Failure
When it comes to books, if I start reading something it gets finished. I can count any exceptions on one hand, and they were all years and years ago when I had huge piles of discards from the library available at every turn. Heck, once I was reading a book I borrowed off a friend's shelf when I was on a trip and didn't finish it. The day I got home I got it from the library and finished it off.
This time, I finally met my match. I brought Infinite Jest with me to Philadelphia and read a good 200 pages (about 1/5 of the book) on my snow day. Since then, without the enforced "I have nothing to do" of a travel day I made very little progress. The prose is dense; it's a novel but it takes significant effort to read, even more so than Moby Dick because it doesn't have the poetic edge.
I must have picked this book up a dozen times since I returned from Philadelphia, but on none of those attempts did I get more than 20 pages farther. Finally, I ran out of library renewals and had to admit defeat. I thought about writing down the page number and pickup from where I got stuck, but there was enough detail in what I had finished that I think will end up being necessary to re-read it all the next time I try again.
So, note the date. Today, cynic51 had to put down a book, and he wasn't motivated to pick it up again as soon as possible.
This time, I finally met my match. I brought Infinite Jest with me to Philadelphia and read a good 200 pages (about 1/5 of the book) on my snow day. Since then, without the enforced "I have nothing to do" of a travel day I made very little progress. The prose is dense; it's a novel but it takes significant effort to read, even more so than Moby Dick because it doesn't have the poetic edge.
I must have picked this book up a dozen times since I returned from Philadelphia, but on none of those attempts did I get more than 20 pages farther. Finally, I ran out of library renewals and had to admit defeat. I thought about writing down the page number and pickup from where I got stuck, but there was enough detail in what I had finished that I think will end up being necessary to re-read it all the next time I try again.
So, note the date. Today, cynic51 had to put down a book, and he wasn't motivated to pick it up again as soon as possible.