I’m curious—what book are you trying to slog through that you just can’t bring yourself to finish? Why do you want to read it? And when do you decide that life is just too short to keep reading this particular book?
For me right now, there are two books:
1. Parzival, by Wolfram von Eschenbach. I’m on page 148. Here's the thing: I want to read medieval narrative poetry and be entranced by it. The story is fascinating, and Parzival is an interesting character. I want to know and love this book! But the style is daunting, and the effort it takes to keep going is starting to overshadow my desire to be able to say I’ve read the book. Even if nobody ever asks. I haven’t given up on it yet, but I keep finishing other books first.
2. The Shack, by William P. Young. My mother-in-law was curious to know what I thought of it. Honestly, I didn’t like it. (She didn’t either.) Sorry. I know there are lots of people who love this book, and it’s supposed to be life-changing, but it really, really, really didn’t do it for me. I got annoyed enough with it to quit reading it.
How about you?
On a related note, is there anything floundering in your stack of books to be read that somehow just never makes it to the top? How come?
