It never fails.
I go along swimmingly, picking titles to read that grab my attention without a problem and I'm off and reading! But then out of no where, everything sounds dull and repetitive and I can't get through the first few chapters.
This is where I am at now. Struggling to find something to read. Part of the issue is that I leave for vacation in two weeks (a week and a half on a sandy beach--yes please!) and am saving the books I really want to read for my trip. I'll be unable to buy any backup books while I'm gone so I feel like I have to save those titles. Of course the downside to that plan is if the books end up not being so great and I'm stuck with them anyway and my Kindle is packed (packed I tell you!) with at least a hundred others books that I could read, but that is besides the point.
Right now, I am slowly making my way through the following titles:
Starvation Lake by Brian Gruley
Description: In the dead of a Michigan winter, pieces of a snowmobile wash up near the crumbling, small town of Starvation Lake—the same snowmobile that went down with Starvation's legendary hockey coach years earlier. But everybody knows Coach Blackburn's accident happened five miles away on a different lake. As rumors buzz about mysterious underground tunnels, the evidence from the snowmobile says one thing: murder.
Gus Carpenter, editor of the local newspaper, has recently returned to Starvation after a failed attempt to make it big at the Detroit Times. In his youth, Gus was the goalie who let a state championship get away, crushing Coach's dreams and earning the town's enmity. Now he's investigating the murder of his former coach. But even more unsettling to Gus are the holes in the town's past and the gnawing suspicion that those holes may conceal some dark and disturbing secrets secrets that some of the people closest to him may have killed to keep.
Thoughts thus far: I'm about a third of the way through this book. I really, really want to like this book. I had the pleasure of hearing this author speak at an event last November which really got me excited about this series. The problem is that it just keeps dragging on and on. And we still haven't even gotten to the big event which the story is supposed to be centered around. I'm not saying that every book has to start off with a bang, but at this point there seems to be more focus on the fact that Gus (the hero of the story) missed a big-game play in a high school hockey game than we are that there was an apparent murder.
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
Description: Somewhere in the not-so-distant future, the screwed-up residents of Ennet House, a Boston halfway house for recovering addicts, and students at the Enfield Tennis Academy search for the master copy of a movie so dangerously entertaining that its viewers die in a state of catatonic bliss. Explores essential questions about what entertainment is, why we need it, and what it says about who we are.
Thoughts thus far: Admittedly, I may not be far enough along in this one to have an actual opinion on the story BUT this is an intimidating read to say the least. Mostly because of its size. This 1000+ page behemoth has been on my to-read list for quite some time and since I've given myself a little extra padding in my reading goal for the year, I figured now was the best time to start reading it. Well, that and because I may be trying to impress a dude (sad, I know) by reading it but I digress. Here is to hoping I enjoy reading it as much as my friends who've recommended it think I will!
I go along swimmingly, picking titles to read that grab my attention without a problem and I'm off and reading! But then out of no where, everything sounds dull and repetitive and I can't get through the first few chapters.
This is where I am at now. Struggling to find something to read. Part of the issue is that I leave for vacation in two weeks (a week and a half on a sandy beach--yes please!) and am saving the books I really want to read for my trip. I'll be unable to buy any backup books while I'm gone so I feel like I have to save those titles. Of course the downside to that plan is if the books end up not being so great and I'm stuck with them anyway and my Kindle is packed (packed I tell you!) with at least a hundred others books that I could read, but that is besides the point.
Right now, I am slowly making my way through the following titles:
Description: In the dead of a Michigan winter, pieces of a snowmobile wash up near the crumbling, small town of Starvation Lake—the same snowmobile that went down with Starvation's legendary hockey coach years earlier. But everybody knows Coach Blackburn's accident happened five miles away on a different lake. As rumors buzz about mysterious underground tunnels, the evidence from the snowmobile says one thing: murder.
Gus Carpenter, editor of the local newspaper, has recently returned to Starvation after a failed attempt to make it big at the Detroit Times. In his youth, Gus was the goalie who let a state championship get away, crushing Coach's dreams and earning the town's enmity. Now he's investigating the murder of his former coach. But even more unsettling to Gus are the holes in the town's past and the gnawing suspicion that those holes may conceal some dark and disturbing secrets secrets that some of the people closest to him may have killed to keep.
Thoughts thus far: I'm about a third of the way through this book. I really, really want to like this book. I had the pleasure of hearing this author speak at an event last November which really got me excited about this series. The problem is that it just keeps dragging on and on. And we still haven't even gotten to the big event which the story is supposed to be centered around. I'm not saying that every book has to start off with a bang, but at this point there seems to be more focus on the fact that Gus (the hero of the story) missed a big-game play in a high school hockey game than we are that there was an apparent murder.
Description: Somewhere in the not-so-distant future, the screwed-up residents of Ennet House, a Boston halfway house for recovering addicts, and students at the Enfield Tennis Academy search for the master copy of a movie so dangerously entertaining that its viewers die in a state of catatonic bliss. Explores essential questions about what entertainment is, why we need it, and what it says about who we are.
Thoughts thus far: Admittedly, I may not be far enough along in this one to have an actual opinion on the story BUT this is an intimidating read to say the least. Mostly because of its size. This 1000+ page behemoth has been on my to-read list for quite some time and since I've given myself a little extra padding in my reading goal for the year, I figured now was the best time to start reading it. Well, that and because I may be trying to impress a dude (sad, I know) by reading it but I digress. Here is to hoping I enjoy reading it as much as my friends who've recommended it think I will!
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