2014年12月15日月曜日

Dickens in December: I give up.

You may have noticed the lack of a Pickwick Papers update on Thursday. I was putting off formally giving up on it because I thought that I might sit down and catch up over the weekend, but I didn't, and I haven't got the slightest inclination to read any more of it. It's actually stopping me from reading other stuff, as I was feeling guilty about not reading it. So enough is enough, I quit!
You have defeated me once again, Dickens! Curse you!

Oh well! I read more than half, and I think that's a perfectly respectable amount to have read. 

I don't really understand what happened though, because I really enjoyed the first few chapters that I read. I don't know if it's because I was in a different state of mind when I was reading them, or whether it was just that the things that I was enjoying hadn't been repeated ad nauseum yet, but yeah, maybe that's just a sign of how inconsistent the book is. And how pointlessly long it is. And how desperately in need of an editor it is. I think this might be the first time that I have enjoyed a book so much at first and then ended up giving up on it. I quite often start not really liking something and warm up to it halfway through, but this is definitely a new experience for me! It's weird, I don't like it.

Still, I'm glad that I took part in the readalong! I think that this, combined with A Tale of Two Cities last year has firmly led me to the conclusion that I really don't particularly like Dickens. But if it has a plot, as Tale of Two Cities does, I can muddle through even though I dislike the way that he writes in general and find that I have to force myself to concentrate in order to figure out what is actually going on. So thank you to Bex for organising the readalong, and I'm very sorry that I wasn't able to see it through to the end.

I am glad that I didn't invest in a nice copy of the book now though! Hehe.

Is anybody still actually carrying on with the readalong?

Blog related note:
So you know, there may not be very many/any more posts from me this year. I am going to the UK for Christmas for the first time in 6 years, and need to actually start preparing for that (I'm SO EXCITED!), and I'm going to be over there until the end of the year. So if I don't post again, I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas/whatever other seasonal thing you celebrate/end of December!

4 件のコメント:

  1. I've been defeated by Dickens as well... I think I would have trudged along, but our reading comrades have dropped off so there's nothing else encouraging me to finish it. I'm not particularly compelled to find out what happens either, due to lack of plot.

    I'm so excited for your trip to the UK! Happy holidays and bon voyage!

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    1. If everyone had stuck it out I think I might have done it as well, but yeah. As soon as people started dropping out I could feel my brain going "YAY! Dropping out is an option!" hehe, so carrying on probably wouldn't have been that great!

      Thank you! :D

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  2. I'm so relieved that it turned out not just to be me that disliked it! I just couldn't care enough about what was going to happen (nothing) and it was becoming a painful experience! Plus, seeing out the year reading nothing but Pickwick would have made me cry...I've started reading a thriller now and it seems lightning paced!

    Hope you have a wonderful Christmas in the UK!!

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    1. I think you should always give up on books if they are becoming painful to read! (Unless you HAVE to read it).

      Just thinking about all of the good books I could be reading while trudging through one that I'm not enjoying makes me sad. I really should have stopped with Pickwick earlier, I was just hoping that it would win me over and I'd suddenly start enjoying it again like I did at the beginning!

      Thank you! I'm so excited! Wheeeeeee!!!

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