I Confess...

I have a confession to make:  Last night I did something I haven't done in years, something very much out of character, and something that is both a little embarrassing and yet incredibly liberating.

I gave up on a book I was reading and set it aside unfinished.

I love books and I have always been a voracious reader. I can usually make it through a book in a week or so, reading only before I go to sleep.  And even if I don't love a book, I finish it.  I normally don't think I can fully form an opinion unless I digest the whole thing, and being an optimist, I'm always hoping that a slow book will get better as I go along.

Plus as a developing writer, I think I can at least learn something from every book.  It's been published, so it's successful at some level, and so there HAS to be some merit in it, right? 

But last night, a little more than halfway through, I gave up on Vernor Vinge's "Children of the Sky" (CotS).

I'm a science fiction fan, especially hard sci-fi, and I really, really enjoyed Vinge's "A Fire Upon the Deep" (FUtD), the award-winning 'Zones of Thought' novel that CotS was a direct sequel to.  That first book was sweeping in scope, had engrossing and innovative characters, a compelling plot, and I definitely enjoyed it.  I particularly liked the Tines, the dog-like race that only gains sentience when assembled into a cohesive pack of individual minds.

So I was really eager to read CotS because it's set in the same universe, has many of the same characters, and focuses on the Tines themselves.  But where FUtD pulled me along, CotS drags... and meanders...and wanders...and lacks any compelling plot at all that I was able to find.  The characters are wooden, the dialogue flat, the situations dull, and the book is severely overwritten.  Evidently Vinge and his publishers have decided that the best editing is no editing.  

I normally read every night and frequently have to be told by my loving and patient wife to put the book down, turn off the light, and go to sleep, but while reading CotS, I discovered that I was falling asleep after only a page or two, or not even bothering to pick it up many nights.  I realized I was actually starting to avoid the book because I knew it was going to be a chore to read and I was only keeping it on my nightstand because I didn't want to leave it unfinished.

So last night, I finally gave up, set CotS aside, and picked up the next novel in my "to read" queue.

In my less-than-perfect memory, I can only recall ONE other book that I've ever thrown in the towel on, and it was also a sequel to an earlier novel that I had enjoyed:  "Brother Odd" by Dean Koontz.  I really liked the first "Odd Thomas" novel, thought the second one ("Forever Odd") was ok, but just completely bogged down in the third book and couldn't go on any further.

I'm sure both of the novels I've quit on have their admirers, but for me...  I tried.  Really, I tried, but... shrug.

So I humbly confess, and throw myself on the mercy of the court of bloggish opinion -- please forgive me.

What about you?  Any novels that you've given up on reading halfway through?

===

Oh, and I have another entry in the 'Pirate Week' fun over at Tim Sevenhuysen's Fifty Word Stories.  This one is another fun, pun-rific, tale called "Arrrgh.  Maybe I should Join the Union".  

I invite you to read, rate and comment, if you're so inclined...  I always appreciate it!!!