I was idly skimming “The Writer’s Circle” on FB when I came across a post that started “What book was so bad that you couldn’t finish reading it?” There are all kinds of responses. Books that I agreed were not worth finishing, books that I love, and of course, books I am not familiar with.
Quite a few people listed Moby Dick, which I have not read. I have heard that there are many pages about the technical aspects of whaling. Others listed books that I love, like Jane Austen novels.
One year in high school English class we had to read “coming of age” novels. We were assigned one of three books: Huckleberry Finn, A Separate Peace, and Catcher in the Rye. I got A Separate Peace. I hated it. I wished I was reading Huckleberry Finn. (I did later read Huckleberry Finn and Catcher in the Rye.)
I had a cassette tape years ago of a storyteller that I liked. Unfortunately I don’t remember her name and I lost the cassette. She was local to the Chicago area. She told a hilarious story about reading a novel on her summer vacation. She was staying out in the country, by a lake. She had found a novel in her accommodations and went out to sit by the lake to read. The novel (she didn’t give the title or author for obvious reasons) was the tale of a woman who had sooo many adventures. She was shipwrecked, lost her memory, and was rescued by a man who ran a brothel, but did not make her work there. She was married multiple times in the course of the story and had a LOT of children. As I remember, going on 20 kiddos.
As I listened I realized, “I read that book!” I don’t remember the title, but it was clear it was the same book.
At the end of the novel, she meets, or re-meets, I don’t remember that detail, the love of her life. And the book concludes with their happily ever after, including that he will “give her children.” The storyteller (on the tape) says, “More children?! MORE children!!?” She starts ripping pages out of the book and finally throws it into the lake. She then says she feels better.
I haven’t ever thrown a book into a lake, but I have hated some books.
I wonder if everyone has novels they just couldn’t finish reading. Do you have one? Or more?
