The Witches of Eastwick

I so wanted to like John Updike's book, but I'm afraid that here was another book that I simply couldn't finish... The story of the three divorced witches living in a small Rhode Island town and what happens when a more powerful magus than them moves in close by just didn't grab me. I managed 100 pages but only because I forced myself - even after 50 I could see that I didn't like Updike's style, nor did I care about the characters at all.

I've been very lucky with my reading choices this year and it's rare that I don't finish a book, but when I found I was making excuses not to read, I had to stop this and pick up something else... I'm willing to watch the film though, it's so famous that I'm curious.

Did any of you read it and like it?

Challenges: A-Z Challenge, Book to Movie Challenge, Lit Flicks Challenge

The American Boy

Unfortunately, I had to give up on Andrew Taylor's The American Boy, an audiobook I'd been listening to while on the treadmill at the gym. It was getting so incredibly slow that it made me avoid the gym. And we can't have that.

I've tried reading other book in this style - this London of the 19th century dark novel style. I haven't liked them either, I just find that this type of story really drags. The reviews seem to all be good so maybe this was just better suited to reading than listening, I don't know. All I do know is that I really wanted to finish it, but only got half way. I now started listening to Bill Bryson's The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid and my love of the treadmill has suddenly returned. Life's too short to read/listen to things I'm not enjoying!

Have you read this? What did you think?

Challenges: A-Z Challenge, Historical Fiction Reading Challenge