S. Worthen | Weblog

I've never even started Proust (though I've been thinking of doing so in honour of my trip to Paris). I can say proudly that I've read Ulysses all the way through. Twice. But oursin reminded me that Life of Pi was another that I gave up on - that came under the category of "insufferable smugness of narrative voice" as reason for leaving. I have absolutely no compunction about abandoning things if they are boring or just plain awful or distasteful in some other way. Another that comes to mind is the Gap series by Stephen Donaldson. I managed to put up with Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, but I could not bear the cruelty and twisted sexuality in that other series, even though reliable people told me it got better.