Recent Duds

In the past 4 days or so I've had to give up 2 books. I found both of these books way too slow for my liking, so on they go to the next happy reader.

The Secret Supper by Javier Sierra
Historical Fiction

My mom recently read this book and enjoyed it. I started this book with fairly high hopes. It sounded quite interesting, being about Da Vinci's Last Supper. However it was so sluggish that after 40 pages I had to give up. I also found that the author used unnecessarily large words. If you can explain something gracefully and accurately in 2 syllables, why take 10?

 

 

 

 

Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
Classical Literature

This book is actually #26 on the BBC Top 100. I have only heard bad things about it so when I settled down with it, I knew it wasn't going to be an easy read. I found the opening chapter so off the wall that I couldn't quite get over what Hardy was trying to do. If someone were to come up to you and tell you that you look like part of the royal family, would you then assume that you must be part of the royal family and start spending money? This really bothered me.
The book was also quite slow and too wordy. Though I did expect that. I tried to stick it out but I was losing touch with what exactly was going on in the book so I gave up.