how do you read a book you hate?

Question

i already asked this but nobody helped. I think i needed to put more info.
soo
i have to read this book for school
Pompeii by Robert Harris.
It is adult reading level and i am going into high school so its a little confusing and really boring.
I end up reading a page and then going back and reading it over and over.
I have 2 weeks to read it, and i have a lot left
How do you make yourself sit down and read it?
Please help

i hate sparknotes.
and there are none anyways

Answer 1

I looked up and found a (you can order or just look at the preview)preview of pics,facts,features,etc made for teacher's use. It is free and will give you a visual of what you are reading. (www.pompeii.co.uk ) I just typed Pompeii in the above search and a lot of links showed up.Easy.That should help you to stay with it. Try to write down specific events,dates,ppl,etc as you read and put the page no. with it so you can quickly reread or use as your guide to write a report or write and give a speech. It is amazing that the city was covered so many years ago and now you can go see it with all of it's beautiful architecture. Best wishes

Answer 2

I pulled this off the Amazon.com site under reviews, heck this sounds like a really good book, fast read and you might learn something too boot. Go read the reviews, there are 143 of them. Then get off the computer and read this book. I think i will go buy it..thanks for the hint.
"Pompeii" satisfied me on both counts. The storyline and characters are well developed, and the backdrop of Roman life and culture were fascinating. As a civil engineer, I especially loved the details of the aqueduct system for transmitting and distributing water, and how water played such a huge role in the Roman Empire.

Once the eruption of Vesuvius begins, "Pompeii" races to its conclusion. Harris gives a horrifying description of what it was like for the citizens of Pompeii, who were still recovering from a devastating earthquake a few years earlier. It was painful to read about the successive stages of the eruption, each more deadly than the previous one, until the final explosion of superheated gases finished off those who hadn't escaped by then.

My hat is off the the author for keeping the book under 400 pages. He tells a big story without any excess verbiage.

The inclusion of a romantic interest for Attilius (the main character) was a nice touch which leads to an interesting ending (no more - that would be spoiling it).

A superb book whether you read it just as an exciting novel or for the history.

Answer 3

I've had to read four books this summer for a class and so far (I haven't read the last one), I've hated all of them. To get through them, I force myself to read a certain amount of chapters a day. I read quickly, so I think using a timer to set an amount of time is ridiculous, but if you're an average or slow reader, a timer might be beneficial.

I create a reading schedule in my head-- I take the total amount of pages I have to read, and divide that amount by 7 if I want to finish the book within 7 days or less. Each day, I have to read at least a seventh of the book. I also take notes as I read so that I won't be lost when I go to write the essays on it. You might just want to write a one sentence summary of each chapter so that you can figure out the main points, and when you're done the book, if you don't understand any of the main points that you've written down, you can go back to the chapter and skim over it to garner more details.

This is what I'd do in your shoes-- I hope my advice helps! Good luck!

Answer 4

Don't go back and re-read it over and over. Just set a timer and read for 30 minutes. Just keep reading. Think of it this way, even if it was a movie you didn't understand, would you watch five minutes, rewind, watch the same five minutes, rewind, watch the same five minutes? No, of course not! Just sit and read it, and then, even if you don't understand the whole thing, you will get parts of it. If discussion comes up, you can then at least be intelligent sounding and say things like...I really liked when..., but I really didn't understand the part about..." Teachers will be okay with that, because you aren't, or shouldn't be expected to get everything. That is why you are a student!

Answer 5

Well just read it and give it the benefit of the doubt (if it ever had one). You don't need to really understand it that much. just know what the story is all about, the characters, the conflict and stuff like that. just get down to the point of the story.

you may consider browsing through it just to get the hang of it... then if you see an interesting line or sentence or paragraph or the whole page... why then by all means find out why it is so! by then you wouldn't notice what's so hard to understand or read about it.

(or maybe just think of it as some friend telling you a story. it may be boring but just think you need to listen to that person for both your sake.)

and keep a handy dictionary (or even a thesaurus if you want to) beside you for those confusing words and sentences

Answer 6

Don't worry. I'm going through the same thing. I don't want to read A Connecticut Yankee In King Aurthor's Court for 9th grade, but I have too. I don't understand that and I have to get spark notes because it doesn't make sense to me. But all I do is just go up in my room and sit on my bed and just read. In a way it's kinda interseting, so that's why I sit there for half an hour or so. All you have to do even though you may not like the book, is to take it and go somewhere you like and just read.

Answer 7

i could'nt read a book i was'nt enjoying reading.

if there's is a movie or dvd to it, that may be helpful.

google it and see if you can get the point of the book, it sounds incredibly boring, but i found/find pride and prejudice boring too, until i saw the tv adaptation with the actor coming out of the water lol.

Answer 8

Dude, ya gota get through it, or you can try and search for a good summary of it on the web....It doesn't work too well for me, but maybe you could find something...

Answer 9

Don't go back and re-read - just keep going and it will sink in.. hopefully - -

Answer 10

From Barnes and Noble - if you find this book hard-going - even at the age of 13 or so - you may need some reading tutoring. I'm sorry if that might sound harsh, but, having read the book and having been an English teacher for over 25 years, I think it's probably a reasonable suggestion.
"Pompeii
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Ancient Rome is the setting for the superb new novel from Robert Harris, author of the number one bestsellers Fatherland, Enigma and Archangel.
Where else to enjoy the last days of summer than on the beautiful Bay of Naples. All along the coast, the Roman Empire’s richest citizens are relaxing in their luxurious villas. The world’s largest navy lies peacefully at anchor in Misenum. The tourists are spending their money in the seaside resorts of Baiae, Herculaneum and Pompeii.
Only one man is worried. The engineer Marius Primus has just taken charge of the Aqua Augusta, the enormous aqueduct that brings fresh water to a quarter of a million people in nine towns around the Bay. Springs are failing for the first time in generations. His predecessor has disappeared. And now there is a crisis on the Augusta’s sixty-mile main line somewhere to the north of Pompeii, on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius. Marius decent, practical, incorruptible promises Pliny, the famous scholar who commands the navy, that he can repair the aqueduct before the reservoir runs dry. But as he heads out towards Vesuvius he is about to discover there are forces that even the world’s only superpower can’t control.
Pompeii recreates in spellbinding detail one of the most famous natural disasters of all time. And by focusing on the characters of an engineer and a scientist, it offers an entirely original perspective on the Roman world.
From the Hardcover edition.
SYNOPSIS
Ancient Rome is the setting for the superb new novel from Robert Harris, author of the number one bestsellers Fatherland, Enigma and Archangel.

Where else to enjoy the last days of summer than on the beautiful Bay of Naples. All along the coast, the Roman Empire’s richest citizens are relaxing in their luxurious villas. The world’s largest navy lies peacefully at anchor in Misenum. The tourists are spending their money in the seaside resorts of Baiae, Herculaneum and Pompeii.

Only one man is worried. The engineer Marius Primus has just taken charge of the Aqua Augusta, the enormous aqueduct that brings fresh water to a quarter of a million people in nine towns around the Bay. Springs are failing for the first time in generations. His predecessor has disappeared. And now there is a crisis on the Augusta’s sixty-mile main line -- somewhere to the north of Pompeii, on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius. Marius -- decent, practical, incorruptible -- promises Pliny, the famous scholar who commands the navy, that he can repair the aqueduct before the reservoir runs dry. But as he heads out towards Vesuvius he is about to discover there are forces that even the world’s only superpower can’t control.

Pompeii recreates in spellbinding detail one of the most famous natural disasters of all time. And by focusing on the characters of an engineer and a scientist, it offers an entirely original perspective on the Roman world.
FROM THE CRITICS
The Washington Post
… Harris actually has done a nice job of creating a believable 1st-century atmosphere without losing the 21st-century reader along the way. Obviously he has done scads of research, but the results don't lie heavily on the page. If anything, one comes away from Pompeii with a heightened regard for the engineers of Rome, who devised, built and maintained a water system that most of today's engineers would -- or certainly should -- be proud to claim as their own. — Jonathan Yardley
The New York Times Book Review
...Harris's latest thriller is so cunningly devised that, however unsurprising its denouement is, it still manages to end with a bang. — Daniel Mendelsohn
The New Yorker
Harris’s historical novel begins in August, 79 B.C., two days before the eruption of Vesuvius. The hero is Marcus Attilius Primus, an aqueduct engineer who is investigating a mysterious blockage, apparently related to recent tremors, in the aqueduct that runs from Misenum to Pompeii. In addition to landing this prestigious job—it’s the Empire’s longest aqueduct—he has met a young woman who has the “same darkness of hair” and the “same voluptuousness of figure” as his dear departed first wife. The only problem is her father, a corrupt and powerful millionaire who is stealing from the water supply. Although the plot seems to owe more to “Chinatown” than to Pliny, Harris garnishes the action with seductive period detail, and the novel comes alive in the main event, a cataclysmic explosion with a thermal energy equal to a hundred thousand Hiroshimas.
Publishers Weekly
In this fine historical by British novelist Harris (Archangel; Enigma; Fatherland), an upstanding Roman engineer rushes to repair an aqueduct in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, which, in A.D. 79, is getting ready to blow its top. Young Marcus Attilius Primus becomes the aquarius of the great Aqua Augusta when its former chief engineer disappears after 20 years on the job. When water flow to the coastal town of Misenum is interrupted, Attilius convinces the admiral of the Roman fleet-the scholar Pliny the Elder-to give him a fast ship to Pompeii, where he finds the source of the problem in a burst sluiceway. Lively writing, convincing but economical period details and plenty of intrigue keep the pace quick, as Attilius meets Corelia, the defiant daughter of a vile real estate speculator, who supplies him with documents implicating her father and Attilius's predecessor in a water embezzlement scheme. Attilius has bigger worries, though: a climb up Vesuvius reveals that an eruption is imminent. Before he can warn anyone, he's ambushed by the double-crossing foreman of his team, Corvax, and a furious chase ensues. As the volcano spews hot ash, Attilius fights his way back to Pompeii in an attempt to rescue Corelia. Attilius, while possessed of certain modern attitudes and a respect for empirical observation, is no anachronism. He even sends Corelia back to her cruel father at one point, advising her to accept her fate as a woman. Harris's volcanology is well researched, and the plot, while decidedly secondary to the expertly rendered historic spectacle, keeps this impressive novel moving along toward its exciting finale. (Nov. 18) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
In the year 79 C.E., the resort town of Pompeii is home to more than 20,000 people. Rumors of isolated tremors and vaporous gases on the mountain circulate, but the last serious earthquake had occurred some 15 years earlier, residents reason. To boot, rebuilding projects from that disaster are nearing completion. Only one man sees cause for concern: Attilus, newly arrived from Rome to take charge of the massive aqueduct that supplies water to all the towns along the Bay of Naples. Told from his point of view, this latest novel by Harris (Archangel) not only depicts the people of the region and their tragic loss of life but also the immensely powerful forces of nature that shaped their lives and deaths. In spite of the inherent drama in the eruption of Vesuvius, there is a detached and analytical feel to the novel, appropriate to the scientific nature of the protagonist. However, rather than detracting from the novel, Attilus's observations and calculations add to the air of impending and unstoppable disaster. Readers who like their historical fiction well grounded in fact won't be able to put this down. Recommended for larger public and academic libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 8/03.]-Jane Baird, Anchorage Municipal Libs., AK Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

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Number of Reviews: 16 Average Rating: out of 5 stars
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Kimberly, a voracious reader, November 10, 2005, 4 out of 5 stars
Historical page-turner
As a buff of all ancient history, I am always looking for novels that support the archeology I so enjoy reading. This was fun and exciting, even though, like Apollo 13, we already know the ending. I'll definately read other Robert Harris books.
Also recommended: Kingdom of the Wicked by Anthony Burgess
A reviewer ([e-mail]), a college professor & avid reader, April 19, 2005, 5 out of 5 stars
This Book Comes Close to Home
I picked up this book because my family comes from Torre Del Greco, a suburb of Naples, in the shadow of Mt. Vesuvius. I was fascinated and excited to read, even fictionally, about the country where my family originated. The author's accounts of city structure and life are so wonderful, that for a moment I forgot it was fictional. I was greatly pleased to see that the architecture he describes matches my grandmother's house, down to the shapes of the houses, the cool tiles and the water fountains. Even though we know what happened, it is wonderful to see a new perspective, a more personal view of the events leading up to the disaster.
Bobby D., a reader from California, January 24, 2005, 3 out of 5 stars
Fun and light entertainment
This is fun, fast read. a good story, very visual, and shall I dare say “beach” read. (Although I read it on the airplane.) Fun and it is a page-turner. I picked it up because later this year we plan to visit Pompeii and I thought it would be a fun way to get introduced to the site. This is not much of an historical novel, but interesting the way Harris weaves the story around the various Roman cities. I liked it a lot better than Night Fall the last “thriller” I read.
Susan Baldwin, A reviewer, December 16, 2004, 5 out of 5 stars
Excellent Historical Intertainment!
Not only was this historical, it was entertaining. History and science are two interests of mine. This book brought both of them together. Robert Harris is a first rate author. I am looking forward to reading more of his writings!
John T. Cullen ([e-mail]), author , The Generals of October, November 30, 2004, 5 out of 5 stars
First rate entertainment
The narrative is gripping, with a fresh angle. The detail is extremely accurate, reflecting great care, research, and love of subject. The characters are plausible and sharply drawn, again with great accuracy in the case of Pliny the Elder. Harris shows here, as in his other works, the exquisite skill for painting a portrait of a location. The eruption of Vesuvius builds with suspense in the novel (as it must have in real life), and there are wonderful cinematic moments, as well as some descriptive epiphanies that I enjoyed reading over and over again. Well done!