01 April 2010

Books I will never finish

Three moves is as good as a house fire or so they say.  I've accumulated a verging-on-the-insane number of books since I last moved almost 7 years ago.  I'm planning to move again (hopefully soon) so I would rather purge as I pack instead of moving the whole she-bang and purging as I unpack.  Mom would kill me for my lack of common sense if I did the latter.

I've got a few books lurking around the collection that are partially read....and they've remained partially read for what is probably several years.  I think it is high time I acknowedged the reality that I will never get around to finishing those books because everytime I look at them I sigh.

So those books really need to go in the donation box because I have too many books.

DNF #1:  The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian
I can't get past the first chapter.  Doesn't grab my attention plot-wise and for whatever reason I find the writing lackluster.

DNF #2: The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Moshin Hamid
This is a short novel so you'd think this would be a slam-dunk for me...but no.  I made it to about page 40 and I can't take any more from the narrator.  I think the concept of the novel is intriguing but I just don't want to read anymore and I've been trying to finish this for about 4 years.  So I'm done fighting.  Out it goes.

DNF #3:  Travels in West Africa by Mary Kingsley
Travel memoir!  For Literature by Women!  And I couldn't finish.  It wasn't the most successful choice for the group.  As courageous as Mary Kingsley was, to go exploring on her own in West Africa in the 19th century, I just couldn't get into her writing.  And Victorians are usually my favorite.

DNF #4:  The Spirit of the Place by Samuel Shem (advance copy)
I got an advance of this for the old Literary Ventures Fund group at BNBC...what ever happened to the LVF people?  Hope they are well since they were pretty cool people.  Anyway, I can't get past chapter one on the Shem, a shame since his other novels are pretty good.

I realize this post is dated for April Fool's Day - wish I actually was fooling about having to DNF books.  *sigh*

2 comments:

  1. I couldn't get past the first chapter for "The Spirit of the Place" either, and I finished "The Reluctant Fundamentalist," but really didn't love it. I did enjoy "The Double Bind."

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  2. I was hoping to like these and just couldn't do it...and I have waaaay too many books waiting in the queue!

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