Disappointing Reading - You Can't Judge A Book By Its Cover

Or the first few pages apparently.

Call it therapy or a what you will but I today need to vent about about a book that I am currently reading. I thought it was going to be a reading highlight this summer but, instead, I'm wondering how on earth it got published. And, no, I won't give the title.

The first thing that attracted me to it was its beautiful cover that seems to fit not only the title but also the genre and the blurb on the back of the book. I loved it when I cracked it open in Borders and, before I knew it, was several pages in - one of my prerequisites for buying a book - and wanting to read more. As is usual for me, I was in the middle of another book and I somehow waited to keep reading until I had finished the other one.

Said book finished, eager as a beaver to finally delve in, and needing a few moments of R&R (Reading and Relaxation), I picked it up last weekend. Only to be greatly disappointed by the end of the first few chapters. Already, the characters and their relationships with each other weren't ringing true to me, no matter how hard I tried to turn the critical reader part of me off. The book was also skipping scenes that it spent a lot of energy - and emotion - building up to, leaving me feeling like I was stuck being told about what could be pivotal scenes in the book, instead of being shown. I don't know if it's poor editing or poor writing or both, but I'm disappointed either way. I will probably finish reading it, just to see if my hopes for the plot can be fulfilled, despite the other disappointments. So I guess I am hooked, in a way.

How about you? Has this ever happened to you? Did you finish the book? Was it worth it?

I'll post again once I finish it.

Reading Moods

Have you ever noticed that the genre you can't get away from one day, is the one your putting at the bottom of your TBR pile the next? Just like our emotional mood changes, our reading moods change as well. A sudden shift may leave you wondering why on earth you bought an entire shelf's worth of light fiction reads when you suddenly want nothing more than to curl up with a tissue-box-worthy women's fiction. Or why you had to have the latest bodice ripper last week when now all you crave is a sleeping-with-the-light-on thriller. I'm more of a fiction person than nonfiction, but I do have a bad habit of starting one nonfiction book and then switching books and subjects part of the way through. Usually this happens because, as I breeze through fiction, title after title, I neglect the other books for months on end.

My latest reading "mood swing" has been from romance - historical, contemporary, paranormal, you name it - to mysteries and thrillers. I'm nearly finished with Adam by Ted Dekker, just the kind of what-goes-bump-in-the-night indulgence I needed. I am making myself finish P.S. I Love You, though, which I was already in the middle of, before I indulge any further.

How about you? Any reading mood swings lately?

What Are You Reading and Why?

I'm currently working on some future blog post ideas but, for now, I'd like to know what you are reading and - are you ready for this? - why?

Recently, I had to read eight or so novels for a class and none of them were likely to have been ones that I would have chosen to read for pleasure. That being said, there were a couple that I couldn't put down while others that were like pulling teeth. I was nearly giddy when I was finally able to make time to read a book of my choice again. Originally I thought that was because do not particularly enjoy books that offered a social or political commentary, which all of the eight books did. But then, I'll admit, I found that I enjoyed The Stepford Wives, which has an unmistakeable social commentary on the treatment of women (I'm talking about the book, not the movie), because of its concise and suspenseful writing. And I absolutely adored Whale Rider, which has a fairly strong commentary about women and modernization among other things, because I fell in love with Kahu and wanted to see her hold her tribe together in the changing times. I also loved the mystical element of the whales and how it wound in with the rest of the plot. However, even with these two novels in the mix, nothing felt better than opening a book of my own choosing at the end of the class.

We read so many books, but do we ever examine why? Do we ever ask what it is about a particular author, genre, or even a single book that draws us in? Or, in the case of the book that now gathers dust on an end table, what failed to grab us that we just couldn't make it past the second chapter? It could be the author's voice, the protagonist, the subject matter, etc.

As for me, I am currently reading The Accidental Demon Slayer by Angie Fox. It's a paranormal romance, a genre that I've only recently begun to read but, nevertheless, immensely enjoy. I am an avid romance fan and I love the unexpected twists and limitless worlds the paranormal element promises. The author also has a great voice and has woven a creative tale with an unlikely candidate for demon slayer and a mysterious, dangerously handsome hero. I think I'll go read more now!