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Posts Tagged ‘books’

Books I Never Liked

My reading life hasn’t always been ideal. The books I was forced to read in middle school could have easily turned me off to books altogether. For instance, when my seventh-grade reading teacher assigned us “The Red Pony” by John Steinbeck, it was pure torture. The endless discussions about allegory and symbolism put me right to sleep. And the fact that my teacher had a thick, British accent and a soft-spoken manner made it even worse.

I had hope that the reading selections would get better. But sadly, they didn’t. I was not a fan of the epic poem, “Beowulf,” “The Old Man & the Sea” by Ernest Hemmingway, “Animal Farm” by George Orwell, or – the absolute worst – The “Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka.

Seriously, Kafka in middle school? Who’s bright idea was that?!

Oh, how I missed the beautiful writing of “Charlotte’s Web” by E.B. White and “James and the Giant Peach” by Roald Dahl that I read in elementary school.

It wasn’t until I got to high school that I fell in love with reading again when I discovered Shakespeare’s “King Lear,” “Beloved,” by Toni Morrison, and “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

I will say that my complicated reading life in school taught me one important lesson. Never waste time reading books you don’t enjoy. There are many excellent titles out there, and life is too short to read books you don’t want to read. I don’t care if your best friend or your mom tells you that you will love it. And even if the book is number one in the country, I am giving you permission to put it down and find another one. (Unless, of course, there is a test on Friday, and then you are screwed).

Over the years, there have been plenty of “best-sellers” that I could not get through. At times, I would try to push myself and feel guilty about not finishing it. I would tell myself if I kept reading, it would get better. But it never did. Nowadays, I allow myself 50-75 pages. If I’m not engaged in the story, I move on.

Here are some of the books that I DNF’d (did not finish) that others have enjoyed.

What books have you read that some people liked, but you did not? What did you read in school that you hated?

 

Summer Page Turners

It’s been one of those Sundays where I have a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it. One of the things I had hoped to cross off my to-do list was to set up my affiliate bookstore with Bookshop.org. I thought it would be an excellent way to monetize my blog, and I love that they support independent bookstores. But, easier said than done. After a few hours of trying to upload my book list, the website incredibly uncooperative. And the Help section was not helpful in the least. So instead of the intended booklist, I am giving us both a gift today.

For Me: An easy blog post to write and get back some of the time I lost working on that website. (so frustrating…)

For You: With summer reading season upon us, I thought I would offer up some page-turners. I hope you find something you like from some of my favorite genres. All of these are linked to Goodreads. If you do decide to buy a book, I hope you will support your local bookstore.

I’ll be back tomorrow with much more riveting content. I promise.

Enjoy!

Fiction

Historical Fiction

Mystery

Essay collections

Pop Culture

Current Events

Celebrity memoir

Writing

Let’s Talk About Your Bookshelves!

messy bookshelfI’ve done a lot of writing about what’s on my bookshelf. Now, I want to talk about what is on yours. 🙂

I’m very curious about what other people are reading. So much so that when it comes to other people’s bookshelves, I am not shy about walking over and taking a look as if I were in a bookstore or a library. I don’t give a second thought to selecting a book and reading the back cover. I may even sit down on the sofa and read a few lines of the first chapter to see if it interests me. If it does, I may ask to borrow it, and if not, I throw it on the nearest table and walk away. (Just kidding, I put it back where I found it. I’m not an animal!).

I think you can tell a lot about a person by what is on their bookshelf. For instance, what kind of stories do they like? Are they a history buff or a fan of graphic novels? Do they have the entire Harry Potter collection, or are they working their way through a lot of romance novels? If you are looking for a conversation starter, ask someone if they liked a book you saw on their shelf.

In my defense, no one has yelled at me (yet) for looking at their books. So I assume this is a perfectly acceptable practice. During the pandemic, there were photos in the New York Times of celebrity bookshelves. The most interesting reads were identified in the captions. FYI, Tom Hanks had several presidential biographies, while Gwyneth Paltrow owns a ton of art books. I took this entire series of photos as justification for my spying – I mean – browsing people’s bookshelves.

Another thing I notice is how people organize their books. Alphabetically by the title or by the author? Are they color-coded like a rainbow or grouped by genre? Do they separate the hardcovers from the paperbacks? Are they stacked like a high tower or lined up neatly? The possibilities are endless!

And in case you are wondering, my bookshelves are real, and they’re spectacular!

Now that I have totally blown your mind let me say that I would never judge anyone based on what they are reading. However, I might be a little put off by one thing – empty bookshelves. I would likely question if the shelves were there for decoration. Or did that person just move in and hadn’t had the chance to unpack their books yet? There could be a lot of reasons for empty shelves, but often not good ones.

But, I digress. As long as they don’t waste perfectly good shelf space and do something crazy like adorning them with trinkets and chachkis. And if that’s the case, let’s hang out at my house instead.

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