Discarded Reads

Over the past few months, I've found myself starting and then giving up on several books.  I'm not usually one to do this.  For some reason, I feel loathe to give up before a book might get good.  But, as The Deliberate Reader says, you should "make the most of your reading time."  I didn't want to waste another minute on these books.

First, I tried Juliann Garey's Too Bright to Hear, Too Loud to See.  Great title!  Interesting premise, following the life of a man suffering from bi-polar disorder and depression.  I wanted to really get into this book and dig deep into what it is like for a person suffering with this disorder.  I wanted to see how it affected his life and the lives of those around him.  Sadly, I only read about 50 pages and couldn't take it any more.  It was raunchy, for one thing.  It was disjointed.  It was hard to follow and not very absorbing.

Next, I tried to listen to Gretchen Rubin's Happier at Home, a follow-up book to her Happiness Project book.  I think I'm just not the type of person to get into this book.  I don't really do lists and I'm not driven to accomplish more than the average person.  I'm not discontented with what I'm gleaning from life, even if I do wish I could be happier just staying home.  It felt like too much work to listen to her striving for more value in every minute.  I gave up and am happily listening to The Gift of an Ordinary Day now.

Finally, I tried Divine Appointments, by Charlene Baumbich.  Actually, I tried this one twice.  I mentioned when I read Stray Affections that I had accidentally started the second book in the series first and then backed off of it so I could read the first in the series.  Divine Appointments is the second in the series of Snowglobe Connections novels.  I could not get into it at all, despite reading 100 pages in.  The main character, Josie, is a driven systems analyst.  I found her character to be completely unlikeable.  Plus, there were too many characters introduced right at the beginning.  It was hard to keep track of them all or see their importance to the story.  My final dissatisfaction was with a novel-in-progress one of the characters was supposedly working on.  It was tiresome and pathetic beyond belief.

I will say, for this final author, that I would be willing to try another novel by her.  I think she can write a good novel.  This just wasn't the one for me.  Plus, the snowglobe didn't really seem to have any magical transformative power over the story (which is what I expected).  The first novel in this series was merely better than the second.  I don't know if I'll try the third in the series, but I might try one of her other books.