For posterity I’d like to quickly record my “I Quit”s of the 2011 (I’m fairly confident the books I’ll still read this year will be good ones – I chose them most particularly). They’re only five in over 80, which is a pretty good number, but I probably should have been tougher with others I managed to finish.
The Exception by Christian Jungersen
Chosen by my bookclub in March. That was also the month when I quit my corporate job to work for a small NGO. It involved some risks and a significant pay-cut, some people around me were foreseeing doom, so it wasn’t the best time to read about psychological bullying among a group of women in a small Danish NGO.
Highland Fling by Katie Fforde
I was in the mood for a bit of fun, so picked this one up. When boy meets girl they take an instant disliking for one another (he actually tells her to “shut the f**k up” in the middle of a really silly argument), while at the same time they feel the sexual tension yada-yada-yada. What’s new? That’s when I stopped reading and put on the You’ve Got Mail DVD.
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah E. Harkness
I could have handled the endless sessions of vampire yoga and even the descriptions of the hero’s clove smell every other paragraph. What I couldn’t handle was how a confident, smart, resourceful, rational heroine gets transformed into a fragile being in need of protection, just days after meeting The Vampire She Can’t Resist Although She Tries.
This was the toughest to let go. McEwan wrote Atonement, which shook my literary world and I’m still determined to read everything he’s ever written, but had a hard time with Solar. It was lying around the house for months with the bookmark roughly in the middle. I read a few pages here, a few pages there, but never really connected with the book, so in the end decide to wait for more auspicious times.
Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler
You can read my rant thoughts here.
15 comments
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December 19, 2011 at 2:39 pm
Patty@a tale of three cities
I just loved your comments in each of the books! So true for a number of books I’ve come across as well…
December 19, 2011 at 6:28 pm
Steph
Well, I’m sorry you loathed Witches so much because I really did enjoy that one when I read it. I do see what you’re saying about Diana, but I suppose I never felt like she became simpering or all that helpless and the latter half of the book really does involve a lot of Diana being very kick-ass and the one doing much of the saving rather than being saved, so while I do think there are some of the “woman becomes befuddled by a man” tropes, I do think that Harkness did try to overthrow some of those as well and have a heroine who, while not immune to love, isn’t just a wallflower either. Still, it’s a long book, so not everyone will have the patience or desire to push through the end, but yeah, I totally fell for this one hook, line and sinker!
December 19, 2011 at 7:32 pm
Sandy
I do appreciate the head’s up here! But I am surprised by Discovery of Witches, which alot of people just LOVED. I would have definitely listened to it had I been able to get it in a format that was compatible with my iPod.
December 19, 2011 at 8:04 pm
Joanna
I love your lists! You know I feel the same about A Discovery of Witches and I don’t really know the others. Too bad about Solar though, I’m sure you wanted to like that one!
December 19, 2011 at 9:05 pm
MJ
Ha! I love your comments on Discovery of Witches. I did manage to push through, but at one point I started wished I had kept a tally of how many times Diana had to be picked up and whisked away to safety.
December 20, 2011 at 12:02 am
readingwithtea
Such a great idea for a list *toddles off to own blog to shamelessly copy*
I have Discovery of Witches coming as a review copy in a few days… now I’m worried!
December 20, 2011 at 10:37 am
Leeswammes
I always enjoy Katie Fforde, but haven’t read this one. Of course there is an instant dislike that later turns into love! You have to know and expect this before starting a book like this. 😉
Solar… hmm, I’ve great hopes for this one, so it’s a pity you didn’t like it. I personally wasn’t too keen on Atonement, but I loved On Chesil Beach. We’ll see.
December 20, 2011 at 8:15 pm
Melissa
I had a similar reaction to A Discovery of Witches.
December 20, 2011 at 8:16 pm
Melissa
Sorry, the rest of my comment disappeared. I got so frustrated with that book. It had so much potential, but then it just took the same Twilight-style path. Boo.
December 21, 2011 at 9:34 am
Elaine Simpson-Long
I had very mixed feelings about Discovery of Witches but ploughed on and managed to finish it. Here is my take if you have the time to read it!
http://randomjottings.typepad.com/random_jottings_of_an_ope/2011/05/a-discovery-of-witches-deborah-harkness.html
December 21, 2011 at 7:53 pm
Brad Geagley
Life is far too short to waste it on books that simply don’t grab you and pull you along. I never thought of creating an I Quit list. It’s a good idea for people that have got to GO too.
December 23, 2011 at 4:08 pm
Jay
Hi Alex,
I’m going to borrow this idea and post something like it on my own blog. I guess I’ve never assigned the finality of an “I quit” to any book, but rather just refer to them as “false starts.” And I’ve had some false starts over the years that I’ve tried again and eventually came to love them. The Return of the Native is one of those that comes to mind.
Among yours, I’ve only heard of Discovery of Witches which was ubiquitous for awhile there. Sounds like I might’ve dodged a bullet by never succumbing to bloggish peer pressure there…
-Jay
January 3, 2012 at 12:37 pm
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness | Iris on Books
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January 4, 2012 at 1:19 pm
Alex
@Patty: I’m proud of myself this year… only five!
@Steph: I’ve heard from several people that she comes back to her strong self alter in the book 9and the pace picks up), but I;m just to stubborn and lazy to pick it up again:P
@MJ: I heard it on the iPod, actually. I think I might have downloaded it from audible.com
@readingwithtea: I’m looking forward to your thought. People seem to be polarized over this one.
@Leeswammes: yes, I actually love the hate-then-love start to relationships (in books) but didn’t really appreciate the way this one went about. Too contrived, too “unexplainable”.
@Melissa: I remember your review well (I think you also mentioned the cloves? LOL!)
@Elaine Simpson-Long: Yes, you make good points about the way Diana’s character is weakened. It’s exactly what I felt.
January 5, 2012 at 12:46 am
Alex
@Brad Geagley: It was a personal challenge to be tougher on books that aren’t working out for me. I might have to be even tougher in the future. I want more 4/5s and 5/5s!
@Jay: I’ve only had one false-start in my reading life so far… but what a false-start! It was Lord of the Rings and I only managed to finish it the third time around (after I finally went beyond Tom Bombadil). Still, of the ones above, I think I would only put Solar in that category.