My first attempt was:
I thought it was one of those books that everyone read at one point, and I might as well too. The problem is that I'm not a horse person. I was one of the few girls I knew who had ready access to horses but had to be forced--absolutely forced, to ride. Horses are pretty to look at, I like the idea of horse culture, etc., but really, they are just not my thing. So, by page two I knew deep inside that the book was going to be very, very boring to me, as I absolutely could not relate the the protagonist. So, I read another 15 pages and gave up.
A few days later I turned to this book:
I thought I was digging into a great biography Hellen Keller. What I got instead was a religious tract on Swedenborgian religious views about the New Church. I mean, really people, Hellen's tutor Anne Sullivan was only listed 3 times in the index, and it didn't even talk about her childhood at all! I read about 1/3 of the book and couldn't take anymore. Next time I'll make sure what I'm buying really is a biography.
I thought that my third attempt at a great book was a sure thing. It was this book:
Since it was written by the author of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, a truly delightful series, I hoped for and expected the best. I was mistaken. Despite having interesting characters and a great setting, the book didn't have a plot. The Professor simply went from one mini-event to another, culminating in his appointment and removal as the mock-president of a small South American country. I read the whole thing, and kept hoping for more. But it wasn't a winner, and now I'm the loser with nothing to read, limited resources and two months left living with out English language books.
Woe is me.
Please, for the love of literature everywhere, give me a book recommendation (and don't you dare sneak in anything obvious like a New York Times Bestseller, or worse a Nicholas Sparks novel.)
6 comments:
I just finished Wicked. I had to start over a couple times because I was thinking about Wizard of Oz while reading it. Same characters, but very different slant. I am reading Cold mountain right now. I did not see the movie. I have a stack of books to get to.
Okay, I'm going to inflict my current favorite YA series of the moment on you. The Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld. (The Uglies, The Pretties & The Specials) The are sort of a social comentary set in a Utopian society. I really liked them all. I also really enjoyed The Hollow Kingdom by Clare Dunkle (also YA) they are fantasy with a few of romancy bits. As for adult lit I really liked The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama. It's about a young Chinese man who is sent to his family's home in Japan during WWII to recover from TB. If you end up reading any of these titles and hate them we'll know that Karen reads lame books so here's hoping that you'll be able to vindicate my reading choices!
I really should have edited that before I posted it!
Thanks for the reIcomendations. I've read Wicked and Cold Mountain a long while back. I kinda liked them. I'll have to check out the Uglies, The Pretties & the Specials. Sounds very interesting. And I love YA lit--it's kind of refreshing to have books that are interesting but not a huge challenge to dig into like, say, Ulysses, which I've tried both reading and listening to on audio. I guess I'm just not smart enough to read it.
Read Outlander.
Kidding.
:p
Well, actually at your recomendation, Lo, I HAVE read all of outlander--except of course the last book.
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