I started Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin but found it too put-downable so gave up on it.
Mistress of the Art of Death is supposed to be about investigations of the murders of several children in the 1170s in England. I never even got to the investigations, though. Background went on and on and on.
Henry II was concerned that the Jews in England would be banished because they were being blamed for the murders. His concern was only because the Jews paid so many taxes, and he didn't want to lose that revenue. So Italy sent a female doctor to help the investigation. I was still reading about her travel through England before the investigation when I gave up on the book.
My biggest problem with this book wasn't that it took so long for anything to happen. Worse than that was, although the book is classified as adult fiction, it read like a young adult novel. Some adults don't mind that; I do.
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Comments: 5
You are lucky that you can put a book down. I feel compelled to read until the end, no matter how awful (except for an extremely rare situation). Slow books don't bother me as much as storylines that just seem so implausible. Then I will be extremely exasperated, but keep reading anyway. Ridiculous on my part, I know.
I was always that way, too, reading an entire book even if I disliked it. I changed about two years ago when my to-read pile turned into piles (plural) and the piles got taller and taller. There would be no time to read them all if I didn't put the bad ones down. Still, even now I feel very guilty when I give up on a book. So, even if I hate it after 30 pages, I'll keep reading to 100, then maybe longer than that.
Thanks for posting your review to the Gather group, Bookin'.