Not-so-much Books of the Week for January 4 – Janaury 10
Where did the idea that once you start a book you need to finish it come from? Assignments from school? I’m really not sure. But I distinctly remember my aunt telling me in high school that i don’t have to finish books I don’t like. It doesn’t matter if the book is good or bad, if I’m not enjoying it, life is short and I should move on.
I think it’s worth reiterating: this isn’t about whether the book was good or bad most of the time, usually it simply isn’t right for me. I’ve had a couple lately I’ve quit, and one I’m thinking about quitting, and I’m going to tell you about them. Not so much so you don’t read them yourself, because you might love them. That’s the same reason I don’t post bad reviews (at least, not very often.) One man’s pass is another’s best of the year. But I want to pass on the permission: if you don’t like it, put it down and grab something you do like. There’s millions of options out there.
Art, Inc.
I was pumped to get this book from the library. I listened to a podcast with the author and I loved the premise. i’m trying to make money in the creative field. Perfect, right?
Not so much. it was too basic for me. It has a TON of good information. It was just stuff I already knew.
Creativity, Inc.
(Not related to Art, Inc.) This actually didn’t look that good to me, anyway, but my husband really wanted it. I grabbed the audiobook for our 52 hour car trip. Besides the fact that I cannot jive with the narrator’s voice, it’s just not interesting to me. It sounds like he was trying too hard to sound like Stephen Covey and really, I just want to hear about how awesome Pixar is.
Orange is the New Black
I haven’t completely given up on this book yet, but I’m very close. I LOVE the TV show, and I love hearing about some of the plot points from Piper Kerman herself. However, none of the anecdotes so far have been developed into any real story. It’s just a very dry “this happened, then this, then I went here.” There’s actually a lot of potential with the manuscript, obviously, it’s how the show got made. It just falls short for me as a memoir.