Top Ten Tuesdays (maybe I don't want to read...)

This week's topic: Top Ten Books I'm Not Sure I Want To Read

My TBR is a constantly evolving thing. The longer a book stays on the list, the less likely I am to read it. And if I buy a book cheaply in a used book store—more for the price than because I’ve been dying to read it—the less interest I’ll have in getting to it. The darker a book’s subject matter, the less likely I am to want to pursue it. And of course, the worse the reviews, the less likely I am to pick the book up. The following ten books fall into these categories. It doesn’t mean I’ll never read them, but for now they’ve fallen to the bottom of the pile.

 

The Mockingbird Next Door: Life with Harper Lee, Marja Mills

I was SO excited for this book, but shortly after its release I started hearing rumblings that it was not quite the authorized biography the author makes it out to be. It seems like an invasion of Harper Lee’s privacy if it is a sham.

Hard Choices, Hillary Clinton

Now, I have no great affinity for Hillary Clinton, but I love a good, thick political memoir. But this book has done so poorly, I’ve lost interest.

The Help, Kathryn Stockett

I feel like I “should” read this book, but I have very little interest in it. The movie was fine, but I don’t think I’d ever watch it again. Too much strife for me. When I think of this book, all I think about is that pie, and I have no interest in reading about how it was made.

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

I’ve read several glowing reviews of this book, and I bought a nice cheap copy recently thinking I’d read it someday, but I don’t know if that will be any time soon. I don’t know if I can handle 600 pages of fraught tension.

The Violinist’s Thumb, Sam Kean

I was so very excited to read this book and his The Disappearing Spoon, but I couldn’t get past page 70 in Disappearing Spoon before throwing in the towel. It’s not a science book for the casual science reader, which I mistakenly thought it was based on reviews. And although I always preferred biology to chemistry, if Violinist’s Thumb is anything like the chemistry one, no thanks.

Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë

I just don’t know if I’ll ever be able to read this book. I made the mistake of watching a movie adaptation of it recently, and it makes me want to read the book less. Too dark, too depressing.

Lucky Man: A Memoir, Michael J. Fox
I’ve been intending to read this book since it came out in 2002. But in the 12 years since its publication, I’ve lived the horror of Parkinson’s second-hand, and I don’t think I could stomach reading about it, too.

The Assassination of the Archduke: Sarajevo 1914 and the Romance that Changed the World, Greg King, Sue Woolmans

For some reason I lost all interest in this one. I went from an excitedly level of 10 to a level of 1 kind of overnight. Can’t explain why.

The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, Alexander McCall Smith

See above. I think it has something to do with its African setting. I just seem to have very little interest in Africa as a setting. Also, it bothers me how prolific the man is. It’s probably unfair, but the thought nags me: Can anyone who writes that much be good?

Orange Is the New Black, Piper Kerman

I have a strong feeling I won’t like the narrator much, and that is a huge turn off. But who knows, I might read it yet.