My spouse and I gave ourselves a reading challenge this year. Categories include different genres of fiction, non-fiction titles on a wide range of topics, and some categories based on the length of the book.
I finally finished “A Clash of Kings” this week, which is my 900+ page title. It took me about three weeks to get through it, but the length of the book wasn’t the problem. I’m the kind of reader who needs to find at least one sympathetic character in a novel to enjoy it.
I think it hearkens back to my reading habits as a child, when books were an escape. We lived in a fairly isolated area and most of our neighbors’ children were boys a little younger than me. We played together a bit, but I often wasn’t welcome in their games. Reading became a way to have adventures, and I found that characters in my books often felt like real people.
The second title in the Song of Ice and Fire series didn’t have many characters that I liked or wanted to identify with, so I didn’t feel compelled to keep reading the book. I forced myself to power through it, but I don’t think I’ll read any more in the series.
Ruth F. Simon 