Reading Angst

I had hoped that this blog would contain lots of comments about the books I read, but so far I haven't done much of that. I'm a careful reader, so that slows me down compared to most who tend to skim sections or read for plot. Because of that, it takes me a couple weeks or more to finish a BFF (big fat fantasy), and by the time I'm finished I'm just eager to start something new, rather than write about what I've just read.

I almost always like what I read, would rate it 4/5 or 5/5 stars, because I spend a lot of time reading reviews and visiting forums ("fora" for the picky) where books are discussed, so by the time I purchase a book I'm already pretty sure I'm going to love it. Occasionally I get bogged down in a book, begin to lose interest, and then I watch dvds from Netflix or play my game. The problem with doing that is that the book stays stalled and I'm not making progress through my immense to-be-read library.

I'm finding myself in that position right now, with this second book of Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel series. I'm having the same difficulty with this book as I did with the first book, but I loved "having read" the first - much more than the actual experience of reading it. The stories and writing are wonderful, but there is a great deal of intrigue amongst the immense (5 pages!) dramatis personæ. Each character is variously referred to by first name, last name, or title (ie. Duc L'Envers), so keeping track of them is mind-boggling for me. And yet, others praise the books over and over again, and I did like the story and main characters, have bought all the subsequent books, so I'm motivated to give it a good try.

This time I did my research and read a detailed summary of the first book to refresh my memory from a few years ago. Then I printed out the map and dramatis personæ and spent some time getting re-acquainted with the characters and their relationships to each other. I spent half a day doing all that before beginning this second book in the series. Yet here I am, only 150 pages into it and despairing.

I hate to give up on a book; I've only done it a very few times. My solution to being stuck is something I just figured out fairly recently: instead of avoiding reading the book, devote an extra-long reading session to it. Often dipping in and out of a book scatters my focus and I lose my momentum, so by giving it concentrated effort, I'm giving the story a chance to grab hold of me once again, and I end up unstuck.

Today I plan to marathon-read my current book, hoping to find myself caught up in it. If that doesn't work, life is short and I have so many other books yet to read.