Bad Books

I just finished two books that I didn't like. Cyprus Revisited was one that Adrienne found in anticipation of our stop in Cyprus on our last cruise. It was awful. It started with a long, long history lesson. Now, don't get me wrong, I love a good historical novel, but in the good ones the action takes place within the history. In this one they disguised the history as dialogue, "So Professor, tell me everything you know about Cypriot history. OK....." It got a little better when they got into the story of a current revolution going on, but then they had apparently used up their page allotment and ended the book in an absurd manner in about two pages.

The other book was Tree of Smoke, a war novel. Why, on earth did I think I would suddenly enjoy a war novel? I have never enjoyed a war novel in the past. My record still stands.

I can't believe I kept reading. I talked about this with Adrienne a few weeks ago. She said she always keeps reading in case it gets better. I have cut my losses before (I can probably count the books on one hand) and stopped reading. I am not sure why I kept going, but I did, and I am not the better person for it.

The two I just started are very good so far. Of course, it could just be the contrast effect.