No Regrets.

Well, I did it. I took back The Grin of the Dark and marked it abandoned on Goodreads. I don’t even feel bad about it, actually I feel relieved, that book felt like more of a chore than a pleasure and that is just wrong. I have also been sporadically listening to the audiobook Live by Night by Dennis Lehane on loan from my library, I’m also going to abandon it for now (I appear to be on a roll), and will possibly revisit it in print form in the future. I did enjoy listening to it but found little time lately to do so and therefore have had a difficult time keeping track of the story.
So, gone!





I will be starting A Killing in the Hills by Julia Keller later today.
I am excited for this one. It has been on my want to read list for just over a year and hopefully it is just what I need to pull me back out of the slump.

Fingers crossed!

Still not sure about this book…

 

I read a few more pages of The Grin of the Dark today, it is marginally more interesting but still not fantastic. I can’t believe how long it is taking me to get through this book of only 400 pages, I’m a little embarrassed. I have been considering putting it in my abandoned pile but today I decided I would give it one last effort, as I have previously stated I am not a quitter. I took a break from reading to check out some of my favourite websites and I ended up on my local library’s site where I soon discovered that my decision may have been made for me. This book is due back in two days and someone has a reserve on it so I can not renew it. Today I passed the halfway point and I am struggling with admitting defeat but have decided that I will give it one more day and I can always request it again if in the next 24 hours it takes a turn for the better. I am not very optimistic, but you just never know.

What to do

It doesn’t happen very often but I am at the point with The Grin of the Dark where I need to decide whether to put it aside, quit altogether or push through and hope it becomes better. I started it 6 days ago and realistically I have had time to read it twice and have only made it about a third of the way through.Typically I am not a quitter but this is starting to feel painful and I do have so many other books within arms reach. The main character is kind of a boring guy and so far there is not really a strong story, at least not one strong enough to hold my attention, I keep having to re-read passages and find that I am skimming because it is so BORING right now. What if the story is about to pick up and get fabulously creepy and scary and I miss out on a great read, or it continues in this monotonous tone and I am pissed that I gave it more of my time. This is my dilemma. I will probably finish it because that is what I do, but I expect it will receive very few stars.

Please don’t damage the books.

I would love to be able to buy all the books I want to read but that is not at all realistic. The cost is definitely something I couldn’t justify, sadly, and the space they would take up, well, there is only so much room. I couldn’t imagine finding a place in my home to put 50-100 books every year. Maybe someday, but until then I am a regular visitor to my local library. Most of the books I check out are in fair condition, I believe most book lovers respect books as well as other peoples property, but sometimes I will take home a book that has dog eared pages. This is a huge peeve of mine. I get that the bindings can get worn and weak in a well read, well loved book, but in my opinion there is no excuse for folding down a corner. Period. Get yourself a scrap of paper, a post-it note, or a piece of junk mail, everyone has that crap handy.
There is no excuse to do this to a book that is not yours.

And don’t even get me started with the folks that write in books and use highlighters.What the hell is with that. Do they forget for a minute that this book that they are defacing isn’t theirs and that some other person might want to read it without all the doodles and arrows in it.

It's stuff like this that makes me twitchy. For heaven’s sake people show some respect. Take care of the books and help keep me sane.

Blog neglect.

I haven't been spending much time on this blog for a while, a long while it appears. Life kind of got away from me, I had a super crazy spring full of other obligations that needed so much attention, and summer was so beautiful I just never found the time.

I have been reading though and have read some fantastic books this year. Most books I read I don't feel necessary to review but I will try to make an effort to post more often, reviews or not.

Review: Abandon

Abandon by Blake Crouch

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Really, really liked this book. This is my second book by this author and definitely not my last. Abandon is about one place in two eras and the time shifting really kept me on edge. It had plenty of suspense and a great story. A solid 4.5 stars.



View all my reviews