Once I started a book I used to always finish it, I'd plough on through no matter how dire the book was.
Eventually I stopped doing this, I think the first book I gave up reading half way through was Captain Corelli's Mandolin.
I tried, I really did, everyone was raving about it but it just didn't grab me.
A few days ago I was reading a book set in ancient Britain, it wasn't particularly accurate historically but as it was a novel I'm happy with a bit of leeway.
Then one of the characters, a druid, used the phrase ' what shall we do going forward', that was it, I couldn't read any more, not only did the phrase seem too modern, it was also a favourite of my last line manager. I will not read any more, it's a shame as it was the first in a trilogy but the modern phrase really jarred with me.
13 comments:
Its all the lying politicians at the moment using the same sort of phrase.
Captain Corellis Mandolin is a stage play in the West End at the moment. We were gifted tickets...........it is SOOOO bad, best character is the actress playing the goat. Trust me you did the right thing not finishing the book.
I just gave up on a book myself, which I haven't done in a while - but I did read the last chapter to see what was going to happen. There are just too many good books out there to spend time reading something you're not enjoying.
I'm the same with costume drama on TV. If I see anything that I consider not of that time I quickly lose interest. One that stands out for me is the TV series Merlin. Merlin wore a scarf pretty much all the time (didn't know they had them then) and it wasn't a thin handkerchief type scarf, but it was a more modern day and worn the new way ie doubled with the ends going through the loop. I couldn't take it seriously after that, so stopped watching.
I expect someone will now tell me that I am wrong and they wore scarves all the time in Arthur's day.
I hate to hear these "modern" sayings as well, what happened to ordinary English?
Americanisms in period drama and books is my big bugbear. I also used to plough on through books I hated, but I stopped doing that a long time ago. Life is too short!
Oh me too! I always read on to the bitter end, telling myself that at least I'm lea8how not to do it, but Captain Corelli was just a step too far. Mind you, even then, I might have just soldiered on if I hadn't flicked to the back - sorry, I always do that, it gets too stressful otherwise - and saw him talking about "Tito's bandits". Well, my dad was one of those bandits, joined up at the age of 14 and helped beat the Nazis - so it finally dawned on me - if a writer can't be bothered to do their research (or indeed their writing) properly, why should I bother to do the reading all the way through? Abandoned a fair few since, and no regrets.
I'm glad I'm not the only one.
Life is too short to finish bad books.
"Going forward", Brainstorming", "Blue sky thinking", "Future proofing".........they all make me want to scream, no matter what period they're set in!
I swear I will never, ever, e-ver, read another word of a book set in England, but written by an American! I started one a few days ago, but when the 'city' of Haworth was mentioned, alongside horrifically inaccurate details of the Brontes, I lost not just interest, but also the plot! It made me so ridiculously angry that I fired off a snotty email to the author, giving her some hints on how to research facts!
Strangely enough, I didn't receive a reply!
Oh me too Col, I was reading a book set in Victorian England and the heroine started to pick the blueberries out of the muffin she'd just purchased from the muffin man!
I used to plod through books that I wasn't enjoying just because I had started them ... not anymore. Now if I'm not 'in there' from the third chapter they go straight into the car boot sale box or round to the charity shop.
Same with films at the cinema, I used to grit my teeth and sit through until the end, not anymore, life is too short, and my time is worth more than the price of the cinema ticket!
LOL. I too would have tossed it at that point. when did 'in the future' give way to that inane and stupid expression?
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