Catching Up, Part Two: Catch Harder

I feel like a post titled in that way deserves a movie trailer…you know the ones with that dude with the deep voice?

“In a world filled with unread books, one reader makes a stand about walking away.“

Editors Note:I dig a little digging. That gentleman’s name was Don LaFontaine, and he recorded more than 5,000 movie trailers before his death in 2008. “In a world…” was used so many times that it became a bit of a cliche and it is now more common to have music instead of a voiceover.

Anyway, here I am again wrapping up two books in one post because I’ve become a bit lax with my blogging. Don’t worry, I’ll be better. Promise.

The first book I’ll discuss is Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrel. I found myself really struggling to get into this one, which surprised me as it came highly recommended from several people. In some ways I think this suffered from many of the same issues I find with Neal Stephenson books: it needed a strong edit. There was just too much fluff, and if I never see a footnote again it will be too soon. I know this book is a great read and really special for some, but it just wasn’t one for me.

After that I dove into The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall. This was another recommendation from a friend, and it just fell flat for me. There’s a very narrow sub-genre of science fiction and fantasy which gets really weird, and I always struggle with it. Abstract concepts, unreliable narration, a style of writing that is meant to feel disjointed…that sort of thing. I tried, but failed.

So, once again, we’re moving on because as much as I tried these books aren’t going to read themselves.

Next up we have The Chronicles of Robin Hood by Rosemary Sutcliff.

Why I Purchased This Book: We’ve got yet another recommendation here, this time from my therapist of all people. I’ve always enjoyed the stories about Robin Hood, so I’m hoping this will be a good one. And, if not, I can spend an hour and a chunk of money discussing it in a couple weeks.

Why I Haven’t Read This Book: I kinda wish I hadn’t put this question in here as it’s always the same answer. I’ll rephrase it this time: lack of inertia.

How Am I Feeling About Reading This Book: Oh, who knows? I’ve invoked Rule Three a lot lately. What’s the percentage of the whole list I need to get through before I can just Rule Three the project? I kid, I kid.