Read:
I finished Misery by Stephen King. To my readalong cohorts: thanks for making this the best way to start off summer.
Tried to Read:
I made it through nearly three-quarters of The Small Backs of Children by Lidia Yuknavitch. Since I made it that far you’d think I’d be able to power through the rest, wouldn’t you? Nope. It started out as interesting, turned pompous, and then devolved further into simple depravity. I’m out.
Currently Reading:
I was 2 pages in and knew I’d be enamored with Crooked Heart by Lissa Evans. Stay tuned for further thoughts!
Upcoming?
I never know where my mood might take me…
Maybe my mood will lead to Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal.
What are you reading on this lovely Monday?
The Relentless Reader 
I'm sorry Small Backs of Children didn't work for you. And, I'm glad to hear someone else DNF'd a book they were so far into…I DNF'd a book at 67% last week and was kind of beating myself up about it until I read the first chapter of The Truth And Other Lies!And – I'm curious about Kitchens of the Great Midwest!
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I agree with Sarah – it's so awesome to hear that you DNF a book you were so far into! I think we all need to give ourselves permission to do that when it's not working for us. I just did the opposite extreme: I decided to give up on an ARC after 2 pages. I definitely didn't give it a fair chance whatsoever, but it started out with a letter confessing adultery and I just wasn't feeling it. Maybe I'll give it a shot later, but I have way too many excellent books in my queue to read something I'm feeling meh about. I also have Kitchens of the Great Midwest – hoping to start it soon, it looks interesting!
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Glad you're willing to let go of a book that was making you grumpy and doing nothing for you – I think we all need to do that as much as possible! And it ended up being so good 🙂
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Kitchens of the Great Midwest looks so pretty! I would definitely pick that one up based on some cover love.
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Never heard about any of these books, but Kitchens of the Great Midwest looks interesting :)Yesterday I finished a comic book (Adventure time with Fiona and Cake), and today I must be back to Secondhand Spirits. At 60% right now.A good week for you.Thiago – Doctor Corgi
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I love, love, love it when a book grabs me right at the beginning; that is so exciting, Jen! I'm finishing up Worthy by Catherine Ryan Hyde; I'm a sucker for books with a loyal pet as one of the characters. Hope you have a great Monday!
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Hmmm…now I'm rethinking even starting The Small Backs of Children. It was unsolicited, so I guess I can give it a chance. Not a very long one, mind you, but a chance nonetheless.
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It can be tough to DNF, I recently read something that fizzled out at 3/4 mark but pushed my way through it and then wished I hadn't bothered.Have a great week Shelleyrae @ Book'd Out
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I'm not reading ANYTHING yet you're still tempting me into wanting more books that I probably won't read for years. DID YOU SEE the fox on that cover? OMGwant!
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I finished \”Misery\” too! It was a fun readalong 🙂 I'm having a similar to-DNF? crisis right now with \”The Shore.\” It seems like everyone is loving it but it's just been a slow start for me.
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Oh man, I have The Backs of Small Children waiting here for me. Can you elaborate or is it too bad to really do so?
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You guys and Stephen King… so brave! I enjoyed the tweets, instagrams, etc. Kitchen of the Great Midwest looks more my speed.
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I actually finished a book called The Orange Eats Creeps after quitting several times….and loathed every second that I read it. The premise sounded awesome, the book was praised to the heavens, but…well, if you're on Goodreads, go there and see what people are saying. It's all 1 or 5 stars.
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Misery was fun. Even though I've read it twice before I totally forgot how it ended.
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I was sorry too. I had high hopes. There are too many amazing books out there to stick with one that makes you roll your eyes, lol. You know, I might have a copy of The Truth and Other Lies around here…hmmm.
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Amen! Let's give ourselves permission. I didn't like to do it but damn, there are much better ways to spend my precious time 😀 I recently DNF'd a book on page 3 for making a fat girl joke. Nope. No thanks.
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It wasn't easy to do after I'd put so much time into it but I swear, I could not read another stupid page, lol.
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Isn't it something? Oooh I want to pet it! 😀
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Adventure Time sounds like fun, I hope you're enjoying it 😀
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You and me both, lady! I hope you're enjoying your book 😀
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I think you should. I'm really interested to see what others think of it!
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That's exactly where I was. I *almost* finished it just to say I did. I'm glad I didn't, lol.
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Ha ha, my work here is done. 😉 I knew that fox would cause some cover lust!
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Aw, that stinks. It might not be the book for you! Now I'm wondering if you kept reading or not….
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I can elaborate a little bit 😉 At first it was just that the language and style were off putting. It was a combo of LOOK HOW BEAUTIFUL my writing is and staggering pretension. As I got further there were weird sexual things that made no sense and seemed to be trying hard to shock for the sake of shock. Just not my jam. At all. Yuck.
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Ha ha 😀 He's creepy but I don't really get scared. Too much anyway, lol.
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Lol, that's exactly what I didn't want to happen to me. I was starting to hate every page more and more. It was just BAD.
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I couldn't remember the exact ending either! I'm glad. We were able to be surprised again!
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If you want to do Lidia Yuknavitch, read her memoir, The Chronology of Water. It's intense. I read it in a day. I also learned that a lot of her fiction writing is based off of her real life–scary.
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Jealous of your DNFing abilities haha. I definitely make myself suffer. The cover for Crooked Heart is so lovely! This week I'm reading Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor.
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Ugh, it's not easy at times, that's for sure. Crooked Heart was wonderful, the insides were even better than the cover 😀
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I think I know what you mean…I've read books where you go back and are like \”did that just happen?\” Not sure and yet it seems something did…and either way it makes you just done with it.
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