Nothing’s more frustrating than picking up a book that looks good, finding it’s not that good after all, perservering with it just in case it gets better – and of course it doesn’t – and then finding you’re a third of the way or halfway through a book you don’t like and are not enjoying.
I’ve just done this with three books in a row.
The first book, The Savage Altar by Asa Larsson, I actually finished, because I kept hoping it would get better. The blurb said the book’s sold a quarter of a million copies in Sweden, and I kept thinking “250,000 Swedes can’t be wrong…” Maybe it’s better in the original, I dunno, but it just didn’t ever grab me. I even guessed whodunnit very early on. Bah!
The second book was A Faint Cold Fear by Karin Slaughter. This was the first one of her books I’d picked up; maybe I should have started with the first one in the series to properly get the background on the characters.
The third book was the most disappointing: Small Changes by Marge Piercy. Disappointing because I like Marge Piercy’s work, usually. I found the start of this book promising (I enjoyed the story of Beth), but after that it just got more and more rambly and I found myself wondering what the point was.
Am now wondering what to read next. I don’t want to be disappointed again!
3 Comments
Hey, it happens. I have been caught picking up a book only to find it was disappointing. However, my conscience has learned to be at peace when I finally decide to dump the crappy book. Life is too short, and there are too many books out there to lose time on a dud. Just pick yourself up, try again. As for 250,000 Swedes, they sure can be wrong (as well as who knows how many other readers). Anyhow, don’t look at it as them being right or wrong. More like it was just not your book. Hey, I knew Ranganathan was handy for something after all. Best, and keep on blogging.
Dang – I hate it when that happens.
I agree with Angel tho’ – 250,000 Swedes can be wrong and don’t equal 1 Australian 😉
Just keep reading just keep reading…
You’re both right, of course 🙂 Thanks for putting up with my melodrama 😉