There are so many books out there in the literary world to be read. If you are anything like me, your to be read list is pages and pages long. And just as there are so many books that I want to read, there are also many books that I probably will never read for one reason or another. Whether I’ve changed my mind or the book doesn’t sound interesting to me, there are some books that I just can’t entice myself to read.
Here are 10 books that I will probably never read:
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy – I’ve wanted to read this book for so long. I’m pretty sure it’s about a love affair and there is a train involved somewhere. I’ve tried to read it but I just end up falling asleep so I think I’ll have to take this one off my to be read list.
Emma by Jane Austen – I love all the Jane Austen movies and miniseries adaptations and I’ve tried to read this book so many times but again, I always find myself falling asleep. I think Jane Austen is fun to watch but maybe not so fun to read.
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell – I know this book is one of the most popular books but I’ve seen the movie and have no desire to read 1,000 pages of racism.
Animal Farm by George Orwell – There was a class at my high school who were required to read this book. Luckily, I was not in that class. This book just seems like a book that teachers make you read and then analyze, which takes all the fun out of reading and is why I will probably never read this book.
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt – I thought this book sounded interesting when it came out but I never read it. It’s over 700 pages and I realized that I’m just not interested in reading it anymore.
Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee – I just won’t read this book. I read To Kill a Mockingbird in high school but I didn’t love it. I’m not interested enough to read this sequel.
It by Stephen King – I definitely went through a Stephen King phase in high school and college but I never got around to reading It, probably because I thought it would be too scary. I absolutely still have this opinion.
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens – I confess that I don’t think I’ll ever read this book because even though so many people love it, the plotline of a girl left alone in a swamp to fend for herself reminds me too much of the book Swamplandia! which I hated. I know my reasoning is a bit irrational because I suspect the plots of the two books are nothing alike, but I can’t help how I feel.
Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon – I really, really, really want to read this series but it is so long! It is so many books and so many pages. Maybe I will read this series sometime in the future but, right now in 2020, I can’t see myself investing in all the time needed to read these books anytime soon.
The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan – I’ve had this book on my to be read list for at least 10 years. I like food and I thought this book would be compelling. But I haven’t read it in all these years and I think I gave away my copy of the book so I must not be interested in reading this book.
As always, these are just my opinions. If you’d like to make a case for a book or if there are books you will probably never read, let me know in the comments!
No more Paul Theroux books for me, probably. He’s great but I’ve read a handful of his and feel like I’ve reached my lifetime limit of travel books by one author, good to get different perspectives. I have a dusty old copy of The Mosquito Coast but because it got made into a movie I probably wouldn’t bother. Anna Karenina is one I’d like to get around to but fear I might never make it. I read Ominvore’s Dilemma over the course of several airplane flights…… over the span of many years. I guess I was pretty glad I finished but I really don’t like books to get up in my head like that, where I feel like I MUST finish it. Too many amazing books in the world to agonize over one!
Btw, thanks for putting in that request to subscribe to my journal after I’d made it temporarily private for about a week, you were the only person who noticed my site went kablooie for awhile so I feel like you deserve an award, haha. I tried too hard on a couple of uninspiring, embarrassing essays and as a result was feeling like maybe I needed to overhaul or scrap everything……..closest I’ve come in the last ten years 🙂 but as usual I changed my mind. We bloggers in the wilderness must stick together. So thanks for your unwitting act of support as it were!!!
-Jason
I agree! There are so many great books out there that I can’t be hassled by books that don’t hold my interest because I know another one will be right around the corner!
Thanks for the award haha! I wanted to read the rest of one of your posts so I clicked through the email notification and a message appeared saying it was blocked so I just figured you had changed your site and made it private. Glad to hear you have not abandoned anything!