I am in one of those reading funks where I start books at a clip of several a day and reject them immediately. I won't name names because it's not you, it's me. I need to read To Kill a Mockingbird for my book group, but I want something else first for fun. What have you got out there?
I bet Sarah Weinman finishes every books she starts. I look at her site in awe. I have friends who do this too. Me, I finish abut 20% of them nowadays. I am ashamed.
Additionally I have let myself become distracted from the novel for a day or two to write a story for Bryon's Q.s little challenge. Matter of fact, I wrote two of them and loved every minute of it. Why do I so love the 1000 word or less format? It feeds into my ADD, I guess. Oh, for the days of FITG. Some of the newer sites are fine, but stories turned up on Gutters at a ferocious pace and some of them blew me away. Tribe, we miss you.
Tribe, Tribe, are you out there? I guess not.
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7 comments:
That's usually how I read these days, too. I quit a lot of books. Many more than I ever did before.
I find it frustrating, but if a book doesn't speak to you, it can be so tedious to slog through.
You too, David. How do you manage to stick with a book you have to review and dislike?
Incidentally, I liked your story on Demolition. Hope to see more of them.
I know for a fact that Sarah doesn't finish every book she starts. Her and Jen Jordan are famous for their reading funks. I think anyone who reads a lot goes through them. I just finished a funny horror scifi mix called GILS ALL FRIGHT DINER that I'd recommend to anyone looking to get out of a funk.
And I'm glad the Blog Challenge has helped you out. I don't know what it was about FITG, but you're right, none of the other sites have manages to capture that magic again.
I'll admit that because I read fast, there have been some books I finished that I shouldn't have wasted my time on, but generally the 50 page (or 30, or 10, or 2) page test applies, and if the book doesn't pass I stop reading.
I'm not in a reading funk at the moment but the last books finished were Lisa Lutz's THE SPELLMAN FILES (awesome) David Markson's THE LAST NOVEL, Uzodinma Iweala's BEAST OF NO NATION...none of which are crime novels, not really. Literary fiction and memoirs seem to cure the funks better of late.
Thanks for the suggestions. I'm glad to hear not everyone has the wherewithal to finish each book. Interesting to know if it's the wrong time more than a bad book.
Oh, they are not out to May. Too bad. The Lutz book looked like just the thing.
Usually I have enough latitude that I don't have to read a particular book. But when I do, and when I don't like it, it is damn hard. Nothing takes so long to finish as a lousy book.
If I don't quit a book on the first page (or the first chapter), I try to give them 50 pages. If an author can't get something good going in 50 pages, there's usually no hope for the rest of the book. So I just toss it.
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