Some books I have tried reading
That refuse to yield to my persistence
The writing does me in, the style
Or lack of it
And I find something better to do eventually
Keeping them aside to come back to
When there's a lean period.
Yet, paradoxically,
The thought of having to read them
Makes me want to go out and buy a new book.
Unread books cry out to me from my shelves. I buy very conservatively. Somehow it's better to return a library book unread! Which is what I did with Ulysses, after managing 7 chapters.
ReplyDeleteI've become a lot more profligate in my book-buying habits since I started working.
ReplyDeleteNever tried reading stuff like Ulysses because I'm pretty sure I won't be able to finish it. It's a lot easier to just know the gist of it. 90% (at least) of the people I will meet in my life will not have read it and 8% would have tried and failed or would not have made much sense of it anyway, so I can faff both sets of people without having to put in the effort to read the book. Wit hte remaining 2%, it gives me something to talk to them about.