As I was looking back at my book roundup for 2020, I realized that I had promised to make a DNF (Did Not Finish) post...and I definitely did not follow through with that promise. Oops! Well, I'm not going all the way back to 2020 (perish the thought) but I am going to give you all a peek into why I decided to put these 7 books aside in 2021. Writing these mini reviews/explanations really reinforced why it is that I end up setting books aside. If I don't connect with the characters, writing style, or the concept then I can't summon up the energy to care and/or continue with the book. *shrugs*
I really wanted to like All the Little Hopes especially since I don't tend to read a lot of books set in the South (which is weird as I'm Southern myself). But from the start I was thrown by the dialect of the main characters which didn't become more readable as I continued. Added to that, I just didn't feel any connection to the main characters. They felt like one-dimensional caricatures. The storyline was also extremely predictable which I know for some readers is a huge comfort and a plus when reading (like with the Romance genre) but it's not my thing. What made it even more of a disappointment was that I had received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader's Copy) thinking that it would end up being something I could recommend to my patrons. :-/ In the end I got about 1/4 of the way through before I ultimately decided to lay it aside.
I don't even think I made it 50 pages through Big Friendship before I knew that this book was definitely not for me. I had high hopes for this one because I have a long distance bestie and I thought this would be a good buddy read for us. That unfortunately didn't pan out. (Krystle, if you're reading this post you're on your own with this book.) The main issue was the choice of bouncing between using 'we' and 'I' as the authors volleyed back and forth telling their individual and intertwined narratives. It really distanced the writing and I felt zero connection to the authors as a consequence. That made it difficult when trying to put myself in their place and/or trust them enough to take on their "advice". Perhaps it would be have been different if I had been a fan of their podcast Call Your Girlfriend. *shrugs* Whatever the case, I didn't end up finishing this one.
I picked up Monstrous Affections solely based on the absolutely stunning cover which overrode my better judgment re short story collections. I don't know when I'll learn that short story collections by multiple authors just aren't my jam. :-/ The premise of this one is excellent and I do think this will appeal to readers who like sampling different styles of horror writing...but that's not me I'm sorry to say. I made it nearly halfway through this tome before I finally admitted to myself that I wasn't going to finish it.
When I read a review of Care of Wooden Floors, the impression given by the reviewer was that this was an observational comedy about a man who house sits for a fussy college friend. Through a series of farcical mistakes, he manages to do pretty much the exact opposite of all the things asked of him by the apartment's owner. In actuality, this is a book about an unlikable (and unrelatable) main character who was so blah that the book never really hooked my interest. While the little notes peppered about the apartment by Oskar (the owner) were funny because they were so over the top these were not enough to save the book overall. If your character is as dull as dirt then you'd better draw the reader in with an exceptional storyline or else you lose the reader which this book absolutely did. I only read the first 1/4 of this one.
I kept seeing lots of positive press for Under the Whispering Door and since it explores one of my favorite topics (death) I thought I'd better put it on hold. The writing is done well with lots of descriptive passages and an interesting concept but I didn't really connect with any of the characters. [A/N: When you have a book that talks about the meaning of life (and death) that's a real drawback.] I kept putting it down with no desire to pick it back up again and when I left it sitting on my desk for more than a week I decided it was a no for me. I think this is more of a 'not the right book for me' but would definitely be a good fit for someone else.
Not sure if it was Joe Hill's writing style or what but I just couldn't connect to the stories in Full Throttle. I read 5 of them and thought the best of the lot was about a bookmobile visited by ghosts. [A/N: Since I'm a librarian I may be a bit biased.] I found myself rereading sentences because they just weren't making enough of an impact to linger in my mind. Just not my cup of tea.
Annoyingly, I ordered The Little Sleep through Interlibrary Loan because I had heard it was a really unique detective story. Ostensibly, the most interesting aspect of the main character is that he is narcoleptic and suffering from delusions but he remained a one-dimensional character that I could not connect to on any level. A large part of the disconnect had to do with the writing style which felt disjointed and untethered from reality and in a hardboiled detective novel was a major turnoff. [A/N: Maybe that was on purpose as the character in himself was all over the place but I didn't enjoy that literary device.]
For those curious about the book covers:
Source: Amazon.com
Source: Amazon.com
Source: Amazon.com
Source: Amazon.com
Source: Amazon.com
Source: Amazon.com
Source: Amazon.com
What I'm currently reading:
The Lyrics 1956 to the Present: A-K by Paul McCartney & Paul Muldoon
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