The reading slump is finally over, thank goodness

Sometimes I find myself reading several really great books in a row. When I do this, I'm so excited about reading that it's all I want to do in my free time. However, every now and then I get to reading some books that I don't like at all, and I think "is something wrong with me?" Then I'll go read the reviews of the books on amazon.com and sometimes see that I'm not the only person who has had particular issues with a book. Always, when I'm not enjoying a book, or find myself avoiding reading, I give myself permission to put the book away. Time is too precious and there are too many wonderful books out there to force myself to read something I'm not enjoying.

And I've been in an awful reading slump lately.

It started out with Douglass' Women by Jewell Parker Rhodes. I wrote on this one last week, but I was really looking forward to it because it came as a referral from one of my favorite authors. I absolutely hated the writing style. Couldn't get past it and decided that in addition I hated every single one of the characters and found the historical components of the novel to feel flat and uninteresting. So, back to the library with that one (glad I didn't spend my money buying it!)

Then I started Like unto Like by Sherwood Bonner. Here was a book a bought a while back, written in the 1880s, highly recommended by the literati of the day. Oh my! I could (somewhat) ignore the overt racism as a product of the time period and Bonner's Mississippi upbringing, but I found the STORY so difficult to get into and the prose so stilted that I had to put it aside after about 50 pages. That book was donated to the library today as it was a book I'd purchased some years back.

Next I started reading Karen Robard's Irresistible. Again, looking forward to this one because it was recommended by an author I like...also it's a romance, historical at that, and I generally LOVE romances. After 80 pages of kidnapping, near rape, and the protagonists ogling of each other, I just couldn't take another word. Quit it mid-sentence in fact. I returned it to the libraray today (again glad I didn't waste my money on it!).

I started Restoration by Rose Tremain on Monday. It's funny, bawdy, and well-written. The main character is lovable in his shabby haphazard way and I'm looking forward to seeing his growth and development. The author has already demonstrated to me that he will grow and develop and that there is a plot in the book. In fact, I'm hooked and all I want to do is sit down and read...looking forward to some time with it this evening and during lunches (now that I'll be working again). So, thankfully the slump is over.

p.s. I have been challenging myself to read books I wouldn't normally pick up, which is why the slumps are a little more frequent than before. I don't mind, really, because I've also found some wonderful gems along the way.