Abandoned book: Aurorama

"1908. New Venice--"the pearl of the Arctic"--a place of ice palaces and pneumatic tubes, of beautifully ornate carriage-sleds and elegant victorian garb, of long nights and vistas of ice. But as the city prepares for spring, it feels more like qaartsiluni--"the time when something is about to explode in the dark." Local "poletics" are wracked by tensions with the Eskimos circling the city, with suffragette riots led by an underground music star, with drug round-ups by the secret police force known as the Gentlemen of the Night. An ominous black airship hovers over the city, and the Gentlemen are hunting for the author of a radical pamphlet calling for revolt."

I thought this sounded really interesting. I was wrong. I couldn't get past the 10th page and I really tried!! Officially abandoned!!

Canada Reads 2011 winner

Terry Fallis' The Best Laid Plans won Canada Reads 2011 today. Wow. That went by fast. I was determined to read all five books like I did last year, that didn't happen. I even had more time this year!! I guess none of the books really interested me all that much and I didn't really make it a priority. I tried to read Mavis Gallant's Home Truths and just couldn't get into it.  Too bad. Oh well. It's over, the winner's announced, I kind of don't care, I declare my Canada Reads 2011 attempt to be officially abandoned. Ditto for Canada Reads Independently 2011. There are so many books I want to read right now, and for a variety of reasons I haven't been reading quite as much as I usually do so I'd rather focus on the books I really want to read. Not mention that I have a ton of holds ready to be available as soon as I make them active at the library and since I'll be moving at the end of April I want to take full advantage of some of the books I've had on hold for what seems like ever!

abandoned

I ordered Jonathan Franzen's Freedom a few weeks ago after coming across numerous reviews  (ie: here) AND the fact that it was named as the new Oprah book club selection. Wow am I disappointed that I actually bought this book. I abandoned it yesterday after trying  to get into it for like 3 days!! I'm not sure if it's the writing or the characters but I found Freedom to be soooooo pretentious!! I could not get into it and found all of the characters basically loathsome! So I put it down and may not get back to it!!

I also want to mention that I loved the Oprah book club selection from the past-I think I read over 80% of them. My book club is even called the "Oprah type book club"! But the past few years-basically since 2007 have been very disappointing!!
To be specific: (my comments in GREEN)
2010
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen - pretentious

2009
Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan - still on hold at the library so no comment YET

2008
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski - terrible!!!
A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle -terrible-I know this book was meaningful to a lot of people but I just could not see why!

2007
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett - okay this was fantastic
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez -  terrible-the movie was awful too
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides - also fantastic
The Road by Cormac McCarthy - I totally did NOT get this book!!
The Measure of a Man by Sidney Poitier - I read it but it was not memorable

Oprah-what happened??

that's it I QUIT!

Reading two books that is!! I rarely stop reading books I don't like (but I do!) especially if I'm more than 100 pages in. HOWEVER, this month alone I've quit two books!! A.S Byatt's The Children's Book and Janice Kulyk Keefer's The Ladies Lending Library. I just could NOT get into these books so I decided to allow myself to move on to greener pastures. I just started Yann Martel's Beatrice & Virgil and am very intrigued. I read Life of Pi when it first came out and I was way too young to "get it" so I didn't think I would read anymore of his work. I was at the library picking up some books on hold (including The Ladies Lending Library) when I saw B&V in the new books section. So I picked it up and here we are!

this is from the brickworks this summer-isn't it pretty?

Hope you're having a good week-happy reading :)