Chemistry was dull until I took Atomic Physics at university (where I was reading Physics); I still remember the textbook, the masterpiece of brevity "Atomic Spectra" by T.P.Softley.

At that point, suddenly there was an underlying structure to it and it was no longer just the dull memorisation of facts that had made it my worst performing subject at secondary school (like you, GCSE was as far as I took it and I regret even wasting my time on it there). Far too late, of course; by then Chemistry was a distant blob in the rear-view mirror.