Just Not Feeling It: The DNF Files
Dear Unfinished Books,
Yep, I'm done. I can't go another step, another page. However, I don't want other readers to get a bad impression about any of you. I'm sure you have made readers happy in the past and will make other readers happy in the future. But it ain't me, Babe. No, no, no.
1. His Excellency Eugene Rougon - Emile Zola. Eugene Rougon was the mastermind that got his scheming family into the upper class, but compared to the rest of the Rougons and Macquarts, he makes me snooze. I only liked him for about 5 minutes -- when his younger brother Aristide came to Paris in The Kill and Eugene told him to come up with a different last name right then and there, so they "wouldn't get in each other's way." Then Eugene went back to Dullsville and my heart just could not follow him into the novel in which he is the primary character.
2. The Brothers K - David James Duncan. I've heard so many great things about this book for years, but I just couldn't engage. It's got to be me being peculiar, I mean, what the hell??? There's baseball in this novel!
3. A Rage To Live - John O'Hara. When it comes to O'Hara, bigger is not better. Just the opposite. His long novels have the feeling of unhealthy bloat about them. Yeah, From the Terrace, I'm looking at you. I'm gonna toss this one back and reel in some short stories.
4. Mirror Talk - Barbara Alfaro. This is entirely my fault. I thought Mirror Talk was going to be a book about psychology. Instead, it's a memoir in short prose and poems. It seemed to meander, but again, this is probably my moodiness speaking. I can think of several of my friends, Vicki Cheatwood in particular, who would be all over this book.
See you (but not read you) later,
Bybee
Yep, I'm done. I can't go another step, another page. However, I don't want other readers to get a bad impression about any of you. I'm sure you have made readers happy in the past and will make other readers happy in the future. But it ain't me, Babe. No, no, no.
1. His Excellency Eugene Rougon - Emile Zola. Eugene Rougon was the mastermind that got his scheming family into the upper class, but compared to the rest of the Rougons and Macquarts, he makes me snooze. I only liked him for about 5 minutes -- when his younger brother Aristide came to Paris in The Kill and Eugene told him to come up with a different last name right then and there, so they "wouldn't get in each other's way." Then Eugene went back to Dullsville and my heart just could not follow him into the novel in which he is the primary character.
2. The Brothers K - David James Duncan. I've heard so many great things about this book for years, but I just couldn't engage. It's got to be me being peculiar, I mean, what the hell??? There's baseball in this novel!
3. A Rage To Live - John O'Hara. When it comes to O'Hara, bigger is not better. Just the opposite. His long novels have the feeling of unhealthy bloat about them. Yeah, From the Terrace, I'm looking at you. I'm gonna toss this one back and reel in some short stories.
4. Mirror Talk - Barbara Alfaro. This is entirely my fault. I thought Mirror Talk was going to be a book about psychology. Instead, it's a memoir in short prose and poems. It seemed to meander, but again, this is probably my moodiness speaking. I can think of several of my friends, Vicki Cheatwood in particular, who would be all over this book.
See you (but not read you) later,
Bybee
3 comments:
DNFs are the worst aren't they? Stinking time wasters ;) But I love that you're able to put a book down that isn't speaking to you.
Onward and upward! Here's to better books in your future!
Yup, I've had a few of those recently - sometimes bad timing for me, but other times, just a lousy book.
I've been living that particular unpleasant dream for a while now. At least you had the good grace to let the books down gently.
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