Saturday, June 4, 2011

Trash to Treasure - May

Each month there are several books that I start to read but for one reason or another I just can’t get into. I have a fairly low tolerance for the books I read, usually only giving them between 50-100 pages before I quit. There are just too many books to read and not enough time to “trudge” through something I’m not enjoying. However, I recently realized that I never mention them on here. So I’ve decided to do a monthly feature looking at some of the books I just couldn’t get into and why.

Skinned by Robin Wasserman (79 pages) – this was an older title I have been wanting to read for a while. I actually really enjoy the beginning of the book. I thought the character development started pretty quickly and I liked the world building. It was very interesting to see the main character go through her transformation. However, after about 50 pages the story sort of slowed down a bit and I lost interest. Also, beyond the initial chapters I didn’t connect with the main character.

The Book Smugglers, Tinas Book Reviews and Karen’s Book Nook all have positive reviews on their websites you should check out.

Blood Red Road by Moira Young (109 pages) – I’m a little disappointed in myself about this one. This is a big ticket book in 2011 and there are already tons of raving reviews going around. I’ve even heard it compared to The Hunger Games. I gave it my all but I could not get into this book. The premise is interesting and the world building was superb. Young did a great job at creating a dystopian world that is intriguing and fresh. However, the writing is incredibly stylized and it served as too big of a road block. It was at times hard to follow and it made the book really difficult to pick up once I had put it down. It also made it almost impossible to connect with the character. So while I appreciate what the author was trying to do, it was just not the book for me. However, I might give this one another shot later on down the line.

I Swim for Oceans, Book Chick City and All Consuming Books have positive reviews on their website that you should check out.

4 comments:

pussreboots said...

I read like you. I give a book fifty to a hundred pages, depending on its length. I wish more blogs gave time to talk about the books that didn't work with constructive criticism.

We Heart YA said...

Ditto pussreboots. We like this feature of yours. Keep it up!

Melissa (i swim for oceans) said...

From what I've heard, Blood Red Road is a hit or miss. I loved it, but I was lucky enough to begin to connect with Saba despite the weird dialogue. Great post :)

Got the email - will respond tomorrow!

Katie said...

Thanks Pussreboots. I thought the same thing!

 
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