Junk or Funk? and Get'n Goofy with the Goils!

I decided to give up on The God of Small Things. And start reading a book I had picked up at the library. It is a mystery set during the time of Arthur Conan Doyle. And is in fact about him and how Sherlock Holmes came to be. It sounded like a good read, the opening pages seemed to say it would be a good read but I found myself not having the slightest bit of interest in the story.

So then I got to wondering what was going on. It’s such a rare thing for me to have two duds in a row. And the more I sat and thought about it the more I can’t classify this new mystery as a dud. It’s a fast and easy read so far. So what’s up? Am I just in a book funk.

Well, for me there is a pretty easy way to check. I have a handful of authors that can not write a bad book. So this morning I grabbed the next book in a series I have been enjoying. And wouldn’t you know it, I was happily reading along. No funk. So, either my mood is just not right for these books or these books are just not right for me. I always try to keep in mind that there are millions and millions of books out there waiting to be read. Why slow myself down on ones that just aren’t clicking.

But thinking that way opens up another can of worms. My personality doesn’t let me just give up on something. I will read a book all the way through just to confirm that it was indeed crap. Or at least not a book I personally liked. My first example of reading for torture was a book called Smila’s Sense of Snow. It got rave reviews. Everyone had to read it. So, being the good little literary sheep I picked it up. But I never liked it. Not from page one through page whatever at the end. I actually hated the book. But I kept reading hoping to discover what makes it so great.

On the flip side of that coin was Stephen Kings The Stand. I tried reading it when it first came out and I gave up after page 10 or so. It was so mentally graphically disgusting I just couldn’t do it. So I shelved it. Then umpteen years later he came out with an expanded version. And I decided to give it a second try. And I LOVED the book. I couldn’t get enough of it. It comes in at over a 1000 pages and I had no problem whipping right through. To this day it’s still a favorite of mine.

I guess what it boils down to is I worry I am missing something wonderful. So I keep reading. The most annoying part of the whole thing is that I think about the book I put down. Like defeat in battle I go over what I might have done “wrong”.

And this just sounds silly to me. I shouldn’t CARE if I give up on a book. It’s just a freak’n book. My life will not end because I didn’t read it.

Argh………………………..

And now for something a little fun.

It was girls night at the mall.

Girl J’s daughter and I had some fun with the camera. A couple of the girls were trying on clothes so we sat in the dressing room on the floor and got goofy. Then Lil’Girl A got goofy with her mom.

We gave our fashion opinions to Girl C and Girl S. And then a few women that were trying on clothes alone actually came out of their dressing rooms and asked for our feedback. I think we could find a job in there somewhere. Just lounge around in fitting rooms and encourage people to buy. We’d be so freak’n good at it. We’re honest about our feedback. So if something doesn’t look good we tell the person. But we also make suggestions. And help them find things that might look better. Or colors. Or whatever. It’s actually a lot of fun.

So here you go: Goofy Pictures.