The Undercover blog on the Web site of The Sydney Morning Herald has scored a winner. On 19 March blog editor Susan Wyndham reported the story in The Times about the books people couldn't finish. Most of my readers probably have already seen and digested it.

Wyndham opened up the thread to see if Australians agreed with the British experience: that Vernon God Little "tops the top ten list of unfinishable novels". So far it has attracted 170 comments.

Jizz said that he/she "thoroughly enjoyed Vernon God Little and so was quite excited to read his next book, Ludmila's Broken English. I struggled through to page 75 before abandoning it."

Brock said he "really liked Vernon God Little".

choo choo said he/she "was given vernon god little while spending a month in hospital last year, and never got around to reading it. the thing is, this coming weekend was gonna be when i did, but now you lot have put me off."

Tom said "Vernon God Little just doesn't seem to have a gripping theme, I find it very hard to read, the words are difficult and DBC Pierre seems to have a very different approach in life to mine."

Dana said "I am now quite distressed about this report on Vernon God Little, as I was hoping to make some sweet moolah on Ebay, having had my copy signed by the author when he was here for Sydney Writers Festival... Damn! =)"

Lily said "Vernon God Little however was a great read, I really enjoyed it. It took a little while to get off the ground, but once it started moving the pace was unrelenting, and the journey was extraordinary."

Wanda said "I really enjoyed both DBC Pierre's - laughed out loud."

Rusty said "I loved Vernon God Little - thought it was hilarious. But DBC Pierre's follow-up was atrocious (and I even read it all the way til the end). I can understand why some people hated little Vern - maybe it's an age thing."

Shane said "I thought Vernon God Little was a good book and am surprised to find it is the most unfinished book in the country."

blue angel said "DBC Pierre sits untouched in my bookcase".

evan said "Vernon God Little appalled me when a description was given of that space between the underpants and the arsehole. I put it down after that."

Anthia said "in my opinion, Vernon God Little is a fantastic book, and the people who have such short attention spans as to not be able to finish it obviously wouldn't be able to comprehend any of the messages in it anyway."

Ariel said "I agree that DBC appeals more to young guys than anyone, though I was intrigued and entertained by Vernon God Little - I thought it was an excellent and timely satire on the contemporary American society that spawned high school massacres as a phenomenon. His second book didn't interest me at all - definitely a 'for young men' kind of exercise, with the requisite crude humour and bawdy premise, but without much to coherently say ... at least, that was my shallow opinion based on reviews and a skim read."

Marie said "I'm so pleased to hear that I'm not the only who had trouble reading God of Small Things & Vernon God Little. Made an utmost effort to read both these books but to no avail."

PaulH said "I loved Vernon God Little."

Vik said "LOVED Vernon God (steering clear of the 2nd from the advice provided here)"

tqd said "I loved Vernon God Little".

eva said "I also remember enjoying Vernon God Little".

Ellie said "I liked Vernon God Little a lot".

That makes 13 people for the book and 4 against, with two comments that made no judgement. And the thread is worth skimming but you'll probably baulk at reading through the whole thing.