Waving the White Flagg

Okay, so I've given up on FRIED GREEN TOMATOES AT THE WHISTLE STOP CAFE. I know, I know, lots of you have read it and loved it and still wax nostalgic when people mention it, but I found a copy of KON-TIKI at Goodwill, and I'd rather read that right now.

I was reading TOMATOES to brush up on books that go back and forth in time (hence JOY LUCK CLUB a little while ago) because I have grand ideas about writing such a book to capture stories from my husband's family, but it has started to bug me that so many Southern novels have characters-who-were-all-about-civil-rights-before-civil-rights. In TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD it was fresh and moving, but now it's become run-of-the-mill. Cliche. Every book seems to have its Atticus Finch, which makes you wonder why there needed to be a Civil Rights Movement in the first place, if everyone was secretly already so stinking progressive.

One day I might try again, since trusted friends recommend it--THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV took me about five attempts to get through, after all--but for right now I think I'll go hang out with Thor Heyerdahl on his raft.

What's the latest book you've given up on, and why? Anything you later returned to and loved?