Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
The Last Ten Books I Abandoned.
This topic was submitted by Claire @ Book Lovers Pizza!
- “The Dark Lady’s Mask” by Mary Sharratt – alternative history about Shakespeare? Blasphemy! No way am I going to accept this premise. Sorry I even bothered. However, this didn’t stop me from reading her subsequent novel, Ecstasy, which I really liked.
- “The Summer that Melted Everything” by Tiffany McDaniel – I haven’t a clue why I even asked for this one because it’s a fantasy story about inviting the Devil to town – nope.
- “The Pearl and the Carnelian” by Annabel Fielding – what can I say about this book… well… my impression of this one was… to be honest, waffle, waffle, waffle, bored, goodbye! Too bad, because it was really my type of book. Historical fiction, strong female protagonist, between the two World Wars, England, and a really beautiful cover. <Sigh!>
- “Belgravia” by Julian Fellows – oh, how I wanted to love this. I loved the Downton Abbey TV series. But the big difference between that and this – at least Downton had poor people along with the wealthy. I just can’t get excited about rich and privileged peoples’ troubles. My husband actually loved this book and he recommended it to me – sorry, darling! (However, I will watch the TV show when it comes on.)
- “Nine Folds Make a Paper Swan” by Ruth Gilligan – the contemporary parts were good, but the historical parts were so full of jargon and slang, not all in English, that I was lost, not understanding what was going on.
- “The Impossible Fortress” by Jason Rekulak – aside from some historical/chronological errors, the idea of petty crime and (even soft core) porn just didn’t sit well with me, especially if 16-year-old boys read this today and think this might be cool!
- “The Fortunate Ones” by Ellen Umansky – I should have loved this but I just couldn’t connect with any of the characters.
- “Everything Belongs to Us” by Yoojin Grace Wuertz – social injustice should have grabbed me but again, the characters weren’t sympathetic enough for me to care about them, so I gave up.
- “Returning” by Yael Shahar – I thought this was supposed to be fiction, but it certainly didn’t feel like it was. In fact, it read like a book about spirituality and religion, and that’s just not for me. I cannot stand preachy books, even if it is my own religion (or maybe especially because it was).
- “Murder in the City of Liberty” by Rachel McMillan – maybe if I had read the first book in the series, I wouldn’t have been so confused by this second installment. However, the romantic angst between the two protagonists was painful to witness, and the opening scene was so confusing, I couldn’t figure out who was where and doing what. Plus, I know Chicago and that opening scene was just factually wrong.
Have you read any of these books and loved them? If so, I’m glad you did. As they say, no two people read the same book, right?
Do any of these books sound good to you despite my DNF epitaph? If so, I’ve left you links (affiliate) to find them on Amazon.
The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog 
I need to get better at giving up on books. I would have to go back years to come up with 10.
LikeLiked by 1 person
No problem. Lots of readers don’t like to give up on books. But you know, I’m almost 63 years old and well… life is too short for me to keep reading something I’m not enjoying. (Plus, it is part of the curmudgeon persona I’m working on developing!)
LikeLike
I haven’t read any of these but do have Belgravia on my shelf. Oh darn.. well, you never know I may end up liking it but I’ve had it on my shelf for a while so not in a rush to read it apparently! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
My husband liked it a whole lot, but it just left me cold. You might enjoy it!
LikeLike
Nice book
LikeLiked by 1 person
Interesting list. The only author I know is Julian Fellows. Like you, I loved the series but I can imagine that I wouldn’t just like the rich side of the story.
Anyway, thanks for visiting my TTT earlier. Happy reading.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I haven’t read any of these but now I know to stay clear. Your tips about why you DNF’d them is so helpful!! A lot of those reasons I would feel the same about. Especially, the devil one! lol
LikeLiked by 2 people
It’s super frustrating when a novel has all of your favorite elements but STILL fails to thrill you. What is up with that? I hate it when that happens.
Happy TTT!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
LikeLiked by 1 person
I just saw your TTT. That reminded me of a book I didn’t put on this list. Someone sent me a book (print) that I didn’t even put on my Goodreads list, so I forgot about it. The protagonist was having sex with like… three different men, and the scenes were WAY too graphic for me. I’m no prude, but this bordered on porn, and I don’t read erotica so I DNF that book as well.
LikeLike
Oh, ugh. I don’t blame you. I’m fairly prudish, so a graphic sex scene is absolutely one of the things that cause me to put a book down.
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
LikeLiked by 1 person
I just, just, just almost caved on Belgravia. BORING. But, it was still real life and had my long commute and it was better than nothing that week. Glad I’m not the only one!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Let’s hope the TV series is better. So far, it seems to be.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I haven’t watched it. It’s getting all kinds of hype tho
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sorry you had to DNF these. At least they opened spots for some real winners!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Too true!
LikeLiked by 1 person
The Julian Fellows book sounded so promising.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The TV show is pretty good so far (seen only the first episode, but still). But you know, my husband really liked this book, and didn’t mind it all being about privileged rich people.
LikeLike
I think it’s interesting that you liked Ecstasy. Giving authors second chances is a good idea IMO.
My TTT .
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, I knew I liked her style from what I read of this book, but the premise let it down.
LikeLike
I read The Summer that Melted Everything when it came out. I wasn’t sure it would be for me but the writing style was excellent and I got caught up in the story. I’m sorry it didn’t work for you x
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m told that this genre is now supposed to be called fabulism (and not magical reality), what with fantastical things happening in the real world. Not for me, I’m afraid. Hell, I don’t much care for ghost stories, which are much tamer than this.
LikeLike
I do like Julian Fellowes’ stuff generally but I’m not sure about Belgravia. I should probably give it a try maybe?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Up to you. I just couldn’t care enough about all the “troubles” of the upper classes.
LikeLike
By the way, my husband liked the book very much.
LikeLike
Ugh….I was obligated to read Belgravia for book club! I resonate with your reaction and I had to force myself to read it…..skimmed a great deal!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think it might have been better if he had made fun of these privileged people. The TV series (so far) does seem to include a bit of that, thankfully.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Sorry you had to abandon these, but it sounds like you had reason enough. I haven’t read any of them myself.
LikeLiked by 2 people
The TV mini-series of Belgravia was very good. It worked far better on TV than it did as a book – I also thought the book was terrible! Julian Fellowes is clearly much more suited to writing TV scripts than to writing books.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have no problem with his TV scripts, and may he continue to do them (especially if he takes one of my old High School friends to direct episodes, like he did with the finale of Downton Abbey and the movie)!
LikeLike
I was considering reading Belgravia, but maybe I will just wait for the series like you 😉 It’s been a while since my last DNF. I don’t really remember the title, but I just could not connect with the characters.
LikeLiked by 2 people
We’ve seen the first episode of Belgravia, and it is looking good already – especially because there is a bit with the staff of one home (which was very biting and fun) that isn’t in the book.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve given up on a number of books after trying the samples. Too many to remember. PS .The title and blurb can be enticing, but the sample is the true test.
LikeLiked by 2 people
True… There’s one book that people have been raving about that sounded interesting to me so I took a sample of it. Well… for me, the book fell flat. I have to be very careful about it because the author is on a bunch of FB pages and groups with me.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sadly, I can’t make posts like this. A couple of years back I promised myself I’d not DNF any more titles. I’ve suffered since then haha
LikeLiked by 2 people
Well, you could do a post about books you WISH you didn’t finish reading… one person did that this time!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I wrote a post about the most disappointing reads of the past few years. Will probably do more of that in the future 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Inevitable that you won’t love every book you read.
LikeLiked by 1 person