I've resolved to post about every book I read (even if it's something for work, so you've been warned). Not only do you get to know what I think of the books, it also forces me to slow down my pace a little (for some weeks lately, I was reading four books a week, and I cannot afford to keep buying that many) and get the most out of the books I do read.
So this is just a short note to say how what I thought of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. I read three of the four. I bought the boxed set on sale at Landmark (online), inspired by the many positive reviews I read online. I wish I hadn't wasted the money.
The books are well-written, and quite funny in parts. But the protagonist is an extremely selfish and unlikeable teenager, who doesn't seem to care for anyone at all. As an example, he lies to and steals from the only "friend" he has, and only speaks of him with scorn.
You can go along with the conceit for a while, but when you see that you're supposed to sympathize with this disgusting young man and that he gets no comeuppance for his actions, it stops being funny. I felt much the same way about Dork (which Aishwarya mentions in a similar vein here), a book which I liked for the first couple of chapters because it was well-written and funny, but which had as its protagonist a young man with apparently no redeeming feature.
I'm currently reading three books which I hope to write about soon, and all very different: Margaret Atwood's Cat's Eye, The Elements of Style by Strunk and White, and Marketing in the Age of Google by Vanessa Fox. I'm also itching to get my hands on Jai Arjun's book, which the Guy's already read and loved.
What are you reading?
So this is just a short note to say how what I thought of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. I read three of the four. I bought the boxed set on sale at Landmark (online), inspired by the many positive reviews I read online. I wish I hadn't wasted the money.
The books are well-written, and quite funny in parts. But the protagonist is an extremely selfish and unlikeable teenager, who doesn't seem to care for anyone at all. As an example, he lies to and steals from the only "friend" he has, and only speaks of him with scorn.
You can go along with the conceit for a while, but when you see that you're supposed to sympathize with this disgusting young man and that he gets no comeuppance for his actions, it stops being funny. I felt much the same way about Dork (which Aishwarya mentions in a similar vein here), a book which I liked for the first couple of chapters because it was well-written and funny, but which had as its protagonist a young man with apparently no redeeming feature.
I'm currently reading three books which I hope to write about soon, and all very different: Margaret Atwood's Cat's Eye, The Elements of Style by Strunk and White, and Marketing in the Age of Google by Vanessa Fox. I'm also itching to get my hands on Jai Arjun's book, which the Guy's already read and loved.
What are you reading?
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