The Lighthouse

the lighthouse

04 June 2013

The Great Reading Project: update

Status report:

The purpose of the project is to instill some discipline into my reading habits. You see, I've gotten a little lazy lately, in part because it's just so easy to toss a book aside in favour of something more appealing. Working in a library isn't always a good thing!

I have gotten off to a shaky start. I decided my second book from the list would be 'Small island' by Andrea Levy. I'm not enjoying it.

I've already renewed it from the library once. I've barely cracked the first third of the book. I'm hoping it ends up being worth the effort it is costing me so far, but I don't think it will. I don't like two of the three main characters. At all.  How can I bring myself to care what happens to them when they don't appeal to me in the smallest measure?

Rats.

Are you able to get into a book with unsympathetic characters?

But I shall not give up.  I will persevere and get this Small island thing finished. I will overcome my impulse to give up on it. Like broccoli, I am sure it will be good for me, though I don't appreciate it in the moment.

Sigh.

4 comments:

  1. Long gone are the days when I force myself through a book I don't like, especially one I didn't pay for (borrowed, I mean, not stolen).

    If it's a chore to open it up and keep going, I don't. Maybe I'm a quitter, but that's the way I roll.

    ;o)

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  2. I can never get into a book with unsympathetic characters. Never, ever, ever have been able to do so. I admire your stick-to-it-tiveness!

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  3. I'm sorely tempted to switch from reading to skimming. Would that still count?

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  4. I'm with Carly on this one. When I read a novel(fiction or nonfiction) I read to be entertained. If the author can't get me hooked by the end of the first chapter then I'm done. I've gone further before IF there seemed to be some indication it's going to get better, but more times than not the cover is closed tight.

    If I read to learn something new, I will put a lot more effort into finishing the book unless nothing I have read up to that point is anything that I didn't already know.

    Now my wife on the other hand was raised that if you start a book, finish it no matter what. Why? Why waste your time on something that will not entertain, teach or impart some new knowledge? That has never made any sense to me.

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