New book motto

"Never read anything but what you like." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

This is my new reading motto.  Since I have 600+ titles on my to-read list, I really don't have time to waste reading a book I don't enjoy.  The problem is that I feel obligated, once I start, to finish it.  But the book that convinced me to use this new motto is "Infernal Devices" by K.W. Jeter.  I started it, it was interesting, but then I got distracted.  It sat on my currently-reading list for weeks while I wasn't currently reading it.  I finally went back to it and couldn't remember what was going on and had to start over.  Reading this book, I now know that I like books with plotlines, a sense of direction, even if you don't know what will happen, you at least have an idea.  This book does not have one.  I guess it is so far outside my comfort zone that I just couldn't follow.  I got to the end of the second part feeling interested because some of the mysteries had been answered.  And then I was presented with a blank page and a 'Part Three' title page.  And that's when my interest fizzled out.  If the next page had been a new chapter, I would have kept on reading.  But for there to be such a sharp separation between what I had just read and what I was about to read, I just couldn't muster enough interest and motivation to keep going.  I feel bad that I made it so close without finishing.  I do.  Mostly because this is considered a steampunk classic.  It's not that I don't like steampunk.  I just couldn't find any characters worth caring for, even the main character.  But as Nancy Pearl said in one of her radio shows, (and here I paraphrase) guilt has no place in reading.  I will endeavour to stand by that, and my new motto.

Read on,
Paula