A lot must be done by bad translation. I loved War and Peace. Read it in Slovak. When I attempted to re-read it in English, it was dreadful, sooo slow and boring. Funny that. Same with Anna Karenina - in reverse order. Tried it in English, put the book down. Then I picked it up again when visiting at home in SLovakia, LOVED it!
As far as Hemingway goes, I enjoyed For Whom the Bell Tolls and the Old Man and the Sea, but could not finish the Snows of Kilimanjaro. I think I may have finished it, but I couldn't retell any of it. It was dreadful!
I read Gary Jennings' "Aztec" (listed at 1038 pages) and for some reason got sick of it about 50 pages from the end.
Also, the Gunslinger series by King. I couldn't wait years and years and years for the next one. I didn't even bother with the newest.
Miss Hickory. I was given it as a child.
It was ...disturbing. It's old, you can probably read it online - but I wouldn't recommend it
I read a book years ago called (I think) 'The cat who walked through walls'. I can't remember who wrote it and I don't particularly feel like looking it up, it just stands out in my memory as a book who's plot, at first mildly interesting, wandered off on such a bizarre tangent that it became ridiculous. The ending is but a vague memory to me but I seem to recall throwing the book at the wall.
A book (or books) which I have never been able to finish is Dante's Divine Comedy. It's not that I didn't like it, quite the contrary, the problem is rather more, erm, strange. I read through Inferno and Purgatorio with no problem whatsoever but the moment I got to the gates of Paradiso, I lost the book. Not only lost the book, I've never been able to find another copy.
Every time I go to a library it's checked out. Every time I look in a book store either they are out of copies or, for some mysterious reason, I am completely unable to locate it though I spend hours trying. I've baffled shop assistants and librarians for years.
I know I could probably download it form the net but I really don't like reading good books without the actual book so I suppose i will just have to wat until fate decides to allow me the priveledge of finishing Dante Alighieri's greatest work.
Ivo Andric's "Bosnian Chronicle." I kept reading it, waiting for something to happen.
SPOILER ALERT: nothing happens.
Also Søren Kierkegaard's "Either/Or." I tried, I really tried to get it. Maybe some day I'll wake up and say "oh, that's what he was getting at."
Or maybe not.
Ooh, on Dante, of course you can get it through Amazon.com (see a2k home page..) or other online sites for new and used books, but I am remembering that there was an exceptionally enthusiastic reception for a new translation, perhaps five years ago. Too bad, I don't remember who the translator was.
I agree with Ossobuco. The translator makes a big difference. Reading Plutarch in The New American Library is like pulling teeth for me, but Plutarch in Penguin Classics is a joy to read.
Looking it up on Google and not spending more than a few minutes, I think the name Durling rings a bell, and there is a quote about how accurate his translation is... but it seems to be Inferno and Purgatorio and not Paradiso in the book I saw by him.
Amazon has Ciardi's Commedia translation from $8.00 used to $59. new, but that's an older translation. I haven't searched ABE books or Powells, or more on google than the first few citations.
Pinsky just published a translation of Inferno last year...
I agree with Fortune, Paradiso left a lot to be desired...I didn't finish it.
What I would desire from it is another question...
It makes sense to me that it should be a stylistic departure from the other two, and maybe one could argue that it should be more complex, philisophical, inchoate, something beyond our immediate understanding.
It was just too far beyond my patience though. I don't necessarily mind flipping to the back of the book to read the endnotes, but when the endnotes continuously refer to Aristotle or Aquinus, I think: "Ummm...but I wanted to read Dante."
Oops. Sorry for putting words in Fortune's mouth.
She lost the book.
BTW, you could probably find it on half.com.
Yeah, if I put a little effort into it I'm sure I could get my hands on a copy but..... that would spoil the story. I shall thus continue wandering contentedly through book stores and libraries until one day it just pops out at me. One of those "leave it in the lap of fortune" things. Wait a minute.....!
