Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Non-starters

I really just can't get stuck into a book these days. I'm not sure why. So I read a book and 35 pages later put it down and pick up another, read a bit, put it down, pick up another. I did finish a book today (Tithe by Holly Black) but now I'm back where I started, not really sure what to read next. I was quite excited with the books I'd checked out from the library, even excited with these books, and once I started, it all just went away...

Starter For Ten by David Nicholls started off great, quite funny. But since I'd watched the film with James McAvoy over Christmas, I knew where the story was going. It felt like the movie used all the funny bits from the book and then made the scenes even funnier that it wasn't worth carrying on with the book.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak was one I'd looked forward to for ages, and I felt like I could get interested in the plot and the characters, but Death's little announcements annoyed me too much. It felt too stop-and-go to carry on and I really wanted to just skip over them, but I couldn't, thinking I'd be missing things. Maybe I'll give this one another chance someday, but for now? It's going back to the library.

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy I always thought that this was a book that N had read a long time ago and really loved, but I'm not sure that it is anymore. From the first 37 pages it just doesn't seem like the type of book he'd read. Not that that's really important, but it's just not the book for me right now either. Too many characters, little scraps of information given and not explained. I just did not have the patience for this. It must just be me, right?

Freaky Green Eyes by Joyce Carol Oates was a book I picked up thinking 'hmm, maybe I need some good angsty YA' and since I really enjoyed After the Wreck I Picked Myself Up, Spread My Wings and Flew Away from a few months ago, I thought I'd try something else of hers. I wanted to love it, I did. It started off interesting, but then it seemed like it was heading in a different direction than I thought it would be and I just couldn't be bothered.

I have no idea what I'm looking for, what I feel like. I don't like reading slumps. I want a great book to fall into that picks me up and takes me someplace else. That book is out there, let's hope it's not long before I find it!

Speaking of things that don't last, N bought a boucy castle last summer but we never got around to putting it up until last weekend. I spent forever with one of those awful foot-pedal pumps to inflate this thing, for the boys to play on it for half an hour, get bored and run off and then for the whole castle to fall over in the night deflated! You can be sure that thing got returned the very next day. But look how cute they are on it?


7 comments:

  1. I've read The Book Thief and The God of Small Things. It took me like 70 pages to be able to get into The Book Thief, but after that I got hooked. And The God of Small Things really is slow going...I read it over two weeks, and I think taking it slowly really helped with my appreciation of it. I hope you manage to find a book that grabs you soon!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yeah, this happens to me, too. I usually just end up watching lots of TV until I feel inspired to read again.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Perhaps you need a break from reading for awhile to help refresh you. You sound like life has been really hectic lately, so perhaps you are just a little burnt out.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm so with you on The God of Small Things. I read it, but it was a slow plod and in hindsight, I wish I hadn't wasted my time. As for The Book Thief, I don't think I'll ever get to it either, but I'm okay with that. There are enough books in the world to read without reading Mr. Zusak's. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I loved The God of Small Things, but only in retrospect, after I finished it and had time to mull it over. Then it got me started reading the other Booker winners.

    That said, if it doesn't strike your fancy, no reason to press on. Maybe try nonfiction and just look at the pictures? That's what I do when I'm slumping. Cookbooks and fancy decorating books are very fun for that.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Your boys are getting so big!

    I've been having the same problem with my stack of books as well.. I will read a few pages, then lose intrest and start another book..

    ReplyDelete
  7. Those castles r just so cool!

    I had an inflateable ball pool once tho, in the shape of a train and it deflateded with a puncture the next day :( mr man wasnt pleased :(

    ReplyDelete

HI! Thank you for leaving a comment, you've just become my new best friend :)