Reading Challenge Update

So I have always loved reading. I used to get in trouble for reading "too much" (under my sheets when I was supposed to be sleeping, in the bathroom at school, etc). And in all my years of reading, I don't know that I have ever stopped reading a book because I didn't like the way it was going. I always thought, "Oh, it is bound to get better." Plus, I just HAD TO KNOW if it got better or not. I couldn't deal with not knowing.

This week was the first time that I know of that I have stopped reading a book for that reason. It was Real Life and Liars. It started out with the main character smoking weed, which is not terrible to read about, but my first thought was, "Ok, if this is in the first few pages, what is next?!" So I kept reading and there is a character who sounds like she wants to have an affair and it seems like the author is justifying it because she is no longer in love with her husband, nor he with her. And then the last straw was something that I don't even want to write on here because I was so shocked by it! And this was only in the first 50 or so pages!

So I was disappointed in the book, to say the least. It could have ended up being a fantastic book, but I'll never know, and honestly, weirdly, I don't even care. I hate that books used to be the "safe" option, when there was so much yucky stuff on TV, and now I feel like my mind has been violated! I hate that it seems like our society doesn't feel like a tv show, movie, and now BOOK, is not successful or something unless it has a sex scene in it! Yuck.

I also finished Odd Mom Out, which was...interesting. At some times I felt like the author was saying that stay at home moms are really just a bunch of losers who have nothing better to do than go to country clubs and spas. Pretty sure I work just as hard as women in the work force! Yes, I sometimes watch TV while I do it, but I hate that I am being made to feel like my "job" means nothing.

And then to top it off, after the author gets you hooked on the book, like a couple of hundred pages in, there are two or so random scenes where I felt completely awkward reading! I actually showed them to James cuz I all of a sudden felt like I was reading a dirty book! She did not go into a huge amount of detail, and it was nowhere near as bad as the previously mentioned book, but still a bit unnecessary.

Alrighty, so I just had to share and vent about my reading experience thus far! On the plus side, I am loving Pride and Prejudice, and would love to read more Austen! I thought it would be a lot harder to understand (I have little patience for "thees" and "thous" :)) and I love that Austen makes her characters very likeable.

I also took an unintentional break from my goals of this challenge (reading the Bible, reading to Gracie and reading at least 10 minutes a day) because I was sick, then Gracie got sick, then we were both sick, then teeth came in, then I got sick again. Now I am finally feeling better, teeth are in and dirty books are back at the library, so hoping to start up again soon!

Okay, this was a long post, much longer than I intended it to be! So congrats for making it to the end! 2 bucky beaver points for YOU!