On TBR books that intimidate me #2

As I’ve stated before, my TBR list is out of control and probably beyond help. Probably partly due to this, my relationship with it is….complicated and full of mixed emotions. Yeah, I love reading and if I had my way, I’d easily devour every book that comes within 20 feet of me. But life isn’t that simple and I’ve had to pick some TBR books to read before others. Here are a few that I’m holding off on - for all the wrong reasons.

-The Crucible of Doubt: Reflections On the Quest for Faith by Terry L. Givens & Fiona Givens - I’m a pretty religious person, but for some reason or other, religious books are a struggle for me. I recently finished The Infinite Atonement by Tadd R. Callister after THREE YEARS of struggling through it a few pages at a time. I enjoyed it, I loved it, I learned a lot, but I crawled on my belly through most of it, slowly dragging myself from page to page. It was rough and I’m not ready to put myself through that again. I’m also hoping that if I wait a bit longer, maybe I’ll suddenly become incredibly mature and be able to get through these sort of books at a halfway reasonable speed.

-The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom by Jonathan Haidt - I dated a guy in college who LOVED this book and talked about it all the time. We were both studying psychology, so it made sense that he thought I’d be into it. But after things ended between us (on less than good terms), I was torn about what to do with this book. A part of me refused to take it off the TBR - I couldn’t let a mere man have that sort of power over me! Another part of me argued that I only put it on the list since said man had loved it so much. I still haven’t made up my mind and there it sits, waiting for my verdict.

-Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie - I recently read another Rushdie book and I….didn’t get it. I can acknowledge that it was well-written and obviously well thought out, but I just didn’t connect with the book at all. I’m sure Midnight’s Children will be different, but if I couldn’t handle a different Rushdie book, I’m not sure how I’ll do with this one. Also, this is a classic and a must-read and those always intimidate me more than they reasonably should.