re: Name a popular book that you've disliked or gave up on

10,000 Leagues Under the Sea

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It's an ok book, has some humorous parts, but I didn't find any of the characters super endearing, and nothing about it was laugh out loud hilarious. It always seemed, to me, one of those things Nola-centric people just HAVE to love excessively, and if you don't also love it then you just don't understand Bc you're not from there

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All of this. I am not from NOLA and it has been maybe 10 or so years since I tried to read it. The plot is thin. Ignatius J is unbearable. Some people claim he is not supposed to be the loveable oddball, but instead represent the pseudo intellectual, pseudo bourgeois of New Orleans (and possibly LSU). That's fine. I still hate him and I still have no desire to read a book told through a purposefully unbearable narrator (as I recall it was a 3rd person close POV, so technically Ignatius wasn't the narrator, but you get what I'm saying) whose antics are neither charming nor funny in a book with a plot so thin you could use it as tracing paper.

I found it a monumental disappointment, but I suppose I was not the audience. After all, apparently it was meant for New Orleanians and only New Orleanians, and I couldn't give a rat's arse about that city.

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American Gods

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That was another one for me. Between this and the Dark Tower, I may have to assume that I just don't focus enough on the writing when I am reading. I just didn't find either of these stories to be all that interesting.

The Dark Tower series. I read the Gunslinger, but just can't bring myself to read any further. It was boring, and I don't care about any of the characters. I'm sure I will read it someday, though.

I too found Confederacy of Dunces "meh" at best. But I'll add three I haven't seen posted that I was completely underwhelmed by:

- Catch-22
- The Catcher in the Rye
- Gods & Generals

I'm considering picking Catcher back up and giving it another shot, though. I was much younger when I read it the first time.

I was about 14 when I read Catcher. Not my cup of tea.

Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie.

Some people think Ulysses is the best book ever written in the English language. I found it unreadable. It has been years. Maybe I should give it another chance.

The heart of darkness

The Shack