This year I have a goal to read 24 books. I started off the year with a good pace by reading two books by mid-January. The third book I've started I have yet to finish. I keep saying that I will finish it before starting another one, but now I'm questioning if I ever will.
The book is called "News of the World" written by Paulette Jiles. I bought it a few years ago at a book festival. There is now a movie on Amazon based on the book - which is one of the reasons I put it on my 2021 challenge list. I wanted to watch the movie but wanted to read the book first.
The plot surrounds a newsreader after the Civil War who goes around reading the news to people on his route. During one of these stops, he meets a young girl who needs to be reunited with her family. She was kidnapped years before and recently released. I really like the prose of the book. It has a nice flow and I do like the story.
The story is interesting but there is this one annoyance of the book that stops me from finishing. The author does not use quotation marks. Yes, I typed that correctly. She does not use quotation marks as she believes that if she has written it well enough that the ugly quotation marks are not needed.
My brain cannot wrap around reading quoted text without quotation marks. It just takes me out of the story too much to think about it. Even though I don't want to do it, I will have to shelf this one until some time that I can get through it. I have never read a book or story that just omitted quotation marks.
The guilt I feel about not finishing is massive. I'm not sure why as I bought this book and then didn't read it for at least two years. It's weird to both enjoy and not enjoy a book at the same time. The story is fine but the structure is annoying. It would be much easier just to give up on the book if I hated it.
Reading is for fun. If you are not having fun, then why read it?