Years ago one of the members in my book group mentioned an article that she had read about “divorcing a book”. If you don’t like it after 50 or so pages, you give up on it. Prior to that conversation, I had never done that before.. not without a lot of guilt. Well today I saw a similar post over at Reading Group Guides. Click here for the Reading Group Guides post and click here for the NY Times Divorce That Book article.
I have to say that over the years I have divorced many a book. I’ll admit it, I still feel a little guilty for doing it but with the amount of time I have to read, I start to resent the book if it is not worthy of my attention. Here are some books that I divorced over the years.
Catch-22, by Joseph Heller
*I know it’s a classic, but I would rather stick a pin in my eye than try this one again.
The English Patient, by Michael Ondaatje
*I simply did not care about these people.. did not care for the movie either.
The Tortilla Curtain, by T. Coraghessan Boyle
*I gave this one more than one chance..even tried it as an audio book and it pained me physically to read it or listen to it. I don’t really know why.. seemed to be well written but the story did not interest me.
A Million Little Pieces, by James Frey
*After two chapters of this, I felt as if “I” needed drugs just to get through it. This was before the big Oprah scandle too.
What books have you divorced?
Book Chatter 
Up until reading Laura Miller’s “Divorce That Book” I had never abandoned a book. I may have had an unfinished book sitting on my nightstand for five years, but I was still “reading” it if I had it there. I found that article immensely freeing. Instead of guilt I was empowered with the idea that my time was valuable and freed from the burden I’d felt that since I had invested time in a book whether I liked it or not I had to make it pay off in the end, which simply couldn’t happen with every book. Although I have no guilt about abandoning books, it doesn’t mean I do it carelessly or frequently. It would be rare for me to pick up a book randomly. I do a lot of research and rely on recommendations from people who have a like interest in books, so many books never make it through the front door, and those I do select are books I usually want to finish. I give a book a fighting chance–usually over 100 pages and more if I have some hope. The very first book I abandoned was the book I was reading when I read Laura Miller’s article in May 2004: I Should be Extremely Happy in Your Company by Brian Hall. Sorry, Tina. Ironically, it was one you suggested. It was the only book I abandoned that year, and then one the next year, and three the year after that. Last year I abandoned 7 out of 65 books I read, and I was wondering if the books were getting worse or I was getting more selective, but so far this year I’ve finished every book I’ve started (24). I do occasionally wonder if a book I’ve abandoned could’ve been well-loved if I had stuck with it or read it at a different time. It’s certainly happened. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy was one I’d started and put down for five years before my book group selected it, and then I had to start it and restart it at least four times before I managed to make it to the end. And then what did I do? I turned back to the first page and read it from cover to cover again because I found it to be one of the best books I’d ever read. Out of your abandoned books, I was able to make it through The English Patient, but only after pausing halfway through to watch the movie because I couldn’t understand anything that was happening. I definitely consider it one of the most difficult books I’ve read. Tortilla Curtain I thought was pretty good. Here are some of the books I’ve abandoned. If you know one to be a diamond in the rough let me know and maybe I’ll give it another chance: The Egyptologist by Arthur Phillips; When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka; Desert Queen by Janet Wallach; An Intimate History of Humanity by Theodore Zeldin.
I abandon books left and right these days! Life’s too short and there are far too many books in my house to waste time on ones that I can’t seem to get interested in. The only time I make exceptions is when I’ve committed to writing a review of something that I’m not enjoying which gives rise to the “should have divorced” category. Some books I’ve divorced semi-recently – The Alienist by Caleb Carr (the mystery divorce!), Of Human Bondage by Maugham (the classic divorce!), The Wild Trees by Richard Preston (the non-fiction divorce!), Alentejo Blue by Monica Ali (the “sophomore slump” divorce!).
Kristine – Totally forgot about I Could Be Extremely Happy. Too funny. I just went to Amazon to read up on it and I remember liking it then, but probably would not like it now!Megan.. I had a hard time getting into The Alienist but plowed ahead with it and was surprised as how much I liked it. I did not like Carr’s second book so much though.
Hi Ti! You just won a book over at my blog – come on over and check out < HREF="http://age30books.blogspot.com/2008/06/contest-winners.html" REL="nofollow">the post<>. 🙂