Monday, December 18, 2006

Why do you bore me so, Mrs. Dalloway?

I tried reading Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. I really tried. I mean, I got two thirds of the way through before I gave up on it. And I rarely give up on stuff, be they films or books (TV series are a different story). I know it's a classic of English literature and all, but I found it to be mind numbingly boring. The last time I forced myself to pick up the book before calling it quits, I realized that I was not enjoying the experience one bit. It may have been foolish of me to not have finished it after reading so much, but the truth is doing so would have been perfunctory. I wouldn't have got much out of it, and what little I did take away would have seeped out of my brain moments after closing the book for the final time. Life's just too short. At least now, I'll remember it as one of those books I couldn't bring myself to finish. And next time, I won't read so much of a book that I find so painful to read.

3 comments:

sanity index said...

Heh. That's why I refuse to pick up books that are considers "classics" because some people some time ago thought stream of consciousness was a great way to write stories. Not after having the pleasure of being made to read James Joyce.

Life IS too short. There are many better authors and better books out there!

Antimatter said...

Yeah, which is why I've now adopted a "give up sooner rather than later" policy on books! :D I hope not to have to enforce it often though...

sanity index said...

Happy new year, BTW. :)