I am participating in the Shelf Love challenge and one of the quarterly topics is the books you’ve not read which have been on your shelf the longest. That’s basically an impossible challenge for me because I have some books which have been on my shelf years, like before I began blogging, and so I’ve got no way of knowing when I got them. I recently cleared and organised my shelves, though. I got rid of a lot of books (including some I finally admitted I’d never get around to) and I created a small pile of books which are my last chance books. The books I have to finally admit that I won’t be reading if I try them again and still can’t get into them.
I am someone who for a good long time struggled with DNF-ing because I am a mood reader. Often I will pick up a book read a couple of pages and put it right back down again because it simply isn’t what I fancy reading. I have done that to books. I also get bored so very easily. If I read a book for too long I will just abandon it completely as I lose interest and I can’t even blame the book it’s me. My attention span is not as long as it used to be and I don’t know why I do it. As such, I have books on my shelf for years which I have always intended to read, even picked up to give them a chance and got part of the way through before abandoning.
This post is all about those books which are on my Last Chance list. The books which will be given one final chance to impress me before I abandon them forever. You will see it’s an eclectic list, the books are not linked in any specific way. They are simply books I have owned for a long while and I want you to try and convince me to read.
Cloud Atlas
I’ve had this book on my shelf since the trailer for the film was released (I know, it’s been that long!) and I even managed to finish about 50 pages of the book yet I couldn’t figure it out. I know it has the potential to hook me but I was utterly confused whilst reading.
I will give it one more chance and then give up and just watch the film, it may make more sense if I can see what I’ve been reading about.
Empress Orchid
I am a fan of history, I am a history graduate after all. I spent a long time preferring to read books based on historical events than anything else. Now I read more contemporary than anything else, how times change, right? I also have a fascination with Asian history mostly because it seems so much more interesting. Whist European history seems to be all politics and backstabbing Asian history seems to be different. I know it’s also politics and backstabbing but the culture is very different and that has always intrigued me and I find reading actual historical books quite dry and boring I enjoy reading historical events in fiction. I managed to get 100 pages into this one but I spent so long reading I abandoned it for an easier read. I don’t know why I’ve not finished but I am determined to try again.
Labyrinth
This book as been mentioned on my blog before. I am daunted by the sheer size of the book and the fact I’ve gotten part of the way in before and just gotten bored doesn’t bode well for it. I’ve never gotten past the first part of the book set in the past. I don’t know why, I simply haven’t. I love the sound of it, though. This is the kind of book I read for a long while and I want to read it now too. I want to give it another chance and find I like it I just wish the size of it didn’t put me off every time.
Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children
I think I got a third of the way into this one before putting it down. I actually bought this book at the same time I bought Daughter of Smoke and Bone and DoSaB was the book I thought I wouldn’t like whilst I was so excited for pictures in this one! I don’t know why but I never connected and so I gave up. I don’t remember why I got bored, though. I do think it deserves a final shot. I mean, it’s such a unique idea and the fact these are real photographs inspiring a story is so cool. I love books that do things in an original way like this.
Pastures Nouveaux
You do remember me saying the list was eclectic, right? This isn’t actually a book I’ve ever attempted to read so you may be questioning how it’s on my last chance list when it’s never had a first chance? Easy, because I have given the author about a million chances, I know I liked a book by her before and I’m determined to find another I enjoy. This has been on my shelf so long, though and so it gets one chance to impress and then it’s gone.
Picture Perfect
I was intrigued by this. I may not always love Jodi Picoult’s writing but I’m always intrigued by her books and I love the idea of a person losing their memories and having an apparently perfect life. I managed to read a couple of chapters and put it down back when I was in uni and haven’t picked it up since. It definitely feels like this will either be a book I love or one I never read again.
Sedition
This is actually a book a friend gave me to red after she finished. She said that it was a book she ended up being hooked by and finished very quickly when she was on holiday. it has lived on my shelf for 2 or 3 years and I seriously need to read it or admit defeat.
The Art of Fielding
I can’t even remember why I picked up this book but there must have been something which interested me. I am pretty certain I got it from The Works, though, so I think it may have been an impulse buy when it was cheap. I tried to read it (as I do with many a book) and gave up because I got bored. That is nothing against the book and everything to do with my short attention span, though.
The Book Thief
I admit this is one I bought because I knew people who were raving about it. In fact, I bought this book when I was 18! I have probably had this book on my shelf unread for the longest (not including classics). I remember trying to persevere with reading when I first bought it but simply couldn’t get into the story and somehow I have picked it up a few times and ignored it. Even seeing the film didn’t help motivate me to read. I am worried the book may be a lost cause but I am all about second (and third… and fourth) chances for books.
The Woman Who Went To Bed For A Year
I admit, I read the first two Adrian Mole books and never got to the rest but I remember liking the writing. When I heard about this book I didn’t even need to hear about what it was about to know I wanted to read it. Somehow I got to the buying part of owning the book but not the reading part and for that I am a little ashamed. I put this on the last chance pile not because I want to give up reading but because I hope by saying it’s the last chance for it I might find the right motivation to read.
Wicked
And my final book is Wicked. I bought this book mostly because I liked the idea of it more than anything. I knew nothing of the stage show or anything until afterwards. I’d heard of Gregory Maguire before when it came to the book Confession of an Ugly Stepsister, I’ve not read it but I remember seeing a movie adaptation of it and wanting to read that. I have to say I know nothing of whether I’ll actually enjoy the writing or anything but it’s getting one final chance. I’ve picked this up a few times and simply gotten bored whilst reading.
Which books have been sat on your shelf for too long that deserve one last chance before you give them away? And do you find your opinion can change on reading a book over time or do you trust your instinct on not liking it from the start?
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