The fourth Harry Potter novel and David Beckham's autobiography are among the books least likely to be finished by Britons, according to a survey.

Booker winner Vernon God Little was the least-finished fiction title, followed by Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

 

Autobiographies by David Blunkett, Bill Clinton and David Beckham topped the non-fiction unfinished list.

 

A Teletext survey of 4,000 Britons found that almost half of the books they bought remained unfinished.

 

Some 35% of those who bought or borrowed Vernon God Little, DBC Pierre's story of a US high school massacre, admitted not finishing it.

 

The figure was 32% for the fourth instalment in the Harry Potter series, while 28% said the same for James Joyce's Ulysses, third on the list.

 

The fiction top 10 also included Louis De Bernieres' Captain Corelli's Mandolin (27%), made into a film starring Nicolas Cage and Penelope Cruz.

 

Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses, over which a Muslim fatwa was issued ordering the writer's execution, was unfinished by 21%.

 

On the non-fiction list, former home secretary Blunkett's The Blunkett Tapes was too much for 35% of readers, followed by Clinton's My Life (30%) and Beckham's My Side (27%).

 

The average Briton spent more than £4,000 on books during their lifetime, the survey found.

 

Less than a quarter of people found time to read every day, with 48% saying they were too tired.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6440981.stm

At least 30% of my books are unread :embarassed:

Heh... Goblet of Fire is next on my list to read when Summer comes and I have a chance to read for fun again. I have a feeling I'm going to finish it, though- I've read much bigger before.

 

Speaking of which, I wonder what percentage of people dropped out of reading Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" books partway through one of them. *raises hand* -halfway through book 10. The hardcover editions are part of the reason I have back problems, they're so massive.