Do you know of any books that are supposedly great or classics but once you tried reading them they were only a sheer disappointment.

Or maybe you know of some books with good reviews but for some reason you never get around to reading them, something always holds you back from them.

For me, this happened with 'A Walk To Remember' by Nicholas Sparks.
My friend recommended it saying it was really good and since there has been a movie made out of it I thought I would try it out. But by the end of it, I wondered how could this get great reviews? It was written plainly, too predictable and even though it was meant to be sad, I felt no emotions.

"Do you know of any books that are supposedly great or classics but once you tried reading them they were only a sheer disappointment?"

Yes, "Moby Dick" and "Lord of the Rings". Tried to read them, began several times, abandoned them several times - just could not get into them.

That certainly has happened to me, MotherGoose. I'm totally with you on "Lord Of The Rings". People were raving about it and it fell flat on me after about 20 pages. Another one I mentioned was "Ulysses" on another thread. I couldn't wait to read it but gave up on about page 10 ( and I know most bibliophiles love that book...). I just didn't get the drift of it, I guess. I was also told I'd love Jane Austen books but, alas, I didn't care for them at all and I tried at least 2 just to be sure.

The reverse has also been true---I open a book sure I won't like it and then I end up unable to put it down. "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn" by Betty Smith (I thought it was a book specifically aimed at young girls; it wasn't) and "Johnny Got His Gun" by Dalton Trumbo was another (it sounded so depressing and it turned out to be but was much more than just that). I'm sure there are others. But these few titles popped into my head just now.

My friends were raving about A Walk to Remember too, and I finally picked it up last year just to stop their nagging. I agree with you Blurrystar, it was ridiculously predictable! I couldn't even find it in my heart to sympathize with the characters.

Hmm...I usually find something enjoyable in almost every book I read, but their have been exceptions. I'll have to glance over my bookshelves and post again later.

I studied a unit at university called "Science Fiction and Cyberculture" and we had to read a lot of "classic" sci-fi. I was surprised how many of them were terrible. One that springs to mind was "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" by Philip K. Dick (I think that's his name!). It's the book that Bladerunner was based on. Top film, but I tell ya, leave the book alone. It was terrible!!!

Interesting name, I must say. Was it just hard science fiction, or was it kind of veering into fantasy?

It was science fiction but the main focus of the book was not the same as the film. The book focused on the fact that most of the animals were dead and that live animals were a massive status symbol and the main character really, REALLY wanted a goat. It only brushed over the implications of androids wanting rights, and I don't think there was any discussion about the fact that they were designed to die.
Basically, all the good parts of Bladerunner were added by whoever translated the book to screenplay.

I really must say I found the Catcher in the Rye a disappointment. What on earth was it about?? However I really can't agree with Gatsby and MotherGoose; even though I started reading Lord of the Rings for the 2nd book (the Two Towers), I still managed to enjoy it. Now I've read it at least 600 times (I'm not exaggerating, that's common to all books I have) and am a definite addict.

Interesting topic. I’d have to say that The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is at or near the top of my list. For some reason, I just can't get past chapter 4 or 5. Same with LOTR. I read The Hobbit, but it took awhile. I find that if I can't see the action taking place in my mind, I can't finish the book. Others would be Grant's Memoirs, Odyssey, Wuthering Heights.

My husband suggested I read LOTR before I saw the movies, so I started with The Hobbit. It took awhile but I finally got through it. But I absolutely, could not get into any of the others. I enjoyed the movies, though.

Another book that is a classic and I looked forward to reading was To Kill A Mockingbird. I was so disappointed that I could not get into this one either. I know that it's a favorite of many here at FT, and probably because it IS such a classic that I guess I expected more from it. Maybe I'll have to give it a try again some time.

Never read Catch 22 (which to me now seems a bit odd).

Read LOTR without too much stress as a barely teenage lad. My real stumbling block appears to be John Steinbeck. I remember having to read "Of Mice & Men" & "The Old Man And The Sea" at school - i remember nothing - even at the time i could remember nothing of the books. They never touched me - obviously the words went clean through my head.

I too had heard A Walk To Remember was a very good read, so I checked it out from the library and found it to be a dissapointment...

Could not read The hobbit or LOTR.I have tried but end up staring blankly at the pages,and not taking it in at all

"The Great Gatsby" I listened to this on audiotape some time ago, and was not too impressed. However, thought I'd give it another try, and just finished it yesterday. Beautifully written, there are images from that book that are now permanently etched in my brain, but, as a story, nope, don't get it. No matter how much I try not to, I just see Gatsby as a stalker, and sympathize immensely with Tom and Daisy.
Hate "Wuthering Heights".
Although I am a huge Orwell fan, I don't like "1984". My husband loves Jack London, but I find him unreadable.
Virginia Woolf, I keep trying and trying and just can't get into any of her books, ditto Edith Wharton and Henry James.

'Brave New World' by Aldous Huxley was a big let down. I've had enough people recommend this to me in the past, although for the life of me I can't think why. The book has very little in plot and a very silly ending.
Orwell's '1984' is far superior.

At school we were informed that we had to learn "Pride and Prejudice" for our English litature class which I found a painful as pulling teeth, probably why I failed the subject.
I have read LOTR though it did take me several months to get started and some blind determination, but once I got the first book over me it was easy reading after that and I did find it enjoyable. I have read two books over the past year that I found fantastic and impossible to put down. The First one being "Catch 22" and the second being "The Magician"
The current book that I am reading which I find I have to read aloud to enjoy (which is something I have never did before and find strange) is "Ulysses". At the presen rate of reading I will still be reading it Christmas 2006.

I too tried to read LOTR. Only i started with the Two Towers and got through all of the first part about Rohan. But then i got to the Frodo, Sam and Gollum part. Well the book is still sitting on my bookshelf with the bookmark on that chapter and that was 2 years ago.
I loved the movies though.

I was assigned to read LOTR for a popular fiction class in college, and it was the first assigned book I ever failed to read. I skimmed. Very quickly. So much effort put into learning about a fantasy world...if I'm going to make that kind of effort, I guess I'd just rather be learning REAL history.

Skylarb, I could not have put it better myself.

The two genres I like least are fantasy and science fiction. As you say, I'd rather learn about the real world. I also find all the unpronounceable, bizarre, hard-to-spell names very irritating, especially when they are full of punctuation marks for no apparent reason.

No prizes for guessing that my favourite genres are true stories, fiction-based-on-fact and whodunnits!

I was really excited to read "Phantom of the Opera" thinking that it would be a really dark, beautiful story like I had been told it would be. But I didn't like it. I was also told "The Grapes of Wrath" would be good, but I hated it.

When "Apocalypse Now" came out, I tried to read "Lord Jim".
Is it my imagination or is readabilty a 20th century invention?

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I also find all the unpronounceable, bizarre, hard-to-spell names very irritating, especially when they are full of punctuation marks for no apparent reason.

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LOL! That's always bothered me as well.

Me too. Moby Dick and The Hobbitt were excruciating. I gave up, it wasn't worth the agony.

If anybody has successfully read The Naked Lunch, then I tips my hat to them.