Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. For the rules see her blog.
The topic this week is Books I Did Not Finish. I rarely give up on books I’ve bought but I borrow lots of library books and often take them back before I’ve finished them. Sometimes it’s because they’re books that are due back before I’ve finished them, or because I’ve borrowed them to see if I’d like them and decide not to read them.
These are books on the library’s list of books I’ve borrowed over the last couple of years that I had to return before I’d read them:
Pianos and flowers : brief encounters of the romantic kind by Alexander McCall Smith, a short story collection
A possible life by Sebastian Faulks
Sugar money : a novel by Jane Harris
The Shrouded Path by Sarah Ward
Cuddy by Benjamin Myers
Daphne Du Maurier and her sisters : the hidden lives of Piffy, Bird and Bing by Jane Dunn
Maltese Falcon by Dashiel Hammett
Hag-seed : the Tempest retold by Margaret Atwood
The beginner’s goodbye by Anne Tyler
Your beautiful lies by Louise Douglas
Have you read any of them?
BooksPlease 
These all look good, Margaret. I like Alexander McCall Smith’s work a lot, but I’ve never read his short stories; I’m sure I’d enjoy them. And Sarah Ward is a very talented writer; I hope you get the chance to read that one at some point. And of course, Margaret Atwood… I’ll be interested to know what you think if you do get to read these.
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These are all books I wanted to look at to see if I’d like to read them. The three authors you mention are all ones that I hope to read.
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I’m a huge Sarah Ward fan and loved The Shrouded Path. Here’s my list for this week: https://damppebbles.com/2025/03/25/toptentuesday-25th-march-2025/
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I hope to read The Shrouded Path and it’s good to know you loved it. I’ve read other books by Sarah Ward and really enjoyed them.
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After I tried reading The Maltese Falcon, I ended up listening to it, and I loved it. Sometimes that’s something that works for me when people keep insisting a book is really good and reading doesn’t pan out.
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That’s a good idea – thanks Deb Nance.
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I have the same problem with library books. Sometimes they arrive with a whoosh of titles and I can’t possibly read them all.
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Yes, they do!
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I haven’t read any of these but this makes sense for library books.
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It’s good to try books from the library – often I end up buying books because I’ve sampled them from the library.
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I have a copy of The Maltese Falcon on my shelves, but I haven’t read it yet.
Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!https://readbakecreate.com/books-i-dnfed-in-2024/
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Maybe we’ll both get round to reading it soon!
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I hated Hag-seed. I think Margaret Atwood’s newer books are just too weird and silly for me.
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I loved Margaret Atwood’s earlier books, which is why I borrowed Hag-Seed. I did start reading it but my loan period ended and as the book had been reserved by other people I couldn’t renew it. I’d only read the Prologue, which didn’t inspire me to reserve it again – it did seem a bit weird, I agree. But maybe I should try it again.
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Like you I DNF Hagseed, but I loved The Beginner’s Goodbye and still remmeber it fondly.
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