New Books and an Old State of Fear

So today I went to Third Place Books. I could spend all day in Third Place Books. I should not go there at all, considering I'm on a severely restricted budget these days.

Books and coffee are my weaknesses. So what. There are worse vices. (Plus, I get a 20% discount there, which makes it way too easy to justify.)

I actually showed remarkable restraint: I only bought five books today, and two were from the bargain table. I should get a prize. Lately I seem to read mostly at bedtime, which lately seems to come later and later, and I only seem to get a few pages read before my ass is asleep.

That could be because the book I'm currently reading sucks ass. I wanted a quick read, not requiring too much brainpower. A distraction. I see a Michael Crichton book at Costco. I remember that I was on a Michael Crichton kick years ago, like back when I wore combat boots for pay, not fun. The book is about global warming. I pick it up. Oh, this'll be good, I think.

Jeebus.  No.

Was my taste in fiction that bad back then, or did Michael just publish a dud? Had my brain brain been somehow dulled by the rigor of basic training? Had the sleep deprivation, pushups and presence of Drill Sergeant White made any literary escape seem wonderful by comparison?

I don't know, but State of Fear is just bad. I mean the dialogue, the character development, the reasoning, the transparent preachiness, all of it. It seriously sucks ass.

I think I won't even finish it (cringe); I almost never do that. I get some sort of weird guilt about not finishing a book. Even with donating the book so I know someone else will read it, it still just feels wrong somehow to leave a book unfinished.

Anyway, if you're thinking about getting it, save yourself some money. If, on the other hand, you're sitting there thinking, "Why the hell would I buy a Michael Crichton book, and what the hell was she thinking?" you're $4.99 smarter than my ass was.

Guess I'll go start one of my new books now.