What are you not reading?

[Ilya]

I began reading "The Quiet War" by Paul McAuley, but gave up halfway. So I am not reading it now.

[Nowhere Man]

I'm not reading IASFM any more (actually I quit years ago when I got sick of the crap that Dozois was buying).

Stuff I've started but will probably never finish:
A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge
Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds and I'll probably never read Redemption Ark
The last few Lois McMaster Bujold books I bought (years ago)
I have a bunch of volumes of Chandler's John Grimes stories that I've started and will probably finish someday.

Fred

[Lianachan]

There are celebrities whose autobiographies can be worth a read--Alan Alda and Steve Martin both wrote very funny ones. But no, few celebrity biographies are worth it.

A slight aside here - have you read the one Chaplin wrote?

[Tinaa]

I'm not reading the books in our middle school library about sex. Although that may end soon because a parent just checked out all four of them. I'm not reading the Twilight series or any other books about vampires or werewolves.

[Paul Beardsley]

I'm not reading any books which are basically rewrites of classic novels but with supernatural monsters thrown in. Comments made by Gillian and others have not exactly sold me on them - the consensus seems to be that the best joke is the title in each case.

As an author myself, I could also list the books I am not writing. So, here goes:

Wuthering Werewolves
Inane Spectre Calls
Ghoul With A Pearl Earring
The Phantom of the Opera and Some Other Phantoms
The Fall of the Cinema Usher
Dog Catcher In The Rye
The Haunting of Silent Hill House on Haunted Hills Have Eyes Wide Shuttered Room With A View To A Kill Bill
The Dante Enigma
The Marlowe Crossword Puzzle

Incidentally, being serious for a moment, what's the issue with Asimov's magazine? Dozois has been doing it for decades now, hasn't he? I haven't seen a copy in ages, but I used to read it when it first came out. Man, they published some rubbish back then, as well as top class stuff.

[TJMac]

Guess I'll chime in on the not reading Atlas Shrugged. Been there, haven't done that.

Also not reading any more Thomas Covenant. The first one was painful enough, I thought.

I think I'm done with the vampire and werewolf type stuff. They used to be amusing, but have rapidly gone downhill, regardless of the author. Often I am quite stunned that a publisher actually made some of this stuff into book form.
So, not reading that.

TJ

[HenrikOlsen]

I think to control things a bit, we should limit us to books we have some reason to read, such as have heard of it, have been recommended, etc. and have ready access to, such as have bought, have loaned from someone, is on the table next to the bed, is being pushed by the local library, etc.

Otherwise it's easy to come up with tons of books not being read such as the Mahabharata in the original Sanskrit and The Compleat Poetic works of Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings.

[tashirosgt]

I'm not reading the long threads on forums. I don't even bother to read the last page of long threads.

[mike alexander]

After a shot as a teenager, I have spent the rest of my life not reading Marx's Capital, and tend to distrust anyone who claims to have not not read it. This could be due to poor translations, but I somehow doubt it. I mention this to indicate my reading has less to do with ideology than interest.

With the exception of Dr. No I have not read any James Bond novels (I admit a small possibility that I did, but have completely forgotten them).

I have not read the middle 97% of the last Harry Potter novel; those I trust told me I didn't miss anything.

[Lianachan]

With the exception of Dr. No I have not read any James Bond novels (I admit a small possibility that I did, but have completely forgotten them).

I read a couple when I was at primary school, but can't remember which. They were paperbacks, and my main recollection of them is that they made excellent shin guards when put down the front of my socks in advance of shinty matches.

[mike alexander]

I am not reading any books having to do with the last couple of years' financial to-do. I am especially not reading either Freakonomics or Superfreakonomics, whose authors seem to think they independently discovered that by uncoupling correlation from causality with a breezy style all problems can be solved in five pages.

[AndreasJ]

After a shot as a teenager, I have spent the rest of my life not reading Marx's Capital, and tend to distrust anyone who claims to have not not read it. This could be due to poor translations, but I somehow doubt it. I mention this to indicate my reading has less to do with ideology than interest.

I've read about the first 1/3, in the original German. The reputation for difficulty is wildly exaggerated, but the style is ponderous, and it gets annoying to see an intellectual edifice get built when you don't think the author succeeded in establishing the foundations. In particular, the labour theory of value is asserted, but precious little reason is given why I should accept it.

[HenrikOlsen]

I am not reading any books having to do with the last couple of years' financial to-do. I am especially not reading either Freakonomics or Superfreakonomics, whose authors seem to think they independently discovered that by uncoupling correlation from causality with a breezy style all problems can be solved in five pages.

Funny, having only read Freakonomics, to me it looked rather like negative correlation was used to argue against politically driven imaginary causation, with some added filler fluff.

[Rhaedas]

I did not read the rest of Hubbard's Mission Earth series after struggling to get through the first book. I guess I'm happy that I don't remember why it was painful to get through, but I do remember the certainty afterward that I definitely wouldn't pick up two, three, four, etc.

[Gillianren]

A slight aside here - have you read the one Chaplin wrote?

I have not. Is it worth it?

I will be reading Little Women and Werewolves when it comes out in the hope that it is closer to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies than Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. I am not, however, reading any more sequels to classic novels unless they were actually written by the author. You'd think I would have learned my lesson by now.

[Lianachan]

I have not. Is it worth it?

I think so, yes - I greatly enjoyed it. He was a good writer, and he had an extremely interesting life. He encountered, and discusses, anybody who was anybody in the first half of the last century. Not just show business types, either - there are, for example, Einstein, Churchill and Ghandi.

[slang]

The second half of Blasphemy.

[swampyankee]

I will continue to not read anything by Hemingway, especially if it has the letter "e" in its title.

I will also assiduously continue to not read poetry.

There is, of course, a large range of book-like things I continue to not read, including any autobiography, and any biography of somebody who is still alive.

[Doodler]

In particular I'm not reading the Shadowrun rulebook, which is slightly bothersome as I'm supposed to be playing the thing in the tolerably near future.

May I just state for the official record that I am utterly and completely ENVIOUS of you for that...

As for what I'm not reading: Any more of Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson desecrating the works of Frank Herbert. After Sandworms of Dune, I can't stomach the thought of picking up the books they're currently doing that fill the 12 year gap between Dune and Dune Messiah.

[Gillianren]

I will continue to not read anything by Hemingway, especially if it has the letter "e" in its title.

Good on you!

[mike alexander]

I'm not reading any self-help books. It's my goal to get someone else to help me.

[peteshimmon]

I dont think I have looked properly at a copy
of Great Contemporaries by Winston Churchill
yet. Thing is the title seems to be the most
ambiguous two words ever. Does he mean people
I know who are Great in which case it is an
exercise in name dropping. Or does he mean
people I know who are also Great? In which
case he is showing conceit as well!

He probably knew exactly what he was doing

[korjik]

Maybe we can have a list of not banned books for our not reading Atlas Shrugged club?

Then we can have book not burnings as social gatherings.

[Paul Beardsley]

Hmm. It should be kept in mind that when people refrain from burning books, they soon turn to refraining from burning people. Which is of course a good thing, but we should be wary even so.

[swampyankee]

Congratulations!

Perhaps we could start a Not Reading Ayn Rand book club. Our slogan might be "Who is John Roark?"

"...and who cares?"

Can I join, too?

[uncommonsense]

I'm not reading the ingredients on any boxed or canned food I eat. There are a few labels I'd like to get to sometime next year, you know, the classics, but for now I am shifting my interests over to "servings per container". I aspire to write labels some day.

[Strange]

I'm trying not to read the "best before" and "use by" dates on any of the food in our kitchen cupboards.

[mike alexander]

I'm not reading China Mieville's books.

In general I'm not reading books more than an inch thick. If I get half an inch into an inch-thick book I think, "What a waste of time! And there's half a book to go!" But if I get half an inch into a half-inch-thick book I think, "At least THAT'S over with!"

[uncommonsense]

I'm not reading China Mieville's books.

In general I'm not reading books more than an inch thick. If I get half an inch into an inch-thick book I think, "What a waste of time! And there's half a book to go!" But if I get half an inch into a half-inch-thick book I think, "At least THAT'S over with!"

Yes. That just clicked on a light bulb in my head. I'm there. Yes. You see I've always kept mental track of "pages read" and "pages to go" when I sat a book down for the day. This often lead to endless mental torture wondering "Have I read half the book, or do I still have half the book to read"

And while, like you, I too was not judigng the bok by its cover, but rather by its...... its......

Anyway, I too am now not reading anything over 1/2 inch thick. Joy.

[Paul Beardsley]

Mike, I broadly agree, but I've read three or four of China's short stories and they were excellent.

And it doesn't bother me that my wife fancies him. As does the late Sir Arthur C. Clarke's neice. Not that I'm one to gossip...