The last few months I have been varying what I put up as a chilling option. I am currently overwhelmed by my ‘to be read’ (tbr) list and have had to slow down completely or never get any writing done.
However, I am still including some books. Two are books that I read a short while ago, both best-sellers with a selfish demand for the suspension of disbelief I struggled to comply with on almost every page. In fact, I am sharing a part of my reviews for both so that you understand the dilemma I faced when I tried to be subjective and objective in my reactions as a reader. This is an arena that fascinates me and many others out there. I may be an author, but I am a very much a reader and as such reconciling the two concepts may help me improve my own work.
In both books I swallowed subjective many times in order to be objective only to find myself reversing that same action.
Where the Crawdads Sing – Delia Owens
From my review:
“Objectively, based on the use of language, the descriptions of people and places, and the easy pace of the book I had to rate it high…
However, subjectively I felt the book asked a lot of the reader…. A little girl taught to read by a boy not much older than herself becomes a renowned expert, successfully publishing books that require scientific language, mostly likely a knowledge of Latin, and deal with classifications, is a big ask in a reasonably contemporary novel”.
A Gentleman in Moscow – Amor Towles
From my review:
“There is no doubt the language is beautiful particularly when used in such extraordinary ways – pages upon pages about food, and then a brief account of people in their millions dying of starvation. It’s almost a mockery of description and yet we can’t deny its effectiveness.“
There is such a fine line between total acceptance because we know it is a fiction and the inherent desire for things to make sense. Have you had a similar reading experience? What was the book? I would really love to know. Now for a change of pace I will finish with one I read this week when I really needed to chill.
Hating the Boss – Kristen Granata
For a complete reversal of experiences, I read a book purely based on the writer’s ability to entertain on her media. I needed a break from my work and hoped her humour would translate into entertaining reading. It did. Funny in parts, sweet in others, our hero is so ridiculously sexy that our heroine has to fall for his charms in the end. I love that it required very little from me except to sit back and read and enjoy. So, I did.
Other Bloggers
Keeping the chilling varied is turning out to be a very satisfying experience. There are so many interesting people out there and they gift me and others entertainment and time out from the real world and also new information. One of the blogs I follow Harmony Books & Films, LLC always has something to make me laugh. I chose two of the memes from his last post to share because they gave me a lift. I’m not sure where he got them from but there were good choices. Thank you for making my day brighter.
Now it’s back to work on this second novel because I need my reading time back.
Until next time,
Ciao
Barb
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I’ve not read any of those, but yes, I’ve read book that really challenge my credulity. Some I still loved, but slipped them into the ‘fairy tale’ world while others I couldn’t buy in and had to be disappointed.
Haha, love the Noah’s Ark one.
Wishing you and your writing muse well, Barb!
Thank you, so happy you stopped by.
Whoa, you seem like you’re grinding away in a good way in your craft. I hope to have the same hustle as you. Thanks for this post!
Trying hard.
I was so excited to read Where the Crawdads Sing when it first came out. However, I didn’t find it as interesting as I thought it was going to be so that was kind of disappointing to me.
I know what you mean.