Intimidated

It's a rare occasion when I give up on a book. I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've done it in the past few years. I guess I'm a bit of a slogger and will keep at it, even when there's no enjoyment to be had. This past year has been a bit of a revelation though and I've given up on two books! Two! The first one was by Ali Smith and I just couldn't. I tried and tried but I was so confused and what's the point when you just don't know what is going on? The second one was this beast:

Step up The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton. Actually, it could probably be used as a step as it's over 800 pages!! (double exclamation marks definitely required)

It was on my to read list but I had no idea of the size of it and frankly, it was a bit of a shock when I picked it up from the library. Is there really any need? I have to be honest, I kept on putting it off and pushing it further down the pile on my bedside table, but eventually it came round to it. I had no choice. I was going in.

It got the better of me quite quickly. It's just so intimidating! It's heavy, it nearly breaks your shoulder when you put it in your handbag to carry around, and the writing is really small. I took it back to the library the next day so that it wouldn't taunt me from my bedside table #wuss

The real truth? I reckon it would have taken me about 5 weeks to read, possibly longer, and I'm approaching the end of my book challenge and it would seriously have held me back! I'm determined to have one successful challenge this year, determined!

I think I'll come back to it again in the future. The story seemed to have a lot of potential and I remain intrigued by it. But I might have to build up my shoulder first by lifting some weights, and perhaps build a book prop for when I'm reading in bed? I'm sure Dave could do that no problem...