Top Ten Tuesday is an original weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. I thought this would be a fun way to share a condensed version of potential rambles and thoughts that I have.
This Week’s Theme:
Top Ten Books I Almost
Put Down But Didn’t
Initial Thoughts:
When a book is cracked open, you never know whether or not you’ll find yourself enjoying it by the end. And during the read, there might be times that you’re fed up with plot or character antics, confused with how things are happening, or are simply not enjoying the experience as you had hoped. So it turns into a gamble: to continue or not to continue. If you’re like me, always giving things a chance past-expiration point, by the time you might decide one or the other…you’re already done the book. And so you ask yourself: was the payoff worth it?
Books that I almost put down but didn’t:
Backward Glass (David Lomax)
I ended-up really enjoying this novel. But truthfully, there was so much work involved to keep yourself afloat with information management which weren’t necessarily infodumps…but it was hard work to keep tabs on mental notes.
The Waiting (Joe Hart)
A lot of nothing happens in the beginning. But like all horror films (or books, I guess), all things serene and pleasantly full of mundane activities is thrown out the window once the shit hits the fan. Because when it did, I was considering putting it down because of the wtf factor increasing one-million-fold.
When You Were Here (Daisy Whitney)
Mumsy passes away..and he’s all like: *rage* *rage* “wtf you promised me you’d attend my graduation. why did you die?”
Oh Danny boy…your antics are so rage inducing.
The Here and Now (Ann Brashares)
expectation: 300 pages in this sci-fi time-travel novel.
reality: 301 pages of YA romance.
…wait, what?
The Runner (J.M. Johnson)
So much illogical shit happens…so many characters who add zero value disappear after a paragraph (or at least it felt like that)…so much wishful thinking. But I didn’t put it down…
Where You’ll Find Me (Erin Fletcher)
So you’re a rebel and sneak out, right? And you hear a guy cough in your garage (at night), right? And happily ever after, right? Yeah…right NO.
Deltora Quest (Emily Rodda)
An impulse book fair purchase when I was 10. With plenty of video games and outdoorsy distractions to keep me away, I think I finished the first book based on principle of money spent needs to be worth it’s entertainment value. And I’m sure many people might complete their books based on this reasoning too (I hope?)
I couldn’t think of any more off the top of my head, so I’ll diverge the topic to now include:
Books that I put down and have yet to re-pick back up:
Entry Island (Peter May)
There’s nothing wrong with the writing or the premise. Not sure if I’ll continue this one, but this mystery might not be for me.
Unravel (Calia Read)
Simply bad timing that I started this (during Sochi Olympics), and then discovered Sanderson’s Steelheart. And this was easily forgotten. SorrynotsorrybutI’llreadthislaterlaterlater.
Jellicoe Road (Melina Marchetta)
The hurdle is high and I cannot trudge any faster to read this. I found it to be pretty slow (and I know this is a popular novel amongst many) but ships can only take me so far.
The Good Luck of Right Now (Matthew Quick):
I think maybe I’d appreciate this more if it was an on-screen version–Silver Linings Playbook 2.0. But to be honest, I read like three (or maybe it was four) chapters and I just couldn’t get into it. Maybe it’s a book for another time…but I just can’t right now.
Afterthoughts:
My mind flew over the fact that today was Tuesday and I needed a post. So I whipped this one up pretty quickly. Annnnd now back to reading for reading (but more-so for #boutofbooks.)
Cheers,
Joey
thoughts and afterthoughts. 
I haven’t read The Good Luck of Right Now (doesn’t sound like something I’d enjoy), but I’d recommend another Matthew Quick book, Boy21. I absolutely LOVED that one.
Oh, Jellicoe Road… I tried and tried, but just couldn’t get into it…
“Mumsy passes away..and he’s all like: *rage* *rage* “wtf you promised me you’d attend my graduation. why did you die?” – this shouldn’t be funny, but LOL. Great TTT!
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Boy21 sounds like an easy sell for me (because kuroko no basuke LOL). Haha, glad you enjoyed the comments though! Just keeping things real.
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Well I have only watched one or two episode of Kuroko no Basuke, but other than the characters being basketball players, I don’t think they have much in common. Haha. But some of the guys in Boy21 are reading Harry Potter (which I found adorable) if that “helps”.
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Haha that’s definitely neat to hear about! It does give me some feels when books references other books; especially those that I’ve read (minus HP, I guess, because I never really finished that…)
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I haven’t read any of these books, but I quite agree with some of your reasons for getting frustrated–filler characters, filler scenes, and truly stupid characters annoy me, too.
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Pretty much! It’s honestly time wasted if there’s no value to be had in them besides wasting my time (and if that’s the goal…then wow, maybe I got this whole reading thing wrong).
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I want to read some of the books on your list so happy to see some of them are worth it. Jellicoe Road seems to be popular this week!
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If you ever get around to any, I hope you enjoy them more than I have. The value in being at the edge of potentially putting them down isn’t a place I’m sure many of us want to be in–and would rather just wholeheartedly enjoy said novels!
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haha Joey, you crack me up. The Ann Brashares one in particular! 🙂
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Certainly an unspoken goal to brighten peoples day with random, nonsensical quips!
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Oh, Jellicoe Road! I didn’t hit it off with it right away and it actually took me a while (I think almost half way) to get into the story, so I totally get why this is on your list. But boy was I glad I stuck because I loooooved it.
Also, The Here and Now is highhighhigh on my TBR list! I mean the synopsis sounds wow. And I started reading the first paragraph of my ebook copy, but I thought: nope I need the physical copy for this for the whole reading experience package. NOW YOU GOT ME THINKING IF I REALLY SHOULD BUY IT. (So, thank you, I guess. Haha.)
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I guess it’s one of those long haul books that might be worth it in the end (albeit I need some form of temporary/immediate relief in reading to keep myself going).
By all means, I’m just one small voice–so don’t take what I say to heart haha. I posted a full length review here if you want more discernible information on why I didn’t enjoy it.
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Yeah, I felt the same way about Good Luck. The only reason I pressed through it was because I was on the blog tour. I ended up enjoying it, but it was a hard one to get through.
Thanks for stoppin’ by! Have a great week!
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That’s understandable. I’m glad that you enjoyed it though! It seems like a book that’s well-loved by many and I’m just in the minority here haha.
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haha not bad for a last minute post >..<' Hmmm I'll prob give it more thought 😀
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Well, I had ideas since last week…sort of, I just didn’t remember to write it.
Give what more thought? Are you posting a late TTT this week?
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Aw, I was looking forward to Wish You Were Here. It’s been on my wishlist for a while. Were there other aspects you didn’t enjoy besides the overdose of teen angst?
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Indeed it is teenage angst, but it’s to the point where (I found, at least) it’s not an easily believable circumstance. People are wowed by the fact that a majority of the plot where the MC finds himself (and the answers he seeks) in Japan. But when you’re even slightly involved in Japanese things (i.e. culture/dramas/anime/whathaveyou), it was a real deterrent to me the type of things included to up-vote the whole setting on his path of acceptance. It’s as if I told you that everyone in Japan is either Harajuku-influenced or suit-and-tie or chiraishi is like the national breakfast food.
I’m not even going to go into the fact that there was so much convenient story-telling thrown around. (I have a much longer-rantier review on this blog, if you’re interested in learning more about why I was ticked by this read).
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*rage* *rage* “wtf you promised me you’d attend my graduation. why did you die?”
Haha – I haven’t read any of these, but this would turn me away from a book so fast.
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I hear ya. I read by recommendation from a friend. But now that I think about it…she didn’t even read it herself–so maybe it was torture–the enduring pain of reading hundreds of pages of not words but teenage-angst.
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I haven’t actually ever read any of these books, but your reasons all seem like the kinds of things that I would think as well, so at least know that if I ever do read any of these books, I’m warned!
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Glad to be of assistance then. I definitely just call things out as I see them and everything seems to irk me–maybe I’m just a legit grump!
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