The books I haven't read

I'm fairly obstinate when it comes to books. Once I start a book I usually hang in until the end no matter how bad it gets. I was an English major so I pride myself on my good reading habits. And it just bothers me not to finish things.

So it's with not a little bit of shame that I've been watching N read The Cairo Trilogy every night before bed lately. I ordered the book a few years ago because I was interested in the subject matter: a Muslim family in Cairo during British occupation (and because the author
Naguib Mahfouz won the Nobel Prize). I spent a few weeks trying to get through it but I kept getting bogged down. After a couple months of picking it up and putting it down again I conceded defeat and moved on to something else. N seems to be enjoying it though.

A couple of years ago I watched the movie Master and Commander and really liked it so I picked up the book. I remember it being good but the sailing jargon and politics sort of lost me. I can't exactly remember why I stopped reading it but I want to finish it someday. The series is supposed to be fantastic.

And lastly, Middlemarch. Again, it's a really great book but I lost steam about a third of the way through. I think it was another case of right book, wrong time. I'm definitely going to pick it back up again.

Well, there you have it--a list of my weaknesses as a book lover.

How about you--are there any books you've started to read but couldn't quite finish?

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