can you not get into the start of The Subtle Knife?

I mean the sequel to a fantasy novel starts in a real location in this world? I was pretty surprised and didn't stop reading until the end of the trilogy.

[Sharmai]

Christ, relax! Theres more then a few books I never continued the sequels on and more then a few I wish I hadn't! Part of the reason (I think) I didn't get into the subtle knife was that I didn't want it to tarnish the vibe the golden compass gave me. Plus I wasn't sure I wanted to read more kids + fantasy for awhile.\

After the golden compass I think I read Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan and thats a pretty huge leap away in difference. So you might see I was a little burned out on fantasy by then..

[Arbitrary]

I've failed twice now on The Catcher in the Rye. I get like 80 pages in and just stop caring.

[spronk]

I actually started Malazan based off the thread here and just couldn't get into it. I'll probably return and try again when on vacation, maybe was just tired then but couldn't tell what the hell was going on. I have heard the series gets quite good.

Haven't read any of Martins books yet (well I think i might have read the first one in college... like 10 years ago, lol). Gonna watch the TV series when it comes out and then probably start the books.

[Kreugen]

The Hobbit. It was ten years later before I read LOTR.

[Jait]

Candide. Still haven't finished it.

If it's gotta be Fantasy then....Sword of Shannara. Never finished it, never read any others. Love his Landover series though.

[Simas]

Ive gotten stuck at various points in the first 50 pages of Naked Lunch. Ive tried to do it 3 or 4 times now but its just too much. One ill day ill slog through it.

[Zanoan]

Originally Posted by Sharmai

Christ, relax! Theres more then a few books I never continued the sequels on and more then a few I wish I hadn't! Part of the reason (I think) I didn't get into the subtle knife was that I didn't want it to tarnish the vibe the golden compass gave me. Plus I wasn't sure I wanted to read more kids + fantasy for awhile.\

After the golden compass I think I read Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan and thats a pretty huge leap away in difference. So you might see I was a little burned out on fantasy by then..

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

I must admit, that I can't really relate to this either besides what you describe in the end, but that cannot be blamed on the actual work itself (The Subtle Knife). I love this series to death and read em through a couple of times myself by now. What's said already about it, I totally agree with. You enter a whole new world and not to forget - you get into a whole new character, Will, who I really love reading about before they actually meet in this "new" world. Following those two and their relations and adventures just makes it all better from that point on! Sometimes I can still weep when thinking of the end of the third book... Since I assume you might not have read that, I'll leave it out, although I suppose it is kind of obvious.

[Nebuchadnezzar]

Lets see...

Golden Compass = Tried it twice and have stopped both times after Lara got caught up with the gypsy people because its didactic, plot rushed, expositionial crude.

Prince of Nothing = After the second novel. I'll probably pick this one up again. Nothing intellectually wrong with it, its just that I read it at a very stressful time and I didn't want to read about Khellus' bullshit any more.

Sword of Truth = take a wild guess why...

Innocent Mage, Awakened Mage = the fact that I got pulled into the buzz and that damned cover still pisses me off.

Engineer Trilogy Book 1 = Unlikeable characters that were completely inconsistent from one chapter to the next

Winterbirth = finished the first book but can't imagine I'll keep going. He's like a boring Martin/Tad Williams hybrid.

[Goliath]

I ended up finishing everything, but here's what gave me trouble in the beginning:

Bram Stoker's Dracula
The Historian
The Eye of the World (Book 1 of The Wheel of Time)
Game of Thrones
Feast for Crows
Shadow of the Hedgemon
Gardens of the Moon
The Lord of the Rings
The Book of Joby
The Subtle Knife

Books that were far from causing me problems and that I gobbled up:
A Storm of Swords
A Clash of Kings
Harry Potter (Entire series)
The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
The Name of the Wind

Everything else is in the middle like the other Malazan books and The Golden Compass and Ender's Game.

[Fog]

I got stuck a handful of times before giving up on Pynchon's new doorstop "Against the Day." I guess there is some critical mass of density and complexity in literature that I refuse to spend my time trying to wade through.

I also never finished "Neuromancer," believe it or not, even though it's a relatively short book. I started it fresh on about three or four different occasions and got tired of it halfway through. After glancing at Gibson's other novels I could tell they weren't going to be any more fun, either. (I like his two new ones, though.)

[owakefka]

LOTR: The Two Towers

It just got boring.

[Burf]

Originally Posted by Sharmai

Where did you get stuck?
Amazon.com: Interview with the Vampire: Anne Rice: Books

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

I really loved the movie but Anne Rice goes into extreme detail and descriptions in this book. Usually i love the in depth descriptions but it felt like she was dragging on and on about meaningless crap. I doubt I will ever make it past the first few chapters of this book.

I've said this on more than one occasion on this board. I had to will myself to finish that book, purely on principal that since I paid for it, I was going to finish it, damnit! Horrible.

[Havelock]

When I was younger, I made a couple runs at the Lord of the Rings and got stuck somewhere in the middle of the two towers (IIRC when Merry and Pippin were in the forest). When I finally made it through the Lord of the Rings for the first time, I couldn't understand why I'd gotten stuck there repeatedly.