A few months ago, it seemed like everyone was talking about The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt. The description of the book sounded intriguing, so I put the e-book on hold at my library. The wait was long, and I finally got the book. However, I didn’t realize that it’s 771 pages long. I had two weeks to read it. Could I really finish it in only fourteen days?

I’m a fast reader and I don’t mind reading long books. Last summer, I reread The Lord of the Rings, which is well over a thousand pages, just for fun. However, reading a book that is familiar is easier than reading new material. Plus, I tend to read for enjoyment and am more of a literal reader. I don’t look for deeper meanings as I read. You might say I’m shallow.

I had one thing in my favor. It was the beginning of summer, and so I had more time to read than usual. I had a disadvantage, though…the book wasn’t catching my attention. I thought it would be more about the art world that it was. It was more about a 13 year old boy learning how to do drugs and build a lifetime of dependency on lying. I kept thinking as I read, “If only his mother were still alive!”

And perhaps that was the point of the whole book. I honestly don’t remember the flurry of words that happened at the end. But I do know that I was disappointed in the book as a whole. What kept me going was a determination to finish it before the library took it back. When an e-book is due, it disappears from my e-reader, and if I lost The Goldfinch, I was not going to check it out again. I was still desperately trying to finish the book on the day it was due. Somehow, I made it to page 771 and breathed a sigh of relief.

After finishing conquering The Goldfinch, I needed some light reading. My next book was Avenging Angel, by Nevada Barr. This book was familiar territory for me. I hadn’t read it before, but I’m a big Nevada Barr fan and have read most of her books.

There wasn’t much need to “conquer” Avenging Angel. I read it in two days! Good guys get the bad guys. Now that’s my kind of book.

Just this week, I was rewarded for my diligence. On the TV show The Good Wife, Alicia’s mother mentions The Goldfinch when she tries to change the conversation! I was like, “Hey! I read that!” as I watched the show.

What have you conquered lately? Spin it up and link up here!

<a border=”0″ href=”https://lemondroppie.com” target=”_blank”><img scr=”https://lemondroppie.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/spincyclekeelyresize.jpg” /></a>

Copy and paste the code in the box to add some Spin Cycle bling to your post! (On some blogs, you will need to delete the quote marks and replace them with regular quote marks.)

Sign up for my newsletter, and I’ll send you the Spin Cycle prompts each week:

Spin Cycle prompts for the month of October:

{week of Oct. 20 – At the ________ }
{week of Oct. 27 – Mask}