The book I should have abandoned after 50 pages - because it didn't improve! Are there no editors out there prepared to say, 'Go back to the beginning - and slash it by half!' 400 pages of tosh! Is it a rom-com? Is it a satire on the art world? `Is it supposed to be funny? It might have been if Hannah Rothschild had a lighter touch. Oh well, when the Daily Mail calls it a masterpiece, that should be warning enough! I did feel slightly uncomfortable with Nazi war crimes as the backstory to such a silly book. And no, it was not a good idea to have a long-lost painting by Watteau that talks to itself ...
I'm asking myself why I plodded on? Perhaps because a very unenticing book group book is nagging from my pile; still, if I leave it a week longer I can skim read without any guilt! (Bill Bryson. So predictable, I just can't be bothered.)
5 comments:
You and me both, Mary, you and me both.
Yes, that's another over-promoted one I've had the misfortune to read. I don't think I finished it, and it certainly went straight to the charity shop.
It would have been a clue, Sue - but I had a more restrained one from the library. It's good to see you back!
Wasn't it over-hyped, Lesley Anne! Guess it doesn't hurt to be a Rothschild.
One of the many lessons I've learned in later life is that life's too short to read a crappy book. I used to struggle on conscientiously to the end of every book until one day I realised I didn't have to - what a liberating moment that was. And when I realised I didn't have to keep every book I read...
I think I plodded on because at one point the heroine creates a magnificent art-historical feast; and I kept hoping she'd get back to the cooking, Veronica. I haven't quite grasped the lesson about not having to keep books; I cull, but not rigorously/often enough. So I'm a fervent library-goer - two or three times a week - so that solves the space problem.
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