A partial list of books I have recently picked up and subsequently abandoned:
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
I wanted this book so badly when it first came out. It's totally right up my alley in every way, except for the having-a-plot way. Stick with it! I'm told. The last third is worth it! Each day I stand beside the door, looking at this book lying like a cement block on the table, and I think, Should I take it with me? And every day the answer is no. I don't think things are destined to end well between me, Jonathan, and Mr Norrell.
Resurrection Man by Eoin McNamee
It's cold and rainy and dark. I haven't been to Ireland for 2 years, and it's been approximately that long since I've engaged in sexual congress with a person who holds an EU passport. These are excellent reasons why I should be devouring modern Irish novels right now, as I do every year at this time. McNamee's other book, The Last Deeds & Love in History, was the straw that ultimately broke the camel's back of my relationship with the DC Public Library, yet I deemed my ridiculouslyhigh late fees worth it, because that was a good book. One I could have bought 50 copies of for what I eventually paid the hateful man at MLK library, but whatever. And I like Resurrection Man so far as well, I just keep forgetting about it and being distracted when I try to sit down with it. I blame myself, Eoin.
Star of the Sea by Joseph O'Connor
To recap, I love books about Irish things. I love Jospeh O'Connor's other books. I even love books about ships. Well, maybe that's an overstatement but still, this is a book I should be sopping up with a biscuit, weeping like Sinead did in that Nothing Compares 2 U video (she's the author's sister.) But no. I can't even make myself read onto figure out how that one conflicted guy got the clap. I know I will come back to this one, but when? When will the reading block be over?
Tomorrow I head to NYC and I plan to buy myself a copy of Son of a Witch for the train. It's risky because after the splendor of Wicked and Confessions of an Ugly Step-Sister, Gregory Maguire has been disappointing me more and more acutely with every new effort. I hope this is the one that breaks the trend.
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