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TBR Books You Have Been Putting Off Reading


Kylie

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I haven't actually, no. Yes I have The Grapes Of Wrath on my to read list also. I just don't have a physical copy and I am trying to not buy any til I have read a fair few. I just don't ever think "oh yes I right fancy reading that" when it comes to EOE.

 

Oh well, I will read it one day without a doubt.

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Has anybody read East Of Eden by John Steinbeck?

 

I have had this book on my shelf for years now.

I do not have any rhyme or reason not to to want to read it, I just never feel inclined to.

 

I've just about finished this.  I'm finding it a good read.  Some bits are a bit descriptive but Steinbeck's writing is so good, they don't drag.

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No, but I loved The Grapes of Wrath. Have you read any other Steinbeck?

He is my third favorite author of all time :) Grapes Of Wrath is great, but I highly recommend Amazon's collection of his short five novels (probably 100-150 pages). It includes some of my favorite stories- The Red Pony, The Pearl, Of Mice And Men, Cannery Row and Tortilla Flat.

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This is a wonderful book.  I enjoyed it far more than I expected to - it's so atmospheric.   :)

Ugh- EVERYONE says that!! I read lots of long (history) books, but for some reason the size really intimidates me.

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This is a wonderful book.  I enjoyed it far more than I expected to - it's so atmospheric.   :)

Ugh- EVERYONE says that!!

 

Sorry.

 

I've been putting off The Miniaturist too, Noll. I'm not sure why, really.

This has been chosen as our next Book Club read, so that's forced my hand at least! :giggle2:
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I mostly read classics so of course names like Don Quixote and Moby Dick are on the list. Ulysess, Middlemarch and Bleak House too. It's not the size of the books that makes me reluctant, but rather the probable disappointment that would follow. I had Gone With the Wind, The Name of the Rose, Les Miserables and Dostoyevsky's books too on this list and each one of them was disappointing. 

 

My TBR plie is out of control anyway but I feel that these books are must reads somehow and sometimes I felt bad for picking up Murakami instead of Joyce or Cervantes. 

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I've also been putting off The Miniaturist - despite multiple good reviews! It still lies untouched on the bookshelf next to 1Q84...

 

1Q84 is very Murakamish if I might say so. If you like his novels in general, you will like this too. 

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Has anybody read East Of Eden by John Steinbeck?

 

I have had this book on my shelf for years now.

I do not have any rhyme or reason not to to want to read it, I just never feel inclined to.

 

EoE is the only Steinbeck that I have managed to finish...by the hardest, and only because I was roped into leading a discussion of it years ago.  I disliked it intensely.  I've started, I believe, 3 other Steinbecks and put them down in despair.  There is something about his writing that is akin to scraping fingernails on a blackboard. 

 

 

I have to say, I've been putting off Wolf Hall for ages :(

 

Edited to add: and also Michael Faber's The Crimson Petal And the White.

 

I put off starting Wolf Hall as well, but I'm sorry that I did!  It was absolutely marvelous!  Loved it and the sequel.....wish she'd hurry up and get to the last one. 

 

Hated, hated, yes....hated The Crimson Petal and the White.  I did read about 200(ish) pages into it, but couldn't bring myself to bother with the rest.  Didn't care about the people a bit.   Much like Steinbeck, it grated on my nerves. 

 

I've also been putting off The Miniaturist - despite multiple good reviews! It still lies untouched on the bookshelf next to 1Q84...

 

1Q84 is worth the effort.  And it is an effort at times.  I'm glad I read it. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Has anybody read East Of Eden by John Steinbeck?

 

I have had this book on my shelf for years now.

I do not have any rhyme or reason not to to want to read it, I just never feel inclined to.

 

I also have it on my TBR pile. I know Karsa Orlong who used to come here more often really enjoyed the novel, and it's not even his usual genre :) I have high hopes for the novel, too!

 

 

Ugh- EVERYONE says that!! I read lots of long (history) books, but for some reason the size really intimidates me.

 

 

Hated, hated, yes....hated The Crimson Petal and the White.  I did read about 200(ish) pages into it, but couldn't bring myself to bother with the rest.  Didn't care about the people a bit.   Much like Steinbeck, it grated on my nerves. 

 

Oh yay, I'm not the only one who was underwhelmed by TCPatW! :D  :friends3:   I remember a bunch of us reading the book and everyone else liking it very much, and I was a bit 'meh'. I didn't hate it like you, pontalba, but I was not impressed like others were! So Anna, there you go :D Don't feel any pressure to like the book... :giggle2: 

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I have a LOT of books on my TBR pile that I've been putting off reading, but the ones that have probably been there the longest are what I call the classics - Jane Austen, Charlies Dickens, Emily Bronte etc.  The only classic I have ever read is Jane Eyre which I loved, but as for the rest of them I just haven't been able to pick them up for some reason.  Saying that I have picked Pride & Prejudice up a couple of times (although not for a while) but haven't got past the first few pages.  At the time maybe I just wasn't in the right frame of mind to be reading them, maybe I was too young, or maybe they're just not for me but I would like to read them because, you know, they're classics.  I guess a part of me feels like I'm missing out and that I should read them, again because they're classics.

 

Other than that I'm always buying books that people have either recommended to me or that have been hyped up online or are just bestsellers and then they sit waiting to be read for months, if not years.  I think the majority of the time it's because I'm almost fearful of reading them in case they don't live up to my expectations or in case I hate them.

 

One of my goals for next year is to concentrate on reading the books I already own so hopefully I'll be able to knock a few of the ones I've mentioned above off my TBR list.

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I have a LOT of books on my TBR pile that I've been putting off reading, but the ones that have probably been there the longest are what I call the classics - Jane Austen, Charlies Dickens, Emily Bronte etc. 

 

Same here. The books that have been on my TBR pile longest are mostly classics. I keep putting them off because for me they are not 'easy' reads, and often I have to dedicate a lot of time and energy to them. I'm reading David Copperfield at the moment which I have had on my Kindle for years, and while I'm enjoying it I still need to read more contemporary books in between. :readingtwo:

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Strange, I never found classics hard to read, unless we are talking about specifics like  Plato or Chaucer where the language is sometimes difficult. Austen especially has a very light style. 

 

I found certain Russian novels hard to follow but that is mostly due to character names. 

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Last year was a good year for me reading some of the books that I'd been putting off for eons.

 

I still have quite a few left!

 

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides has been loafing around on my shelf for over a decade.   (currently reading this one)

Ditto a number of books by John Rechy:  Marilyn's Daughter, This Day's Death, and Our Lady of Babylon.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel -- I REALLY want to read this one soon!    (read)

Dear Genius by Jack Dunphy, which recounts his life with Truman Capote.  I've had THIS one for over 20 years, and have only ever flicked through it.   (read)

Ulysses by James Joyce.  Yeah, good luck to me getting to THAT any time soon.

Orlando by Virginia Woolf

Early writings by Joe Orton:  Between Us Girls, The Boy Hairdresser, Lord Cucumber, and more.

 

There are others, but the above are the ones that glare at me the most accusingly.

 

I just looked back to see what titles I'd included when I first posted in this thread.  Hey, I actually managed to read some of 'em!  Go me.

 

Maybe I'll get to the others next year.  (No, Ulysses, that won't include YOU.)

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