..or even started in the first place!

I was thinking the other day(at work and bored of course!) about how I tend to stick with the same few genres and occasionally read something different. Well, I was thinking of books that I read by an author who was either popular but outside my genre or a genre I usually read but the book was 'out there'. What I find weird is that even though the book was disturbing there was something about it that I couldn't put down...some I'm sorta sorry Ihave the images from the book in my head to this day and others I'm sorta glad I finished...

I'll start with a few I can think of off the top of my head...my usual genre is non-controversial romance and at the time contemporary and 'real' not paranormal or too dramatic..some good s-e-x scenes and HEA required..a few non-gory mysteries..some kid's books...

these I don't know how or why I got through them and it's eerie!!

1) Intensity - Dean Koontz - I don' tknow what possessed me to pick up this book..I never read horror and still dont' read horror but maybe it was the cool cover. Even when it got graphic and I was thinking 'I do NOT want ot read this' I could not put the book down and ended up finishing it. I hate having these images in my head but I have to admit he can write!

2) The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty - Ann Rice - this was under her other name at the time and since I read romance mostly for the s-e-x at the time I thought I'd give this a try. This was SO out of my league and I didn't like it but couldn't put the book down. I still dont' understand half of what was going on! *blush* but the book was fascinating..

3) Wicked - Gregory? My 16 yr old cousin was visiting about 5 yrs ago and told me I just HAD to read this 'awesome' book. I didn't like it yet kept reading til I was done. It ws 'interesting' but I can't believe I read something like this.

these I was 'nervous' about but read and really enjoyed!

4) Abby Cooper Psychic Eye - Victoria Laurie - I have alwasy been wary of paranormal, esp psychics and witches but this was recommended in the mystery forum so I orderd it and had a coworker read it first. I read it and could not put it down..it not only had me reading this entire series and the other series she wrote but I started reading more paranormal books and enjoying most of them.

5) Storm Front - Jim Butcher - a fantasy book that is SO not me yet I absolutely loved the story and characters!

6) My Name is Asher Lev - Chaim Potok - the 1st time I 'had' to read this for class but I picked up a copy later and read. the reason this is 'weird' is because 1) it's rooted in history 2) it's rooted in the jewish faith which I'm not 3) it was set a while back in US history..I was totally hooked and bought the sequel 'the gift of asher lev' and also another story by this author though it wasn't as good as these 2. I think it was the art that drew me to this one. If it hadn't been required reading I never would have chosen this book.

I'm sure there are others I'll think of but I'm just amazed how a book I'm not wild about can keep me so riveted? am I the only one like this?? maybe it's like the last ones..I kept thinking if I kept at it I'd end up enjoying it?

The Corrections - hated it, but kept hoping that something would happen which would justify the hype so plowed on through... awful.

Snow by Orhan Pamuk...for the same reasons as the above post.

Bitter is the New Black by Jen Lancaster. What an absolutely unlikeable person. I dislike stopping a read, so I pushed on through and by the time I finished was angry I didn't just toss it like I should have.

Until I Find You by John Irving - This book sounded so wonderful according to the back of the book, but once I started reading it, I didn't like it at all.  I was totally turned off by the main character, but for some reason I could not put the book down.  I do have to say that by the end of the book, I was actually glad I had read it.  It was brought to light why the main character was the way he was, so it sort of redeemed him in my eyes at the end.  It was over 800 pages long too, so I had a lot to get through!

Cold Sassy Tree.  I don't usually read rambly books.  This one just rambled and rambled.  And, then the characters were so unlikeable.  I usually give up about 50 pages and I just kept going.  I don't know why.  I didn't like it any better at the end.

Susanna,

I love Chaim Potok's work.  My Name is Asher Lev is the only one that I have kept through all my moves and downsizes.

As for me, I don't like to spend my time trying to push through a book that I have trouble with, so I don't have anything to add here, I suppose.  My latest attempt was Foucault's Pendulum, which I thought I would love based on the blurb, but when I dove into it, I felt like I was drowning.  I gave up after 200 pages.  

Andersonville by MacKinlay Kantor, while it won a Pulitzer for fiction and gets rave reviews...it was a chore for me to finish. It took him 25 years to write it, and just about that long for me to finish it. I was glad I finished it, but didn't enjoy it much.

I didn't like Wicked either... I quit about 1/3 of the way through.   Someone told me it's better if you had read the original Oz series, because you would already be familiar with the characters.  So maybe someday I'll read the Oz series and give it another shot.

The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult.  I had already been ambivalent toward My Sister's Keeper (I hate the ending -- it seemed to me that she had written everything else and just wrote whatever hoping no one would notice) and picked up The Tenth Circle.  I don't think I'm going to read anything else by her.

I won a copy of What the Dead Know and didn't like it either, but at least I had the sense to stop before I got too far.  I skipped ahead to the reveal and then posted it here.

The 1st 3 I mentioned I wsn't liking but for some reason could not put the book down until I'd finished in spite of it not being 'my thing'...just not sure why! the others I didnt expect to like but did..hmm...maybe I was having some sadistic moments trying to torture myself LOL!

I sorta liked Cold Sassy Tree though didn't like it towards the middle/end..and the sequel was horrible..I guess I kept thinking it'd be a really good book or  something but it was a bit dissapointing overall...

Dreamside by Graham Joyce. It was grueling to try and get through it. There wasn't any substance to it.

Mine would be Anna Karenina.  I can say that I've read it but I didn't enjoy it one bit!

Gap Creek........... picked it up because Gap Creek Road is near my hometown. Couldn't put it down because I wanted a HEA  after all the hardache and tragedy this couple suffered. It didn't happen.

The Terror by Dan Simmons. It's a big book and I just plodded through it, but did not enjoy it much. I usually have to finish a book even if I'm not loving it.

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. Blerggggg. But I did finish it! I kept hoping it would get better and live up to all the good things I'd read about it, but... it didn't.

Jane Austen Book Club.  It was so short.  I kept thinking "they made a movie out of it.  It's got to get better."  Wrong!  Utterly pointless with characters you wanted to slap.  I can't believe I wasted time finishing it.

The Historian...omg that was painful.  It held my interest at the beginning but it was just too long.  I had to skim 1/2 the book.

"The Golden Bowl" by Henry James. I really like Henry James, but I found some of the stylistic tics here difficult. The story was promising. (When you do a synopsis of Henry James, he always sounds sort of lurid, like a soap opera plotline.) The characters were well observed as usual. But this was a real slog. I think I'm going to wait till I'm 50 & try it again then.

The most recent book I read like this was called Nude Men, I can't believe I finished it but for some reason I had to know how it ended. I found  the characters annoying and there were times I just wanted to slap them all.

I love Dean Koontz but I just could not read False Memory, it was sooo twisted and creepy to me.

I keep telling myself that in this lifetime I will get through the book War and Peace but I just can't do it, I get about 1/3 of the way through, sit it down and just can't bring myself to pick it up again.

Anna Karenina was long and boring....and Violin by Anne Rice I just couldn't get into it.

I trudged thru these...

1. Rococo by AdrianaTrigiani - my best friend suggested it and I plowed thru.  Didn't really care for the writing or characters.

2. Uncommon Grounds by Sandra Balzo - I like some cozy mysteries, but this one did not grab me in at all.

I've thought about reading Anna Karenina but everyone who's read the book seems to regard it as a form of torture....so....it's off my TBR list!

The Year of Fog by Michelle Richmond.  Tedious.  I too could not get through Wicked - no matter how many others liked it, I could not get past the second chapter. 

The Snowman's Children by Glen Hirshberg. I kept waiting for it to "get good" or have some awesome final revelation or something, but..... nope. Same thing with The Corrections.

And even though I like Jeffery Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme series, I had to give up on his stand-alone book Praying For Sleep about 1/3 of the way through... it put me to sleep!

How can chick lit be a chore?  I finally finished The Devil Wears Prada, but I never had a connection with it the way I do with other books.  I watched the movie and the book was certainly better.  I guess that redeemed it for me.