30 Day Writing Challenge: Day 8

8. A book you love and one you don’t

Oh boy. I love a lot of books. I guess I’ll choose one of my all-time favorites, The Book Thief. I read it in less than two days. I was in the final chapters when my husband and kids came home from somewhere. “Leave me alone!” I squawked, then took off and hid myself in my bedroom  while I finished. I cried over this book. I can’t think of another book that has literally brought me to tears.

I hate to pick a book I don’t love because an author worked hard over it, and just because it’s not to my taste doesn’t mean it lacks worth.  Here’s a review I wrote of a book I did not enjoy. I won’t name the book or the author.


I had to give up reading this book on page 27. It tries too hard for quirky and whimsical, at the expense of narrative. In chapter 2, for example, we begin with a scene between the protagonist and her best friend, and then suddenly we’re shifted to an entirely different scene involving the boyfriend. The best friend never does reappear in that chapter. Some of the prose is actually lovely, but I just couldn’t read this book any longer.

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