When I start a book I feel obligated to finish it even though I don’t like it. I rarely DNF books, because I’m always like I want to give it a chance. And then when I’m a good chunk into the book, I think if I stop reading and put it aside I’ll have wasted my time. But with that said there are three books that I for some reasons just haven’t been able to finish.
A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Matin
Please don’t hate me. It’s long and intimidating, overly descriptive and there are so many other great series that haven’t been adapted to fantastic TV shows. I have tried to read the first book multiple times and have yet to manage it. When the first season concluded I immediately ordered the complete book series and started reading. I read 658 pages until I just stopped. Since then, I’ve tried reading further numerous times, but I can’t get used to all the description. It’s just too dense, which is why after having it marked as currently reading for two years on goodreads, I decided to admit that it’s not going to happen anytime soon. Right now I’m content with keeping up to date with the TV show, without putting myself through hours upon hours of dense world building that I frankly do not enjoy.
The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams
This is the second book following the holistic detective Dirk Gently. I had a phase a few years ago, where I could not get enough weirdness in entertainment. Douglas Adams’ books are very very weird, just think about The Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy for a second. That’s weird with weird on top AND on the side. I remember enjoying the first Dirk Gently book, but I never got around to reading the sequel. That was until, of course, I picked this one up and it ended up here. When I read The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul I had left my nothing-will-ever-be-weird-enough-phase and moved on to less ‘strange’ books. It’s a short book, about 200 pages long and it took me ages to read those 123 pages I managed to get through.
It has also been turned into a TV show, the first one was a British one that I watched the first two episode of and liked. The other is a more recent adaption I watched on Netflix, which is definitely entertaining but also kind of meh. I’m not sure if I’ll ever pick this one up again. I don’t think I will. If I do it’s probably a sign that my nothing-will-ever-be-weird-enough-muhaha-phase has returned. And I hope it doesn’t for the sake of my sanity and everyone around me.
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
Now this is my most recent DNF. In some way I kind of liked it, but then again I was struggling so much with it that when I look at it on my shelf I fall asleep. It’s slow and whimsical and I dislike the characters. I mean there was nothing making me curious or emotionally invested in neither plot nor characters.
Neil Gaiman is a widely beloved author and I enjoyed both American Gods and Norse Mythology by him, but this one did not hold my interest long enough to finish it. But I gave neither American Gods nor Norse Mythology more than four stars.
I don’t know if it’s his writing style I just don’t click with or what it can be. I wish I liked this book, because I want to understand why Neil Gaiman is so popular. Anyway, Neverwhere is just not my cup of tea. If I ever decide to try finishing it, it’ll probably be in the very distant future.
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