I used to be good at reading for hours at a time. I think the Internet has really had a bad effect on my attention span and reading stamina, and I am really working hard to get that back again.
I say this as I’m typing here rather than getting back to the book I’m reading, John of John, which is good but a dense read. A lot of dialect, unfamiliar local vocabulary, cryptic conversations, jumps in scenes, etc. Definitely testing my concentration.
Okay, back to the book.
I find that I can still finish books that are easy reads and/or particularly interesting quickly but I have more and more trouble getting through books that don’t capture my imagination (and will not bother to finish a book one now and again.)
Agree. Its the in between ones that slow me down. I can potentially like a difficult book. The ones I put down are mostly because I decide they’re badly written or just seem like a story I won’t like. A book can be dense but rewarding for me. And I’ll keep going. And another book might have a flow but i don’t like the characters or the writing is cliched or the plot is predictable. That’s the one I’ll put down.
The CC Book Club has gotten me to power through books I would ordinarily have put down and not finished. I still have too many books on my coffee table I OUGHT to read.
My attitude lately is there’s no book I “ought” to read. Reading is for pleasure. If a book is not pleasurable, the hell with it.
Agree – my only exception is if one of my kids recommends a book they loved (only a few a year and most are good) I always finish it up.
I just finished Land, Maggie O’Farrell’s (Hamnet) new book. It fit the description of one that required a bit of work. The story unfolds somewhat slowly, and there is a lot of description, admittedly beautifully written, throughout. It had generally positive reviews, which I understand, but I just didn’t really connect with it that much. Curious to hear other’s reactions.
@gardenstategal I was reading Land on my Kindle and was a few chapters in just before a beach getaway weekend. I just knew I wasn’t going to enjoy reading a book like that on the beach so I set it aside for something else that would be an “easier” read. Since I listen to a lot of audiobooks, I wondered if I might actually get through it more easily if I listened to it instead. So now I’m on the waitlist for the audiobook. I’ll let you know what I think once I get it/finish it.
Did all you people who loved Whistler like Tom Lake too? I totally could not get into that so a little hesitant. I haven’t tried any of her other books.
I enjoyed Tom Lake but Whistler was much better. Easily my favorite of her books.
She has written so many novels. The first I read was Bel Canto. I loved it.
I’ve read five of Patchett’s novels but have yet to read Bel Canto, even tho it’s been on my TBR for years! I think Whistler is probably my favorite, but I did really like Tom Lake also. The one I liked least was Run, but acc to my Goodreads acct I read it ten years ago and I don’t remember anything about it.
I’ve only read Pratchett’s The Dutch House for the CC Bookclub. It was okay, but didn’t make me want to run out and read more of her books.
I think I have read all the Ann Patchett books (and agree that Run was probably the weakest.) @sj2727 : Yes, I liked Tom Lake - quite a bit. But I liked Whistler more. The Tom Lake concept of sharing a story of youth, now with adult knowledge, with one’s children worked for me.
The Whistler “past story” is much more relevant to the characters’ present, and as the characters felt so fully filled out, both the past and present stories were quite compelling.
I would argue State of Wonder is by far her best, with Bel Canto next. The more recent books - Dutch House, Commonwealth, Tom Lake have all been readable but not nearly as good as State of Wonder or Bel Canto.
I think I got to 40 or so pages in before I gave up slogging through. The others in my book club loved it. I don’t remember now if it was the writing or the story, but it was one of my few DNFs.
Bel Canto is my favorite book of hers. I also remember reading Run and not caring for it at all. I did not read Tom Lake, but did read Dutch House which was ok. I will keep Whistler on my list though I have many other books to still get through.
Interestingly Bel Canto and State of Wonder were my two least favorite of her books!
I wonder - and am curious as to what others think - if those of us who liked Ann Patchett 's books read them as they came out AND are roughly her age. (She is 62.) For me, her books seem to capture something that is time of life.
Looking back on one’s life, as in Tom Lake, with that 20/20 hindsight and awareness of how clueless we were in all we were swept up in, is something my friends and I do with some regularity (as in “The first time I visited my husband at grad schhol, everyone was surprised to learn he was married. Why didn’t that set off alarm bells for me?”) A book that did this really resonated. Whistler is a version of that as well.
Elizabeth Strout is probably in this category as well. I can’t really imagine a 20 year old liking her books as much as an older person.
I didn’t discover Ann Patchett until about a decade ago when I was in my mid 40s and read them very much out of order. Maybe you are on to something as I read Tom Lake and Whistler while in my 50s.