Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Swear I'll Finish One Day--And Two That I Won't

Top Ten Tuesday is weekly book blog meme now hosted by Jana over at The Artsy Reader Girl!

This week's topic is: Books I Decided to DNF (did not finish) too Quickly

On Goodreads, I have my usual 'read' and 'want to read' shelves, but I've also added 'to be finished, 'abandoned forever' shelves. You know how sometimes you start a book and you don't necessarily dislike it, but you know that it's just not something that you want to read right at that moment? That's what the 'to be finished' shelf is for me; I started some books, didn't finish them, but plan to one day. My abandoned shelf is pretty self-explanatory: books I have no desire to ever try and finish. I'm basically just tweaking this prompt to be about some books that have been languishing on my 'to be finished' shelf, along with two that are left on my 'abandoned forever' shelf.

To Be Finished:

 

We That Are Left by Clare Clark
Amazon | Book Depository
I just couldn't get into this one at the time, but I remember being disappointed because it still seemed really interesting. Hopefully when I pick it up again it'll hold my focus better!

Allen Ginsberg: A Biography by Barry Miles
Amazon | Book Depository
This book was just far longer than I was interested in at the time and I knew it wouldn't hold my attention. I'd still like to read it to find out more about Ginsberg, though, because I think he's an interesting person.

The Little Red Chairs by Edna O'Brien
Amazon | Book Depository
I enjoyed O'Brien's In The Woods and am interested to read more of her work. At the time, I had a library copy of this book checked out and just couldn't get into it, but i know that it's one I still want to read.


The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps by Kai Ashante Wilson
Amazon | Book Depository

I'm not entirely sure why I stopped reading this one. It's an incredibly short novella, but I think at the time I was incredibly busy with school and couldn't devote the time necessary to understand the world and what was going on, so I put it down. I still hope to give it another go sometime, though, especially since it's so short.

   
The Shadow Queen by C.J. Redwine
Amazon | Book Depository
The main reason I put this one down is (I believe) because I had been reading so many books similar to it that I just couldn't get myself interested in it. It sounds right up my alley, though, so I look forward to trying it again!

The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu
Amazon | Book Depository
When I first put this book down, I was leaning more towards just DNF-ing it for good. I initially picked it up to read because I had heard so many good things about it and it's also an Asian-inspired fantasy, so I thought it'd be great. It was so boring and it just didn't feel very well-written to me, but I continue to hear great things about it, so I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt that maybe I was just in a slump or something and that ifI pick it up again it'll be good. We'll see.

Snow Hunters by Paul Yoon
Amazon | Book Depository
This one was simply a case of needing to return it to the library because someone requested it and I couldn't renew it before I finished it. A bummer, but it happens. This was a collections of short stories, though, so hopefully it should be easy enough to get back into.

Imager's Challenge by L.E. Modesitt Jr.
Amazon | Book Depository
This is the second book in the Imager's Portfolio series. I really liked the first one, but I think I was trying to read these books at night and they were just a bit too slow for me at the time so I lost interest. Definitely interested in picking up this series again soon, though!

Abandoned Forever:

 
Dune by Frank Herbert
Amazon | Book Depository
I honestly don't care how mant people tell me this is the best sci-fi book out there and it's a classic and a must-read... I've tried it three times. Three. Times. I can't get into it and I'm tired of trying. I am officially content with say 'no thanks' to this book.

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
Amazon | Book Depository
I really wanted to like this book, but I am one of those that just couldn't find myself caring about anything in this book. It felt like a million things I'd read before (which isn't necessarily the book's fault?) and I just have no desire to ever pick it up again. The fandom around this book does make me interested in it... but I know I won't pick it up again.

Have you read any of these books? If so, what are your thoughts? Are there any books that you want to finish someday? Let me know!

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9 comments:

  1. Yeah Red Queen isn't worth it, if only because the second book sucks!
    My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2018/06/05/top-ten-tuesday-162/

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  2. I'm the same with Dune. I read it as a kid (not sure if I finished), was underwhelmed, tried it again as an adult and was like- nope. Just doesn't work for me. :)

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  3. I was kind of meh on Red Queen, but the second book sealed the deal for me - I quit that series! Shadow Queen was a disappointing read for me.

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  4. I can't say I blame you with Red Queen - plus, you're saving yourself a lot of trouble by just giving it up now.

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  5. I made it through Red Queen and Glass Sword but I'm definitely done with that series.

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  6. The thing that confuses me about the Red Queen fandom is how many people are rooting for the psychopath villain. I get that it's his mom's fault he's messed up and not his own, but now he's out murdering babies for crying out loud! I'm undecided as to whether or not I'll read the last one.

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  7. It's so true that sometimes you just need to be in the right place and time for some books - I've abandoned books at one point only to pick them up again years later. But some books just aren't worth the time and effort!

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  8. I've never tried reading Dune. Your comments about it are not making me want to change that. LOL!

    Here is our Top Ten Tuesday. Thanks for stopping by earlier!

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  9. Great list! I haven't heard of everything on here but in some cases, I'm rather glad that I haven't.

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