That book and series are all the rage at my library. I figured I should read it since it's so 'great'. I downloaded sample chapters on my Kindle. Midway through the 1st chapter I decided it wasn't for me. I couldn't get into it at all. When I confessed this to people who'd read and loved it they said things like, "The first three chapters are the hardest to get through" and "The first half of the book is slow but then it really takes off" and "It's too detailed and bogged down in Swedish politics, but if you ignore all that..." and lastly, "It's translated poorly which makes for a clumsy read, but..."
Um. None of these things enticed me to give it another go. On another note, someone who read the book and saw the Swedish movie, told me the movie cut to the heart of the story and was great. I'm thinking maybe that's more my cup of tea...
Then again... that same person told me that there is a an act of sexual violence in the film that is quite brutal and goes on for some time. So I don't know that the film is for me either, although I could look away at that point. But I digress. My question for you is:
Have you ever started a book and, even though you didn't like it, slogged through anyway thinking it had to get better? If so, were you glad you pushed on? Or... if a book doesn't hold your interest do you ditch it and move on to the next read?
SIS Beth
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4 comments:
Hi Beth,
It sounds to me that so many people are reading the book because it is the in thing to do. I don't think I could read a book that is slow for the first half. I would probably give up after a few chapters if it didn't click with me.
There are some books that start out slow but I kept reading and was very happy. That is on a rare occasion.
Hey Beth -
I've slogged through books before to finish, but I rarely am glad I did. I'm sure part of it is that I already decided in my mind that the story wasn't for me. Luckily, I've built up enough of a TBR pile now, I just set aside the sloggish book for awhile and if I go back to it later, I do, if not, I'm not out anything (besides the price of a book).
I confess I will rarely rush out to buy or check on a book that is overhyped by the media. More often than not, its way overrated. Though on occassion, the hype actually proves true-but in actually it still holds true that the "proof is in the pudding," eh?
Since I'm such a "mood" reader, I might set a book aside and come back to it later if it doesnt hit me right. On the flip side, I've watched movies and read books that the media do a thumbs down on and been very very surprised, thinking what a gifted writer this person is or what a great movie it is.
Interesting topic!
Amanda
I used to slog through books in hopes they would improve. But I finally had the revelation that life was too short to read books I wasn't enjoying. Especially when I knew there was bound to be others that I would love.
And I tried a sample chapter of this particular book too and didn't get much beyond the first couple of pages. *g*
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