Breaking Up With Books

I have a hard time breaking up with books. If I make it a few chapters in, I will want to finish it no matter how uninterested I become. I feel obligated to get to the end. My friend Sonja would scold me: "Life is too short to read bad books." She should make a t-shirt. But, no, no, no... I started it, I'm committed to finishing it.

Sometimes, I'll cheat and get the audiobook, hoping that will keep my interest. This was the case for the Raven Cycle books by Maggie Stiefvater. The narrator was just amazing and I'm glad I stuck with the books because they were all-in-all pretty awesome.

But, I've been trying. Breaking up with a book is tough. You can't know what happens to the characters, or how the conflict is resolved, and be content with the happy ending. But, on the flip side, it's better to use that precious reading time for books that are worth the investment. (Is there a counseling group I should join?)

I really dislike to be negative about books because I know how hard authors work, so I'm sorry to stomp on their creation. But, so it goes. Here are three books from the last year or so that I read at least a quarter of and had to break up with. I'm sure it's me and not them.

Furthermore - Gah! I was so excited about this book because all the darn praise and accolades it received. I tried to read it. Gave up. Got the audiobook. But that didn't make it better. Does Alice find her father? I'll never know and I'm OK with that.

Anatomical Shape of a Heart - I thought I could get behind the main characters because they were edgy and sweet, but it turned out I didn't give two shakes about either of them.

A Darker Shade of Magic - The final book of this series was just released and fans were all faint-y about it, so I thought I'd see what all the fuss was about. I barely made it through the first chapter before I got the audiobook. And didn't make it much farther.

Ok ... enough of the negative. My next book-centric post will be a GLOWING review of a book I am loving. Because there are quiet a few more of those to talk about.




Related Posts:
A list of books I read in 2016
Fall '16 books I was excited about (you'll recognize one title)
Posts tagged "book reviews"

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