Teaser Tuesday: Half of the Human Race

Choosing a new book should not be the agonizing choice that I make it out to be.  Do you find it so as well?  Of course it is worth all the hemming and hawing when you begin reading and find that yes, this is just the right book to suit your desires.  And that is the case with me and Anthony Quinn's Half of the Human Race.  It may well be the perfect choice after the fact, but it was an unlikely contender and won out by default.

Here's my circuitous thinking.  I wanted this to be simple and easy and just think a bit about the books that so often come to mind when choosing a new read that end up always getting passed by.  Nothing to stress out over or to overthink.  Just a quick--what comes to mind first.  We shall call them the bridesmaids of the reading world (at least my own little reading world).  You know . . . always a bridesmaid but never a bride--oft thought of but never chosen.  The obvious choice for me was Alan Hollinghurst's The Stranger's Child with Natsuo Kirino's Grotesque coming in a very close second (many others crossed my mind but I won't bore you with all the minutiae of my thinking).

Then I made the very big mistake of looking up reviews on Amazon.  It was meant to be less a search for reviews than a quick--once again . . . what's this story about.  I will never learn.  I got sucked into reading other people's opinions.  Now valid as they are, I don't know the reviewer and their tastes might well be polar opposites of my own, so I really try and avoid them.  I don't mind knowing what a friend, whose tastes I am familiar with, thinks of a book.  I can more easily gage if it is something I will like, or not.  But I read them and began doubting myself and poor Alan Hollinghurst.  I'm sorry--relegated once more to bridesmaid status.  So then I thought the Kirino would fit in nicely with my summer mystery reading.  And then I begin reading how the English translation has been censored with a different ending, and the story is bleak and violent and well, even though it went in my bookbag and I dragged it with me to the gym on Sunday, I let myself be swayed once again.

So, more pondering and then a little peek at my bedside piles (as those are the books I think I most want to read sooner than later).  Ah yes, the Quinn.  I even bought it when it was in hardcover, so thrilled with the idea of the story when I first read about it.  Anxiously waited for it's arrival, happily opened the package and surely browsed the story and longingly held it and then, yes, sadly it went into the bedside pile.  That was, oh, back in 2011.  But I have started reading and fell into the story so easily I now wonder why ever did I wait so long?

Set in the summer of 1911 it is a story of love, of cricket, of suffragettes--with a heroine who speaks her mind.  Check off the list all those things I love reading about.  This is a 'will they, won't they' love story, but I think it is more than just that--a story of an unconventional woman with dreams of an independent life born into a very conventional and conservative society when women were more ornament than partners.  Connie Callaway is our heroine and my teaser is a description of her:

"Opinion was divided as to whether Connie Callaway was a beauty.  Somewhat gawky, and taller than she would have liked, she carried herself with a certain hesitancy, as if reluctant to be noticed.  From her father she had inherited a strong jawline that looked at a certain angle almost masculine; yet this severity was counterpointed by an expressive mouth, delicately fluted nose, and eyes of liquid brown that glittered when she laughed, bewitching even those--not a few--who considered her 'odd-looking'."

Why does reading about a heroine who is 'odd-looking' give me heart?  Because she is also intelligent and well spoken.  Quinn's writing is smart and the dialogue is sparkling.  It may not have been my very first choice, but it's definitely the right choice.  I really must do this more often.  As for the Hollinghurst and Kirino . . . no worries, eventually every book gets its day. 

Comments

[Grad]

Ah!! I so relate to the difficulty in selecting just...the...right...book. I generally don't have several books going at once, but it is maddening when one can't find that "thumping good read" that one so wishes to be reading RIGHT NOW! And I've done the same thing: ordered a book, waited with excitement for it to come, hold it and smell its newness, and then put it on a shelf. All but forgotten. It comes from being a bit of a book glutton, I think. In a good way.

[vicki (bibliolathas / skiourophile)]

Poor "bridesmaids"! But that feeling that something new is a bit of a bogey is so familiar. And I love the sound of the Quinn - lots of things about that sound perfect for me.

[Kathy]

I can certainly identify with the excitement of ordering and receiving a book, then putting it aside for what turns into years! That's how my TBR shelves came to be in the condition they're in. This book does sound like a winner, and hopefully will give you all the enjoyoment you wished for when you first bought it.

[Danielle]

Yes, I know I am very much a book glutton. I have been very bad of late, too, as I have been too tempted by all those new summer releases and it seems as though I have a steady influx of book packages arriving in the mail. Not that that is a bad thing per se, but when am I supposed to squeeze in reading them all?? I have a nice pile of in progress books and lately have been on a roll picking just the right book for my mood--but as you can see the choice can be really sort of agonizing. I think I need to be better at just relying on my own instincts and not letting those Amazon reviews sway me (beside if I start something that isn't quite right it can easily be set aside!). In this case I think gluttony is not such a bad thing at all! ;)

[Danielle]

I know--here I was trying to make sure the bridesmaids got their chance and look what happened. Although, the Quinn has been sitting there for ages and in hardcover (!). As it turns out I am very much loving the story and highly recommend it if it appeals. I actually don't mind lugging that hardcover back and forth to work at all!

[Danielle]

I am very much enjoying it and find myself reaching for it quite often so a good choice in the end--even if it was a circuitous one. I have been buying books like crazy lately--definitely giving in to whims far too often and must slow things down. I am trying to make myself wait at least a day before hitting that order button. If a day later I still want a book so very badly (and have checked to see if I can borrow it somewhere else first) than I will let myself consider the purchase.... Oh, to have more self control!

[Stefanie]

Maybe it took so long to get the the Quinn because it just wasn't yet the perfect moment. And now because it is you will like it even more than you expected :)

[Danielle]

I know--I often think that myself. The time just wasn't right before and the stars needed to align themselves just right--in any case this has been a perfect choice for my mood and my needs and wants from a book at the moment!

[iliana]

Sometimes I feel like it takes me forever to pick up a new book. I'll stand in front of my shelves and just be overwhelmed! There are books that I think I'm ready for and before I know it they are back on the TBR pile. Like you said, eventually they'll get their moment! Hope you enjoy the Quinn book - I do like that cover.

[Danielle]

I hate it when I feel like I *have* to have a book and then buy it in hardcover only to let it sit until it is long out in paper before I end up reading it. (Sometimes I think books even go out of print by the time I get to them!!). I have more than once set a book aside only to try again later and it will click--but I wish I was a little more patient about waiting for paperbacks to come out! The Quinn has most definitely found its moment!!

[Danielle]

Oh, and I think the cover is really good, too!