My reading didn’t start off as a bang this year, and I have to attribute that to my shortened journey to and from work ever since I had moved office. If you are a follower of this blog, you’d know I spend most of my reading time while I’m on commute. Besides the time saving issue, it is also good to find the time whip by quickly no matter how long the journey is, thus my 1-hour single trip always seems like a blink of an eye to me (unless I am in a rush.)
Anyway, I was saying that I only read three books thus far since the beginning of the year. In the past, the average number of books I read is one (sometimes two) book per week, but now it takes me about two weeks to complete a book. I don’t think it is a reading slump, just that I need more time to really sit down and read (I should probably cut down on the time I spend on the internet and also finding the time to read during my office lunch hour. I think the latter is tricky considering I need to find a balance between my reading and socialising with my coworkers. After all, lunch hour is the only time when we can really sit down and chit chat besides talking about office work, that is).
So as I said, the three books I read have been good. They are compelling, thought-provoking and one of them offers me great escapism through its beautiful story and not to mention the beautiful prose of the author. The Man from Saigon, the fourth book which I’m holding now is one of those books that attract me the moment I read its blurb when I picked it up from the library; I remember myself getting intrigued with the book because it has the Vietnam War setting and it reminds me a little of The Lotus Eaters. Unfortunately, I have to mark The Man from Saigon as a DNF book although I think it has a great premise about a female correspondent being held prisoner by the Vietcong during the Vietnam War. I tried giving it a second chance by reading a few more chapters, but regrettably it didn’t engage me as much as I felt there is a lack of emotional depth of the characters. I felt as if the emotions of Susan (the female correspondent) were being told to me by another third party as most of them are portrayed through her thoughts. There is nothing wrong with this and I understand each author has his/her writing style, however it doesn’t work well for me so that explains the DNF. That said, author Marti Liembach has written this book in a detailed manner and many readers had claimed they enjoyed this book the last time I checked on Amazon.
So do you have any book that marked as a DNF so far this year? What makes you marked a book as a DNF? Do share your thoughts with me as I'd love to hear them.
Last but not least, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Chinese New Year is just round the corner and I can’t wait for next week!
Anyway, I was saying that I only read three books thus far since the beginning of the year. In the past, the average number of books I read is one (sometimes two) book per week, but now it takes me about two weeks to complete a book. I don’t think it is a reading slump, just that I need more time to really sit down and read (I should probably cut down on the time I spend on the internet and also finding the time to read during my office lunch hour. I think the latter is tricky considering I need to find a balance between my reading and socialising with my coworkers. After all, lunch hour is the only time when we can really sit down and chit chat besides talking about office work, that is).
So as I said, the three books I read have been good. They are compelling, thought-provoking and one of them offers me great escapism through its beautiful story and not to mention the beautiful prose of the author. The Man from Saigon, the fourth book which I’m holding now is one of those books that attract me the moment I read its blurb when I picked it up from the library; I remember myself getting intrigued with the book because it has the Vietnam War setting and it reminds me a little of The Lotus Eaters. Unfortunately, I have to mark The Man from Saigon as a DNF book although I think it has a great premise about a female correspondent being held prisoner by the Vietcong during the Vietnam War. I tried giving it a second chance by reading a few more chapters, but regrettably it didn’t engage me as much as I felt there is a lack of emotional depth of the characters. I felt as if the emotions of Susan (the female correspondent) were being told to me by another third party as most of them are portrayed through her thoughts. There is nothing wrong with this and I understand each author has his/her writing style, however it doesn’t work well for me so that explains the DNF. That said, author Marti Liembach has written this book in a detailed manner and many readers had claimed they enjoyed this book the last time I checked on Amazon.
So do you have any book that marked as a DNF so far this year? What makes you marked a book as a DNF? Do share your thoughts with me as I'd love to hear them.
Last but not least, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Chinese New Year is just round the corner and I can’t wait for next week!