Unfinished

Today, I decided to take a break from the books I have finished and take a look at the novels I've currently left unfinished.  I have a small list of books which I haven't completed - books which I am uncertain I will ever complete now or in the future - or I haven't liked well enough to read from cover to cover, so they've been put aside, forgotten, or ignored.

And, now, they're here.

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www.booksamillion.com

Vellum by Hal Duncan

It's an interesting concept, a unique blend of myth interwoven with lore and magic and insanity.  The first couple of chapters are intriguing, being creatively disjointed and wildly reordered in the mind of the story's only first-person narrator; however, the novel keeps the same, disjointed style throughout, which makes it infinitely more confusing and infinitely less enjoyable.

It's especially frustrating when old familiar characters are overlapped with ancient Mesopotamian gods and reformed into new characters with similar faces, different names, and different histories.  As a side note, it's also intensely violent and riddled with gore.  Thus, between the confusion and the violence, Vellum is a hard novel to stomach let alone understand.

Which is why it remains unfinished on the shelf of my bookcase.

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www.booksamillion.com

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

A classic, I have no doubt.  From the few chapters I've read, the novel has a lovely cadence - a tempo that makes the reading of it almost poetic.  It's a beautiful story, well-written and detailed and enjoyable.  And, yet, I can't even force myself to slog through the rest of it.

I have no qualms about A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, I just can't seem to finish it.  I've tried, but I stop about three or four chapters into Francie's tale, put it aside, and promptly forget about it.

One day, I will finish it (and write about it).  Today, however, is just not that day, or so it would seem.

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www.harpercollins.com

A Ship Made of Paper by Scott Spencer

Not a bad novel by any means; but it just happens to be unappealing to me.  Perhaps, I've struggled with the pace of the novel - the slow, endless trudge through detail and script - or the languid build of the story as it limps to some sort of resolution I can't really foresee.  Either way, this novel just seems uninteresting to me.

I can't say I will ever finish this novel.  Although passably interesting to me, it's just never been able to keep my attention for more than a few pages at one time.  The characters, while sometimes intriguing, just aren't that endearing and the story remains unremarkable.

In short, I may never finish reading it.

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Undoubtedly, more will follow in later weeks.  More novels I haven't finished, or simply haven't enjoyed and haven't had the patience or fortitude to write a proper review.  So, make of them what you will - and voice your own opinions.

- The Scrivener