Year End Review #2: The Disappointments

The DNF and the DNGS

This year I was perhaps, lucky in my reading – there was only one book that I gave up on having got a little way in, despite its fab cover, and that was The Testament of Loki by Joanne M Harris. I won’t dwell on this, but you can read my comments why it didn’t work for me here.

There were a few DNGSs – Did Not Get Started – books that I picked up to read couldn’t get into immediately.  If I haven’t gelled at least a little after just a handful of pages, I’ll either put it back on the shelf or put it in the charity shop pile. Iris Murdoch’s The Nice and the Good was one such – but it’s gone back on the shelf for when I’m in a more Iris mood.

The Most Irritating Book…

The Brontes Went to Woolworths by Rachel Ferguson, reviewed here.  A madcap, middlebrow comedy from the 1930s, it was so mad, actually,  that I nearly threw the book across the room in defeat at one stage!  The story of sisters who make stuff up to add spice to their humdrum lives, and get into trouble when the people they make stuff up about get involved – I was left wishing they’d finally stop making things up and go away.

The Most Uncomfortable Read…

Mayhem by Sigrid Rausing, reviewed here.  Sigrid, the editor of Granta magazine, wrote this book as a memoir recounting the effect of addiction on a family. You may remember much news coverage of the Rausing family, heirs to the Tetrapak fortune.  A tragedy occurred in summer 2012, when the body of Eva, the wife of Hans K Rausing was found in their London house. Hans, a drug addict, had hidden the body for some weeks.

It has been a controversial book in the extreme. I have to say, I didn’t feel easy being privy to this family’s trauma. From a medical point of view the cyclical nature of their addiction came across clearly, but the rest felt intrusive at times. Of course you may say, given the column inches of speculation and reporting of the kind that never forgets to mention the family’s billions, that it is morally right that several years later, Sigrid has written her side of the story.

The Oversexed Thriller

The middle part of a thriller trilogy is difficult. I’d really enjoyed reading Mad by Chloe Esposito, but when it came to the sequel Bad (reviewed here ). I was just bored – especially by the gratuitous sex that made up a large part of the book. Nuff said.  Will I read the final part?  I really don’t know if I can be bothered.

 


What have been your reading disappointments this year?  Do tell…

4 thoughts on “Year End Review #2: The Disappointments

  1. Café Society says:

    My most recent disappointment has been Tana French’s stand-alone novel ‘The Wych Elm’ which I have now tried twice to read and simple can’t get interested in. I love her Dublin Murder Squad books, but this has defeated me.

    • AnnaBookBel says:

      There has been a lot of excitement over The Wych Elm hasn’t there? Hmm! However, I have the 2nd and 3rd Dublin Murder Squad books now – I shall read them first.

  2. Cathy746books says:

    I was a little disappointed with Normal People this year – it’s a fine book, but I think it has been massively over praised and over hyped (although I am in the minority there!). Mayhem sounds interesting, but, as you say, is maybe a bit too intrusive to be comfortable with.

    • AnnaBookBel says:

      It’s still on my bedside pile – waiting for me to find the right time to read it. I keep picking it out and then putting it back again.

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