11 September 2010

Day 168: The Witch of Hebron

The Witch of Hebron by James Howard Kunstler.  ISBN: 9780802116912 (uncorrected proof - published September 7, 2010).

 Kunstler mentions the "soporific effects" of reading.  You would think that a book that puts you to sleep has no value as literature, but hey, some of us have trouble sleeping.  There were definitely moments in this book where I hit the snooze button, but then the switching back and forth between characters and very short chapter length probably led to some lack of inattention on my part.  It's hard to keep track of everyone or become invested early on in the book when you only read 5 pages for each POV.

When I was young I sometimes had trouble sleeping (and still do).  I would always go into my mom's room and whine at her.  She would tell me to just go to my room and read for awhile or lay in the dark with my eyes closed.  Neither of these really seemed to work, but reading especially didn't help.  I would get too wrapped up in the characters and find myself still awake at 2AM.  Nowadays reading does tend to help more often than not.  Maybe it's because I've read it all before.  There's not much new out there to keep my attention late into the night unless it's particularly well written.  Maybe adult literature is just more boring (the books I have stayed up for, even now, tend to be YA).

Or maybe I trained myself to fall asleep when I read.  There were hours I spent doing reading homework because I would take naps between chapters in college and high school.  Does anyone else out there read to help them sleep?  Are there specific books you use?  Was there a book that made you fall asleep so often that you couldn't finish it or it took you ages to finish it?

My review can be found on Goodreads.

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