TOP TEN TUESDAY: Books I’ll Probably Never Read/Finish

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish once a week, and this week’s list is ten books I’ll probably never read, but I also added never finish because I have a habit of starting books and not finishing them. For this though it’ll only be books I didn’t finish because I didn’t like them.

Number one: Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

‘Wuthering Heights is a wild, passionate story of the intense and almost demonic love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, a foundling adopted by Catherine’s father. After Mr Earnshaw’s death, Heathcliff is bullied and humiliated by Catherine’s brother Hindley and wrongly believing that his love for Catherine is not reciprocated, leaves Wuthering Heights, only to return years later as a wealthy and polished man. He proceeds to exact a terrible revenge for his former miseries.

The action of the story is chaotic and unremittingly violent, but the accomplished handling of a complex structure, the evocative descriptions of the lonely moorland setting and the poetic grandeur of vision combine to make this unique novel a masterpiece of English literature.’

I think I have two copies of Wuthering Heights, and yet I’ve never read more than a couple of pages before I got bored. I did see the TV adaption of it and I couldn’t stand the characters. I’ll probably only read it if I have to for school/course purposes.

Number two: The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

‘Rachel catches the same commuter train every morning. She knows it will wait at the same signal each time, overlooking a row of back gardens. She’s even started to feel like she knows the people who live in one of the houses. ‘Jess and Jason’, she calls them. Their life – as she sees it – is perfect. If only Rachel could be that happy.

And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough.

Now everything’s changed. Now Rachel has a chance to become a part of the lives she’s only watched from afar.

Now they’ll see; she’s much more than just the girl on the train…’

You’ve probably heard me talk about this recently. I started it but I couldn’t stand the main character, so I decided there’s no point in reading it if I’m not enjoying it. I will admit it is very well written though.

Number three: The Emperor’s Knife by Mazarkis Williams

‘There is a cancer at the heart of the mighty Cerani Empire: a plague that attacks young and old, rich and poor alike. Geometric patterns spread across the skin, until you die in agony, or become a Carrier, doing the bidding of an evil intelligence, the Pattern Master. Anyone showing the tell-tale marks is put to death; that is Emperor Beyon’s law…but now the pattern is running over the Emperor’s own arms. His body servants have been executed, he ignores his wives, but he is doomed, for soon the pattern will reach his face.

While Beyon’s agents scour the land for a cure, Sarmin, the Emperor’s only surviving brother, awaits his bride, Mesema, a windreader from the northern plains. Unused to the Imperial Court’s stifling protocols and deadly intrigues, Mesema has no one to turn to but an ageing imperial assassin, the Emperor’s Knife. As long-planned conspiracies boil over into open violence, the invincible Pattern Master appears from the deep desert.

Now only three people stand in his way: a lost prince, a world-weary killer, and a young girl from the steppes who saw a path in a pattern once, among the waving grasses – a path that just might save them all!’

I got this ages ago because it seemed interesting then. Now it just fills up a space on my shelf.

Number four: The Casual Vacancy by J. K. Rowling

‘When Barry Fairbrother dies in his early forties, the town of Pagford is left in shock.

Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty facade is a town at war.

Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils… Pagford is not what it first seems.

And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?

A big novel about a small town, The Casual Vacancy is J.K. Rowling’s first novel for adults. It is the work of a storyteller like no other.’

I really do not like books following multiple characters, so I gave up on this one quite quickly. It is really well written though.

Number five: The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger

‘High fashion, low cunning – and the boss from hell

When Andrea first sets foot in the plush Manhattan offices of Runway she knows nothing. She’s never heard of the world’s most fashionable magazine, or its feared and fawned-over editor, Miranda Priestly – her new boss.

A year later, she knows altogether too much:

That it’s a sacking offence to wear anything lower than a three-inch heel to work.

That you can charge cars, manicures, anything at all to the Runway account, but you must never, ever, leave your desk, or let Miranda’s coffee get cold.

And that at 3 a.m. on a Sunday, when your boyfriend’s dumping you because you’re always at work, if Miranda phones, you jump.

But this is Andrea’s big break – it’s going to be worth it in the end.

Isn’t it?’

I bought this after watching the movie, and I still haven’t read it. It’s just not something that interests me as much anymore.

Number six: The 5th Wave: Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey 

‘THE 1st WAVE: Took out half a million people.

THE 2nd WAVE: Put that number to shame.

THE 3rd WAVE: Lasted a little longer. Twelve weeks . . . Four billion dead.

IN THE 4th WAVE: You can’t trust that people are still people.

AND THE 5th WAVE?

Surviving the first four waves was nearly impossible. Now Cassie Sullivan finds herself in a new world, a world in which the fundamental trust that binds us together is gone. As the 5th Wave rolls across the landscape, Cassie, Ben, and Ringer are forced to confront the Others’ ultimate goal: the extermination of the human race.

Cassie and her friends haven’t seen the depths to which the Others will sink, nor have the Others seen the heights to which humanity will rise, in the ultimate battle between life and death, hope and despair, love and hate.’

This is the sequel to The 5th Wave – here is my review of it – and I don’t own it but for a while I was intending to read it. Then I realised that I’m not looking forward to reading it really so I decided there’s no point in getting it then.

Number seven: The Dexter series by Jeff Lindsay 

‘Dexter Morgan isn’t exactly the kind of man you’d bring home to your mum. At heart, he’s the perfect gentleman: he has a shy girlfriend, and seems to lead a quiet, normal life bordering on the mundane. Despite the fact that he can’t stand the sight of blood, he works as a blood-spatter analyst for the Miami police. But Dexter also has a secret hobby: he is an accomplished serial killer. So far, he’s killed 36 people and has never been caught because he knows exactly how to hide the evidence. And while that may lead some people to assume he’s not such a nice guy, he tempers his insatiable hunger for brutality by only killing the bad guys. However, Dexter’s well-organised life is suddenly disrupted when a second, much more visible serial killer appears in Miami. Intrigued that the other killer favours a style similar to his own, Dexter soon realises that the mysterious new arrival is not simply invading his turf but offering him a direct invitation to ‘come out and play’…’

I’ve read several of the books in this series (only because I love the show), but I sort of gave up on it half way through a book because it just got boring. Though I have to say that the books are entirely different from the TV show, and I think I prefer the show.

Number eight: The Maze Runner by James Dashner 

‘When the doors of the lift crank open, the only thing Thomas remembers is his first name. But he’s not alone. He’s surrounded by boys who welcome him to the Glade – a walled encampment at the centre of a bizarre and terrible stone maze. Like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they came to be there – or what’s happened to the world outside. All they know is that every morning when the walls slide back, they will risk everything – even the Grievers, half-machine, half-animal horror that patrol its corridors, to try and find out.’

This I started and didn’t bother even trying to get halfway because it bored me quite quickly.

Number nine: Incantation by Alice Hoffman

‘This is a chilling story of friendship, first love and family secrets. Estrella lives in Spain, next door to her best friend Catalina. They used to be inseparable, but then Andres, Catalina’s cousin and the boy she’s planning to marry, starts to gaze at Estrella instead. And Catalina starts to plot…Estrella’s family have always done things slightly differently. Lighting candles on a Friday, for example. But these tiny things that Estrella has done all her life suddenly add up to something huge. She discovers that she and her family are Marranos – Spanish Jews living double lives as Catholics. And soon the outside world starts to intrude on her life – the world of the Spanish Inquisition, of neighbours accusing each other, of looting and riots. It is a world where new love burns and where friendship ends in flame and ash.’

This book I borrowed from the library years ago, and I sort of forgot to give it back before I moved away… I am really useless when it comes to giving books back to libraries on time. Anyway I borrowed this and then intended to give it back without reading it because I didn’t find it interesting, but that didn’t go exactly to plan.

Number ten: Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson 

‘Set sail on a swashbuckling adventure . . .

Danger! pirates! excitement! action! Join Jim Hawkins as he sails the high seas aboard the Hispaniolain search of lost treasure . . .’

I started this book a while back, and I got bored quite quickly. It’s not something I intend to pick up again.

Are there any books you probably won’t read? Or do you have a Top Ten Tuesday post of your own? If so leave the link to it in the comments so I can check it out.