Tuesday, May 12, 2020

The Last Ten Books I Abandoned

I seem to be picking up and abandoning a lot of books lately. 

Perhaps you are, too.



I saw this available at Overdrive. 
I started it. I liked it.
Then I realized it seemed like one long sentence.
I discovered it was one long sentence.
And it was 1040 pages.
No thank you. Not right now.




Too much reality.




Too light.



        
Too heavy.


I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Should I reconsider some of these?









Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each Tuesday That Artsy Reader Girl assigns a topic and then post her top ten list that fits that topic. You’re more than welcome to join her and create your own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well. Feel free to put a unique spin on the topic to make it work for you! Please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own post so that others know where to find more information.

25 comments:

  1. Those are all totally new to me ones! This will be an interesting topic to see today to see what everyone else ended up abandoning.


    Here's my Tuesday Post

    Have a GREAT day!

    Old Follower :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I haven't started any of these so you are a step ahead of me!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I couldn't read Ducks, Newburyport either! Sheesh. :)

    My TTT .

    ReplyDelete
  4. One long sentence? No way would I read that. I rarely give up on books but did set BARREL FEVER by David Sedaris aside.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I've read only two of these.
    I was lucky to have a hard copy of Ducks, Newburyport from the library. I loved it! However, I can't imagine trying to read it in electronic format. There are some breaks in the one long sentence and I found it easy to pick up where I left off even when I left off in what wasn't an obvious break. I did manage to finish it in the two weeks the library allowed me to keep it. That was in December--right now I think it would be very hard to stay with it. I can barely stick with a short story these days.
    I also read and liked The Yellow House but that was also last year.

    Most of the others I rejected pretty much for the same reasons you abandoned them although I still might give The Good Neighborhood a try. The controversy around American Dirt did influence my decision to skip it.

    My favorite of the books I've managed to finish during Stay-at-Home is Deacon King Kong by James McBride.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I've only read American Dirt and it was heavy, made even more so by what's going on in the world. I need to be better about giving up on books. Life's too short.

    ReplyDelete
  7. 1040 pages? That is one excessively long sentence!
    My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2020/05/12/top-ten-tuesday-263/

    ReplyDelete
  8. REALLY hard to read right now. I had no idea that it would be so difficult. All this time to read and you don't want to. I picked up a book, an ARC that comes out in June, The Swap by Robyn Harding. I picked it up yesterday, almost done today. Riveting and a little trashy. Perfect for a pandemic.

    ReplyDelete
  9. you always have new to me books. sorry they didn't work for you, but...on to the next one
    sherry @ fundinmental

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh, wow! You gave up on American Dirt. Too heavy, hmmm.??? I was curious what you were going to think...now I know. I haven't read it, so I know nothing.

    ReplyDelete
  11. The Nickel Boys definitely is too heavy but try it again when the world had righted itself. I laughed out loud about your Ducks Newburyport comment. Ha! Books I've Abandoned

    ReplyDelete
  12. I will definitely say that American Dirt would be tough to read right now. I would not have made it through right now. I do want to read A Good Neighborhood at some point, but not anytime soon. We're watching Star Trek series and crime series on TV and I'm reading JD Robb books. That's about all the 'reality' I can take. Ha!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Yellow House is definitely worth it. Nickle Boys, too, but it's 2nd in this line. No pressure at all to read it, but here is my review of Yellow House in case it helps. https://hopewellslibraryoflife.wordpress.com/2020/01/02/the-yellow-house-by-sarah-m-broom/

    ReplyDelete
  14. Meet Cute too light? Oh boy. How far did you get into it because I would have DNF'd it for the entirely opposite reason. The cover is cute and the first chapter, but after that it gets depressing-ish. It doesn't get cute again until the epilogue. I felt like it was totally marketed wrong.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Some books are too heavy for me right now too. The pandemic stuff might normally interest me from a history standpoint, but not now!! I find myself needing a break from reality a bit.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hahaha - My advice: Don't pick them up again unless you feel like it. I am having the same experience, surprised at what books I seemingly can't concentrate on, for strange reasons. Today I started and rejected two or three, one because the print was too small. On the other hand, the pandemic mood seems to be my opportunity to find dusty titles on my shelves that are suddenly appealing. It's unexplainable!

    ReplyDelete
  17. I don't think I would have even touched most of the books you abandoned with the exception of Colson Whitehead. I read Underground Railroad when he received the Pulitzer Prize and this one is still on my wishlist.

    Anyway, interesting list. Here's my TTT.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I feel you about the pandemic books! I don't even like reading about diseases in fantasy stories right now...

    ReplyDelete
  19. That 1040-page-long sentence seems intimidating. Here's my TTT list.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I'd consider a few of things but perhaps at another time. I have read The Nickel Boys and The Yellow House ... but it sounds like do these another time. I still want to read American Dirt sometime ....

    ReplyDelete
  21. None of these are something I'd pick up, but it was interesting to see the influence your mood has on dropping books right now. And absolutely shrieking at your first one. The editor/publisher who said "yeah this is a cool gimmick let's allow that" is now extremely suspect to me.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I've been really good lately about giving myself permission to DNF a book if I'm not enjoying it. Normally I feel obligated to march through it unless it's really really bad but I've decided just not enjoying it or caring about it is a good enough reason. It's been a huge relief! I read The Great Influenza about 15 years ago and found it absolutely fascinating but now is not the time for it. I don't think there's any way I could have made it through the first book - both the page count and the format are too much for me!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Yikes. 3 of your 4 "too heavy" reads are in my stacks. But I seem to be doing ok with heavy right now. I'm reading Cat's Eye (Margaret Atwood) and am surprised that I like it. Atwood is not one of my favorite authors. I just finished Nothing To See Here (Kevin Wilson), which I LOVED! It felt good to laugh out loud as I listened to the audio. Hope you find something that suits your current mood, Deb.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Nickel Boys is worth finishing just for the surprise ending. Rae

    ReplyDelete
  25. I was also very curious of the first one. I knew what it was, but I thought it might be fun to try. It didn't last long. I have no desire to read the others, for the same reasons you gave, even for Nickel Boys. It's interesting that one of the latest books I DNFed is getting a lot of views on my blog: https://wordsandpeace.com/2019/10/09/book-review-civilizations/
    NB: 1 Eiffel Tower = "I didn't even finish it, just ignore it"

    ReplyDelete

I hope you will leave a comment so I know you have visited. If you stop by my blog, I will always stop by yours.

Note: Disqus commenting is only available on the web version of the blog. Please switch to the web version if you are using a mobile device.