Books you had to come back to

On the pivotal book theme... Are there any books that you tried to read for years and couldn't get into, but once you did they were amazing? I must have had a copy of Foucault's Pendulum for ten years and never could get past page 10. Once I did, it was wonderful!

I had the same experience with Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. I found this a very difficult book to read. A few years later, I picked it up and completely bonded with it.

Anyone else?

I would have to say mine would have been the Thornbirds. I attempted to read it a few times and just never finished. Finally finished it and it was a very good book.

I did that with the Harry Potter books, haha.

I hate to admit it, but I'm that way with the Hobbit. I guess it's SO rich in detail, and plot twists, that I have trouble following it. I've never been able to sit down and read it, STILL. Maybe I'll give it a try this summer.

I still haven't read the Hobbit! I love the first chapter, but it is so descriptive that I feel satisfied after reading just a few pages. Just haven't got past them.

Howl's Moving Castle. I've read alot of Diane Wynn Jones' books and they are great. But when it came to that one, it was hard to get passed the first page for me. I was excited when Miyazaki came out with the animated movie for it. Me and my daughter watched it like 12 times within a week. Good movie, even better book.

Froogle,
Same here...I couldn't get past the first page in Harry Potter until I saw the movie...then I couldn't put the books down.

I don't know why I continously read all my US history books over and over. You'd think by now I'd know what happened to us better than the History Channel could tell you but I keep on being fascinated by stuff I forgot about or reading different author's opinions. And the photos are my favorite.

Roxy,
Get some new ones, with a different perspective. I agree with you on the photos, I LOVE old historic photos.

I did that with the Lord of the Rings (but I loved the Hobbit), The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and the Belgariad.

From what I remember, I read nearly the first chapter, and was so bored I threw the book in my closet. When I saw the movie was coming out, I went to read it. I was similar with the Eragon books.

I got stopped at the thinking cat...I tohught, this is boring and forgot about it. I hadn't paidattention to the whole Harry Potter thing so when I saw the trailer for the movie, I initially didn't know what the movie was....imagine my surprise. I read the books the night I saw the movie...I went straight hom and read the first book....and kept reading til I was done.

Now I'm counting down the book and the movie....Life is good.

Haha, I remember reading the third book in like a day.

Thank goodness my nephew had all the book up to that point (4). I ordered my set in hardback from amazon and pre-ordered book 5. My eyes and neck were SO stiff and sore....but it was worth it!

I have one and two in paperback, and the rest in hardback.

I just finished "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy after it sat on my book shelf for a few months. It is frighteningly beautiful. Read it! I would call it a novella rather than a novel as it only took a couple of hours to read, but it is very good.

With the running of the bulls, I revisited "The Sun Also Rises" this week. The last time I read it was in high school. I can't believe how different it is to read as an adult! Definitely worth looking at again.

I couldn't really get into Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash back in 6th grade, despite how much my friend recommended it. I simply wasn't into cyberpunk back then, and I thought the book was really more of a satire as opposed to something serious. Despite that, I'm still trying to search for it at the library now since I actually ended up reading about halfway through a few months ago.

Said By RudeThaiDude

I couldn't really get into Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash back in 6th grade, despite how much my friend recommended it. I simply wasn't into cyberpunk back then, and I thought the book was really more of a satire as opposed to something serious. Despite that, I'm still trying to search for it at the library now since I actually ended up reading about halfway through a few months ago.

That's similar to the experience I just had with "The Sun Also Rises." In high school I saw it as a tragic love story, but memorized all the bits the teacher lectured on about the analogies to the lost generation. Reading it as an adult, however, I suddenly saw that it was an analogy on a much larger scale. It wasn't so much about failed love as about the tendency of people to fall into the "if only this wouldn't have happened, I could have done that and been happy" line of thinking.

I just finished "A Farewell to Arms," though, and didn't get much out of it It must have been hard for Hemingway to follow up "The Sun Also Rises." Maybe 10 years from now I will reread "Farewell" and see it more clearly.