things i don't enjoy

i planned on reading the book for book club this month. at the risk of being mean, i've decided to attempt to write this post without saying the name of the book i'm talking about, but we'll see how it goes. (or rather, to avoid coming across as mean.)

it was not a book i had selected or voted for. in fact at the time we chose it as a group i can't recall if i mistook it for its sister book or if i knew already i didn't want to read it. memory--at leas mine--is fickle like that.

in any case, when i heard we were reading it this month at first i mistook it for its sister book.

two friends--very funny--write books.

my kid who at the time was fascinated by tv comedy and movies and screenplays and all sorts of clever (because he is clever) bought both books.

with my money, but still, they were his.

in any case, i tried to read the first one and didn't get much past the first chapter.

there was an edge, a bitterness, yes, i'll say it, a meanness to it.

i didn't like the way it made me feel.

so, in my mind confusing the titles even though i full well knew better if i would have thought about it, i was at least someone excited to read it thinking it was the other one. i sensed it had a different tone.

and then i heard it was funnier on audio book in the author's voice.

and after two days of hoop-jumping to renew my apparently accidentally expired library card and get access to the audio book i realized my confusion.

we were reading the mean one.

i figured i should get over myself and give it a chance.

maybe it was funnier in her own voice.

maybe it was kinder, gentler.

maybe i would feel better about it.

maybe i would enjoy it this time.

i didn't.

i even shopped around for a different chapter (maybe she was nicer when she got past her childhood--some people are).

i found a few poignant moments.

i may have laughed a time or two.

but i didn't enjoy it.

so i returned it.

and now i'm listening to the sister book.

there is still a bit of an edge.

there is coarse language.

(i don't enjoy coarse language.)

but it is kinder, gentler.

and i enjoy it.