Comments on: The Secret History of Moscow by Ekaterina Sedia

By: Quenby (hikaruthedragon)

Quenby (hikaruthedragon) — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:45:57 +0000

You were nice enough to leave a comment on my blog so I popped over here to check out yours (You liked my review of Requiem For the Sun by Elizabeth Haydon…thanks!
I like your reviews too.)
I don’t finish books I don’t like either. I give a book about 50 pages, give or take, but if it doesn’t catch my interest by then, it is gone. I have too many other books to read, too many other fun things to do with my limited free time. I read for pleasure; it shouldn’t be like swallowing nasty medicine. As you said, life is too short.

By: qugrainne

qugrainne — Wed, 14 May 2008 00:45:56 +0000

Thanks, Lady Blue, for your support and encouragement! I think I just don’t have the patience anymore for Russian novels. Maybe in another life… I haven’t read Anna Karenina either - shhhh - don’t tell anyone.

Becky, I appreciate your agreement with me - it certainly is all just opinion. One man’s garbage etc etc etc. I hope someday, when I am published, everyone treats me with kid gloves!!

By: Wonders Never Cease

Wonders Never Cease — Tue, 13 May 2008 12:30:11 +0000

What a thoughtful post. I have not read the book, so I can’t comment on it, but I can say how great I think it is that you write about the book so carefully. I think that is sadly missing in today’s book world. People are very quick to blast their opinions around and make sweeping statements about whether a book is trash or treasure, when theirs is really just their own opinion.
So yey, you! And very kind of you to share the website. Thank you!
Becky

By: the blue bicycle

the blue bicycle — Tue, 13 May 2008 10:55:34 +0000

Hello dearest qugrainne,

I must admit - my shelves are littered with rejects …. for instance, as much as I tried (over half way through) - I just could not complete Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things ….

and, (a collective gasp here) - I tried, REALLY TRIED, to read Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina .. but alas. I finally stuck it on a shelf. At least it makes me ‘appear’ to be well-read and erudite - haha.

One book that I was lost through most of it was Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita …
trying to keep up with all the characters, story lines and symbolism …. but I had a dear russian friend in our book club, and this was her favorite book. Most of the club members gave up - but I held in there. She and I had a lovely discourse on the work - and I learned so much more from her point of view. It was one of those ‘blech’ books - but turned into a rare gem. Not that I would go around and recommend it to everyone - this one calls for perseverance …and a native russian to help!

Kudos to you for being honest enough to share your opinion. That is what makes human interactions so exciting: learning from one another. I know in such a short time, you have taught me much already.

xoxo
lady blue

By: Carl V.

Carl V. — Mon, 12 May 2008 15:24:47 +0000

I don’t know about the ‘dolt’ thing but I certainly agree that I have come across books that I really think that I ’should’ like but just don’t click with me. I think that has as much to do with my mood at the time of reading them as with the book itself. If I put a book down I generally hope that at some point I’ll come back to it and it will click with me. I too don’t like giving up on books, but sometimes it has to be done. Time is too precious.

By: qugrainne

qugrainne — Sun, 11 May 2008 14:53:26 +0000

Well Nymeth, that just reiterates my point that bad books don’t get published, there are just different opinions! Thanks for checking back with me.

I can understand your distaste, Vincent Levine. I do not remember the context of the word, but apparently you did not find the author sensitive to the power of the word’s offensiveness. I am sorry I was not more sensitive to it. It will not, in future, stop me from reading something I have decided to read, but I will most certainly be more aware of the word’s rudeness. Thank you.

Well, TJ, I have to admit it wasn’t the Challenge that kept me going. I have dropped two books from my list because I thought they were “blech” (your word) by page three. I kept going with this one because I thought I should like it, and I was ….. thickheaded for being irritated by the Russian history aspect. Then I remembered I got an F (yes, an F) in Russian history my third year of college. I loved Dostoevsky (I guess his angst meshed well with mine) but just couldn’t wrap my brain around all of the politics. Oh well. I guess once a dolt, always a dolt.

By: toujoursjacques

toujoursjacques — Sun, 11 May 2008 01:36:28 +0000

I think it’s perfectly okay and sometimes quite necessary not to finish books, but I applaud you for sticking with this one for your challenge. I agree 100% with your reading philosophy—with the way you value your reading time enough to say “no” to books that might not be the best use of that precious time. TJ

By: Vincent Levine

Vincent Levine — Sun, 11 May 2008 01:29:04 +0000

After reading a few pages in a bookstore and encountering the word “cripple”, I put the book down.

By: Nymeth

Nymeth — Sat, 10 May 2008 14:14:59 +0000

I’m sorry that this one didn’t work for you. “One big problem was I could not become fond of any of the characters.” I have to admit that I had this problem as well, even though I did enjoy the book overall. I didn’t much care about the characters, but there was enough going on in other areas to keep me happy.

By: qugrainne

qugrainne — Sat, 10 May 2008 13:19:15 +0000

I wouldn’t have finished it only because it was on my list, really. It took a combination of things to keep me plugging away. Have you ever read a book that you couldn’t get into, but kept saying to yourself, “I really should like this. I think, around the next corner, I am going to like this…. I really should like this.”

Well, not all that much time gone, anyway. And Sedia is a beautiful writer - maybe her next book will hook me. I certainly would give it a try.