Cover to Cover Challenge discussion

I know that there are a number of authors that I have read and thought OMG, I wasted 8 days on this?! or my personal favourite after that torturous 8 days you hurl the book across the room and want to wake the neighbours with a rather loud WTF?!?!

I know that for myself on of those Authors was Stephen King, and it was not until I read Salem's Lot and Duma Key that I realised some of his novels have merit and for me some DO NOT!

So my question is, what Authors are you willing to "give a second chance" to, just to see if maybe that first book you read was a real dud?

I've decided to give Jane Austin another go. I read Pride and Prejudice and Emma in school (many) years ago and absolutely hated them. I also read Charles Dickens that year and hated him too. However, I recently re-read a couple of his works and loved them this time around, so just in case my first attempt at Austin was a case of 'wrong book, wrong time' I've decided to give it another try.

Just out of curiosity, what was the King book that you didn't like?

I dunno Erin, I usually am very open to giving second chances. I'm a mood reader and I know sometimes I pick up a book and it's just not in line with what I'm in the mood for, then I'll try it again later. Although some story's; like "Cold Mountain", I don't think I'll ever read Charles Frasier again, the ending of that book just let me down so bad; I thought at the time; "Never again"

I'm not sure Erin, I haven't given it a thought. I usually don't give an author a second chance if I can't get through the first book unless it looks appealing and not as bad as the first one.

Stacie wrote: "I've decided to give Jane Austin another go. I read Pride and Prejudice and Emma in school (many) years ago and absolutely hated them. I also read Charles Dickens that year and hated him too. Ho..."

Four Past Midnight Oooooh! did I EVER HATE THIS ONE! lol

I do give an author a second chance unless their first book was so egregiously bad or offensive in some manner. I try to give an author a second chance because even when reading some of my very favorite I acknowledge that they've produced some duds. And if these duds were only exposure to them, then I will have missed some great books.

Stacie--I hated, hated, HATED Jane for years after school--anyone else notice that the books that they make you read and then spend weeks analyzing always leave you hating the author?

Anyway, after about 10 years or so, I had a friend who urged me to give Jane a second chance--this time without the "have to read and report on" thing hanging over my head. So I did--and I discovered that I really loved her stories. It was just that whole stupid "report" thing that I hated.

On that note tho--the ONLY Dickens book that I've ever been able to stomach was A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Writings. And yeah, I know he got paid by the word, but still. . .

If the author is writing a series and the first book I read is book #1 in the series, I will usually give him/her another try on #2, just because, lets face it, first books in a series are usually 85% setting up the series (worldview, characters, local etc) and only about 15% story. Or if I know that this is the very first book someone has had published, then I'll also give them a second chance. Just because that first book is a real learning experience for the author.

Ms. Erin wrote: "Four Past Midnight Oooooh! did I EVER HATE THIS ONE! lol"

Ok... I can see how that might not be the best one to start out with, even if I didn't hate it ;)

I usually give the author's 3 chances to convince me that I enjoy reading their books. If after 3 books, and I didn't enjoy any of them, I don't read them again. So far, I haven't really found some that I won't try after 3 books. I may like 2 of the books and hate the 1 but I will read that author again.

Ann wrote: "Stacie--I hated, hated, HATED Jane for years after school--anyone else notice that the books that they make you read and then spend weeks analyzing always leave you hating the author?..."

I totally agree with Ann. There were authors that I just hated when I had to read them in high school or college, but years later picked up and found I really actually liked the story. Sometimes it is just that reading/writing/reporting on a story just kills it for enjoyment.

I remember absolutely loathing "The Catcher in the Rye" when I read it in high school. I'm still entirely convinced that a reread would only worsen my opinion.

Every now and then I find myself wondering if I should give "Franny and Zooey" a chance. What stops me from reading it is that perceived superficiality is a large theme in "Franny and Zooey" as well. It's a theme that annoys me to no end, especially in the hands of Salinger. I really don't think I can give him a second chance.

I usually try to give an author a second chance, but there have been a few that I could not do it. Examples:

I have only attempted to read one Chuck Palahniuk book and it will be a long time before I ever attempt another. He is just to graphic for me. Then there is Stephen King. I read Salem's Lot when it first came out, and it scared me so badly that I have never read another of his books, however, I am seriously contemplating reading another now. Let's move on to Ernest Hemingway, who I did give a second chance, and do not intend to give a 3rd chance. Last - Karen Marie Moning, I read the first Highlander book by her, but did not like it at all. I gave her another try with the Fever series, and loved those.

So--I guess the short answer is, I will give an author a second chance, but not necessarily a third.

No second chance on Danielle Steel..... ever since I read 3 books and I'm completely done with her.

Only two books I didn't like by Stephen King: Tommyknockers and The Long Walk. Both terrible. 4 Past Midnight was Awesome!!!!

I'm giving or going to try a few more classics in my 2010 challenge like Charles Dickins and such.

Also, since I'm in a library lunch program once a month, I have been reading many books that I'm sure I would never have given a first look at and I'm finding out how impressed I am with them once finished.


Bill Bryson is an author I don't want to try again either. Loathed The Lost Continent Travels in Small-Town America

I have learned if an author has more than one series to try them all. With Rachel Caine, I liked one, but not the others, with Lili St Crow, I like 2 but not others.

What I have a hard time is when I try a book and don't like it, I rarely will go back and give it a try again unless I am pestered by a lot of people to.

Lyn M wrote: "I usually try to give an author a second chance, but there have been a few that I could not do it. Examples:

I have only attempted to read one Chuck Palahniuk book and it will be a..."

Isn't it funny how readers tastes vary Lyn; I loved Karen Monings "Highlander" series and find her "Fever" series just so-so. :)
I never could get into Ernest Hemingway either.

It is Sherry. I have another friend in a different group that said the same thing. It is funny how that works. Someone told me that I should re-try the Highlander books though, because the last four cross reference with the Fever books, so I might give them a second try.

SherryD wrote: "Isn't it funny how readers tastes vary Lyn; I loved Karen Monings "Highlander" series and find her "Fever" series just so-so. :)"

I totally agree I loved her Highlander series and the fever series just aggravates me. It's almost like they are written by two different people.

I used to love Stephen King but somewhere around Tommyknockers and Dolores Claiborne, I gave up. His writing just went to crap. It's been years and years since I've picked up a King novel but for one group The Stand was a group read so I picked it up (haven't read it yet but I have it.) Just haven't been able to bring myself to actually read it yet.

Ernest Hemingway got me a "D" in American Lit in college. Of course, I probably should NOT have told my Hemingway worshipping prof that Hemingway was a blow-hard, woman-hating, over-rated, cowardly twerp. He really never DID forgive me for that. Ah well, live and learn, yes? But I never have figured out what his appeal is.

Barbsis ~ If you find you like The Stand you may want to check out his 2 lastest, Under the Dome and Duma Key. I am like you and found the ones around Tommyknockers not so good, the last 2 were like old school King, they sucked me in and had some great twists.

Barbsis wrote: "...The Stand was a group read so I picked it up (haven't read it yet but I have it.)"

This is actually one of my favorite King novels. From a Buick 8 is probably my least favorite.

I'll usually give an author a couple different tries. But after 2-3 really crap books, I refuse to ever go there again.

Barbsis wrote: It's been years and years since I've picked up a King novel but for one group The Stand was a group read so I picked it up (haven't read it yet but I have it.) Just haven't been able to bring myself to actually read it yet."

King really is hit or miss with me. But I have to say I adored The Stand. I also recommend watching the tv miniseries that was adapted. I usually hate any film/tv treatments of books i really loved. But I must say this adaptation was pretty darned faithful and the casting was spot on (with one minor exception). And, like King in his novels, the integration of popular music as part of the story was excellent. Even now whenever i hear Don't Fear the Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult, I think of The Stand (and then I flash to Saturday Night Live and more cowbell!).

I don't know, I will still refuse Margaret Atwood, she is one author that I had to actually MAIL one of her books back to my Grandmother before my grandmother understood that I will Never-Ever enjoy her.

I had too many of her novels forced on me in High School (the perils of Canadian Authors in Canadian Schools) and it did not help that my Lit 12 teacher and my 20th Century Lit Prof both hated her... She got too much bad press while I was at a young impressionable age.

Magpie67 wrote: "No second chance on Danielle Steel..... ever since I read 3 books and I'm completely done with her.

Only two books I didn't like by Stephen King: Tommyknockers and The Long Walk. Both terrible. ..."

My problem with Four Past Midnight was that I did not get what was so scary. I kept reading and waiting for that punch that would cause me to leave the light on in the bathroom and chairs wedged under the front and back doors to the house. SK is always touted as "the most terrifying read ever" and it has yet to happen - Duma Key was scary enough for me to not pick up a pencil and draw for a day or two and Salems' Lot left me wondering whether or not I REALLY needed to go out at night for a litre of milk... but even then they barely hit a 10 for terror... maybe a 7?

Ann wrote: "Ernest Hemingway got me a "D" in American Lit in college. Of course, I probably should NOT have told my Hemingway worshiping prof that Hemingway was a blow-hard, woman-hating, over-rated, cowardly..."

ROFL! You have balls of solid rock to say that to a prof! I get Hemingway, and I understand that his incredible ability to consume copious amounts of alcohol did not help his womanizing ways. I read For Whom the Bell Tolls in Lit 12 and I loved it, but I found that his torment really came through... and in A Farewell to Arms you really got a sense of what it was like to love and loose during war, and just how much a person can loose during such a time... but again, it's a different view from a different reader...

Barbsis wrote: "I used to love Stephen King but somewhere around Tommyknockers and Dolores Claiborne, I gave up. His writing just went to crap. It's been years and years since I've picked up a King novel but for..."

the stand is one of his best books- the one to try

Lyn M wrote: "I usually try to give an author a second chance, but there have been a few that I could not do it. Examples:

I have only attempted to read one Chuck Palahniuk book and it will be a..."

Salem's lot did the same thing to me. I'd read/watched The Exorcist, read Amittyville Horror (lot scarrier than the movie), etc. Not scared. Started Salem's Lot, and started seeing things. Red eyes looking in the window. Could not finish the book. The movie is not very good but the book was sooooo scary.

Needful Things and It are my most scariest by King!

I think I was the only person not scared by Salem's Lot..thats not to say I didnt enjoy it because I did but meh :S..I'm yet to find a book that actually scares me!
I love the stand..one of his best with Duma Key. I read Lisey's story recently and found it to be very average/mostly crapt but I still wouldnt stop with King. I think if the majority of an author's books are good with only the occasional dud, I'll keep reading..if the duds are too often..perhaps not.

omg... Robert Heinlein... I wanted to read Sci Fi.. I got about 120 pgs in and realized I was reading about the first 4 decades of 1900..... and a simply AGONIZINGLY BORING 4 decades they were. I have put down maybe5 books in my life unread. that was # 6 "to sail beyond the sunset" ugh!

I love Chuck Palahniuk but I could understand why people wouldn't like his writing. He is def unique.

I read The Tuesday Erotica Club by Lisa Beth Kovetz and really hated it. The whole book. I have no idea if I would try another book by her, I don't even know if she wrote more. There are so many others out there that I want to read. They deserve a chance as well.

Kelly--now that's odd. I LOVE Heinlein. Yes, he's a bit (ok, a LOT) dated, but the man was a genius. You need to find his 'history of the future' and read that sometime. Its what he plotted out for the "history" of his universes. And the weird thing is--he was very accurate in his predictions. He also influenced a lot of modern sci-fi writers.

Still, I have to admit--reading about spaceships controlled by computers that require punch cards???? Ok, ok, I admit--I DID have a course (or two) with people who'd used them. And the head of the CompSci department in the second college I went to had been trained by one of the inventors of ENIAC, the first "real" computer. He had a 16mm film that had been made of the computer when it was actually working--with people walking around inside of it, dressed like for surgery. It really WAS amazing. Of course, I DID take those classes back when BASIC, FORTRAN and COBOL were THE computer languages. So I'm only 1 generation in training from that first computer. (He also told us where the term "bug" came from for computer problems--yeah, you guessed it, it was a real honest to God BUG.)

Er, um, sorry about getting distracted--I'm hungry. My TV dinner is getting ready to ding at me. :oP

But read the books as a slice of view of what life was like during the 40's, 50's and 60's. Think Steampunk from the Cold War era. :o)

I may give Stephen King another try someday but not anytime soon. I read Salem's Lot 1st and loved it. The Stand was good, and I enjoyed The Talisman also. The end came when I read Needful Things and Pet Sematary. In the first, he just killed too many children and the latter had such an awful ending that after that one, I just couldn't bring myself to read any more.

I am going to try Karen Rose again. I got about halfway through one and had to stop - it just didn't hold my attention. There were too many characters and I couldn't keep them all straight, I didn't like the overall subject matter and too much time was spent with the bad guys. I figured that everyone has a bad book now and then, and so I started a second one, but here we were with the bad guys again, doing the same thing - paying off inside people to circumvent any progress made by the good guys. Too much of the same thing. But a lot of people like her, and so I thought I would give her another chance. My mother loves her, and we have similar tastes.

Vanessa wrote: "I may give Stephen King another try someday but not anytime soon. I read Salem's Lot 1st and loved it. The Stand was good, and I enjoyed The Talisman also. The end came wh..."

Its a shame they you don't like her books-I like them though can appreciate wwhat you mean by confusion re characters in the For Me series. As sometimes I hae found it hard to keep track and last one was a while after the others so after reading it I felt may have been better of reading the others again before and then

ooh! this is an awesome topic. I'd be willing to give C.J. Box another try even though I gave Three Weeks to Say Goodbye such a bad review.

Keri, what did you not like about it? I'm starting it next.

Lisa wrote: "Keri, what did you not like about it? I'm starting it next."

oh my...i hate to "yuck someone else's yum", so feel free to read my review. I don't know, it just got under my skin. I could be just me :)

Keri, it is funny that you didn't care for Three Weeks to Say Goodbye, I found I loved it. I couldn't turn the page fast enough. I did think there were parts that didn't need to be in there. I do agree with you that CJ Box is one author that I will be checking out his other books.

Lol, I loved it too Darcy. I urged Keri to keep reading it, but alas, she didn't end up liking it after all. She made some really good points in her review of it though! :P I think certain books just rub us the wrong way every now and then. Afraid was the big one for me... EVERYONE one else loved it, and I absolutely hated it!! lol

Kelly I know what you mean. I always feel bad when I read a monthly read from a group read here and I don't like it, especially when everyone else posts are raving about it. Funny you should bring up Afraid, I loved that one. But one people have been raving about that I didn't like was Mania. I know it had gotten a lot of buzz, but I didn't care for it.

Darcy, now I'll be interested to see how I feel about Mania. :) I have it on my list, but not sure when I will actually get to it.

For those who have tried Dickens and hated him, may I suggest that you go to your library and get either Great Expectations or Tale of Two Cities out on Audiobook. Listen to it and then see if you feel the same way.

I found that some authors are better heard then read. Remember when Dickens wrote, people sat around reading his work aloud. Hearing these works are wonderful.

I am ashamed to admit but until I became a member on Goodreads, I very rarely looked at the author's name on the books I was reading. Sure I would buy and Stephen King book and any Ann Rule book, but other then that I would just look at the back cover and read the first few pages.

In answer to your question, I always give a second chance to everyone.

Kelly let me know what you think of Mania whenever you start it and as you go. When you are done I'll tell you why I didn't care for it, but if I did now it would ruin a large part of the story.

Darcy wrote: "Kelly let me know what you think of Mania whenever you start it and as you go. When you are done I'll tell you why I didn't care for it, but if I did now it would ruin a large part of the story."

Sounds great, Darcy :) I put it on my (very loooooooong) list of books to check out next from the library... but then I checked my library site, and they don't have this one anywhere in the state's system. :( But maybe since it was just released in Nov, they will get it soon.

Kelly, I wouldn't worry if you can't find it right away. You aren't missing much, at least in my opinion. LOL

My second chance happens when I pause in the reading of the offending book, wonder why I bothered to pickup it up in the first place, and then tell myself to press-on in hopes it will get better.
And if it fails to improve...well then, the horrid book would find itself thrown across the room, jumped up and down on, and then ripped to pieces into the recycle bin (Unless its a library book. Then I drop everything and drive straight to the nearest library, growling my disgust at it the whole way, and then shove it satisfactorily into the return slot). Then I try very hard to erase it from my memory. I can't actually remember many of the names of those authors whose books I hated so much. One was Animal Farm(even the clifnotes irritated me, but it was school and there was a test to pass).

Jessica you crack me up with the visual of the offending book!!

Jessica--I know what you mean about Animal Farm . I had actually finished it BEFORE the class started to read it. And I'm sorry--but as a kid, I got NONE of that Hitler crap that the teacher droned on, and on, and on and. . . .about. I just didn't like the books at all. Now, I had to read The Jungle not for English, but for Social Studies. That one was kind of seriously GROSS. But the teacher for SocStudies was a good one. We read it when learning about the founding of the FDA. And the passing of the first laws dealing strongly with (especially) food preparations. I STILL remember the teacher standing there talking about how the President had been sitting at breakfast when he started reading it, turning pale and throwing the meat on the flood and storming out. He also said that Sinclair's reaction to the passing of the new laws was 'I was trying for America's heart and instead I got their stomach.' Of course, the fact that the man was an ardent Communist was very obvious in his writing.

I always try and give authors a second shot. I figure every author has a no so great book. But after reading 2 or 3 and i still think eh then no more. I know alot of people like him but i can't stand Christopher Moore.