ten books i almost put down but didn't

Hello again, greetings, hey, and thanks for coming by for Top Ten Tuesday with The Broke and the Bookish here at the Starch.  Sheba's snoozing on the couch, so make yourself at home, step right up and stay a while.

I'm not the kind of person that will never.ever.ever put down a book.  It has happened many times.  Sometimes it's permanent, other times it means I pick it up a couple of months later.  While it can be a sign that I can't get with the book or writing or whatever, it's not always the case.  Sometimes the books are fantastic but life gets crazy.  I believe it's worth it, on certain occasions, to put the book down and do something better with your day.  When I'm reading for pleasure, it shouldn't feel like I'm forcing myself through it - which is what made this prompt for Top Ten Tuesday challenging.  Most books I've almost put down I...actually do put down.  So here goes - this week's prompt reimagined.  Get your reimagining goggles ready.

Top Ten Books I almost put down and then...did:

The Razor's Edge by Somerset Maugham.  I loved this one after I got into it.  I dog-eared and underlined and bookmarked and then...didn't find myself picking it up again.

The Moon is Down by John Steinbeck.  One I would love to finish - Steinbeck is a big favorite of mine.

Boychicks in the Hood: Travels in the Hasidic Underground by Robert Eisenberg.  After going through the sections on Poland and Ukraine, things got pretty existentially banal for me.  Dim and grim on the book review scale.

Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak.  I actually had one (terrifying) professor call me out when I commented in an off-handed way that I had once tried and then stopped reading it.  "What do you mean, you 'stopped reading' DOCTOR Zhivago...? Who can't get through Doctor Zhivago?" I think were her exact words.  I know.  Couldn't do it.  Judge away.

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.  I had heard so many great things about this from every single person I had spoken to about it, both as an example of C.S. Lewis at his finest and as a theological book.  I read pieces of it when I worked in the library in college, and then...I think I had too many things to read that were academic, and so shelved it in favor of fiction.

The Once and Future King by T. H. White.  This one was a gift from my mom.  I think the reason I couldn't get far enough into it was stylistic - maybe I was too young.  Most of what I remember is reading the thing about the hawk...oh, seventeen times.  I have heard it is a terrific series, so I'll have to revisit it.

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami.  I found it intriguing, and I think if I had gotten the first book and worked through it as a series I may have found it doable, but I had the colossal tome of all in one.  I managed about 300 pages before stopping.

Interview With the Vampire by Anne Rice.  Another one my mother got for me as a present (...terrible daughter alert) which I really thought I'd love - and did love the first parts, but then...  I was in high school and probably couldn't carry it with me and didn't get wrapped up enough to finish it.

The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver.  Like 1Q84, a book I had picked up and liked reading - I made it through a considerably large chunk of the book and then gave up.  They both were with me around the time I was getting ready to make an international move, so that may have had something to do with why they got put down.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.  Another gift - one day I will take it with me on a trip and get through it (at least the first).


What about you? Are you the type of reader to stick it out, or do you put them aside for later? Have you finished any of these books?

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