Apologies if this is an upsetting thought but I have started to realise that there won't be enough time in my life for me to read all the good books, so I no longer give myself a hard time for DNF-ing something that I really don't like. Frees up time to read other, better books.
9. The Salt Path, Raynor Winn
A mixed bag for me. It was certainly original and I can see why it caught people's imaginations. The writing about nature is beautiful and very skilfully done, and she makes some useful points about homelessness and social attitudes to it.
However, I share the reservations of the posters on the anti-Salt Path thread elsewhere on the "What We're Reading" board: Winn is not likeable. She's smug, and snobbish, and self-pitying. She's the sort of person who will go into a café, take off her soaking wet socks and hang them over the radiator to steam, order a free pot of hot water to make tea and still complain about the café owner and the other customers when she leaves. I do get that some of this comes with the territory (if you think that your husband and your life together are THE BEST THING and then write a book about how they are being taken from you very painfully, then I get that you might be both smug and self-pitying at times) but I'm obviously not the only one to come away from this more irritated than enlightened.
10. The Second Sleep, Robert Harris
Another mixed bag! This is, I am learning, my typical experience reading a Robert Harris. He starts off with a great setting, wonderfully described and evoked (the idea for the setting of this novel is absolutely top notch, entirely original and very interesting IMHO). You go along and meet some characters and get a decent mystery going. Then it all gets silly, and descends into an OTT thriller ending which feels more like Dan Brown than a serious novel. I do like them, and I liked this - I think I just need to brace myself for the disappointment of the ending in future.