Moby Dick is fucking TERRIBLE
It's one of the only books I've ever given up on. The insertion of barely-related notes on the whaling industry every few chapters is both pointless and irritating.

People go on about how innovative it is for that reason ('radically challenging the traditional form of the novel' etc)- but if you read the introduction the so-called 'innovation' is laid bare for what it is: Moby Dick was not edited. Those tedious catalogues of types of whales etc are the author's fucking RESEARCH NOTES and were the book to have been edited as it most certainly should have been, the tome would have been improved immeasurably. As it is, it's a load of old cock.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Mon 15 Mar 2010, 16:07, 2 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

I skip those bits and enjoy the story
I like the story, but I hate the research notes
(Bazongaloid, Mon 15 Mar 2010, 16:22, Reply)

they annoyed me too much, and I admitted defeat.

( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Mon 15 Mar 2010, 16:27, Reply)

One of the only books I've ever given up on is
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Gadd that book goes on.
( whenanimalsattackhumans clad in global hypercolour, Mon 15 Mar 2010, 16:25, Reply)

I stopped reading the Silmarillion
far too much "someone son of someone" and I've read this en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nj%C3%A1ls_saga
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Mon 15 Mar 2010, 16:36, Reply)

So have I, and greatly enjoyed it.
My translation is by Magnus Magnusson off of that there Mastermind.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Mon 15 Mar 2010, 17:03, Reply)

mine was one I found in a holiday cottage
and have no idea who it was by.

great read though.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Mon 15 Mar 2010, 17:15, Reply)