When I was younger, I made it a point to slog through books even if I didn’t like them. I don’t know what it was - Aries stubbornness, perhaps? As I got older, I realized my time is limited, and I ain’t got none to spare on things - and books - that do nothing for me!
Some books are more difficult/challenging reads, and I take my time with those. But books that go nowhere, that I just do not like at all - I now abandon them guilt-free. Like Gould’s Book Of Fish by Richard Flannagan. I thought it would be my pick for A book you’ve meaning to read but haven’t.
About 100-odd pages into the book, I realized why I had tried and failed to read this one. It sounded so promising; it had such stellar reviews; but nope. I just couldn’t. So I gave it up, again. In fact, I gave the book away to a friend who wanted to read it too. May he have better luck with it!
What about you, do you abandon books that you don’t like?
And now, onto my monthly reading round up:
In cold blood: The Map by T.S. Learner. Mysticism, history, magic, and spy craft combine in this compelling novel set against the backdrop of Franck’s Spain. A lot of research and historical fact has gone into this book, and it’s quite the adventure!
Recommended by your favourite blogger or friend: The Passenger by Daniel Hurst. This is a must read for fans of psychological thrillers! You can read my review here.
Get your Zen on: Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintainance by Robert M. Pirsig: This modern classic is part travelogue part philosophical inquiry into values. A slow, but very interesting read
A book where a dancer is a protagonist: Dancing Backwards by Sally Vickers: Quite an interesting story about friendship, trauma, and self analysis in some ways. I’m going to be looking for some more books by this author!
A book about books: The Midnight Library by Matthew Haig: This is the first book I’ve read by this author and now I want to go out and buy all of his books! Tender, wise, humane... All I can say is, everyone should read this book!
Over to you! What did you read last month? Which books did you love? Even if they don’t fall neatly into the prompts, share them with us anyway! ;-)
Hi
I read 9 books in March. And enjoyed most of them. As l’m now retired I have plenty of time so I do tend to slog onto the end with books that I don’t enjoy. I have a great sense of achievement when I finally finish. Here goes with my books for March.
Empress Orchid by Anchee Min for an historical book with a female protagonist. Excellent book, well written and very interesting.
The adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. I was not so enamoured with this all the speech is written in dialect which I find makes it difficult to read. But that’s another classic of my list.
All my lies are true by Dorothy Koomson. I really enjoyed this a good thriller where all the ends tie up nicely at the end. I went with this as my choice to claim a line.
The Vine witch trilogy by Luanne G Smith. All very good. The first l’m claiming as start of a series and the last = The Conjurer as released in 2021
1602 by Neil Gaiman This is a graphic novel. Definitely not my normal genre. But once I got into it I really enjoyed it. The premise is very unusual, as normal with Neil it takes place in 1602 with Queen Elizabeth 1 on the throne but features the marvel universe heroes!
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo for poetic rhapsody. I cannot recommend this book enough. It’s delightful all written in verse about a young black poet and her first love. I literally picked it up and could not put it down.
The girl from Nowhere by Elissa Tanner. A true story based on the authors own experience of being born in a Romney gypsy camp in Slovakia to 13 year old prostitute and how she escaped to the UK in a washing machine box.
So that’s my 9 for March. Loving the challenge.
Diane 💜