When To Give Up

I've been a little quiet in the last week. I finished up two books and am working on their reviews. They should be up next week. I have been working ten hour days and the last thing I want to do during work days is sit in front of my computer when I could be outside or spending time with family and friends. I'm also trying to declutter my home. We have way too much stuff for our tiny cozy house. If I want to get everything done, I'm not going to be stepping over piles of stuff. Not that my house looks like Extreme Hoarders. It just has no pieces of furniture with a flat surface that don't have piles of stuff on it. Our dining room table functions as a gigantic shelf. At least there aren't pathways going from room to room.

I'm reading. I have been attempting to read more literary fiction. You know, so I can look like I'm smart. Actually, I just want to broaden my horizons bit. I usually read fun, quick reads. I picked up The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides as my first choice because I loved The Virgin Suicides.

I've been trying to read it for six days now and am only forty-three pages in. The author is very talented; I won't deny that. I just cannot get into this book. It is just too wordy. It wears me out so much that I'm falling asleep within a few pages. This makes me ask: Should I continue to read it or should I put it down?

I used to be the kind of girl who had to finish every book I picked up. Sometimes this meant taking months to read something a little at a time while simultaneously reading books I actually liked. And then a thought smacked me across the face.

Life is too short to spend it reading books you don't like.

I gave myself permission to give up on a book when it wasn't holding my interest. As I have figured out where my interests lie, I have done a much better job at picking books I like and some that I love. (That's why you probably won't see too many bad reviews here.). I quit reading fewer books. Best of all, I don't feel like finishing a book is a burden that I have to slog through.

Which brings me back to The Marriage Plot. I really want to finish all the novels on the Pulitzer List. I know I'm not going to continue reading it. Should I just leave it for good? Should I come back to it sometime later and hope it doesn't bore me to sleep next time? I will probably revisit it but probably not until I get further into this list.

Next up will probably be A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. I own this book and have put it aside for one reason or another and haven't finished it. I find the main character disgusting and fascinating and really look forward to seeing how he develops.