American Gods by Neil Gaiman.

Around page 120 my interest started to wane. It’s been a page here and
there for days now. I’m at 140 something now with about 300 to go. So,
is it worth it? I can read 300 pages in about four, 1 hour sessions, if
I’m interested. If I’m not, well…

And I find his writing style very awkward. At first it seemed fresh,
but that is rubbing off to the point of being annoying. Example: The
seemingly irrelevant interludes between chapters; do they make sense at
the end, or are they just random musings?

Also, every character, no matter how minor, gets a complete run-down on
their appearance. This annoys me to the max; imo, now don't get me
wrong, his characterization is second to none, but please get on with
the story! The same with tone, sometimes a snack is as good as a feast.

Most of the time I would just put a book down despite the time
invested, but I’ve heard so many people go on about how awesome this
book is. So I’m loath to throw it away if it is indeed a fantastic
book. Has anyone else experienced this?

I originally posted this on WF and have since finished the book after much gnashing of teeth and many grueling hours.

Thought I would post this here to see if anyone had read it and had any similar issues.

Garmar.

Now I've never read that particular book...but I had the similar experience with another book. "The Constant Gardener" (How do you like that, I can't even remember the author's name off-hand.)

I felt like such an uncivilized, uneducated fool when all my friends were going on and on about it and I couldn't even make it past chapter ten...For some reason, it just didn't grab my attention and reel me in.

Now on the other hand, I read the unabridged version of "The Stand" (by Stephen King) in four days (I was suffering from insomnia with my second pregnancy and I couldn't put it down!) Weird, right?

I felt like such an uncivilized, uneducated fool when all my friends were going on and on about it and I couldn't even make it past chapter ten...

Most likely they didn't like it either and just didn't want to appear the way you felt. I've never read that one, so I can't really say myself.

As far as The Stand goes; I've read it about four or five times. It was written, in my opinion, at the height of his career. Before he got so darn long-winded.

His latest book was a fantastic way to get to sleep--pity you didn't have it back when you were pregnant.

[quote="Garmar"]

As far as The Stand goes; I've read it about four or five times. It was written, in my opinion, at the height of his career. Before he got so darn long-winded.

His latest book was a fantastic way to get to sleep--pity you didn't have it back when you were pregnant.

The Stand is my favorite book of King's (it has such a great plot and point). And yes, he's gotten long-winded...and I wish I'd have had that while I was preggers! ;P

The Stand was rather good. One of my favorites. But I agree with Garmar on the others. I am a big King fan, but I prefer his older stuff. Oh, except IT, I never made it past the first chapter, and this is from someone who read the Gunsliger series.