Books I Just Couldn't Finish

On the Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres

            Oddly enough, I was looking forward to reading this book, though the reason was mainly out of pride. As I was reading aloud the latest list of classic books to my boyfriend, who had not realized what he had gotten himself into when he asked, “What books are you reading next?”, my boyfriend asked if I could handle Copernicus’ book On The Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres. While he said that because he imagined it would be very boring, my competitive brain interpreted his words as a challenge. Naturally, the book was very boring, but that isn’t why I didn’t finish it. It wasn’t because of the large amount of geometry, which I hated in high school. It wasn’t because every other word was Copernicus labeling new vertices. Instead, it was because I couldn’t find a full-length English translation of the book.

Typically, even if I can’t find it online, I can order it through the local library or through the university library. While the local library had books on Copernicus and books on the implications of his work, they didn’t have the book itself. On the other hand, the university had a full copy De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium, but it was in Latin. Although I took Latin in high school and still remember a great deal of it, I have absolutely no desire to take the time to struggle through translating an already boring book. So technically, while I didn’t finish the book, I am counting it as read and finished, because I ended up finding all of book 1, which was enough for my personal purposes. Thanks Copernicus for your work; really appreciate it.

Great Expectations

            I encountered this book for the first time in high school. This was back when I eyed every so-called “classic” book rather suspiciously. Imagine yet another Dickens novel about a young poor boy in an abusive situation. You can see why I already wasn’t thrilled. The way the book started didn’t help matters either. In among a swamp, Pip is almost killed by a robber demanding he give him some of his abusive relative’s belongings. Deciding that a later death from his sister is better than an immediate death by the robber, Pip gives the escaped convict what he wants and also promises to give him more stuff hiding in the swamp. When Pip goes to deliver the items (give the dude slack he’s like 9), he is almost murdered by a different escaped convict, whereupon the original convict comes and kills the other convict. Pip runs away in terror.

            This all occurs in the first chapter of the book in a swampy graveyard. Using that information, I managed to get my mom to allow me to skip this book. However, I couldn’t escape Dickens forever and soon read Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Hard Times as well as others. Eventually, it ended up back on my to-read list, but this time on the classics list. It was easier to get through this time around, having known Dickens’ schtick before. Plus, it was either read an actual story (Dickens) albeit a rather depressing one, or read The City of God by Augustine, which debunked gods living in the sky (like …I guess this used to be world-changing). I still don’t consider it a classic. If it was the only novel Dickens ever wrote, then yes, but of his novels I definitely prefer David Copperfield.

The Portable Edgar Allen Poe

Really? Really? Who in their right mind was like “I want to read everything Edgar Allen Poe ever wrote, including all the letters he ever wrote to people, but it can’t fit it my suitcase”? Nonetheless, it exists. Not only does it exist, but also it was on my to-read list in high school. From my previous experiences with Poe, such as “A Tell Tale Heart” and “The Pit and the Pendulum”, I knew that I didn’t enjoy his stories. They were excessively disturbing and eerie. It wasn’t necessary in my expert high school opinion. Nevertheless, I managed to make it pretty far. “The Cask of Amontillado” and “A Descent into the Maelstrom” flitted past my eyes, but not quick enough. 

However, the one that stuck with me, and helped me start to appreciate classic books was “The Premature Burial”. The short story has Poe’s signature eeriness to it, but it was an outlier among his stories due to the main character’s fear. It seemed foolish to be afraid of getting buried alive. What are the odds of that happening?  Nonetheless, as the story progressed, Poe masterfully convinced me that the narrator’s fear was not only rational, but almost definitely going to happen. When Poe convinced me that being buried alive was a legitimate fear, I realized that I didn’t have to like his stories in order to appreciate his genius at writing believable macabre situations for his characters (and readers) to suffer through. Nevertheless, I didn’t finish the book, because I understood Poe was a genius writer and I had no desire to read over a hundred pages of his personal letters. No thank you.

What about you?

What are some of the books you didn’t finish? Why didn’t you finish them? Did you ever read a book you thought was going to be great and it turned out horrible? Let me know in the comments!

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Image Credit “thearchive of the available past” by Jo Guldi