Thursday 28 May 2009

Booking Through Thursday-unread

Is there a book that you wish you could “unread”? One that you disliked so thoroughly you wish you could just forget that you ever read it?

This is really hard to answer. If a book is that bad then it's very unlikely I will get to the end of it anyway, so it's actually quite hard to say that I wish I'd never read it! I could list numerous so-so books, but none of these I would want to unread because if I actually got to the end then I could obviously see some worth in the book even if I didn't love it!

If I had to pick something then it would have to be White Teeth and On Beauty both by Zadie Smith. These were both incessantly boring and books that I did wonder when I'd finished them why I even bothered. So don't even ask me why I read them both. You'd have thought once would be enough! And I recently read Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris which I really didn't like. I don't think I'd say I wish I hadn't read it though because at least now I know not to try anything else! Learnt my lesson from Zadie Smith! Lol.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm a "down with the ship" kind of book reader, and I had no trouble answering this one, lol. I've not read any David Sedaris, yet, but I've got Me Talk Pretty Some Day on Mt. TBR. I have thought, by the title, that Dress...Corduroy would have a satirical wit and I've been wanting to read it. Have you read any other Sedaris?

Susan Whelan said...

I've read a few books (and authors) that I wish I hadn't wasted my time on, but only one came to mind that I really wish I hadn't read at all (at that particular time, anyway).

Jo said...

koolaidmum, I think it was supposed to be satirical. To me he was trying to make a totally dysfunctional family life funny, and it didn't work for me. But I think I'm in the minority with Sedaris because lots of people rave about him. I haven't read anything else and it would take an outstanding review to make me have another go!

BooksPlease said...

Yes, it's not worth reading a boring book or one you dislike. I've never read anything by Sedaris and have only read On Beauty, which I thought was OK.

Anonymous said...

I haven't read either of these books but if I choose a book to read I will forse myself to finish it. Happy Btt. I enjoyed reading your post.

Dot said...

There's not point contuing with a book if you don't enjoy it is there! I had the same experience wit Zadie Smith, I have up after the first one though!

Nise' said...

There are too many books out there to read to suffer through a bad one.

JoAnn said...

LOL - I mentioned White Teeth in my answer, too!

Jess said...

For me it was In the Woods by Tana French. Love the book until the ending. The ending just killed the entire book.

Missy B. said...

If a book is good all the way through, then the ending is a big disappointment, then I feel good that I at least read the book and enjoyed it most of the way through.
The UNREAD books of my past are usually ones that either A. Shocked me at how graphic or grotesque the book was.. or B. I just couldn't read them due to how the author writes. It either grabs me or it doesn't.

Anonymous said...

Zadie Smith...so right on!

Tasha said...

I recall strongly disliking Faulkner's Go Down, Moses when I read it in college. Although I love Cormac McCarthy's style, and he is often compared to Faulkner, so I wonder if maybe it just wasn't the right time. I'm not sure I'm willing to find out, though.