Exceedingly Mundane

I finally finished “The Janson Directive” by Robert Ludlum last night. This is a book we own, that Tim had read and really loved. And, I can see why. It’s definitely a “guy” kind of book, especially after all of the totally gooey women’s stuff I’ve been reading lately! It’s a lot longer than I would have liked and I really struggled to get through it. It had a good plot, with lots of intrigue and twists and turns. You can tell that Ludlum obviously knows this genre and puts a considerable amount of research into his books. The scenes are well thought out and painstakingly described. And therein lies the problem for me – I really don’t want to read a 5 page dissertation on rappelling equipment, on parachute jumping and wind shears, on a torture scene that he is reliving through a flashback, etc. Some sections were just so long-winded, on subjects that I don’t care that much about, so I really struggled with those parts. The overall plot, the characters, the descriptions of the locations were good, but the weaponry, covert ops, surveillance, guerrilla tactics, warfare and torture were not really things I enjoy reading all that much.

That said, I’m glad I read it and I would consider reading another Ludlum book. Tim still insists that his Bourne books are some of the best he’s ever read. But, for now, I’m going to stick to my women’s fiction and Christian fiction. It’s easier for me to read that genre, and more enjoyable. 🙂

Oh, and reading this book reminded me of one thing I don’t like to be reminded of – my vocabulary is not as good as it should be. I literally ran across dozens of words that I do not know. I was stopping and looking them up as I went along, and then realized that it might take me months to finish this book at that rate.:roll: So then, I just started writing them down, and after I filled up an entire sheet of paper, I stopped for a while. Then I picked it back up, and I literally have 50, 60 or maybe 70 words written down to look up. Boy, do I have a lot of looking up to do!

For the record, that makes 7 books so far this year, with a total of 2,284 pages read. Up next is a paperback I bought this past weekend at the library sale – “Blue Smoke” by Nora Roberts. I bought this book for one reason – to try to hurry up and read it before the movie comes out next week on Lifetime TV! They’re still running those 4 Nora Roberts movies on consecutive Mondays. I had a hardback of Carolina Moon (the last of the 4 movies) in my hands, but put it back in favor of other books. I enjoy the movies without reading the books, even though I do like the books too. I’m still trying to figure out if I like Nora Roberts… maybe the verdict will be in after I finish this one!