Last book I read.

One of the prompts on: http://nablopomo.blogher.com/ is what's the last book you read?

I actually bowed down to all the hype & reviews & recently found myself reading One Day. With the upcoming film being released & no end of magazine articles being written about the wonder of this one book, I thought ‘right that’s it I MUST read this book!’

So over the course of a few days or so I began reading it. At first I was gripped & thought ‘yep this is pretty good, now I understand all the hype.’ But further in I lost interest. It began to bore me.

I wanted to shake the male character & get him to realise what a shambles he had become. I couldn’t understand why his best friend couldn’t do the one thing I imagine every reader of this book has thought. ‘Kick him where it hurts & get him to wake up to the world.’ But no instead the female character – his best friend – leaves the friendship. I sat there thinking ‘hey that’s not meant to happen,’ these two people are the best of friends through thick & thin surely?

But I still carried on reading because I knew if every review had been praising One Day so much then it must be good. I plodded on, turning each new page but not really enjoying it. Why couldn’t I enjoy one of ‘the best books’ out there at the moment? I was baffled but knew I had to persevere to the end.

I felt disappointed when the two characters got together – yes we could all see that one coming. It didn’t surprise me enough. I wanted more as a reader. As I got closer to the end & reached the sad part, I actually found myself not crying – as was predicted by the reviews – instead I found myself putting my bookmark into the book & falling asleep!

Yes I fell asleep. I wondered if I missed something. Did I skip a few pages? Did I skim read over the words so that they didn’t affect me hard enough to produce tears? Am I that ‘hardened’ to sad endings that I can’t be bothered with them? No, no, no. I checked the first two – I hadn’t skipped pages & I hadn’t skimmed the words – I also know I’m not ‘hardened’ to sad endings as I nearly cried over Rise of the Planet of the Apes the other day in the cinema!

So maybe the book just didn’t float my boat enough to affect me in the same way it affected ‘millions’ of people who read One Day. I think that perhaps I just need sharper written books, ones that really draw me into the drama on the page.

So I’m now onto another new book...let’s hope this one keeps me reading for longer & that I don’t lose my faith in the written word.