I tend to give books much longer than that, I HATE giving up on a book half way through. It rarely happens, but when it does it pisses me off no end, and I end up with a half-read book on my bedside table for months, which I refuse to pick up, while at the same time refusing to put it back on the shelf and select another one.
It's happening right now with Catch-22. I can't believe quite how bad it is. This is supposed to be a classic? It's drivel! There's no plot, nothing of any consequence whatsoever taking place and not even a clear idea of time or sequence. Just a bunch of pointless charactersr, introduced recursively so that the next one is brought in half-way through the flashback or anecdote that was introducing the previous one, who you've already forgotten because he's so bloody inconsequential, who then goes on make his oh-so-hilarious bid for the title of wackiest eccentric trait or most zany set of farcical non-sequiturs, all of this presented in nigh-unintelligible run-on sentences that seem to go on and on and on, much like this rant. Basically, it's like being stuck for eternity in a room full of local radio breakfast show DJs.
It leads me to wonder how the title of such a dire waste of ink ever made it into the English language. It's ther in the dictionary, lok it up. The fact that the phrase is used as an allusion to a mutually dependant set of conditions, when that isn't even the meaning ascribed to the phrase in the book only adds weight to my theory that no-one could possibly read that book all the way through. Everyone's just pretending they have because it's supposed to be such a fantastic book, all the while pretending to know what it's about, and no-one ever gets caught out because they're all pretending. Now THAT's Catch-22.
[/rant]
OK, I feel much better for that. I'll be flushi^H^H^H^H^H^Hputting the book back on the shelf tonight and picking up another one, and I refuse to feel bad about it.
AZ: Have you read any Chuck Palahniuk (AKA Fight Club Bloke)? I've read most of his novels and they've all been very good. Invisible Monsters is probably my favourite, or maybe Lullaby. Lullaby is probably the best introduction to his work, his style takes a little getting used to.
Another strange but good recommendation is "Great Apes" by Will Self. It's about a man who wakes up one day (after decades of heavy narcotic abuse) to discover he's somehow swapped brains with his counterpart from a version of the Earth where it's chimps that wear clothes, drive cars, go to art galleries etc, and humans that live in zoos and fling faeces. It's extremely enjoyable and raises some interesting questions about how much our culture and society is simply an fancified expression of our primate impulses. From reading HifH, I can imagine you enjoying this one.
Oh, and the Johnathan Strange book I recommended the other day? I forgot to mention it has brilliant footnotes. Lots of them, really long ones that you will treasure.
My final recommendation (for now) is to ask for book vouchers rather than books. Then go down Borders on Boxing Day and see how much great stuff has been hacked down to half price.
Wow, that turned out to be a very long post. Sorry peeps.