What Required Reading book could you not finish?

[Gazzosa676]

I used to be a nerd so I always read all the assigned books. Except one. "Il Piacere" (the Pleasure (?)) by Gabriele D'annunzio.
Man, that book is a garbage mound. A mockup of "The Picture of Dorian Gray" written by a dwarf with delusion of grandeur. Nice material for f*scists.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Other than a few non-fiction things (The Blind Clockmaker, one of the three Isaac Asimov actual science books I picked up, and a book on nuclear war where the comment I needed for a book report was on the jacket sleeve, with no indication where or if it appeared verbatim in the text) there have only been two books I had serious issues with, one I have never finished (Though it was never assigned, it is referenced in at least two other fiction novels, and the "suggested reading" list on several RPGs) is The Worm Ouroboros; the fact that the narrator seems to be "standing between" the reader and the characters just is offputting for me. One I had a massive struggle to get through but had to for a class was "Portrait of the Lady" by Henry James - 400 pages of .... nothing but tedious drama, and the lead looks like she is right back where she started at the end.

 

[melchi]

Silent Spring - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I was supposed to write a book report on it but couldn't finish. So just winged it.

 

[Fox-Trot-9]

The only book I didn't finish reading was Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, b/c I had to switch English classes in my senior year in high school. By then, I managed to read up to part four of the book. I did manage to finish reading it in college during one of my college English classes, though, so it worked out.

The only book I had difficulty finishing in high school was F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. Out of all the reading (required reading and reading on my own), that was the most boring book I've ever read. I just wasn't ready for the stupid climax. I didn't (and still don't) get why Gatsby had to die at the time. I thought the situation was the most contrived BS I've ever had to read.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

The only book I didn't finish reading was Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, b/c I had to switch English classes in my senior year in high school. By then, I managed to read up to part four of the book. I did manage to finish reading it in college during one of my college English classes, though, so it worked out.

The only book I had difficulty finishing in high school was F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. Out of all the reading (required reading and reading on my own), that was the most boring book I've ever read. I just wasn't ready for the stupid climax. I didn't (and still don't) get why Gatsby had to die at the time. I thought the situation was the most contrived BS I've ever had to read.

Mercifully I read Gatsby after trudging through the morass that was "Portrait of a Lady" and I have a fondness for the 1920s aesthetic, but I do remember the climax being ... well... anticlimactic...

 

[Anonjohn20]

I finished every book that was ever assigned to me. "The House of Sand and Fog" was the one I detested the most.

Then, there was that piece by Marquis de Sade that my professor didn't assign, but we all read it because we were honor students, and then she asked us why none of us stopped reading it.

Are you ever finishing Kaiba's Prostitute?

The only book I didn't finish reading was Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, b/c I had to switch English classes in my senior year in high school. By then, I managed to read up to part four of the book. I did manage to finish reading it in college during one of my college English classes, though, so it worked out.

The only book I had difficulty finishing in high school was F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. Out of all the reading (required reading and reading on my own), that was the most boring book I've ever read. I just wasn't ready for the stupid climax. I didn't (and still don't) get why Gatsby had to die at the time. I thought the situation was the most contrived BS I've ever had to read.

Jay Gatsby had to die for the novel to make sense. No one came to his funeral because no one trusted this ruthlessly ambitious stranger with no moral conviction. The author's point was that everything he ever did was pointless and that "the wages of sin is death." He came so close to getting what he believed that he wanted (Daisy) and then after he's taken out even she spurned him (not because he was middle class like the movie portrayed but because she believed Tom's accusation about him being a criminal, he was a bootlegger so Tom wasn't wrong).

 

[RepresentingCaution]

Are you ever finishing Kaiba's Prostitute?

Probably after my kid goes to college.

 

[Anonjohn20]

Probably after my kid goes to college.

Good. You see, there are two kinds of writers: those who finish writing their stories and those who ...

 

[TheMonotonePuppet]

Required Reading books are books that schools and colleges force you to read. They typically revolve around some common themes.

In my case, I literally cannot finish this book called “How the Garcia Girls lost their accents”. It’s not even that long (200 pages) but I have never in my entire life not wanted to do schoolwork than read this book. It’s been at least one month since I started… I won’t go too much into details but
1: I find every single character annoying/ insufferable/ shallow/ boring. The four sisters all feel the same, and feel so bratty, unfunny, and mean for zero reason
2: The reverse chronological progression makes the book difficult to read, especially as its pratically an anthology.
3: Historcial context is barely provided.
4: I have to annotate this book. Mainly this.

Before this, I read Dracula (500 pages) in five days while annotating. It was a decent read but this is proof that this isn’t just page length lol.

I wonder if the school system made anyone else feel like me? If so, what book(s) made you literally rather do math than read them.

The Bible.

 

[AshleyRowan]

Coming Spring by Stefan Żeromski. The first third is a really interesting read about returning to a lost fatherland just regaining its independence. And then the book turns into a slow and empty exploration of aristocracy and exoticisation of villages.

Also, when we were discussing that guy named Adam Mickiewicz our class split perfectly in half over what was exciting and what was boring - Pan Tadeusz: The Last Foray in Lithuania or Dziady. And I'm sorry, but I really prefer Dziady, an atmospheric play about a tormented soul of a guy who proclaims himself the messiah of his oppressed nation, than Pan Tadeusz, a largely empty poem about aristocracy with a whole page long description of bigos.

 

[RepresentingDesire]

I never finished a single one because it was unbearable to read, it wasn't even the fact that the book was horrible.

 

[Thraben]

Wonder.

I might hated for this, but it is so monstrously boring. Short, very impactful message... FUCKING BORING.

I couldn't finish it purely because it couldn't hold my attention, period.

 

[Adra_Collins]

I quit Enders Game and it wasn't even recquired reading. it was just....annoying and the characters felt gross in every conceivable fashion. I felt justified when I learned years later Orson Scott Card is a bigot.

 

[Sergeandgreen]

Well, as it wasn't specified that it had to be English literature. I never finished "Tauben im Gras" (Pigeons in the grass). Never finished the book, and i even failed to finish the audiobook. I read half of a summary before going to the exam. Even Kafka's "Verwandlung" which basically means transformation and is about a guy who transformed into a cockroach, was better. In school, we learned that Kafka wrote it because he felt that his father treated him bad. So yeah, it was a shitty book. But far better than Tauben im Gras. Fuck that shit, just thinking about it makes me angry.

 

[Deleted member 165068]

Johnathan Livingston Seagull... worst book in existence! It's about a seagull of the same name coming into existence (like the literal holy spirit) to help other seagulls learn to be seagulls while they try to teach him higher spiritual principles and morals through their own lessons from Johnathan about how to be a bird. There's a lot of allegory stuff and themes in it that will put either people to sleep or make them question, "What even is this book?" Teachers I know tried to pass this off as a sixth grade book, but I read it then and found it dull. I might have some stuff way wrong about it, but that's cause I don't want to even recommend it anyone ever.