Top Ten Tuesday: Books I've Abandoned (for a variety of reasons)
A Week In Winter by Maeve Binchey---My mom read this and gave me the book. It sat on my shelf for a few years before I gave it a try. Didn't care for the plot or the characters so I abandoned it about a third of the way in.
What to Read and Why by Francine Prose---Right before the coronavirus quarantine I scooped up nine books from the public library that were from my TBR list. I've read eight of the nine but this one is getting sent back essentially unread. I generally like books about books but this one is too technical or academic. I decided I don't want to work that hard to read anything right now.
Just Mercy: A True Story of the Fight for Justice (Adapted for Young Adults) by Bryan Stevenson---This was a Cybils nominated book and as a Round One Judge in 2018 I had to read over 60 books in two months. I did not finish many of the books, reading just enough to get a feeling for the writing and the topic. This one is a fantastic book I didn't feel the need to finish it since I'd already read the adult version. I read about half of it so I could judge how the author/publisher altered the book for a younger audience.
Uncommon Type: Some Stories by Tom Hanks---I borrowed this short story collection from my library to read on my Kindle Fire while on a trip last fall. When it reached its due date I didn't renew it. I liked the stories I read (about half) but Tom Hanks isn't as good a writer as he is an actor so I decided to abandon it.
The Yellow House: A Memoir by Sarah Broom---I purchased this National Book Award book on my Audible account, hoping to listen to it on a car trip to California several months ago. It has A LOT of characters and it was hard to follow in the audio format. I have abandoned it in this format and hope to find a print version to finish it in that format.
peluda by Melissa Lozado-Oliva---peluda (lower case) is a small book of poems. A blogger friend recommended it so highly I instantly ran to the library to check out a copy. I couldn't understand or relate to the poems so abandoned it less than half way through. I actually have abandoned several other poetry books this past year. Poetry books by Rilke, Burns, and Shakespeare didn't get finished either.
Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin's War on America and the Election of Donald Trump by Michael Isocoff---Though interested, I abandoned this book because I was so upset by what I was learning about the way Russia interfered with our election allowing Trump to win. He is such a ghastly President, I just couldn't make myself read more.
Three Women by Lisa Taddeo---This was a book club selection that I abandoned before reading any of it. I've decided to limit the books I read on a sexual theme. This one contains true stories of the sex lives of women and I just didn't need/want that info in my head. (BTW-all the gals who did read it for club hated it or didn't finish it so I felt relieved that I didn't even try.)
Others---In recent years I have gotten better at abandoning books. Heck, I am not reading them for homework assignments, if I don't enjoy them why not set them aside? I can't remember the titles of any of these books, however, because I also purged them from my Goodreads TBR list. I often add books to my reading list without doing much "research" on them and decide to abandon later after I check into them, all without ever even cracking the book open.
So I abandon books I can't relate to, don't care for the writing, those that upset me, and those I'd have to work too hard to read. I set down poetry books that don't speak to me and look for other formats if one isn't working (audio to print, etc.) and if I am judging the book for an award and have too many books to consumer to give my full attention to one book. How about you? When do you abandon books?
-Anne