Thoughts on finishing a book you hate

 I've been watching quite a bit of BookTube lately and I've noticed this trend where people seem to feel that if they start a book they have to finish it.  To this I say, there may have been as many as 4 million books published in 2023 alone.  Even in the 1990s there were something like 180,000 books being published yearly just in English.  With all of those amazing books out there why torture yourself with a book that isn't right for you?  If you don't like the setting, if you hate the characters, if the plot makes no sense or your finding the book well written but horribly depressing move on!  You will absolutely die before you manage to read all the books you want even if you only stick to the ones you like and live to be as old as the oldest person currently alive so why waste your precious time on a book you hate.

Purgatory's Shore by Taylor Anderson

 

I started Purgatory's Shore by Taylor Anderson a while ago but reached around 85 pages and stopped reading.  This is not because I dislike the book but because I have to be in the right mood for a book with this much military emphasis. My brain doesn't always feel like tracking the minutia of the story\s  military hierarchy, types of guns, types of fighting and so on.  All of it can get jumbled in my head if I'm too tired or to sick to track it.  Right now I'm felling better and greatly enjoying the book.  Hopefully I will continue to feel well enough that I can finish it.

Finished River of Darkness

 

I managed to finish River of Darkness by Rennie Airth something i was beginning to think would never happen because every time I sat down to read I fell asleep.  It wasn't the book's fault as it is a descent police procedural though I was disappointed that you were introduced to the killer early in the book.  I'm never a huge fan of books with parts written from the killer's point of view.  I have no desire to spend any time in a killer's head.  I also had the nagging feeling that the book was coming across with a lot more modern ideas than would have been likely between WWI and WWII.  Still the story was engaging, the characters were likeable and the little bit of romance was a good way to lighten a rather dark story.  On the whole I'm not sorry I purchased this used book for $3.87 in 2012 even if I still have no memory of doing so.  (Amazon keeps good records which is how I know it didn't just magically appear in my bag of books)

Quote from River of Darkness by Rennie Airth

Stackpole blushed bright red.  He left them to pull out the car's dicky and brush off the seat.

Dr. Blackwell watched him, smiling.  "Poor Will.  He kissed me once, when I was six and he was eight, and he doesn't know to this day whether I remember it or not."

Madden burst out laughing"

                                                     -River of Darkness by Rennie Airth

An unexpected moment of levity in a mystery novel about the murder of an entire family.

Beauty and River of Darkness

 

I finished reading Beauty by Robin McKinley and was just as enchanted with the story this time as I was as an adolescent though with a very different point of view.  As an adolescent I really enjoyed the romance of the story and didn't really feel that the story began until Beast entered the  picture.  As a 52 year old, I was enchanted with the story as a whole.  It is a beautiful retelling of the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale with a nice, simple and cozy storyline.  Nothing ground breaking in the book but when you are done with it you feel as though you've had a mostly relaxing vacation in another world and are now better ready to face daily life.

Having finished Beauty you would think I would get back to Stalking Darkness by Lynn Flewelling but I've actually moved on to River of Darkness by Rennie Airth.  This is not a nice cozy story but it, so far, has been a good police procedural mystery set in the same timeframe, more or less, as the Ian Rutledge novels by Charles Todd.  I'm not sure it is very accurate to the timeline as I've questioned some of the ideas of it being a little too modern but it has been fairly enjoyable puzzle of a mystery.  I like the main character and am curious about the whodunit and seem to be progressing fairly well with the book.

Beauty by Robin McKinley

 I know I said I'd be reading Stalking Darkness by Lynn Flewelling next and I'm actually 95 pages into that book but my brand new used copy of Beauty by Robin McKinley came today and I couldn't wait to start it.  

Beauty is not the first words of Robin McKinley I ever read as that was actually the first couple pages of The Blue Sword which my ADHD impacted brother, who still can't keep track of any of his possessions at nearly 60 years of age,  accidentally left in the back of our car one day.  (It should be noted that I'm only slightly better at keeping track of my belongings as we both inherited neurodivergence from our father and it has greatly impacted executive function in both of us.)  The Blue Sword will forever in my mind be know as the orange juice book for what I could remember of the first couple of pages a few years later when I saw the cover again.   However, I didn't get past that number of pages before it was reclaimed by my brother and it would be after I read Beauty before I ever had the chance to finish that story.

Beauty does probably have the claim of being the most read book of my adolescence.  I must have read it at least 20 times though I had to borrow it from the library every one of those times.  I managed to find a copy of the cover art of the book I read and it is at the top of this blog post though, try as I might, I couldn't find a good condition copy of the book with that cover art on it for what I can afford.  Anyway I'm now reading Beauty again.  We will see how it goes.

The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley

 Finished The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley.  This remains a much loved story that I enjoy the reading of.  It is taking me longer to read books than it did when I was younger but I suspect that has more to do with the fact that I have trouble reading for long periods of time.  I can't seem to sit still and keep getting distracted.  The end of the book had to be fueled by carrots and mini cucumbers and bacon cheddar ranch dip from Sam's Club.  I have to say that is very good dip.