Reading is a highly subjective pastime. I might hate a book you absolutely love, and you might dislike a book I perceived as the second coming. Several decades ago, I realized that I do not have to finish a book once I started reading it if it doesn’t grip me by the first couple of dozen pages. I toss it aside and move on to something more appealing from my ever-expanding list of “To Read” suggestions. Reading is such a joyful experience, and life is too short to waste time on a book that doesn’t keep me enthralled.

I recently posted a review of Theo of Golden by Allen Levi. At the last minute, I edited my review to delete my negative comments because I seem to be the only person on the planet who did not absolutely love that book. It was uplifting, positive, gentle, and interesting, but in truth, I had to force myself to finish it in search of that magic ingredient that had seduced everyone but me. That’s the way it is with a book; we respond differently.

There are many other popular books and authors I have unsuccessfully tried to read because they were bestsellers or highly recommended by friends. Here are a few of my hits and misses, which you may or may not agree with:

• Anything by Colleen Hoover. She regularly appears on bestseller lists, but I find her stories trite and predictable. I also started and could not finish 50 Shades of Gray (unbelievably badly written), A Gentleman in Moscow (too boring), Angela’s Ashes (made me want to slit my wrists, so I quit halfway through), and Tom Lake (waste of time).
• Eat, Pray, Love and all other books by Elizabeth Gilbert. How someone living such a privileged, disillusioned life can expect the rest of us to take her unhinged advice seriously boggles my mind.

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  The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. Oprah loved this one. In fact, I find many of Oprah’s recommendations too dark and boring. Most of the material in that book was plagiarized from other sources, and Byrne’s overly simplistic, positive message offered nothing new beyond what we were already hearing on daytime talk shows. Several years ago, when the book was still part of the zeitgeist, I attended what was promoted as a reading by the author at a local bookstore. I was curious to see what other readers found so fascinating about that book that I may have overlooked. No one showed up—including the author—just one other lady and me. So, the other attendee and I retired to the coffee shop in the store and compared notes about what we liked to read. She was interested in recommendations for more Canadian authors (she was American), so I was happy to suggest several. She recommended Wild Swans by Jung Chang, a book I absolutely loved and still highly recommend. It’s non-fiction about three generations of women (grandmother who was a concubine, mother who was  Maoist, and daughter who is a modern author) who lived through the tumultuous, changing political scenes of twentieth-century China. The sequel, Fly Wild Swans, is now on my To Read list.

• I’ve tried. I’ve really tried, and I cannot get into Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache mysteries. Even her collaboration with Hillary Clinton on State of Terror failed to land with me. Needless to say, my opinion is not the popular one, but there you have it. Give me a good Kate Atkinson mystery, Ken Follett, or Abraham Verghese, any day over Louise Penny.
• Margaret Atwood’s recent memoir was a wonderful read, and I enjoyed every page, line, and word. That is not the case for all of her work, including The Handmaid’s Tale, which I read when it was first published in the mid-80s. Wonderful as that book may be, I’m not a fan of dystopian stories—which, as it turns out, these days is not so dystopian after all.
• I tried The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien years ago, as well as Harry Potter. They just were not my cup of tea. No apologies.
• I also tried a few dozen pages of Ulysses by James Joyce and got bogged down. To her great credit, my friend Margaret read the entire book a few years ago. I still have it on my iPad, so I may have another run at it someday, when I’m really, really bored.

I’ve never been a fan of romance, sci-fi, or time travel, while I adore historical fiction, biographies, memoirs, and humour. A few years ago, I went on a classic book binge that included Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. It took me two or three tries to get into it, then I couldn’t put it down. I learned so much about Russia and the Russian people. I had the same reaction to Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. While other people might consider reading this book a literal “punishment”, I loved it, and it encouraged me to read more classic Russian literature. The Brothers Karamazov is still on my list.

During this phase, I also got around to finally reading the original Peyton Place and Return to Peyton Place by Grace Metalious. Amazing books. Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham was fascinating. I enjoy his short stories and have a bound, complete collection of his work that I’ve never managed to work my way through. The Man In The Gray Flannel Suit, and other oldies were also checked off my list. I haven’t been able to locate a copy of My Sister Eileen by Ruth McKenney from 1942 at a reasonable price yet. Nope to Ayn Rand, and a huge yes for David Sedaris, Barbara Kingsolver, and Elizabeth Strout. I’ve read every one of the Olive Kitteridge series. Surprisingly, I have not yet read anything by Stephen King (other than his non-fiction On Writing), James Patterson, or (shame on me) Jane Austen.

Understandably, different friends and acquaintances have different tastes in books. There are just so many wonderful books out there that take us into different places and times in history, different countries and cultures, and expose us to other ways of experiencing life. Reading is such a joyful experience and one of my favourite pastimes. Thank goodness for libraries and e-reading, which have saved me thousands of dollars.

When you read a book review on BoomerBroadcast, it means I finished the book, and you can be sure I loved it. So many books; so little time. And, if you haven’t already, don’t forget to read my own self-published book, We’re Not Dead Yet!  It’s available on Amazon in both paperback and Kindle. Click here to have it delivered directly to your tablet or front door. Check out the Books tab at the top of this blog posting for a link to all my book reviews.

Do you have any Best and Worst books you’ve read that you would like to share with our readers in the comments below?