Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gentleman in Moscow. Everyone said it so good but I can't get through it.

Same. I don’t understand what people liked about this book.

Another DNF was The Goldfinch. I made it at least 2/3 of the way through. I liked the first section in NYC and really got into the Vegas part. But when the story shifted back again to NYC, I realized I no longer cared about the fate of the main character. At all. I tried to keep going, but I was done. Super weird for me to DNF that far in. Usually I drop a book much earlier.

The Goldfinch is one of the only books I didn't finish! I just have a strong "want to know what happens" drive and tend to want to slog through even when a book makes me angry. I thought the book was ok and then when I got 2/3s of the way through, I just couldn't any more.

I am in my early 50s and read a lot, too, over 100 books a year. I think I have gotten both less and more selective, but definitely more defined in my taste. I can put up with ok writing and plot twists in some sub-genres but not others. For re-reads, I just love Jane Austen and Dickens. They seem to get better and better for me. On the other hand, I was dismayed to find that I found Jane Eyre to be too melodramatic and maudlin (I know, I know) and that I coudn't even finish Wuthering Heights. I loved these books ferociously when I first read them but I guess I have changed and just don't like Gothic lit anymore.

It’s funny how tastes change. I liked Jane Eyre but I absolutely loved Wuthering Heights when I was in my late teens/20s. I think I read Wuthering Heights 5 times. I also loved other gothic novels. Well, I recently reread it (now in my late 30s) and was deeply irritated with everyone— just so maudlin, and Cathy and Heathcliff were such awful people! I wanted everyone to grow up and stop whining and being awful.

Anonymous wrote:I've only recently decided that it is ok to not finish a book, and it was very freeing. I have a few pet peeves with current trends in books -- the main two are telling multiples stories that will eventually tie together a bit, and switching points of view. I got a chapter in to Chain Gang All-Stars recently, and it pushed all my buttons.

So many books do the alternating POV chapter thing now. It only works sometimes, and it really only makes sense in some contexts. It feels sort of lazy to me.

I’ve reread and loved two stories of family dysfunction:
Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett (this is the only one of her books that I’ve liked)

I’ve also reread and loved two of Curtis Sittenfeld’s novels:
Rodham — her fictional Hillary Clinton memoir
Eligible — her modern-day riff on Pride and Prejudice, set in Cincinnati

Why these books? They all have characters that felt real and stayed with me. They all have happy —or happy enough — endings.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gentleman in Moscow. Everyone said it so good but I can't get through it.

Same. I don’t understand what people liked about this book.

Another DNF was The Goldfinch. I made it at least 2/3 of the way through. I liked the first section in NYC and really got into the Vegas part. But when the story shifted back again to NYC, I realized I no longer cared about the fate of the main character. At all. I tried to keep going, but I was done. Super weird for me to DNF that far in. Usually I drop a book much earlier.

The Goldfinch is one of the only books I didn't finish! I just have a strong "want to know what happens" drive and tend to want to slog through even when a book makes me angry. I thought the book was ok and then when I got 2/3s of the way through, I just couldn't any more.

I am in my early 50s and read a lot, too, over 100 books a year. I think I have gotten both less and more selective, but definitely more defined in my taste. I can put up with ok writing and plot twists in some sub-genres but not others. For re-reads, I just love Jane Austen and Dickens. They seem to get better and better for me. On the other hand, I was dismayed to find that I found Jane Eyre to be too melodramatic and maudlin (I know, I know) and that I coudn't even finish Wuthering Heights. I loved these books ferociously when I first read them but I guess I have changed and just don't like Gothic lit anymore.

I've only recently decided that it is ok to not finish a book, and it was very freeing. I have a few pet peeves with current trends in books -- the main two are telling multiples stories that will eventually tie together a bit, and switching points of view. I got a chapter in to Chain Gang All-Stars recently, and it pushed all my buttons.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gentleman in Moscow. Everyone said it so good but I can't get through it.

Same. I don’t understand what people liked about this book.

Another DNF was The Goldfinch. I made it at least 2/3 of the way through. I liked the first section in NYC and really got into the Vegas part. But when the story shifted back again to NYC, I realized I no longer cared about the fate of the main character. At all. I tried to keep going, but I was done. Super weird for me to DNF that far in. Usually I drop a book much earlier.

I've heard this from multiple people. I loved The Goldfinch, but it was really long and depressing.

Reread:

Normal People
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow
Rules of Civility
Catcher in the Rye

Abandoned:

The Overstory
Infinite Jest

I bought “Spare” authored by Prince Harry because at the time it came out there was a lot of hype about all the juicy things the book contained.

It was very well-written though I just could not get invested in it.
Maybe it was slow??
It wasn’t a juicy tell-all that I had hoped it would be. 😕

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gentleman in Moscow. Everyone said it so good but I can't get through it.

Same. I don’t understand what people liked about this book.

Another DNF was The Goldfinch. I made it at least 2/3 of the way through. I liked the first section in NYC and really got into the Vegas part. But when the story shifted back again to NYC, I realized I no longer cared about the fate of the main character. At all. I tried to keep going, but I was done. Super weird for me to DNF that far in. Usually I drop a book much earlier.

I finished The Goldfinch but the last 2/3 I wanted the pace picked up a bit. At one point, I stopped reading and said aloud, “How many times do I have to read about somebody drinking coffee? Let’s get this albatross up into the air higher and flapping harder!”

Tartt is a fantastic writer —few can write as textbook perfect as she can, but writing all that scenery and detail slows down the plot. Some people like that kind of book but I like a faster pace. I think Gaiman struck the right balance between plot speed and detail.

I have read Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings about 11 times. It is my favorite story.

After six attempts, I gave up trying to read Ulysses by James Joyce. I could not make it past about 80 pages. It was pages and pages of vomit. The effort to read it all would be like trying to force myself to eat a dog turd. The book is that bad. I admit Joyce is highly intelligent and educated but he is not a storyteller.

I can tolerate so-so writing if the storytelling is good but I cannot tolerate poor storytelling no matter how great the writing skills of the author.

Anonymous wrote:Over and over- The Secret History, The Catcher in the Rye

Stopped Reading- Cold Mountain


I think Cold Mountain broke a record for the most pages before any actual dialogue. I actually like the movie (mostly because of Jude Law- yummy).

I’ve tried to read Cold Mountain about 3 times. On paper, it’s everything I love in a cook, and yet sticking with it past a few chapters completely eludes me.