Normally I
don’t have any habit of flinging books across the room :); not only because I
am not a highly emotional person, but also because I always choose with care books
that I want to read. I don’t fancy reading ARCs, and even sometimes when I pick
newly published books, they are usually from authors I really like (in this
case: John Grisham, J.K. Rowling, Laurie R. King—for the Mary Russell series, Jostein
Gaarder, and Ken Follett). I have also an intuition of knowing which book I
might and might not like (I usually consult Goodreads for this); and therefore
my choices are rarely betray me. But on rarely occasions I might stumble upon
books I have misjudged; which I can’t even finish.
One of these
last cases was a classic, which I already knew from the start that I won’t
like, but everybody love it, even recommended me to read, that I doubted my
first intuition. Maybe I have misjudged it, maybe I ought to give it a try. And
so, I bought the book, and I even hosted a read-along for it, to encourage me
to finish it. That book is….
Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell
…which
turned out to be a big failure… :(
I knew
almost instantly after going through first chapter; the writing didn’t stir my
interest or liking as I usually feel with books I like. But I kept reading,
partly because I hosted the read along anyway :) and partly because I was
curious why people fancy it so much. Surprisingly I managed to read four of
five parts (grudgingly along the way), but I have had enough when reaching part
five, and decided not to finish it (yes, despite the fact that I have wasted my
time for the four parts!).
The story is
not so bad, but I guess Mitchell’s writing doesn’t fit my taste. Perhaps she is
too “feminine” for me, and I didn’t feel like reading a literary work then.
GWTW felt more like a chicklit to me, with historical background which,
fortunately, is quite interesting, that I gave three instead of two stars.
I still have
the book now—and never really flung it across the room :)—but I never put it in
my shelf either….
What about
you? Do you have any book you’ve never finished?
~~~~~~~~~
The rest 14 days of the challenge:
hahahaha... *numpang ketawa aja deh*
ReplyDeleteYang ketawa berarti share the feeling, am I right? ;)
DeleteWell, I remember that I loved 'Gone with the Wind" as well as the movie, but they are not among my favorite. The book that I struggled with recently was Virginia Woolf's great book "To The Lighthouse" which I wanted many times to put it aside; however, I didn't do that.. It is a great book for sure, full of deep meanings and creativity, I was happy to finish it. The other book which I put aside after reading few pages was Sylvia Plath' "The Bell Jar", which is a great book too. I put it aside as I was myself, like the heroine, suffering from a depressive mood, and Since I know that she commits suicide at the end of the book, I felt that I don't have the desire as well as the stregnth to read that book.
ReplyDeleteI failed too with Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway, and I think I won't read anything more from her. It's just too flat. The Bell Jar isn't in my list, so perhaps I've been right anyway... :)
DeleteWow! I hear so many great things about GWTW (the written work), but it is interesting your opinion of it being feminine or "chicklit." Now I am even more curious to find out.
ReplyDeleteHmm....maybe calling it chicklit is rather exaggerating, but I find it lacks of 'depth' I usually find in classics. Maybe Mitchell is a good story-telling, but I won't classify GWTW under classics.
DeleteI couldn't finish it either. Living in the South it strikes me as emblematic of a particularly disingenuous and reactionary point of view that is often merely disguised racism. It is certainly an iconic expression of that sensibility but one I can only tolerate in small doses.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad I'm not the only one who don't see GWTW as good as anyone else appraise it!--and for a different reason too. Interesting...
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