What's this one about now?

I've had extra time to read lately.

I've read a book or two I wasn't crazy about simply because it was there. Usually, if I don't like a book I'll abandon it and move on. But I'm a captive audience presently. Now is the time to test my endurance and tolerance.

Reviews and blurbs about books delight me. Especially reviews that validate how I feel and what I think about a book. Which has been the case with Caroline Zancan's We Wish You Luck.


I struggled to finish it. I don't think it's bad but I found it tiresome. It has three narrators? Multiple narrators? Who cares. I just wanted them all to shut up and get to the point (if there was one) and then go back to the "real world" as opposed to their exclusive MFA writer's residency world.

That's one of the observations I see popping up in reviews. A sentence like: "I think if you have ever been in an MFA program or writer's residency this book might appeal more to you." I nodded my head in agreement but then I started to think: how many people out there have been through an MFA program? Do I know any? Have they not told me because I never asked?

Doesn't it seem like MFA residency students are a small part of the population? Zancan may have been writing with them in mind but they certainly couldn't have been the target audience. The book was released by an imprint of a large publishing house not a small press. It was likely published due to the success of her first novel and it's ability to appeal to a wider audience. Even if that audience was there to gawk at these students.

That got me thinking about other books that seem like they would be for a smaller audience than intended if they were boiled down to their basic characters.

You'll like War & Peace if you are a Russian prince, princess, or a peasant.

A Christmas Carol is good for ghosts and old men who like to pinch pennies.

This handsomely bound collection of Sherlock Holmes stories is gorgeous but probably would appeal only to detectives who favor the word "singular."
  
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel is a good book to read aloud to steam shovels.

Dogs everywhere will delight in the adventures told in Go, Dog, Go!


Take a look at your bookshelf and try to focus on the basics of the characters. It's fun to do. For me at least.

Stay safe out there, kids and while you're at it support your local library or indie.