Friday, January 16, 2009

God's Mercies

Rivalry, Betrayal, and the Dream of Discovery by Douglas Hunter.

Quickie Recap: Samuel de Champlain and Henry Hudson were a couple of 17th century rock star explorers who raced to be the first and best explorer of a lot of my favourite haunts.

Quickie Review: Confession time. After months of trying to get through this, I have decided that if God is indeed merciful, he will forgive me for abandoning a book partway through on occasion. I haven't abandoned a book that I've started since 2004, when I gave up on I, Claudius after just a couple of pages. In this case, I made it to page 130 and that should count for something, right? Wrong, I know. I'm pathetic. And just like I, Claudius, I know the problem was me, and not the book. Sometimes something just doesn't gel and you can't find sufficient motivation to prod yourself on. And to be honest, I just have too many books that I am excited about sitting unread on my night stand to keep plodding through something that doesn't hold my interest. So I apologize to de Champlain, and to Hudson, and mostly to Hunter. Many minds brighter than mine found this to be "first rate adventure" and worthy of accolades. I admit defeat.

Quickie Recommendation: I'm sadly unable to say, but I invite anyone who has read this book to let me know what a numb skull I am and how quickly I need to pick this back up and give it a second go.

2 comments:

Droog said...

Ahhh, if only I had a nickel for every book I've started and put down for not having the patience, energy, or brain power to finish ...I'd be rich enough to own an audio library.

I appreciate your candor in reviewing this book.

Sometimes we make meaningful discoveries before the end of a journey.

Jay said...

I really hope that one day I'll be struck to pick it up again.
I hope the same for I, Claudius.
I have immense guilt over books and I seem to remember the ones I don't finish better than the ones I do (admittedly, it's just been the two in about 10 years).