20 Most Frequently Abandoned Books, According to Goodreads

by

abandoned books blog post image

No matter how much of an avid reader you are, there will always be one book that you just can’t appreciate. You find it hard to read, much less finish.

So what do you do? Well, you either plod on through mind-numbing disinterest, or abandon the book. Most people choose the second option. It’s the easier and less painful path to take.

20 Most Abandoned Books

There’s a lot of reasons why you might abandon a book and give up on reading it. Maybe it’s the writing style, the story, or the characters. It largely depends on your reading tastes, thinking process, personality, and history.

What I can tell you are the books that everyone seems to find difficult to finish. Goodreads, a social platform for readers, has a few catalogs on such books.

Below are, in no particular rank, some of the books most frequently abandoned by readers.

1. The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling

A lot of people probably bought this book with the expectation that it’s in the same flavor as the author’s Harry Potter series. It must have been quite the disappointment for them to realize it’s pretty serious literary fiction.

2. American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Two possible reasons for this one’s abandonment issues: Neil Gaiman’s frequent use of allusions and deep writing, or fans of the TV series realize that reading’s an entirely different experience from watching.

3. A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

Much like American Gods, this book falters under the big expectations of the TV adaptation’s fans. Or maybe it’s Martin’s really dark and gritty writing, which can be a bit too much for some.

4. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Time travel can be a pretty loopy concept (see what I did there?). Outlander takes it to the next level by mixing it up with some pretty heavy historical stuff, which could be the reason why a lot of people give up on it.

5. Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James

There’s a lot of haters for this book. Some for the story content, but mostly it’s because of the bad writing. Here’s quite an edgy review from Goodreads. One blogger even took the time to count all the most used words in the book— which is a lot.

6. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

There’s a lot of details packed into this book. Sometimes it’s hard to keep track of all the information you need to make sense of the story, especially since you’re following two perspectives. That information overload could be the reason why a lot of people shelve it.

7. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Russian names are intimidating to read, and there’s a lot of them in this book. It’s probably the number one reason why people give up on it. Well, that, and it’s a pretty long and complex read.

8. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

This book was divisive from the start. There are three current perspectives on this book: Some find it inspiring, some find it silly and narcissistic and a few see it as fetishizing the Eastern world. Take your pick.

9. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Extreme violence is probably why people shelve this book. There’s crime, psychological abuse, sexual abuse, isolation, and more. That could make it a queasy read for some.

10. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

The reason why people abandon this book is probably its controversial subject matter: A middle-aged man starts a sexual relationship with a 12-year-old girl.

11. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

What most likely puts people off from this book is its writing style and language. Understandable, since it is 1800s English after all.

12. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

The Handmaid’s Tale has a tricky narrative structure. There’s an uncomfortable subject matter, characters going by fake names or none at all, an absence of quotation marks for dialogue, and an ambiguous ending. That’ll make it frustrating for some.

13. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson

There’s a lot of F words in the book. That might be a reason why people don’t finish it. But it could also be because it’s so much different from other self-help books that some people may find it to be actually anti-self help and anti-positivity.

14. Life of Pi by Yann Martel

A lot of people could find this book as silly. A teen surviving on a boat for 227 days? With a Bengal tiger? No way! Magical realism just isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.

15. 1984 by George Orwell

To be fair, dystopian fiction can be a shock for some readers. A majority of people get into reading books looking for hope and happiness— which dystopian novels don’t have in large quantities. 1984 must have been shocking for people who thought it was a historical novel.

16. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

This book’s a dense read. There’s a lot of sailing and whaling terms to learn and remember throughout the book. Plus, it was written more than 150 years ago, so the language is pretty archaic.

17. IQ84 by Haruki Murakami

Surrealism is a hard concept to grasp, especially when it’s added to a narrative. Even without it, IQ84’s story is already complex. There’s so much going on that you need to keep track off to understand the story.

18. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

This is not a feel-good book. The way it’s written invokes the reader’s negative emotions— a “Feel-Bad” book. Even though it’s intentionally written that way, some readers might not be able to tolerate its dark tone and atmosphere, leading them to abandon the book.

19. Dune by Frank Herbert

Dune is a science fiction story of epic proportions. There’s a lot to take in, from politics, religion, ecological concerns, and more. Sci-fi veterans might find it a smooth read, but newcomers might be confused by the sheer amount of detail they’ll need to absorb.

20. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë 

The most probable cause for people shelving this book is because everyone in it is awful. This is exactly what people were saying when it was first published. Plus it was written in a different era, so contemporary readers might see it as dated and irrelevant.

When Should You Quit a Book You Don’t Like?

If you’re like me, you’ll probably finish a book just because you’ve started it, hoping for something better as you get deeper into the story. It’s called the sunk-cost fallacy.

Now pushing through isn’t inherently bad. Sometimes you’ll strike gold eventually, but most often you won’t. So when should you quit a book you don’t like? When it becomes a chore.

You read for a lot of reasons—for pleasure, education, direction, and more. When a book doesn’t fulfill your reason, it becomes difficult and detrimental for you. If it ever gets to a point that you’re dreading the activity of reading, it’s time to move on.

Never feel guilty for not finishing a book. I know the abandonment can be crushing, but hey, sometimes your relationship with a book just doesn’t work out… for now, at least.

Why Do People Not Finish Books?

You’ll notice that all of these books are best-sellers. This just proves that no matter how popular a book is, there will always be those who hate it.

When people give up on a book, it’s always for a personal matter. There’s no real way of knowing why. Boredom, impatience, different tastes, confusion— there are just too many possible reasons why.

Abandoning a book doesn’t mean forever, though. Maybe you just weren’t in the right frame of mind to read it. Keep a list of the books you’ve abandoned and give them another try once in a while.

You might find that what you initially found a distasteful read is now refreshing and fun. How magical!

Have you ever had a book that you abandoned? Share your experience in the comments below!

 

If you enjoyed this post, then you might also like: