… and Reading
When I mentioned in yesterday’s post that I had a “book dilemma,” Engie commented that she was afraid I wanted to DNF My Brilliant Friend. Fear not! I seem to be one of the few people who likes the book, and I’m looking forward to finishing it this week. It’s funny how we can all have such different tastes. Having different tastes is what my dilemma is all about, but first let’s look at a book I’m currently reading: I discovered Ann Cleeves from Lindsay’s blog. I read the first one in the series, The Crow Trap, and enjoyed it. Now I’m reading the second one, Telling Tales, and I LOVE it! I was drawn into the story immediately and was completely engrossed in the character’s life. This is a book that changes narrators, and every time it changes I’m initially disappointed, because I was loving the previous point of view- but after a couple paragraphs I’m 100% engrossed in the new character. And, since I finished The Crow Trap, I feel confident that this too will be a mystery with a satisfying ending. On to the dilemma. Months ago, I mentioned an elderly client who is an avid reader. Just for the fun of it, I asked her to recommend a recent book she’d read. I got the book out of the library and HATED it. I wanted to stop reading after two pages, but I kept on because I was vaguely curious about one of the plot points- but the ending turned out to be more stupid than I could ever have imagined. The only silver lining is that I was able to read it very quickly. Not wanting to hurt this woman’s feelings, when she asked me about the book I said some things that weren’t lies and sounded vaguely positive: “Wow, I couldn’t believe that ending! That was so crazy!” All was well, until Christmas, when she brought me a nicely wrapped present… which was a book. NOOOOOO! Now, I will say this one doesn’t look as bad as the other one, yet I still don’t feel like reading it. But I HAVE to! Once again, I don’t want to hurt her feelings. Has anyone heard of this book, or read it? Please tell me it’s good??? But my woes don’t end there! I have ANOTHER client- I mentioned her recently- who reads over 100 books a year, buys them all new, and then gives them away when she’s done. You probably know where I’m going with this. Now, I do like mysteries, and I decided to get it over with and read one of them quickly, so I read An English Garden Murder. It actually wasn’t bad- the writing was decent and the story was fairly interesting. But it just wasn’t great, and I don’t want to spend time reading so-so books. And I’m particularly wary of Fatal Fascinator (although, Engie- it’s a “hat shop mystery!”) So that’s my dilemma- suddenly people are giving me books, really NICE people, and I don’t want to hurt their feelings. But I don’t want to read their books. Tell me what to do!!! Life is too short to read mediocre books. What do you do when someone gives you a book you don’t want to read???