Craig has given up reading the following:
1/24/2015
Robogenesis
I got about a third the way through this book. I didn’t like where it was going. The writing’s not bad, and it is a sequel to “Robotapocolypse” which I did like. But with too much fantasy and not enough science, I decided to cut my loses.
approximately 120/384 pages
10/30/2013
This House of Sky: Landscapes of a Western Mind
I gave up on the book 30% of the way through when I realized I wasn’t getting anything out of it. The story wasn’t as interesting. I hoped it would be similar to our family’s story, but it wasn’t. The writing wasn’t very good. Not bad but rather dry. The final blow- I didn’t care about the characters.
102/339 pages
07/20/2012
Black April: The Fall of South Vietnam, 1973-75
Although I was interested in this book, I was never planning on reading the entire book. Much of what Kissinger says in his book, “Ending The Vietnam War,” is confirmed by Veith… from the North Vietnam government!
North Vietnam never had any interest in peace and used the Paris Accords to give themselves time to rebuild and isolate South Vietnam. They got a lot of help from the Democrats in Congress and the Communist stooges in the anti-war movement in the US and worldwide.
Most of the book deals with the military battles as South Vietnam collapses. It’s hard to fight when you have no bullets.
I got this book from the library, and some jackass managed to get oily food stains in the pages- gross.
114/499 pages
I have some long quotes from the beginning of the book (the introduction) that gives a good overview of the book.
11/20/2011
The Dreaming Void by Peter F. Hamilton. I’m 40% through this book. I’m not impressed by the plot so far and have no interest in the characters. I’m giving up on this book and the trilogy. 234/608
7/13/2010
The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos, by Brian Greene. I decide to give up on this book 40% of the way in. I realize I’m getting very little out of this book. It is fascinating in an abstract way, but I want more from my science read. This book actually needs more math (not that I could follow it). Greene tries to explain multiple dimensions, multiple universes, and other strange outcomes from String Theory. They are mathematical artifacts that don’t have real world examples. The analogies he uses are not working for me. Because it is on the Kindle, I may come back to it from time to time. I’m curious how the Kindle will change the way I deal with abandoned books. 150/384
9/6/2010
Helen Of Troy by Margaret George. It is an odd feeling to be reading a book and thinking about something else. It is a trick and not a very good one as one doesn’t remember anything one has read. This happened while reading Helen Of Troy. I put the book down. I would try again later. It happened three times and I have officially given up on the book. There doesn’t seem to be anything odd about the book. It reads fine, the characters are developed, and the story should be interesting. I’ve read two other Margaret George books so I’ve enjoyed her fiction in the past. There are plenty other books to read no sense forcing myself into this one. 30/606
5/12/2010
Guard Of Honor by James Gould Cozzens takes place at a Florida Army Air Base during three days in September of 1943. The book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1949 but doesn’t deserve it. The writing is dense with complex sentence structures with multiple completing plot threads.
By page 180 of 631 I decide to stop torturing myself. I did find the characters interesting. The book works as a slice of life, but that’s not what I’m looking for in a WWII novel. I don’t recommend this book, and looking at the dates on the check out card one can see it fell out of fashion: 1950, 1951, 1954, 1954, 1954, 1957, 1959, 1959, 1961, 1963, 1966, 1966, 1968, 1986, 2010 (me). I wonder if it won the Pulitzer due to post war patriotism or did Cozzens impress the judges with his complex sentences? 180/631
1/12/2010
Pride And Prejudice And Zombies co-written by Seth Grahame-Smith. Ha ha ha… zombies in a Jane Austen book, but once you get over that one joke it doesn’t seem to go anywhere. The zombies just get in the way. 36/317
1/5/2010
Idlewild by Nick Sagan – I gave up on this book. I was put off by the fantasy crutch of ‘Virtual Reality’. The writing wasn’t bad- it was easy to read, but I didn’t care for the characters. I might have finished this book as it is short but there are two sequels. 85/275
