Mark's Book Blog: Rumblin' Stumblin' Bumblin'

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Rumblin' Stumblin' Bumblin'

Keith Jackson couldn't have said it better himself. My "book diary" is nearing post number 100. At the same time, I'm having book commitment issues.

Since I finished "The Last Child," I have started three books. Three. "They task me. They task me." (You must know why things work on a Starship...)

One was put down after 11 pages. I made it through 70+ of the second. About 20 of the third. I was really enjoying the third, but I tired. Then, I couldn't get excited about picking it up the next day. Or the day after. Or the day after that.

It's not their fault. I keep telling them, "it's not you, it's me." ("Well, what am I supposed to do? You won't answer my calls, you change your number. I mean, I'm not gonna be ignored, Dan")

I hate hitting the dry spots. I really WANT to get excited about a read, but I can't. I've probably got two dozen unread books on and under my night table, and I cannot for the life of me pick which one to read next. Or whether to pick up one of the three I started.

Live long, read and prosper. We'll leave the lights on for you.

1 comment:

HollyAugust 24, 2010 at 9:39 AM
What are the books you've started? I'm about 70 pages into The World Without Us, by Alan Weisman. I'm having the same problem making progress. It's a wonderful book, but sleep overtakes me every time I get a few pages in.
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

Mark's Book Blog

Welcome to Mark's Book Blog!

Why did I set this up? Several reasons.

1. I'm constantly asked for book recommendations. I often cannot remember what I've read recently and, consequently, struggle for a recommendation. This will keep me up to date.

2. We're all busy. Sometimes I forget what I liked and what I didn't like about a book I read a month or two ago. As a result, this blog commits me to memorialize a book shortly after reading the book.

3. I, too, want book recommendations from those I trust (so I may or may not read your recommendation). From this blog, you can see what I've liked--you may not like my taste, may never come back to the blog--that's ok. If, though, you like some or all of what I like, tell me. And, more importantly, tell me what else I'd like!

Here's my recommendation scale--I will rate all books I read (subject to my ability to rate a book that I stop reading for good reason). The recommendation scale has gone through many iterations since inception of the blog and is effective for all books recommended on or after December 29, 2009. For the recommendation scale applicable to books recommended prior to that time, go here.

This blog uses a "grading" system. In order to accomplish the blog's goal of "recommending" books, the grading scale works out like this:

A - Highly recommended

B - Recommended

C - OK, you might like it

D - A waste of time

F - A HUGE waste of time

If a book, let's say it's a sports-themed, non-fiction book, earns a recommendation in the "A" range, the blog post will note that the book is "Highly recommended for fans of [we'll just insert the sport of tonsil hockey here as a placeholder]." In other words, even an "A" recommendation may not be a book that I suggest you read. It depends on your tastes. Certainly some books in the "A" range will be recommended to all.

One other note. I am generally a stickler for grammar and punctuation (for using made-up words like "stickler," not so much). As I've stated in various posts, I am well aware that this blog does not utilize the well-established "underline book titles" convention. There are some places where book titles are in quotes. There are other places where book titles are merely capitalized. While I apologize in advance for being such a heathen as to ignore this convention, it bothers me. It really does. This is the kind of stuff that keeps me up nights. Seriously. I decided, however, about 50 posts in that I would make the lack of consistency in the identification of book titles the consistency for the site. Therefore and henceforth, I will utilize whatever convention I want in any willy nilly fashion I see fit.

Mark

Mark's Book Blog

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Rumblin' Stumblin' Bumblin'

1 comment:

Mark's Book Blog

Blog Archive