Honestly, lately, I was very bad at choosing books. Since the last post about books, I was struggling a lot with reading.
One good thing about this is that I do not buy books but get them at the library instead. Because of the wonderful (no irony here) policy of the libraries that you can borrow books for one month and then it’s time to return them, I go to the library at least once per month. And since November, it was four times to be exact.
Funny thing is, from all the books I read during this time, there was none I truly enjoyed. But that doesn’t mean they were poor, just I couldn’t finish reading them.
So, what was I trying to read?
And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
This book seemed fascinating from the very first sentence. Big family, difficult life in the middle of nowhere, infinite love, and mythical elements made this story feel thrilling. I read the first chapter, then the second, and realized that it’s a great nighttime reading before sleep. But I fall asleep very quickly so… I ended up reading no more than one-quarter of the book and it was time to return it. If you can read adult fairytales at any time of the day, this can be a great book. Well, in my case, even though I loved the beginning of the book, I couldn’t finish it, unless I’d read it before sleep for a couple of years.
The complete works by O. Henry
I wanted some classics and this was it. The only problem was it was not my kind of classics. Just a few pages of reading this book was enough for me to know I have to move on to another book. I can’t tell what was wrong with it exactly, maybe it was just wrong timing for me to read it.
Actually, I tried reading these books for almost three weeks but couldn’t finish any of them. Then, it was time to give them back and choose some other books. And it was other books.
Becoming by Michelle Obama
Honestly, I was truly excited about finally reading this book. It wasn’t easy to get at the library and I had to wait for it for almost half a year. The waiting was the reason I was so excited. I had to book this book ( yeah, book a book) and there were lots of people in the queue before me. Knowing, that all these people are ready to wait months to read it created an impression of a truly good book. And once I had the Becoming by Michelle Obama in my hands, I felt wonderful. I was reading this book on my way to work and back home, I was reading it during lunch breaks, I was reading it on silent weekend mornings, and whenever else I could. I loved it. The way of writing was truly unexpected, in a good way. But after a couple of weeks, I got bored with it. Yup, as simple as that. I just couldn’t keep my attention on it anymore. Half a book is what I managed to read and… it was all. It was an interesting story but for some reason, I couldn’t keep reading it.
Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth
While still reading Michelle Obama’s book, I also began reading this one. The grit topic seemed very important for me, especially having in mind it was beginning of the new year when all the resolutions are still very fresh and a little push was all I needed to focus all my attention on them. And not give up. Well, after a few chapters, I skipped to the middle, and then to the end of the book. The message was clear. Persistence is persistence. So I closed the book, considered it read and focused on my goals.
Dolce Agonia by Nancy Huston
After being so bad at choosing interesting books, I went through some online bookstores and decided to give a try to the Dolce Agonia. It seemed like a very interesting book from its descriptions so I went to the library and got it with no time. And so after two evenings reading this book, I was ready to return it. Again. A bad chosen book. The message of the book might have been interesting and valuable but the plotline was too much of a soap-opera for me and I couldn’t continue reading it.
The Power by Naomi Alderman
To my surprise, I got a message that the book The Power is waiting for me. The short message on this books’ cover made lots of people want to read it. Barack Obama’s favorite book of 2017. Obviously, I also wanted to give it a try and see for myself if this book is worth to be called the favorite book of the year. And once again, I had to wait a couple of months to get it. The first chapter was very average and made me question why anyone could call this book a favorite one. But I continued reading. After one-third of this book, I was sure mine and Barack Obama’s book taste is very different.
So… Sad story is, I haven’t read an interesting book in months! But I’m also pretty sure it’s not only the books to blame. They might be good for other people at the right time. Maybe I simply was reading too much lately and had my reading mind burned out. Well, but even though I wasn’t lucky with choosing books, I wanted to share these ones with you with a secret hope that this will close my unlucky-book-choosing period. I’ll go to the library once again tomorrow and hopefully will find books that will suit me.