Reading and the point of no return?
My great-grandmother, Katherine Mandt, was a tiny woman, but eight years after her death, she still looms large in the memories of the people who knew her. She was born in Glasgow, Scotland, the oldest daughter of Lithuanian immigrants, and came to the United States in her teens, after her parents kicked her out of the house for her wild and rebellious ways. She spent the next few years eradicating her brogue, then got married, had three kids, and raised them by herself during the Great Depression after she divorced her alcoholic, good-for-nothing husband. When I entered her life, she was in her seventies, and still as feisty as the day when she said good riddance to her parents forever.
When I was two, we moved from Ohio to California, and Grandma Mandt accompanied my mom and me on our drive across the country. At some point, we stopped at a burger joint, and what happened next became a family legend. We ordered milkshakes, hopped back in the car, and sped off down the road. My mom sipped hers and proclaimed it “disgusting.” Grandma Mandt, lactose-intolerant and weighing only 90 lbs, sucked on her straw, smacked her lips together and said, “this tastes like the bottom of a bird cage.” She then proceeded to drink the whole thing, and then finished my mom’s, just so it wouldn’t go to waste.
At this point, you’re probably thinking that I’m going to take this in the direction of frugality (Grandma also couldn’t stand to see one scrap of fat go to waste– she’d take it off our plates and eat it herself) or how modern, enlightened parents shouldn’t force their children to clean their plates, or the perils of what happens when mothers become human vacuum cleaners and finish all of those delicious little bits their kids leave behind when we don’t force them to clean their plates (I have first-hand experience on this one, and the results ain’t pretty).
But you’d be wrong. What I take from the bird cage story is that Grandma Mandt didn’t quit. Not when her parents didn’t want her anymore. Not when she got divorced in the 1930s and had to go to work. Not when the love of her life died way too soon. And certainly not when faced with disgusting milkshakes. I think of her often when I do hard things and want to quit, and usually she, and others like her, inspire me to keep going.
Right now, I’m reading a book. If you’ve ever wandered over to my blog, you probably know that I’m always reading a book. I picked up John Grisham’s newest novel, The Appeal, a few days before DH and I left on vacation a couple of months ago. It’s not exactly my kind of book, but in the past he has liked John Grisham, so I bought it. I usually take our books out of the library, and whenever I fork over more than $20 for a book, I figure that the least I can do is read it myself, therefore making it not such a waste of money (hey, maybe I inherited some of Grandma’s frugality too). He finished it on our trip, gave it a thumbs-down, and it’s been sitting in my “to-read” stack ever since.
It’s an absolutely terrible book. Think Erin Brockovich, but without any nuances in the character development. I usually think of Grisham as focusing on male characters, but so far, about 175 pages into the book, there are at least four strong female characters, each one more stereotypical than the last. There’s a trophy wife with plastic boobs and no soul, a sainted trial attorney who crusades for justice by day and makes homemade mac and cheese with her kids by night, a supreme court justice who votes her conscience and is about to be blindsided by evil wheeler-dealers, and a weepy victim who lost both her son and her husband to cancer and can’t quite find the will to live. I feel like Grisham had the choice of coloring with Crayola’s 64-box, and instead he went for the 4-pack that they hand out for free at Chili’s with the kids’ menu.
So now I’m wondering if I should quit. I read so much, that one bad book shouldn’t be a stumbling block, but every time I see the darn thing, it fills me with dread. I feel like I could buckle down, put in a couple of hours, laugh at the horrible prose along the way, and finish it. Or else I could chuck it and be free (I’ve already read the last two pages, so I know what happens anyway). There are lots of books I start and decide not to finish, usually after reading a couple of pages, or, at most, a chapter, but very few (the notable exception is Moby Dick) that I get more than a hundred pages into and decide I just can’t stand. It’s not at all a question of anything salacious or morally objectionable in the book(unless you consider charging $23.77 for total schlock morally objectionable, which I do), because I’m just not that kind of girl .
What books, especially those that have received critical or popular praise, have you quit? What made you decide that yes, you could, in fact, quit them? While I await your responses, I’ll be slogging through the next 175 pages and scouring the internet for better stuff to read next time.
Life is too short to read bad books.
I have stopped reading many books for many different reasons:
Too painful (don’t read Anna Karenina if you’re feeling bad about your family - it’ll drive you to consider bridge-jumping)
Badly translated (The Alchemistand Don Quixote, I’m looking at you)
I was feeling intellectually lazy and that wasn’t where I wanted to spend the effort (Everything I’ve ever started by Umberto Eco)
Simply badly written (I can’t remember titles, but I’ve done it at least a dozen times)
The only ones I want to return to are Anna Karenina and the ones I gave up because I was lazy at the time. I regret absolutely none of the books I abandoned because they were badly written.
Comment by Katie P. — April 11, 2008 @ 1:15 pm
Katie- The Alchemist has got to be on my top 10 list of books I wish I hadn’t wasted my time on. My book group read it and I HATED it. My dh says it’s like Candide without the irony. And Anna Karenina, one of my top 10 favorites. I must have come at it in the right time in my life– I do remember skimming a bunch of the warlike stuff.
Comment by Shelah — April 11, 2008 @ 1:18 pm
Wish I could remember the name—some novel a friend lent me. When it started getting into incestuous thoughts I tossed it.
My grandma was “feisty,” too, but unfortunately, she was also psycho.
Comment by Susan M — April 11, 2008 @ 1:40 pm
Katie - you really must read Anna Karenina. It is one of my favorite books, although I’ll agree - it is very dark, like much of Russian lit. (I love Russian lit though)
I used to read everything faithfully, almost like I had made a commitment I was afraid to abandon for fear of some sort of literary retribution (that and my mom is a librarian), but as an adult, I realized that I didn’t have time to read junk.
Books I’ve abandoned?
-All of Jane Austen’s books I ever started.
And a number of others, but I’m struggling to think at the moment through the mound of paper on my desk and the foggy headache behind my eyes.
Comment by Sara — April 11, 2008 @ 1:45 pm
Here is your official permission slip to never finish a bad book again. I agree with Katie P. Life’s too short for bad books, tv, movies, music and people who drag you down.
it took a long time for me to give myself permission to just stop when i realized this. hope you can too! (it’s very freeing)
♥
Comment by Blue — April 11, 2008 @ 1:51 pm
Also, to each his/her own when it comes to taste in anything. i respect sara’s opinion of jane, but Pride and Prejudice is one of the select few books that i’ve ever allowed myself to re-read. (as a rule i read and watch things only once, because there’s so much more to get to)
so if YOU like it, kudos. ♥
Comment by Blue — April 11, 2008 @ 1:53 pm
I give books roughly 50 pages.
I sat down yesterday afternoon and read Grisham’s The Broker in one sitting. A fun read, especially if you want to visit Italy. Grisham gets slammed quite a bit, but I think that within 10 years, you’ll see dissertations exploring his approach to characterization. His plots may be weak, and he may be one-note when it comes to women, but he’s spot-on when he paints a Southern man.
Comment by queuno — April 11, 2008 @ 1:55 pm
I like to read children’s literature and I also like to know what my kids are reading. There are few books that I can’t finish. One thing that helps is that I read very fast, so it’s not such a big deal if it’s so-so.
One I haven’t been able to pick back up: Inkspell. It’s the second in the Inkheart series and it’s just not worth the time.
Comment by Researcher — April 11, 2008 @ 2:02 pm
I should add that Inkheart was worth reading.
Comment by Researcher — April 11, 2008 @ 2:03 pm
Dump it and run!
I too once had a hard time dumping dumb books, but no more. The system I’ve devolved is thus, I always feel like if I skim for a few chapters, and nothing improves, then I jump to the back and read the last few pages, then I’m free of the suspense that it might actually get better.
It’s different with a book that i just can’t handle emotionally or am maybe not in the mood for for some reason. I have also made peace with those book, by just allowing myself to feel what I feel and put them aside until I’m ready to revisit them. And I usually do, eventually. Though there are a few that I tried to read in the midst of ppd that I have yet to have the courage to pick back up. but then I couldn’t read the phone book without a breakdown in those days.
Comment by fMhLisa — April 11, 2008 @ 2:05 pm
i kept trying to get through Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell because so many people recommended it. i think it’s the first book i got about 150 pages into, and just still didn’t care. i was reading it out of principle, because i’d started it. but that was the catalyst for me finally giving myself that permission to just STOP. i actually would love a cliff notes summary of it, but it wasn’t grabbing me. i read an awful lot, and am one of the least judgmental people i know. i try to only select good titles, themes and knowledge. mainly because my PB directs me to do so. i, like Researcher, really enjoy children’s lit and keeping up with the stuff my kids are into. i cycle through lots of genres, and use reading as my “continuing ed” course in life. works for me. ♥
Comment by Blue — April 11, 2008 @ 2:14 pm
No one ever reads a textbook cover to cover. Why do we tell ourselves we have to finish any other book cover to cover?
(Except, of course, the scriptures. Those, we read every word. Including Isaiah and Numbers.)
Comment by queuno — April 11, 2008 @ 2:17 pm
I quit reading both Grisham and Crichton a few books back. They just got boring to me, not worth the time. I am an avid reader, and I will absolutely walk away from a bad book. Some books, though, just start a little slower. I found the Kite Runner tough to get into because there were no sympathetic characters. But it was worth sticking with it. I recently stumbled on a few authors who are worth it: Kate Atkinson (Case Histories), Jodi Picoult (Nineteen Minutes), and Ian McEwan (Atonement). They have all written many other books, too. I also like histories, but I find Joseph Ellis is more readable than David McCullough. Most would disagree with me, but reading is often personal taste.
Comment by hawkgrrrl — April 11, 2008 @ 2:22 pm
If you’re reading for pleasure, there is no reason to torment yourself with a bad book. Take it to one of the places where you can get store credit (Hastings or whatever you have in your area) and get a paperback you’d enjoy more. That would help defray the cost a bit and you’ll probably get decent credit for a recent hardback from a popular author.
I’ve tried twice now to read Eragon and I can’t stand it. It’s so terribly written and cliched. Normally, I’m pretty tolerant of bad writing, so the fact that I can’t even bear to read it shows how terrible it really is. The only reason it sold well is because of the “novelty” of it being written by a homeschooled kid and most people read so little, they have no idea how much this kid stole from pretty much every major groundbreaking fantasy series ever written.
Comment by Firebyrd — April 11, 2008 @ 2:23 pm
I don’t believe in reading books I’m not enjoying, unless it’s for school or I think it’s going to edify me in some way. (I haven’t been in school for at least 12 years, so I’m no longer forced to read books that way.)
I tried to read Lord of the Rings. You might say I tried very hard, as I did manage to slog my way through the first book and also the second, but when I got to book three, I just couldn’t take it anymore. It seemed ridiculous to quit after coming so far, but I only slogged through the first book with the hope that it would all be worth it in the end, and being 2/3 done and not feeling any worth-itness yet, I figured, why waste any more of my life than I already have?
That said, there have been very few other books that I have not finished, and I’ve read some not-good ones. I think Lord of the Rings just made me mad because it was supposed to be so awesome and I just found it not so.
I agree that life is too short to read bad books. Also too short to read boring books, even if they’re supposed to be good.
Comment by madhousewife — April 11, 2008 @ 2:27 pm
Hawkgrrrl-you’re right about a lot of reading being personal taste. I’ve seen too many people declare such and such a book to be dreck and countered by other people who say it’s well written to believe otherwise for the most part. There is a point where something is definitely unpolished or badly edited or whatnot, but for the most part, people seem to think that whatever they don’t personally like or they think is fluff qualifies as badly written.
Comment by Firebyrd — April 11, 2008 @ 2:29 pm
I have a hard time wasting any time on novels. There is so much fascinating and worth while real history in this world that fiction has basically no place for me to waste time on. No matter what you like - or how racy you like it - real history is much more interesting to read.
Comment by Business Woman — April 11, 2008 @ 2:32 pm
Madhousewife– The Hobbit is also on my personal top Ten Wastes of Time list. I knew I shouldn’t even go there with LOTR.
Hawkgrrl– I love both Kate Atkinson and Ian McEwan. I also like Jodi Picoult, in small quantities. Some of her books feel emotionally manipulative, though.
Comment by Shelah — April 11, 2008 @ 2:32 pm
This reminds me of when I read Henry James’s Portrait of a Lady. I found the first 400 pages really dull. Then it got really good. Then when I got to about page 700, I found I didn’t care. I still finished it, though. Probably because I like Henry James otherwise, and I felt I owed it to him. But henceforth I only read his short sories and novellas.
Comment by madhousewife — April 11, 2008 @ 2:32 pm
OK–here’s a good one…
When I was younger, I started reading the book M*A*S*H. I ended up not finishing it because it was so vulgar and disgusting–swear words, sex, etc. I was far too pure to be sullied with such trash.
Of course, several years later I went back and read the whole thing.
One book I did finish which I should have just given up on was John Irving’s Hotel New Hampshire. I didn’t find much that was redeeming in that book given all the crap that was poured into it.
Unfortunately, most times I feel like once I’ve started a book, I should finish it. After this post, maybe I’ll give myself permission not to do that.
Comment by ErinG — April 11, 2008 @ 2:35 pm
It’s only in the past few years that I’ve been able to put down a book I wasn’t enjoying. The first book I did that with? Wicked by Gregory Maguire. I was a fan of the musical, and everyonekept saying how wonderful the book was. I Hated it with the fiery passion of a thousand burning suns. It felt really good to put that book down.
Comment by Jennifer in GA — April 11, 2008 @ 2:57 pm
And Wicked was one I hated and slogged through and really liked the ending so I was glad I persevered :P.
Comment by Shelah — April 11, 2008 @ 3:00 pm
I am a compulsive reader and will finish almost anything. But I just cannot read Jane Austin.
I didn’t finish Dale Carneigie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People. It is so out of date.
Books I shouldn’t have finished include Cold Mountain and American Pastoral.
Comment by Claudia — April 11, 2008 @ 3:04 pm
“Wicked” the book is still sitting on my shelf, I can’t seem to finish it, and I am having the same dilemma as you are. It just isn’t there for me. I love the musical, but I can’t finish the book and I am 2/3 of the way through.
I LOVE Austen, I can read her over and over, maybe because the characters seem real to me. My copy of her complete works has gone missing (I really should write down who I loan books to), and I have been contemplating going out and buying a new set for the last 3 hours.
To Business Woman who doesn’t read novels, I have to disagree. One of the reasons I read is to escape real life. After struggling with some extremely tragic life circumstances and some fun PTSD to go with, I need something that takes me out of the real world. I find I go back to some novels again and again because they are old friends I love dearly.
Comment by t — April 11, 2008 @ 3:10 pm
I have a compulsion to finish all the books I read. So, I do. Even if it really sucks and it takes me a year, I finish it. This seems only to apply to fiction. Non-fiction I feel like I can put it down if it really isn’t interesting to me. Especially if it’s an informational guide, like a parenting book (of which I am currently reading 4), then I just read the bits I’m interested in.
Comment by Annie Kuntz — April 11, 2008 @ 3:13 pm
Ok, I do have to say that I find it amusing what some people hate, I loved and probably vice versa : ) For example, I was an honors graduate in Philosophy and still LOVED The Alchemist- and I adored Candide. I read it every year or two.
But to answer your question:
1. Alexander Soldjenitsin (Sp?) The Gulag Archepelego. Great title, important book. Maybe I burned out my Russian center with all the russian lit I gobled up while younger. Can’t seem to get going with it : )
2. Leon Trotsky- My LIfe. 4 years- can’t seem to make it past the 5th page. (Still part of that russian phase-)
3. Henry David Thoreau- Walden. I pull this out at least once a year while camping and have never finished it although I just somehow can’t escape the feeling you can’t consider yourself well read unless you have read this.
4. Have to agree with The Hobbitt and LOTR- own both, never finished. Tried at least 4 times.
5. Salmon Rushdie- The Satanic Verses. So.Badly.Written. I have absolved myself from guilt for failing to read much past page 30.
6. A confederacy of Dunces- This was supposed to be awesome. I just felt blah and sad. I put it down.
Funny how with all the things to beat ourselves up about, its always the little things that nag you : ) Try donating it to a prison library or something? Turning it in to the used book store for credit for a book you really do want?
I’m in a big chinese biography/history/literature phase right now. I just gobbled up a history of Chariman Mao written by his Doctor. Filled with minutae but so compelling. Got it SIGNED at the used book store for 4.00!!!
Comment by cgbmac — April 11, 2008 @ 3:14 pm
Thanks for mentioning LOTR; I guess I repressed the memory of not even getting through the first book. And I loved The Hobbit. It wasn’t the length that did it either; I find War and Peace and Anna Karenina and David Copperfield and Bleak House and books like that to be worth the time it takes to read them.
And someone who likes blogging and doesn’t like Jane Austen? How can that be?!?
Comment by Researcher — April 11, 2008 @ 3:20 pm
what a great topic…
I give myself permission to put down a book that just isn’t reaching me for some reason. I’m one of those readers right now who can only read one book at a time.. though in the past I could read 3-4 books at a go (one stashed in the potty, one in the car, one by the bed, one in my RS bag, etc).
Anyway, if a book is gonna be a roadblock … we cut ties.
I’m 16 pages from finishing a book …and it just ran outta steam. If you’ve ever run out of gas in your car you know that feeling of slowing down and then stopping. This one did it for me, “The Mockingbird Years”, Emily Fox Gordon.
cgbmac - I love love love Asian centered books and have cut the ties to non-fiction only and have embraced fiction as well. Prolly because I had read just about everything true-life. An absolute cornerstone of this section of my library is Nien Cheng’s “Life and Death in Shanghai.”
I can’t stomach Austen… she hurts my eyeballs.
Now, if you’re looking for what could be considered a fringe author (as far as LDS is concerned) - consider Michelle Tea. ohholycow - her work is dynamic. I don’t go to her graphic novels (not interseted thank you very much), but her non-fiction is gritty and well written. You can almost taste the spam/mac-n-cheese casserole survived up in butter tubs.
i love books. authors are like rock stars.
shout out to my girl semo.. and make it a great evening my friends.
Comment by Mary Magdalene — April 11, 2008 @ 3:37 pm
…or maybe it’s “served up” … hehehehe
where’s my diet coke??
Comment by Mary Magdalene — April 11, 2008 @ 3:38 pm
I love your descriptions of Grandma Mandt, Shelah. What a remarkable woman she was.
I’m a finisher when it comes to books. I think it’s because when I was an English major I didn’t get to choose what I read - like it or not, I read what the professor told me to read, and it turned into a habit to just keep going and see it through. So now even if I’m not enjoying it at all, I will read to the end. I feel that even books that don’t entertain me can be worthwhile. A lot of the time I’ll find that I liked a book more than I thought after thinking about it for a while. Wicked was one of these for me, as well as The Road by Cormac McCarthy.
I’m a big re-reader too - I have read all of Jane Austen and Orson Scott Card’s books multiple times. Having a bad memory makes this work for me.
But I only re-read the ones I find entertaining.
Firebyrd, I totally agree about Eragon. Huge disappointment!
Comment by Chelsea — April 11, 2008 @ 3:42 pm
IMHO I think ya gotta finish it — no matter how bad. Alot of bad books become good by the end. I mean, what else are you going to do, watch tv? Usually finishing is just another few hours … and then you can move.
Comment by tiredmormon — April 11, 2008 @ 4:18 pm
I always start books that I think I ought to be reading, and then quit reading them. My biggest guilty didn’t finish is Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling, which I really ought to finish. And I intend to, one day. It sat on my nightstand for many months. Also The Four Zinas. And I really do like history/biography, so you’d think I would have finished them. But I didn’t.
Also I have a track record of starting some brand new change my life parenting book, getting half way, telling my husband all about how we are going to transform our family and get our kids all perfect, and then getting bored with it halfway through.
With Grisham and his ilk, I usually read the first couple of chapters and then skim through the rest. There’s not much to savor. I also quit reading books for an abundance of gratuitous swearing, etc. Usually. Unless it’s really, really good.
Comment by Emily M. — April 11, 2008 @ 4:36 pm
that’s “with” an abundance, not “for.”
Comment by Emily M. — April 11, 2008 @ 4:37 pm
Northanger Abbey - I was trying to read all of Austin’s books one month. The first two I fell in love with (pride and prejudice and Sense and Sensibility) but this one was so incredibly dull and trite I wanted to quit almost as soon as I had started it. Completely pointless. She started writing at a young age so maybe this one was written when she was only 14 or something… if that’s the case, I guess she is forgiven, but I don’t care to go back and finish it. Ever.
Comment by pom — April 11, 2008 @ 4:50 pm
wow, I’ve never seen so many Austen haters in one place before. You all should have a convention, or something.
I enjoyed all of Austen’s books. I haven’t read most of them since I was a teenager, but i do remember loving them. I’ve just started re-reading Persuasion, and I love it.
Also loved Cold Mountain, including the ending. Am I the only person on the planet to appreciate this ending? (the rest of you are wrong, utterly wrong).
Comment by fMhLisa — April 11, 2008 @ 5:07 pm
half way in if if it hasn’t hooked me- I cut my losses- and run. I am too much of a time miser to waste it–
Critical acclaim- schmaclaim- if i don’t like well… lets be honest thats all i care about.
I’ll admit angle fo repose although interesting was a somewhat drugerous read for me.
I have to say i stick with alot of essays and short stories that way if its lame oh well it was only 20 pgs!
Comment by smartmama — April 11, 2008 @ 5:20 pm
Well, I’m a big Austen fan, although Lady Susan’s a tough slog due to the letters format. I actually really like Northanger Abbey, but not a big Mansfield Park fan (Fanny Price is dull dull dull). I hate most of the “What happens after P&P” novels that are out there with the exception of Elizabeth Aston’s books, which I really like.
Comment by hawkgrrrl — April 11, 2008 @ 5:28 pm
There are some books, you just have to be in the right place to enjoy them. The first three times I read Pride and Prejudice, I hated it. Really, couldn’t stand it, couldn’t believe I was giving that piece of crap another chance. Somehow, the fourth time I read it, I fell in love, and now it’s one of my favorite books.
And then there are some books that are just pure crap and will never be good no matter what. They still have their purpose - if you’re 20 hours into a 24 hour flight and you’ve already watched all the movies, nothing kills time like reading (and hating) a really bad novel. It also ensures you’ll be oozing grumpiness by the time you get to Customs, hence sending off that “Don’t mess with me, I’m an angry American who has just been crammed into a sardine can for 24 hours and hasn’t had a wink of sleep, so if you know what’s good for you, you’ll just smile and stamp my passport” vibe. Which isn’t a bad thing - it sure gets you out of there quickly.
Comment by Quimby — April 11, 2008 @ 5:36 pm
I find I’m less likely to finish books I’ve checked out from the library than books I’ve paid good money for. I’m currently trying to guilt myself into finishing “The Golden Notebook” by Doris Lessing, because I bought it a few months ago at Borders.
Another added incentive to finish is if you put the book up on Goodreads or facebook, people will know you failed if it’s still up there two years later (yes, I’m sure people are playing very close attention to the books I’m reading). I don’t think I’m ever going to get all the way through The Ancestors Tale, however.
The jury is still out on whether I’ll finish Alan Greenspan’s new autobiography. I love the economic analysis, but he’s such a curmudgeon that I find myself rolling my eyes every paragraph or so. I just finished reading his description about his honeymoon in Venice with his wife Andrea Mitchell. They went to a fancy concert one evening and he has to point out that he has “heard Vivaldi played better”, but that he had a wonderful evening at the concert nonetheless. Thanks, Alan.
One book that everyone seemed to love but I hated is The Life of Pi. Ugh. I wish the tiger had eaten him on page 15. End of story.
Comment by ECS — April 11, 2008 @ 5:55 pm
I grab all sorts of interesting books off of the new non-fiction stand at the library, and I find that 1/4 - 1/3 of what I pick up aren’t worth my time. At first I found it hard to close a book and pick up another without having finished the first, but it gets easier with practice ;).
I stopped reading the series of unfortunate events somewhere in the second book I think. Hated it.
And count me among the LOTR haters. I’ve tried to read it a couple of times and never made much headway. It just didn’t click for me.
Comment by tisheli@gmail.com — April 11, 2008 @ 6:35 pm
Lisa– My eyes were puffy for at least a day after finishing Cold Mountain, but I still loved it.
Comment by Shelah — April 11, 2008 @ 7:15 pm
i’m totally jealous that y’all read fiction. and lots of it. (this is why if often feel like a dodo- many of you have small children and busy lives- and you still find time to read)
i can do some fiction but i feel like it’s a time waster when i have so many other non-fiction books to get through. And…my time is so valuable what with all of the hbo series, movies and music that demands my attention
Comment by mfranti — April 11, 2008 @ 7:33 pm
So, mfranti, do I have another John Adams fan out there? We are serious HBO addicts– still in mourning over our loss of The Sopranos.
Comment by Shelah — April 11, 2008 @ 7:48 pm
…yeah, John Adams is a weekly event. DAMN HBO!!!!
every time i think i’m gonna kill the cable, another series starts up. i’ve been threating to kill it for years but i don’t have the will power.
you’re mourning the sopranos? i’m still in mourning over the wire. so to comfort myselft, i’m watching season two again and next month season one.
don’t you just love laura linney?
nabby: “why do boys get to have all the fun?”
abigail: “because we let them!”
love it
Comment by mfranti — April 11, 2008 @ 7:56 pm
I absolutely agree with #1: life is WAY too short to keep reading a bad book. put it down now & don’t look back.
I don’t care that I taught English for 10 years; i put crime & punishment back on the shelf after 40 pages. then i donated it to good will. good riddance :). didn’t feel a mite guilty!
Comment by megan — April 11, 2008 @ 8:05 pm
I love Russian lit and Jane Austen and don’t read much in the way of modern literature because it doesn’t seem to have the same depth to it. I made a list of the top 100 books I wanted to read comprised from many top 100 books out there, the top 100 classics, top 100 banned books, top 100 books of the last 100 years (I did a lot of google searches.) Many of the lists had Don Quixote and so it was on my list. I lasted many 50 pages and truly tried to keep reading and couldn’t do it. The same thing happened with Utopia. After Drew Barrymore’s character on Ever After would rave about it I really wanted to feel that way about it too. I couldn’t do it and never finished it. Both books have the bookmarks in them where I stopped just in case I feel like finishing, but I don’t think I will. I buy most my books at used books sales for $1-2 so the price I paid for them doesn’t make me feel guilty for not finishing.
Comment by Heidi — April 11, 2008 @ 9:47 pm
I meant I ready “maybe” 50 pages.
I just read the post above mine and am so sad the poster didn’t enjoy Crime and Punishment. I have that as my top most favorite book.
Just goes to show how books really affect different people in different ways I guess.
Comment by Heidi — April 11, 2008 @ 9:49 pm
Twilight- depressed teenage girl falls in love with surly teenage boy, oh and the stupid boy is a VAMPIRE. Give me a break. Stopped after chapter one.
Frankenstein- much to the consternation of dh who loves it (for reasons I will never understand).
Wicked- kind of creeped me out.
LOTR- I read all of 2 or 3 chapters, wrote an entire essay for Junior English and got an A.
The Audacity of Hope- I keep picking up where I left off, but can’t get into it. I love Barack Obama, but I just can’t get into his book.
Northanger Abbey- I was actually pretty excited for a big romantic secret, and was very upset when it turned out there was nothing. Threw the book on the floor in disgust.
That said, I love most of Austen. I have also finished both Eragon and Eldest, but I agree he is a horrible writer. All the characters have the SAME personality. Gag me.
Put your rejects on paperbackswap dot com. I love that site.
Comment by Sarah S. — April 12, 2008 @ 12:08 am
Literature is a garden–eat the nourishing vegetables, eat the sweet fruit, but for heaven’s sake don’t eat the fertilizer. Don’t read a dumb book–it endumbens you when you read it!
Books I’ve quit partway through:
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective . . . yeah, you know. My dad is addicted to the book and has been trying to get me to read it for sooooo long, but every time I pick it up, my skin crawls. It’s just so blasted life-coachy.
There was this other book on overcoming abuse, but all it was was a whole bunch of stories about people who were terribly abused. I never reached the part about actually overcoming the blasted abuse. The stories got pretty sickening though, so one night I took it clear outside and threw it in the garbage out there–I didn’t want to be near it.
Comment by AYW — April 12, 2008 @ 1:02 am
I tried to read The Fountainhead when everyone was reading it in high school, but halfway through I screamed and threw it across the room. It is pure evil.
Comment by Vg — April 12, 2008 @ 5:24 am
I go through different stages in what I like to read, too. I loved The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged in high school, but I picked them both up again a few years ago and thought Rand’s writing style was overly pompous and preachy.
Is there one book you could read over and over again? There are only a few books I have read mulitiple times - Crime and Punishment, Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson and To Kill A Mockingbird and a few others.
Comment by ECS — April 12, 2008 @ 5:45 am
“Alot of bad books become good by the end. I mean, what else are you going to do, watch tv?”
Good thought. I think I’d rather read another book….
Loved LOTR. The books that is. I could not stand the movies.
Loved Austen
Now it was the Cronicles of Narnia I couldn’t get through.
Comment by Kim — April 12, 2008 @ 8:52 am
When I was in high school I LOVED Phillip Roth and the Professor of Desire was one of my favorite books. I can’t read past the first chapter now, I find it so nauseatingly misogynist. I reread Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility almost every year. I’m crazy about Middlemarch and Adam Bede and the only book I’ve ever thrown across the room and stopped reading was the Brothers Karamazov. I carry the characters that I’m reading with me and all day long all I could hear was this incessant bickering. When I picked the book up to read, saw that they had been bickering for 100 pages and would likely continue for 500 more, I threw the book. MAybe I should go back and try it again? I also never finished Angle of Repose. Everyone where I live Loves it. I was once having a promising conversation with the poet and novelist, James Galvin, when I confessed that I couldn’t get into that book he looked pityingly at me and said I should really give it another go, “it’s part of your education.” eh.
I also couldn’t finish the Kite Runner but I think that’s because it seemed arid, windy and depressing as all hell and at the time that seemed too much like the life I was already living in Wyoming…
Comment by CrazyWomanCreek — April 12, 2008 @ 9:20 am
Also, I was crazy about Everything is Illuminated but probably wouldn’t have finished Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close if it wouldn’t have made me feel guilty to do so. I read something John Irving wrote about how hard an author works and the least we can do is mindfully read every word…oy vey.
I started Mockingbird, a Portrait of Harper Lee, the other day and I won’t be finishing it. It is poorly written and offensive to Ms Lee. I am ashamed to say that if it was written terribly well, but still invasive and likely offensive to Ms Lee, I’d probably read it. Oh the shame.
Comment by CrazyWomanCreek — April 12, 2008 @ 9:28 am
How ironic. Moby Dick is the one book I tried to plough through for over one-hundred pages, back in high school. The operatic part was the last straw for me.
All my family, in-laws, and most Church acquaintances raved about The Work and the Glory. I sceptically picked up the first book, and couldn’t stomach even the first chapter. Nauseatingly cloying and superficial stuff. My first inclination was right: never touch self-consciously Mormon art/literature.
And for those of you who can’t cut cable for all the good mini-series, let me say one word: Library. Okay, I’ll add a few more in plugging my profession: I’ve been able to watch every series (mini or macro) over the last few years without having to watch interminable and intolerable commercials, and without paying for cable. Fantastic! And yes, as the irascible John Adams holds a special place in my heart, I can’t wait to see the miniseries.
Comment by Derek — April 12, 2008 @ 9:44 am
derek? surely you kid? you’ve seen our records. in fact, i blame you!
Comment by mfranti — April 12, 2008 @ 9:58 am
Derek– I think I was only abut 100 pages from the end when I finally chucked Moby Dick. I so wanted to like it– I read it right after reading Ahab’s Wife (which I loved) and was really, really disappointed at how boring it was.
Sara S.– The first three or four chapters of The Audacity of Hope really were boring, but I found that it did get better.
mfranti– I’ve been thinking about that line all week! We’re an episode behind, and I’m itching to get caught up tonight so I can watch tomorrow in real time.
Comment by Shelah — April 12, 2008 @ 10:03 am
apparently, nobody is watching john adams. too bad. but then, i’m a history geek and and these kinds of shows delight me.
and…abigail adams is my hero.
Comment by mfranti — April 12, 2008 @ 10:13 am
Nah, MFranti, I don’t make a habit of peering into patron records. Not too often, anyway;)
Abigail sure was a tough (and smart) girl. Just as witty, smart, and fiery as her hubby. One of my favorite Abby moments was when Thomas Jefferson attempted to reconnect with the Adams’ during the years of their political estrangement. He wrote to Abby first, and in the course of his letter tried to make light of the cause of their disputes. If I’m remembering correctly, Abby sent off a blistering letter, reminding Jefferson of the ways he had stabbed John in the back, ripping into Tommy for his hypocrisy, and effectively delaying the Adams/Jefferson rapproachment until her death. Gotta love that fire!
Yes, I’m a history geek as well.
BTW, if you’re interested in a light introduction to Revolutionary history with a feminist bend, you might like Glory, Passion, and Principle: The Story of Eight Remarkable Women at the Core of the American Revolution, by Melissa Lukeman Bohrer. Abigail is one of the women she discusses.
I very much like Laura Linney, and obviously cannot yet comment on her performance. But I must admit that I wish HBO had the guts to do a series with less glamorous actors. I think it would do the world a lot of good if the entertainment media would show that less-than beautiful people (Adams was fat and balding, and neither he nor Abigail were considered handsome in their day) can have very passionate, loving relationships. At least they chose the less handsome Giamatti rather than Mel Gibson or Tom Cruise to play John.
Comment by Derek — April 12, 2008 @ 12:06 pm
Derek– Other than Linney and Giamatti (sp?) there really haven’t been many famous actors in John Adams. And they do a plenty good job of making Giamatti look, um, unhandsome. After reading the McCullogh book and now watching the miniseries, I’ve been eager to find a book that focuses on Abigail (I read Cokie Roberts’s Founding Mothers a few years ago, and it was interesting, if lightweight).
Comment by Shelah — April 12, 2008 @ 12:41 pm
Shelah, I’ve not read any Abby biographies yet myself, but there are several well reviewed ones–as well as some biographies of the two as a couple, and a few collections of their letters. If you live in SLC, I can help you find some good options in our library.
If you are interested in very well researched historical fiction, my mother swears by Those Who Love, by Irving Stone. She’s not really interested in history per se, but loves Stone, and has been a big fan of the Adams’ ever since picking up the book.
And for those who like to watch, PBS did a fine documentary about the couple on American Experience a couple years back (which we also have in our collection).
Comment by Derek — April 12, 2008 @ 1:23 pm
Oh, and while I trust you that Giamatti is plain-looking in the film, I doubt they are able to make Linney look less than beautiful.
Comment by Derek — April 12, 2008 @ 1:25 pm
Some days I think I must come from some other planet…. I liked LOTR so much I read the whole thing aloud to my kids twice (Narnia was twice too… when kids are spaced over 10 years, you go through the same phases repeatedly). Will re-read Heinlein (Methuselahs’ Children, Time Enough for Love), L.I. Wilder, and L’engle. Read Secret Garden for the first time a couple of weeks ago, and had to re-read it again to myself last weekend. Not into the classics (boring). Not too fond of any current fiction (though I’ve been known to stalk the new-book shelf for any of the “The Cat Who…” series. I’m a literary lightweight, I guess.
Comment by Coffinberry — April 12, 2008 @ 1:28 pm
I do remember struggling with a book once — and many times since then, of course — and giving myself that initial permission to stop reading it. To not finish it. I was a kid who read everything I could get my hands on, a favorite with the librarians in the schools I attended. But now, books that are plodding, boring, or just badly written, I don’t have patience for. It takes me FOREVER to choose books in the library now, because I’m so picky about what I read.
That was an interesting post; thank you for starting this conversation. Sounds like we’d all make one great book club.
Comment by Catherine — April 12, 2008 @ 2:40 pm
I haven’t read all the posts quite yet, so I don’t know if anyone listed this one, but I hated Mitch Albom’s ‘Tuesday With Morry’!!! I found it to be contrived and trite. Besides that, I didn’t think the writing was good at all. Usually when I dislike a book as much as I disliked that one, I don’t even come close to finishing it. But it was for a book group, and it sort became a strange fascination for me to see how bad it would keep getting.
A couple years later, the same book group chose “The Five People You Meet In Heaven’, Also by Mitch Albom. But I only made it about 20 pages in on that one before I couldn’t take it anymore, lol.
Comment by agent99 — April 12, 2008 @ 4:45 pm
My MIL rates how well read one is by which books they have completed. I have pretty much ensured that I will never make her list because I have never read most of the AP English canon (I opted for translated Chekhov over Mice and Men). So to this day, she considers me NOT well-read, despite my humanities-related B.A. That’s because, in her view, all of my reading is done in a foreign language and so it doesn’t count.
To that, I generally retort that she doesn’t get to count Gabriel Garcia Marquez if all she did was read the translation. She’s never read Neruda or Mistral. She’s never Sor Juana, Unamuno, or Paz.
She thinks that because she’s read “House of Spirits” that she’s up on South American literature. Isabel Allende writing in English doesn’t count.
My point is that we need to depend less on the “reading list” and focus more on interesting fare that speaks to us personally.
Comment by queuno — April 12, 2008 @ 6:01 pm
Ohhhhhh, I love books. I’ve found that if I don’t have the desire to stay up all night and finish a book I’ve started that day, then I’m not interested enough to bother. I’ll donate it and move along if it stares me down for more than one week. Life is def too short for bad books.
The one exception: House of Leaves. I’ve been reading this for a few months now. It’s the most difficult book I’ve ever read, but I’m drawn to it like a moth to a flame. It’s incredibly disturbing, and I’m a big fan of the horror genre, so I’ll finish it eventually. It’s one of those books I almost don’t want to finish, because I’m afraid the ending (or lack thereof) may disappoint me.
I tend to absolutely hate whatever books Oprah recommends.
I liked The Lovely Bones…. HATED The Almost Moon.
I adore Stephen King and Dean Koontz.
Jodi Picoult is okay sometimes, but her courtroom scenes give me deja vu to every other book she’s ever written, and Nineteen Minutes irked me because I figured the entire story out right away. I paid a lot of money for that “surprise” ending, dang it, and I wanted it!
I’ve never been able to get into hugely popular “suspense/mystery” authors like Nora Roberts, John Grisham, Janet Evanovich, etc. Nothing against them, just not my thing.
I also hate Shakespeare. Sorry, I do.
I really, really hate history. So I’m struggling with finding books that will pique my interest, because I feel quite stupid with regard to much of history. Suggestions, anyone?
I remember loving the reading the most during grade school and junior high… anything Beverly Cleary, To Kill a Mockingbird, Chronicles of Narnia, Bridge to Terabithia, Indian in the Cupboard, Tale of Two Cities, Edgar Allan Poe, Catcher in the Rye. There are more I can’t remember.
I LOVE books based on mythology. Possibly my favorite subject in the world.
Comment by Jill — April 12, 2008 @ 7:22 pm
Two books lately…
Wicked (ok, this one was three years ago) which I decided to read after I fell in love with the musical. I was bored with all the detail and discusted by the undertones.
The third book of the Twilight series (I didn’t read the first two) which I bought for a friend. Wherewolves and Vampires? are you kidding me?
I don’t need to waste time on reading crap or forcing myself to read because someone tells me I will like it. I ignore my kids enough as it is…
I can’t do Shakespeare (or spell either), but I do like it when I find an author I like so I can stick with their stuff for a while.
I am a big re-reader, too, especially those quick reads from (my) junior high like A Wrinkle in TIme, The Westing Game and Trixie Belden.
.
Comment by Katherine — April 12, 2008 @ 8:32 pm
I am also a compulsive reader and rarely put stuff down. During the last few years I’ve finally given myself permission to do that. I loved Gilead but really didn’t like Housekeeping and stopped after a few chapters. Not sure why. Really didn’t like Everything is Illuminated, but for some reason I actually kind of liked the movie. I tried reading The Corrections and just could not get into it at all. I also had to put down Little Children because I was at a point in my life where reading about adultery was not something I could handle. Those are the main ones I can think of right now.
Even though I study literature, the only reason why I’ve been able to get through Shakespeare or Cervantes is by studying them in classes (I had an entire class just on Don Quijote, for example). Stuff like that can be hard to understand without some sort of guide to it.
Comment by FoxyJ — April 12, 2008 @ 8:33 pm
The latest book I struggled with is my statistics textbook . . .
I can remember not finishing only two books because I didn’t like it. The one was some book by Stuart Woods and it was just so vulgar I couldn’t stand it. Not that that usually stops me - I eat up every Carl Hiaasen book in a few hours. I agree with the consensus on LOTR. I started The Hobbit and just couldn’t finish it. I did really enjoy “Father Giles of Ham,” though.
I haven’t had much time to read for pleasure lately as I’m working FT and taking FT classes. I understand Lisa when she said that sometimes she puts down a book because it’s emotionally draining. I was reading “The Giver” and was so offended by the premise I wouldn’t finish it. Last semester I had to read it for a children’s lit class and I’m so glad I stuck with it! That’s an amazing book.
Now I’m reading “The 101 Dalmations” by Dodie Smith which is much better than the movie that was inspired by this. I can barely put it down!
Comment by TAG — April 12, 2008 @ 9:20 pm
Forgot to say that I am also pretty crazy about Chuck Palahniuk, Dave Eggers, David Sedaris, and Augusten Burroughs.
OK, I am stepping away from the computer now. This topic is my weakness in many ways, most notably in that I will forget everything of importance I wish to say, and then be forced to return here and make myself look stupid with multiple random posts that never quite get to what I meant to originally type anyway, and that will begin to serve as more of an irritant than anything else.
{{{books}}}
Comment by Jill — April 12, 2008 @ 9:53 pm
I gave up on Saul Bellow’s Humboldt’s Gift in 2004. It was deadly dull and I couldn’t make myself care about the characters. But I still felt like a failure giving up on it, mostly (entirely) because Bellow is a Nobel Lauret. At the time, I figured there must have been more, much more that I missed, deeper meaning or subtle messages.
In the years since then I’ve done a lot more reading, a lot of growing as a reader. Thinking this might have increased my ability to appreciate Humboldt’s Gift, I decided last year that I’d pick up Bellow and give him another try. I slogged my way through the whole thing and afterward, found myself enraged to have wasted so much time on that book. I don’t even feel bad saying that it was a worthless book, which it would have been even if every woman in it was not made of cardboard.
By contrast, about 12 years ago I stumbled and bumbled my way through Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, incapable of following it. I picked that one up again last fall and FELL IN LOVE with the narrative, the style, everything. So, I’ve concluded that as a reader, I have changed, and will probably keep changing. But I doubt I’ll even change enough to try another book by Bellow.
Comment by mary ann — April 12, 2008 @ 10:04 pm
Jill, I love love love Augusten Burroughs!
Sedaris makes me laugh out loud (literally) - I was reading him at work once (had some down time) and there I started guffawing right in the middle of everything.
here’s to keeping my fingers crossed that they’ll have something new out soon!
Comment by Mary Magdalene — April 12, 2008 @ 10:06 pm
Mary Ann–I had the same experience with Heart of Darkness. I read it once and was completely bored with it. It just felt pointless. Read it again a few years later and I was in love. I had to read it for class, but I ended up reading the whole thing at once–I couldn’t put it down. That sometimes happens with books.
One book I’ve read a few times and still just don’t get: The Turn of the Screw. Everybody kept saying how creepy and scary it was, so I was looking forward to a great ghost story–and it was nothing. It was all this hype that ended in nothing. I was actually angry when I finished it because I felt like my time had been wasted.
Comment by AYW — April 12, 2008 @ 11:47 pm
Harry Potter anyone? I know people who have not read it on some principle or another, but I don’t know anyone who has started it and not finished.
Some discoveries by my kids that I’ve really enjoyed: Artemis Fowl (a teenage anti-hero) and Percy Jackson (this one’s for Jill who likes mythology-based books; middle-school America meets the Olympians).
Comment by Researcher — April 13, 2008 @ 7:50 am
Oh, I forgot one - I decided to read all the books on Amazon’s best books of the 20th century list and started with Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad. That took the winds out of my sails (ha ha, it’s a sailor book) and never finished it and didn’t try any more on the list.
Comment by TAG — April 13, 2008 @ 8:33 am
#75–I must be the only person on the planet who hasn’t been enthralled with Harry Potter. I’ve read 1-3, I enjoyed them, and I plan to get around to the others–but they’re not at the top of my “to read” list. And I LOVE children’s lit. Go figure. . . .
Comment by Rivkah — April 13, 2008 @ 9:52 am
I HATED Dickens when I first picked him up and went on and on to people about what an overrated and boring author he was. Years later I picked up David Copperfield and not only LOVED it- I couldn’t stop laughing. I felt so embarrased about how vocal I’d been in my condemnation of him.
I also like Artemis Fowl. My now 15 year old liked Colfer’s (I think latest) Benny and Omar. I haven’t read it yet. You?
I’m reading a lot of Sandra Boynton lately…
Comment by CrazyWomanCreek — April 13, 2008 @ 10:24 am
There are some books that I have consciously quit, and there are others that I have started reading, and then got distracted by other books.
One book that I have consciously quit is “Anybody Out There” by Marian Keyes. I received a free copy through this online internet marketing website. I probably did get past page 30 because it was so terrible.
Two books I have read so far this year definitely fall into the “books I shouldn’t have finished” category:
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer - this book was so poorly written, I was surprised that it was even published. The main character was so pathetic, I wanted to punch her in the face. And then there was the feeling I got at several times during the novel that it was about to dissolve into soft-core teen vampire porn!
Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella - this book was totally absurd, and the main character was a vapid twit. She never changes her problematic behavior, yet good things happen to her. Irritating!
I also have to agree that the Hobbit was torture to read and I will gladly stick to the film versions of LOTR.
Comment by SAP — April 13, 2008 @ 11:21 am
Wow — I’m feeling like quite the outcast at this point. I love Harry Potter. I just finished reading all three Twilight books for the third time, and while I struggled through the writing of the LOTR books, I found the characters and stories compelling enough to read them all.
While I am a sucker for a handful of classics, these days, I tend to choose rather mindless fiction. Like someone above posted, I read to escape the world in which I currently live — not that it’s so terrible, but I need to be reminded that there is more to life than laundry and diapers! I really like Jennifer Weiner (she wrote In Her Shoes, which was made into the movie with Cameron Diaz), and selective John Irving. Nick Hornby has been a recent favorite as well. Rebecca Wells and her Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood was a fun read — you could feel the heat and humidity of Louisiana seeping though the pages.
Comment by Teresa — April 13, 2008 @ 12:09 pm
There are so many books out there to read, and more coming out all the time. You will NEVER be able to read everything you want to, so don’t waste your time with what you don’t like. I did like Twilight and the rest of the series, but I my best friend in high school dated a guy who claimed to be a werewolf, so I don’t find it that far-fetched. I just finished Tales of a Fourthgrade Nothing and Superfudge by Judy Blume with my kids. We were rolling around lauging so many times.
Comment by emily dawn — April 13, 2008 @ 1:53 pm
. . . laughing. . .
Comment by emily dawn — April 13, 2008 @ 1:54 pm
Jill, try “Arundel” by Kenneth Roberts, and you’ll want to read the rest — Rabble in Arms, Northwest Passage, The Lively Lady, Lydia Baily, etc. Classics all. Well-researched historical fiction that makes it very enjoyable.
And as to all you Hobbit/LOTR haters. What planet did you say you hail from… planet BLASHPHEMY? Good grief! “No good boilin’ em — we ain’t got no wotah, and it’s a long way to the well and all…”
Comment by Rich — April 13, 2008 @ 2:41 pm
I tend to have a very hard time quitting books (or stopping movies)–in some sick optimistic way, I often think they’ll simply have to get better. But I’m learning, gradually, that some books (and movies) don’t, and it’s better to abandon them once that becomes obvious than end up with that virtuously sick and irritated I-drank-two-whole-milkshakes feeling on the last page.
I tried a Saul Bellow once but as someone mentioned above I couldn’t get past the misogyny. Same with Philip Roth’s The Human Stain (and then the ridiculous sex, I mean really, how much can one care about the trials of an old man on Viagra? Make like Socrates and rejoice that the idiocy of sexual infatuation has left you, old man–don’t chemically recreate it and increase your already considerable moral idiocy!)
).
Wuthering Heights, I’m afraid, suffers from similar adolescent ridiculousness. Charlotte Bronte’s books are much better (in my completely unbiased opinion
Two random questions about books that occur to me, and that should probably be their own threads:
(1) At what point do you find a book’s misogyny prohibitive to pleasure? It’s an issue I’ve been thinking about with Dickens, for instance. I love Dickens, but I find his women all a little silly, and to enjoy his books I have to bracket that aspect of them. It’s not simply an issue of modern sensibilities, either: I think recent writers like Roth and Bellow can be more viciously, sexually misogynist in ways earlier writers were less likely to be (OK, the Earl of Rochester was an earlier pornographer, but he was also an outlier).
(2) What do you do when someone you like presses a favorite book upon you that you can’t stand? How do you negotiate radical differences of taste in friendships? I can think of two different friends, at two different points in my life, who pushed romance novels on me because “every woman loves romance novels.” In one case I managed to slog through; in the other I finally returned the book unopened. In both cases I had a hard time persuading these well-meaning friends that I really don’t care for romance novels. They were both convinced that if I just looked deep, DEEP in my soul I would long to read fantasies about being swept off my feet. It was awkward trying to convince them I didn’t.
Anyway, maybe I’ll take one or both of these up on my own blog at some point. I hope I’m not derailing the discussion too much, Shelah–I apologize if I am.
Comment by Eve — April 13, 2008 @ 4:46 pm
The Grapes of Wrath. I don’t like reading a book where the English is so broken it takes you five mins to figure out what was just said.
Comment by Sunshine — April 13, 2008 @ 9:45 pm
People are always giving me books that they want me to read. They hear I like to read so they push the latest hot item from Oprah’s book club at me. Sometimes I’ll do a “charity read,” but usually the book’s pretty awful, so I don’t give it the same amount of attention I do my usual books. The worst was when a neighbor asked me to read a book she’d written and check the grammar/punctuation/spelling. The whole book was pretty awful and whenever I made a correction, she would freak out.
Comment by AYW — April 14, 2008 @ 1:30 am
fmhLisa - I too loved cold mountain & its ending.
I read at least one Jane Austen book a year, in addition to re-reading Pride & Prejudice, b/c I love her so, but I’ll admit, I’ve only read Northanger Abbey once - not my favorite. And I very rarely give up on books, although lately I’ve been allowing myself to do this more and more. I just gave up on Madame Bovary recently when it was due back at the library before I finished it. I just didn’t care enough about the goings-on in the French countryside to check it out again. (Clearly I don’t feel the same way about the goings-on in the English countryside - go figure). Not even the “women’s issues” it involved could keep me interested, although they are very similar to those in Anna Karenina, which I loved (although I skipped the crap about farming - I learned plenty enough about farmin’ workin’ at the Farmer’s Corner in Burley, Idaho, thank you very much Mr. Tolstoy!)
Comment by brittany — April 14, 2008 @ 9:23 pm
Oooh Eve, I just saw your post & must respond! I HATE Bellow & Roth b/c I can’t get past the misogyny. My husband, on the other hand, loves them, which really surprises me b/c he’s the furthest thing from a misogynist or someone who supports that kind of attitude I can imagine. I don’t know whether to hold his reading tastes against him or not. I’m not even going to mention his comic books.
One of my best friends is always giving or me or recommending books by Anita Shreve or Jodi Piccoult. Yuck and yuck. I’ve read some of their books - they suck. That’s all there is to it.
Comment by brittany — April 14, 2008 @ 9:38 pm
[…] [Feminist Mormon Housewives] “My first inclination was right: never touch self-consciously Mormon art/literature,” writes Derek in response to a post on “Reading and the point of no return?” […]
Pingback by Iconia» Blog Archive » Can Christians Be Idolators? — April 15, 2008 @ 12:03 pm
I’m one that usually finishes what I start when it comes to reading fiction. There has been lots of non-fiction that I’ve put down quite easily. But when it comes to fiction, I could only think of four books that I couldn’t get past the first few pages:
1. Shadowmancer. In a magazine as “hotter than Potter” so I had to give it a try. What a mess.
2. The Nanny Diaries. I truly do not understand why this was such a phenomenon. I couldn’t get into it at all and put it aside.
3. LOTR. I wanted to love the books since I so love the movies, and with all the singing fat guys and wandering in the woods, well, that was enough for me.
4. Possession. Another case of loving a movie but not being about to get past the intellectual conceit of the author.
Now I will read books and then complain about them afterwards, but I think it takes a lot to get me to put down a novel. I love reading, even lame books.
And please don’t get me started on the idea that non-fiction historicals are somehow better than fictionalized accounts. I don’t believe that. Philippa Gregory would be out of a job if that were true. As I’ve stated on this blog before - fiction teaches people things/helps them to remember in a way that even the best non-fiction can’t.
Comment by Sariah — April 17, 2008 @ 11:45 am
I absolutely hate it when people recommend books to me because I usually won’t be interested, and I also have piles and piles of more worthy literature that I’ve been meaning to get to! Sorry, but I am a snob.
Comment by SAP — April 17, 2008 @ 6:57 pm