The Broke and Bookish‘s official Top Ten topic this week is Top Ten Books I Almost Put Down But Didn’t. That’s a great topic, but I decided to put a little twist on it. My list focuses on books that I DID put down. Starting and abandoning a book once didn’t qualify it for this list. No, I had to have started and abandoned a book at least three times to make it eligible for today’s Top Ten. And it had to be a book that I think I would actually like–could I just push past my reader’s block and FINISH.
I have started The Book Thief so many times, I practically have the first paragraph memorized. I’ve even started it in different formats. And in different formats multiple times. (Audio book of Book Thief--three starts. Print copy of Book Thief–countless starts.) I am sure that at least a couple of books on this list are going to become favorites once I do read them. Who knows? Maybe that could still happen even to The Book Thief!
the dirigible plum 
I’ve done the same with Jellicoe Road–I just can’t get myself to read through it.
Cheers,
joey via. thoughts and afterthoughts
I love a couple of Melina Marchetta’s other books, so I think Jellicoe Road ought to be a book I love too!
I’ve started Good Omens and put it down to try later. I wasn’t getting into it but had good recommendations from fellow readers, but I just can’t seem to get around to picking it up again.
I’m sure I will try all of these books again at a future time, but with so many new books I want to read, it may be awhile!
This looked interesting since I’ve had this experience too. I loved THE BOOK THIEF, CRISS CROSS, AND KIRA KIRA, so we might not have similar taste in books. But I’ve started JELLICOE ROAD twice and haven’t gotten through it yet.
I’m always glad to read more good reviews of books I struggle with, especially since I do plan to get back to all of these titles at some point!
Ha! Nice list! I have OCD when it comes to finishing books and force myself to finish everything I start, which has worked for me in every instance except for…anything by Thomas Pynchon. I got a few of his novels as gifts when I was in college and HATED them. I just couldn’t get past a few chapters of the first one, and hated it so much I couldn’t even open the second. I still shudder when I think about it. Oh the trauma!
I think there is real value in finishing books, and I always intend to finish–but with these, I have some sort of strange block. I have never tried to read any Pynchon, though I did buy Gravity’s Rainbow way back when. But it got donated in one of my mom’s book purges!
The Book Thief is one that I haven’t read as of yet. However, one of the 6th grade book clubs in my class just completed it. Interestingly, as with all books, I received very mixed reviews. Some loved it, while others told me that it was boring. Both of my daughters loved the book and it is one that is on my “to-do” list.
A couple of my high school students adored this book and were constantly pestering me to read it. Interesting that it was used for a 6th-grade book club! Pretty advanced stuff for 6th-graders!
The book club students that were reading this book were our advanced students. We had three other reading groups that were not reading books that were as complex as this one. Since we have paras that can assist in our classrooms, we are blessed to be able to tailor more to student needs. It is wonderful as we don’t have to find a “one size fits all” book for the class. I know that some schools don’t have this option, so book club groups become more difficult to complete. We are very fortunate in our district to have this option, and they even have training classes for the paras to become very talented with leading these groups. The teachers make all of the plans and monitor each group, but the paras are a valuable asset to our learning communities.
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I struggled with many of these titles as well. I could not read The Book Thief, Jellicoe Road, or Going Bovine, but the audiobooks did the trick for me. I ended up listening to and loving each one. I know a ton of 6th graders who love The Book Thief. I was really surprised to learn this!