When it's just not meant to be.

I wanted to like Eric Weiner's The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World.  A friend told me it was good.  It's got a good cover.  I waited for it on the library's hold list for a long time. 

I wanted to like it.  I tried to like it.  But after reading about sixty pages I can only work up one reaction: BORED.  God, I am so bored with this book.  Self-professed grumpy NPR correspondent decides to travel to places which he considers contented: "India, where happiness and misery live side-by-side," and "Switzerland, where residents believe envy is the great enemy of happiness."

Bored, bored, bored.  Bored by the first line of the first chapter: "It is a fact of human nature that we derive pleasure from watching others engage in pleasurable acts.  This explains the popularity of two enterprises: pornography and cafes." (p. 5.)  Bored by the author.  Bored by his idea.  So bored that I'm not only starting to hate the sight of the book, which has been getting such good reviews that I almost feel required to read it, but also toying with the idea of hating NPR just because this author works there. 

Could anyone else make it through this one?

Comments

[The Laundress]

India and Switzerland are rarely matched up, that is an interesting comparison. Glad for the tip, another title to steer clear of... you gave me an interesting argument recently on why bad reviews are as good or more so than good ones and I have been kicking that around in my head for a couple weeks now.

consider posting generically on that topic? You have a wealth of fine thoughts to share and I had never before considered the value but dang, you made an impression on me.

Um, so for up above? Nope, not lining up for this title... but love the dust jacket, kudos to whoever created that!

[Citizen Reader]

Oh, yes, Laundress, I did think it was going to be an interesting match-up, but it was not. Even with the good cover.

Hm, bad reviews. We will have to discuss. I myself would be interested in hearing why people DON'T love bad reviews; most of the time they're just a lot of fun to read (I think)!

[Katharine]

I promptly took this book off my shelf and returned it to the library. No time to waste on unworthy nonfiction and I trust your judgement CR. I just finished some fiction that "cringe" felt like Eat Pray Love except with 'singleness' as opposed to a 'spirituality' quest. How to Be Single is by one of the writers of Sex and the City, Liz Turcillo, and I am debating on how to write a bad review of it based on my dislike of the Oprah picked Eat Pray Puke. Keep the bad reviews coming, your public needs them!

[Citizen Reader]

Katharine!
Now I worry that I have unduly influenced you--I should end these reviews on more of a "but do look at it for yourself" note. Books can take different people such different ways (they can even take the same person differently, depending on the day itself!) that I shouldn't be so damning. Oh well. You're smart enough to know all that.

And I still say you won't be missing much. :)

Hm, you're not really selling "How To Be Single," although you've got me vaguely curious about it. And, not a fan of Eat Pray Love by any chance? Would you have liked it better before all the hoopla, do you think? I myself think I would have liked it better if I'd stopped reading after Italy.

[Katharine]

I would give "how to be single" a C+, because it reminded me of EatPrayLove in the way the character goes from country to country exploring how women feel about being single. It was "ok" writing (those sex and the city credentials) and I liked how the women didn't all end up happily married or hooked up in the end. I would certainly recommend it to "singles" in my life that may/may not wonder if there is indeed true love out there. So there's my further two cents about it.

[Bookie]

*Snort*

So...was it boring?

Bliss is boring period. Misery, much more interesting and quite a bit more challenging. We should write a counter book about finding misery in all kinds of unexpected places like Church book clubs, Wal-mart check out lines, Fourth of July parades, AA meetings, Theme parks etc... I'll get started on the first chapter.

[Citizen Reader]

Thanks, Katharine,
I thought the most annoying thing about Eat Pray Love was the ending. I'll try not to give it away but it didn't seem to me like she got much past her fixation on men.

Bookie,
Just a bit boring, yes. I'm totally with you on the misery book--it loves company, after all! Although I don't think I have the heart to join any lines at Wal-Mart for research...