Been trying audio books on my commute.
Listened to Amor Towles' Rules of Civility on audio, which I loved. Not a lot happens, it's a slow and quiet book. But I loved his portrayal of 1930s New York, the art and jazz etc. And the characters were complex and interesting.
Then I tried two books that I own and brought to Nanaimo, but which the library had in audio. Time Traveler's Wife and Wicked. Stopped both after the first cd. The first just wasn't my style, and when I read on wiki what happens in the rest I really don't regret it. Too melodramatic for me. The latter just wasn't my sense of humor.
Yesterday I turned 40 years old. If there's one thing I've noticed this year, it's my growing intolerance for getting through books that don't interest me. I used to give them one third. Earlier this year it fell to one quarter. Now I'm down to a couple chapters. I just own way way too many books to waste time wondering if/when a book will get better.
I've read books that started slow but got better. But I can tell the difference between that, and between "Really? Am I gonna like this? I don't think I'm gonna like this." I felt that way with Fall On Your Knees, and made the mistake of persisting.
There are certainly some things I need to cut down on this year. Spending time on books that don't feel right. And writing my blog. Need to blog less carefully, with less effort. ...Having to do it all off my ipad helps in that regard, lol.
On that note, goodnight!
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9 comments:
Well, you certainly don't look 40. :)
It definitely does seem that as you get older, you give yourself permission to not pursue or finish things that don't deliver what you want. Life is too short for things that don't suit you. This is the age where we learn to say "no". So welcome. :)
Take care.
I give a book 100 pages - I read fantasy so that's probably 10-20% of the total book. If you don't have me by then it is book at wall time an time to move on.
Since I got my kindle the criteria is different. If I find my mind wandering. I stop and give it a go on the next day. If my mind is still wandering. Book over.
My tolerance for bad books has become shorter too ... except for really, really, bad books, then the train-wreck effect can sometimes take over.
But what really bugs me is a book that's great right up until the 'last chapter'. That has caused me to frown on occasions! :D
HAPPY BIRTH DAY!!!!!
@skye - I'm good at saying no to others, but not to myself! Thisis the year I start standing up to me!
@judie - Ooh I like your kindle test.
@widders - Thanks!
Hey happy late birthday!!!!
Yeah - I've been spending less time on my blog, too. Unless I have a good book to talk about.
And I have very little tolerance for books I don't like.
Thanks JJJ!
Happiest of Happy (belated) Birthday wishes!
(So many May people in my life, I love it.)
I read both of those books, not in love with either. But glad that I stuck with 'em. There are others though, oh yeah, they didn't get my full attention so OFF they went!
Julie
Two things. Three, if you count birthday wishes!
"Ms Brownlow" sent me over here to read the saga of Chleo and Oliver, and I was charmed and completely riveted until the last chapter!
Thank you for confirming that "Fall on Your Knees" wasn't just me. I read about half of it, putting it aside more than once along the way, thinking "I don't like this," before deciding that I wasn't going to like the rest. It started out fine, a slice of Canadian history and all that, but the growing sideshow weirdness finally got to me, and I'm done. Giving it back to the friend who loaned it to me, unfinished.
And, lastly, happy birthday.
@latté - Thanks for your comments, and for reading about Oliver! Sorry it took me so long to respond--my life's been weird lately.
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