The “Should I finish this book?” thread

[Anonymous]

Creation Lake: if you can force yourself to stop taking it too seriously, it can be enjoyable. But I'm not sure there is much point to finishing it if you aren't enjoying it. I don't recall any final revelations or twists.

[Anonymous]

I finished Stoner and regretted it. As an academic I get more than enough of that stuff at work. Blah.

Reading boring books is my specialty, and I wish it wasn’t because I often feel like I wasted my time at the end. I hereby give you permission to stop, OP. They will not get better, go read something good! You are already among the elite because you actually read books, it should be fun to do so!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tender is the Night - Fitzgerald

- Have had trouble getting into it, but I love Gatsby.

This book is definitely not as good as Gatsby. I'm glad I read it but I felt that he paid close attention to writing beautiful sentences to the detriment of the story, but the story is also sad and depressing without any levity or letup. And when you compare it to his first novel, This Side of Paradise (also not as good as Gatsby), which is youthful and insouciant, it is such a sad sign of how his life went. It is likely something of the story of Zelda's hospitalization. His stories are very good, especially the early ones, but even the late Pat Hobby stories are worth reading, which are funny and light.

[Anonymous]

Beloved by Toni Morrison. I’ve tried twice and can’t get past chapter 3.

[Anonymous]

I cannot get through “The Sound and the Fury.” I think if I were required to read and discuss it for a class, I’d do okay, but on my own, other books call to me.

I’ve read exactly one part. I’m already vaguely aware of Faulkner and this story/characters/themes (from other works, essays I’ve read, the fantastic forward which I enjoyed more than the book itself!). I feel like I should read it but don’t particularly care for it. Should I continue?

[Anonymous]

The Understory. I tried twice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I cannot get through “The Sound and the Fury.” I think if I were required to read and discuss it for a class, I’d do okay, but on my own, other books call to me.

I’ve read exactly one part. I’m already vaguely aware of Faulkner and this story/characters/themes (from other works, essays I’ve read, the fantastic forward which I enjoyed more than the book itself!). I feel like I should read it but don’t particularly care for it. Should I continue?

Yes. Continue. It's difficult and confusing but so worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Understory. I tried twice.

Any chance you actually mean The Overstory? Because a huge +1 to not being able to finish that one! I loved the beginning and then it fell off a cliff. I kept seeing it on best seller lists and wondered if anyone who bought it actually made it to the end.

[Anonymous]

Ditto Creation Lake. Also returned the Salt Path early. Defies logic. I thought Sound and Fury worth reading, very different writing style. I am much more intolerant of books that I don't live these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I cannot get through “The Sound and the Fury.” I think if I were required to read and discuss it for a class, I’d do okay, but on my own, other books call to me.

I’ve read exactly one part. I’m already vaguely aware of Faulkner and this story/characters/themes (from other works, essays I’ve read, the fantastic forward which I enjoyed more than the book itself!). I feel like I should read it but don’t particularly care for it. Should I continue?

I tried reading it, in the days before the internet, and had to go to Barnes and Noble to peruse the Cliffs Notes on the book. I had no idea of what was going on.

Some books are better read for school.

[Anonymous]

The Women.
Demon copperhead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I cannot get through “The Sound and the Fury.” I think if I were required to read and discuss it for a class, I’d do okay, but on my own, other books call to me.

I’ve read exactly one part. I’m already vaguely aware of Faulkner and this story/characters/themes (from other works, essays I’ve read, the fantastic forward which I enjoyed more than the book itself!). I feel like I should read it but don’t particularly care for it. Should I continue?

I think Faulkner is always worth the effort. However, I also think Absalom, Absalom! is better and more worth the effort than The Sound and the Fury.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Creation Lake was meh. I dropped it.

Same

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Understory. I tried twice.

Any chance you actually mean The Overstory? Because a huge +1 to not being able to finish that one! I loved the beginning and then it fell off a cliff. I kept seeing it on best seller lists and wondered if anyone who bought it actually made it to the end.

The collection of short stories in the first part of the Overstory was magnificent. The second part that pulled it all together—meh!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Understory. I tried twice.

Any chance you actually mean The Overstory? Because a huge +1 to not being able to finish that one! I loved the beginning and then it fell off a cliff. I kept seeing it on best seller lists and wondered if anyone who bought it actually made it to the end.

The collection of short stories in the first part of the Overstory was magnificent. The second part that pulled it all together—meh!

Exactly! Loved the stories, and then it fell apart.