David Long's The Inhabited World hooked me with its promise of a ghostly main character. Sadly, it did not deliver--not even in the Lovely Bones sort of way either. Granted, I didn't really think the Lovely Bones was that great, but it was gripping. I blazed through Sebold's novel, fascinated by the gritty details of the tragedy and then the raw descriptions of the aftermath.
The Inhabited World offered nothing exciting. It started off okay and then just deteriorated. I found myself skimming whole pages and telling myself not to give up. I forced myself to finish this one. Now I sit here typing this, totally unsatisfied with my last read and I remember now that isn't this supposed to be the year of good books? What do you do when you start a really bad one? Should you jump book like you would jump a sinking ship? I was more than halfway through when I realized the book I held in my hands was a dud and I guess I just wanted to add the eleventh notch to my 2008 reading belt.
So do I make a promise to myself to not finish books that suck? Do I allow myself to quit and not feel reader's remorse? Perhaps the reader's remorse is worse when you finish a book that sucks and know you wasted precious time reading a bad one when you could be enjoying yourself with something that is actually quality. Here's to no more crappy books.
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