Unfinished: A Pairing

June 27, 2016 Book Club 12

Howdy Bookworms!

I don’t usually tell y’all about books I don’t finish because, you know, why would I? I would, if I had interesting stories to explaining why I didn’t finish them. As luck would have it, I happen to have a pair of tales to explain why I didn’t finish my homework. And it’s not because the dog ate it, seeing as I do not have a dog. Side note: I went to school with a girl whose family had a pet monkey and one time the monkey legitimately did eat her homework. I think her mom called to explain the situation. That’s a better story than mine, but you can’t NOT tell a story about a monkey when it’s even marginally relevant, you know?

janesteeleI was super stoked to read Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye after seeing a bunch of amazing reviews for it. I mean, a Jane Eyre (review) inspired gothic novel about a murderess? Sign me up! I downloaded the audio book from the library and all was going wonderfully. I had just about reached the end of the novel, you know, when ALL THE SECRETS are being revealed when the darn loan expired. Normally I love that I never have to remember to return digital library books but this time it bit me in the butt. Now I’m torn. I don’t want to go out and buy a book I’ve already read 95% of. I put myself back on the library hold list, but heaven only knows when I’ll finally get to wrap it up. If you decide to read this (and you should because it’s pretty great) pay attention to your library due date. Or just buy it. Learn from my mistakes, y’all!

The second book I recently didn’t finish was another story entirely. My office started a book club. Cool, right? It’s co-ed which is a new experience for me as I’ve always been in ladies only book clubs. I thought it would be a great way to branch out and try books I wouldn’t ordinarily read. Like, say, a sports book. That’s right. After our inaugural reading of The Martian (my choice obvi, review here) I was very supportive of my co-worker’s interest in Friday Night Lights by HG Bissinger. Until I started reading it. I made it 38% through the book. It was really a perfect storm of factors as to why I didn’t finish it. First, I stalled and didn’t start it until a week before book club. Normally that’s not an issue for me, but it was nonfridaynightlights fiction, which is always more of a challenge for me to get into than fiction. I should have seen that coming. Plus the fact that it was about high school football. I am about as NOT into sports as it’s possible to be, so play by play football scenes are super not my jam. What really did me in though, was that I just started getting angry with this book. Or, more specifically, Odessa, Texas circa 1989. They only desegregated their schools in 1982. HOW IS THAT EVEN LEGAL? Plus, a bunch of the folks interviewed were super racist. Not really surprising considering the whole segregation issue, but we’re not talking micro-aggression racism here. We’re talking full on N-word horror show. I found it profoundly upsetting. Don’t even get me started on the academic standards of this school, let alone the extra lax standards the football team was held to. I nearly threw the dang book across the room when I read that a teacher played a movie version of the The Scarlet Letter for an English class in place of having the class read the book. I don’t even LIKE The Scarlet Letter, but COME ON. Suffice it to say Friday Night Lights and I aren’t going to be reuniting anytime soon. Or ever, probably. At least I wasn’t alone. Only one person in our little club finished the book, and it wasn’t even the guy who chose it. Ah well. It happens.

Talk to me Bookworms! What was the last book that you started but didn’t finish? Why didn’t you finish it? 

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12 Responses to “Unfinished: A Pairing”

  1. Megan M.

    I live in Texas. I feel your pain. You should have seen one of the recent candidates for the Texas State Board of Education race. Mary Lou Bruner. She lost (thank god) but she’s a complete loon. And the homeschooling standards are pretty much – do what you want! I’ll have to check out Jane Steele, I hope my library has it.

    Reply

  2. Jenny @ Reading the End

    Oh man. Friday Night Lights sounds like a very excellent book for me to miss. But, except, does this possibly mean that you are not going to watch the TV series either? Surely you are going to watch the series still! It’s so good! It makes me cry every episode basically!

    Reply

  5. Unruly Reader

    Oh, this is good! I’m seriously enjoying your rant.

    I read Friday Night Lights for a political culture class in college and found it completely fascinating. Though: we were looking at it under a microscope, which is a whole different reading experience.

    I recently bailed on Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, which is a book I was supposed to love. But the narrative voice was grating on me, so I said: Enough! and moved on.

    Reply

    • Words For Worms

      It would be SUPER interesting in the context of a political culture class. In the context of just reading for pleasure though? I couldn’t handle the icky.

      Reply

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