I remember as a kid that "Dick and Jane(& their friends)" was wildly disappointing and had a misleading title, and just sort of gave up after that, relying mostly on glyphs and icons to get through.

Is Heartbreaking work of Staggering Genius as good as it sounds?

Someone told me that Infinite Jest is the best book ever.....

I'm fairly good at finishing what I start, but my list (i'm too damn lazy to link, i just got done with a soccer game and it's past midnight) would include: Founding Brothers by Joseph J. Ellis, Nausea by Sartre (I got about 20 pages into it and put it down), Crime and Punishment, and about 3 different James Michener books.

I also never finished the heartbreaking work or fast food nation. I am always reading books in fits and starts.
I love reading cookbooks. even if you never finish them. the chapters are sort of complete unto themselves.

Two of those are in my list. Infinite Jest as previously mentioned, and Fast Food Nation which I read a good portion of before getting to the point that I understood "Fast Food == Bad." After that, I didn't feel I needed to go any further.

My list also includes, as Will mentined in the other post, Joyce's Ulysses. God I love that book. God I hate that book. Also, Pynchon's Mason & Dixon which I enjoy reading, or attempting to trudge through, more than Gravity's Rainbow because it's so comically offbeat and not annoyingly offbeat.

I've tried reading Infinite Jest twice. And I've gotten at least 150 pages into each time and then I just put it down and never pick it back up.

I've had more success with his collection of short stories: Girl With Curious Hair.