Palpable hits

Bookworld has some pithy notes on books unfinished in 2006. She says of Booker winner the Sea "Nothing happened and it didn't happen in very pretentious language." Black Swan Green gets this: "Cloud Atlas was fabulous, this was a crashing disappointment. An underwhelming story about a mopey boy. " There are ten others, be sure to read them all.

I have become more disciplined about putting aside books that don't work for me. Highlights this year include House of Leaves and Confederacy of Dunces. Based on the Amazon ratings ( 4 and 4.5 stars respectively) I am in the minority, but who cares, I didn't like these books. House of Leaves is a post-modern puzzle, which will either thrill through or make you run screaming. The author plays with the font size and color, word placement, word order and runs a separate over-written storyline in the footnotes. So boring.

Dunces is a book of humor. The main character is a buffoon who rejects the modern world in nearly every form. He is meant to amuse and make us question our ways, but I just found it annoying.