I’m pretty much at a standstill in terms of reaching my 2013 reading goal of 45 books.  I’m in a slump.  I just can’t seem to find the right book to read.  The last time I finished a book was Novmeber 4.

That one was The Yard by Alex Grecian and it was great.  The first in a series about “The Murder Squad” this was a great murder mystery about the police force at Scotland Yarn in late Victorian England.  There is a new detective on the squad and the story also involves his attempts to fit in at a new workplace while working on solving the murder of one of their own.  Exciting and engaging, I listened to this one as opposed to reading it and the narrator was excellent.  At times, to warn you, there is a little bit of gore.  I was listening mostly in the car and would be tempted to cover my eyes.  Yes, even though I was listening – I guess in an attempt to not see what I was picturing.  Not good while driving.  To make up for my lack of being able to do that, sometimes I would plug one ear.  As if that would really make it any better either!  These parts are few and far between, so don’t let that deter you from the book.  I highly recommend it – you can get it on Amazon here:

Way before that, on September 28 (yes, I know the date – Goodreads helps with that) I started and didn’t finish Night Film: A Novel by Marisa Pessl.  I thought it was going to be a great book.  I heard about it on Books on the Nightstand and Michael Kindness made it sound so great and exciting, drawing you in immediately in the first chapter.  I agree that the first chapter was intriguing, and so was the beginning of the book.  Then, it just went downhill for me.  I would read a page at a time and fall asleep……. A mystery/thriller, I just couldn’t get into the story about the death of a woman who reportedly jumped to her death but a journalist investigates and thinks there is more to it.  Creepy, weird, underground, violent filmmaking and black magic are involved and I just couldn’t get into it.

I gave it way too long (November 20 – two months!) before I finally decided to put it down.  I must admit that my 45 book reading challenge was part of the reason.  I didn’t want to put all this time into reading a book and then not even have it count toward my total when I was already behind.  Must we re-visit the whole idea of that-book-challenge-is-not-supposed-to-make-book-reading-stressful-or-not-enjoyable? (I’m currently 10 books behind “schedule”.)   I was on page 400 (of 565-ish) and suddenly I just couldn’t take it any more.  I wanted to read a book that I enjoyed.

So, I picked up Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison by Piper Kerman.  Engaging and interesting, but at 2/3 of the way through, I’m starting to lose interest in that too.  There is only so much I can read about federal prison life.  And she still has 5 more months of her sentence to serve.

I’ve got A Superior Death (An Anna Pigeon Novel) , a Nevada Barr book, on my nightstand waiting for me (not to mention a bookshelf full of books-I-had-to-have-immediately-because-they-are-going-to-be-the-best-book-ever) so I may just have to move on.  After all, I only have 25 days to read 10 books.

Do you ever get into a book slump?  Can’t find just the right one to read?