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sophia_sol) wrote2016-01-30 08:42 pm
sophia_sol) wrote2016-01-30 08:42 pm
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Abandoned books 2015
Time (...past time) for the latest edition of abandoned books! Here's the books I started in the year 2015 and failed to finish for various reasons, with commentary.
1. Fire: Tales of Elemental Spirits, by Robin McKinley & Peter Dickinson
I read the beginning bits of most of the stories in this collection and just didn't feel inspired to finish any of them.
2. Beat to Quarters (aka The Happy Return), by C.S. Forester
Gave up partway into the book because I was so annoyed about a plot point I hadn't even gotten to yet in the book. NO I DO NOT WANT TO HEAR ABOUT HORNBLOWER'S TRAGIC LOVE FOR ANOTHER WOMAN WHEN HE'S UNHAPPILY MARRIED, HIS UNHAPPY MARRIAGE IS ALL HIS FAULT.
3. Phineas Finn, by Anthony Trollope
I gave it 50ish pages but it was just boring and more boring and I super didn't care about the main character. I mean the writing style was perfectly fine but I just wasn't into the story. So then I looked up the plot on wiki and was like YEAH NOPE and was done.
4. Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
I dunno, I was just kinda bored. Not in the mood for Pratchett at the time, I guess.
5. Fanny Hill
A famous work of 18th century erotica that I was curious about - I read enough of it to get a sense of what it was like, but fairly quickly got annoyed with it. I like The School of Venus more, if we're going to talk of centuries-old erotic novels.
6. A Prince of Our Disorder: The Life of T.E. Laurence, by John E. Mack
Just not in the mood for a depressing biography of a complicated dude. I do intend to get back to this at some point!
7. Zahrah the Windseeker, by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu
It was just very...idk, obvious? The sort of book that uses exclamation points for way too many of its sentences and thus needs to use double exclamation points for the sentences that actually deserve exclaiming. I don't mean to say the exclamations are what put me off; they are a symptom of the larger problem, which is with the writing style in general and I'm not sure how to explain it.
I did really like the ideas. I liked how everything was plant-based, and I liked that it was fantasy that was clearly rooted in a nonwestern culture and with nonwhite characters. I would have been interested to find out more about the forest, and about the dark market. But I just was so annoyed by the writing that I gave up by page 80 or so, and it was a slog just to make myself get that far.
8. Busman's Honeymoon, by Dorothy Sayers
It's on my ereader and I just...don't actually super like reading ebooks? Ereaders are convenient when traveling but in any situation where I could read a paper book I prefer to do so. I've read this book before anyway so it's not like I was left in suspense as to what was going to happen.
9. Miss Marjoribanks, by Mrs Oliphant
There's a great deal to love about this book! But it also feels a bit repetitive and longer than it needs to be so I got distracted halfway in and never quite got around to going back to it. Maybe I will at some point, maybe I won't. Who knows.
10. Our Journey to Sinai: A Visit to the Monastery of St Catarina, by Agnes Bensly
Very interesting book! But it's one I'm listening to as an audiobook and I haven't been in the mood for audiobook-listening for a while. I'll get back to this at some point, probably.
11. Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation, by Kate Bernstein and S. Bear Bergman
The sort of book I'm not quite comfortable reading in my work lunchroom or while on vacation with family, which are my most common reading venues. I do intend to read this at some point! But it'll have to be at home, and I always have other things to do at home.
12. The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology, by Simon Winchester
The story is an interesting one but not a whole book's worth of interesting. This would have made an interesting article or something else short-form.
1. Fire: Tales of Elemental Spirits, by Robin McKinley & Peter Dickinson
I read the beginning bits of most of the stories in this collection and just didn't feel inspired to finish any of them.
2. Beat to Quarters (aka The Happy Return), by C.S. Forester
Gave up partway into the book because I was so annoyed about a plot point I hadn't even gotten to yet in the book. NO I DO NOT WANT TO HEAR ABOUT HORNBLOWER'S TRAGIC LOVE FOR ANOTHER WOMAN WHEN HE'S UNHAPPILY MARRIED, HIS UNHAPPY MARRIAGE IS ALL HIS FAULT.
3. Phineas Finn, by Anthony Trollope
I gave it 50ish pages but it was just boring and more boring and I super didn't care about the main character. I mean the writing style was perfectly fine but I just wasn't into the story. So then I looked up the plot on wiki and was like YEAH NOPE and was done.
4. Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
I dunno, I was just kinda bored. Not in the mood for Pratchett at the time, I guess.
5. Fanny Hill
A famous work of 18th century erotica that I was curious about - I read enough of it to get a sense of what it was like, but fairly quickly got annoyed with it. I like The School of Venus more, if we're going to talk of centuries-old erotic novels.
6. A Prince of Our Disorder: The Life of T.E. Laurence, by John E. Mack
Just not in the mood for a depressing biography of a complicated dude. I do intend to get back to this at some point!
7. Zahrah the Windseeker, by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu
It was just very...idk, obvious? The sort of book that uses exclamation points for way too many of its sentences and thus needs to use double exclamation points for the sentences that actually deserve exclaiming. I don't mean to say the exclamations are what put me off; they are a symptom of the larger problem, which is with the writing style in general and I'm not sure how to explain it.
I did really like the ideas. I liked how everything was plant-based, and I liked that it was fantasy that was clearly rooted in a nonwestern culture and with nonwhite characters. I would have been interested to find out more about the forest, and about the dark market. But I just was so annoyed by the writing that I gave up by page 80 or so, and it was a slog just to make myself get that far.
8. Busman's Honeymoon, by Dorothy Sayers
It's on my ereader and I just...don't actually super like reading ebooks? Ereaders are convenient when traveling but in any situation where I could read a paper book I prefer to do so. I've read this book before anyway so it's not like I was left in suspense as to what was going to happen.
9. Miss Marjoribanks, by Mrs Oliphant
There's a great deal to love about this book! But it also feels a bit repetitive and longer than it needs to be so I got distracted halfway in and never quite got around to going back to it. Maybe I will at some point, maybe I won't. Who knows.
10. Our Journey to Sinai: A Visit to the Monastery of St Catarina, by Agnes Bensly
Very interesting book! But it's one I'm listening to as an audiobook and I haven't been in the mood for audiobook-listening for a while. I'll get back to this at some point, probably.
11. Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation, by Kate Bernstein and S. Bear Bergman
The sort of book I'm not quite comfortable reading in my work lunchroom or while on vacation with family, which are my most common reading venues. I do intend to read this at some point! But it'll have to be at home, and I always have other things to do at home.
12. The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology, by Simon Winchester
The story is an interesting one but not a whole book's worth of interesting. This would have made an interesting article or something else short-form.
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