Friday, December 25, 2009

Unfinished Friday


My unfinished pick this week is Victor Erofeyev's book of short stories, Life with an Idiot. I picked it up on a bargain table on a trip to Chicago; I'm always interested to read contemporary Russian literature so naturally it caught my eye. I got through the first story and put it down- it was weird and violent and frankly distasteful. I read the extensive footnotes at the back and I gather it was supposed to be some kind of political allegory but I like my art fiction a little less, well, gross, so this one didn't work for me! But I'm not sorry I tried. That's the thing- even when a book really bombs for me, I'm never sorry I tried!

So do you have a book you haven't finished that you'd like to tell us about?

I know most of us endeavor to finish everything we read, but we don't have to, and sometimes it's impossible- it just doesn't work for us, for one reason or another. But it's still possible to get some mileage out of that work for your blog- by sharing it with us here on Fridays!

So comment below if you have an unfinished find to tell us about and we'll visit and comment on each others' posts, just like we do on Musing Mondays and Waiting on Wednesdays and all those other great bookish memes. Feel free to use the graphic I made as well.

7 comments:

bermudaonion said...

Too bad that didn't work - the title is great! Merry Christmas!

fredricktoo said...

I can't finish The Brothers Karamazov this year. I put it down to read Infinite Jest and DeLillo's Underworld. I'll try again in 10' but I'll probably finish Joseph Frank's 5 volume biography of Dostoevsky before.

rhapsodyinbooks said...

Love hearing about books I can avoid!

Merry Christmas Day!!!

Harvee said...

I have a half-dozen half-read books but I plan to finish them. Just don't have the time or persistence to read one book at a time.

Alexia561 said...

Sorry this one didn't work for you, as it sounded interesting. I'm on a roll and still liking all of my recent books! (knock wood)Hope your book-luck turns around soon! :)

Serena said...

too bad this one didn't work out. it sounds like it has an interesting premise.

Zibilee said...

Sorry this book wasn't what you thought it would be. My last unfinished read came a few months ago. It was Narcissus and Goldmund by Herman Hesse, and it was frankly awful. There was just so much ridiculousness weaving through the plot that I couldn't stand it. Definitely one to stay away from!