or a number of years I’ve had a copy of John Barth’s The Sot-weed Factor sitting on my bookshelf. That book has moved with me from Ohio, to West Virginia, to Maryland, to Wisconsin.

It’s not a small book either.

I’m not ashamed. Anyone with a bookshelf worth anything has this type of book on their shelves. I probably have a handful more.

So I finally got around to reading the damn thing… and guess what.

I didn’t like it. I barely got through the first 100 pages (but I did, notably, make it that far).

A book is not like a film or a half hour TV show. If you don’t like it, it’s probably better not to waste weeks or the better part of a month reading it in the vain hopes you will start enjoying it more.

So last night I officially Put… (must resist!) It…. (Noooooo!) Down (Ahhhh. Feels good).

It’s not easy, but it had to be done..

It was just… too damn meandering.

When I told my lovely life-mate that the book was officially put down, she replied “Does this mean we don’t have to take it with us when we move to Baltimore?”

That’s EXACTLY what it means. We won’t need to buy toilet paper for awhile either.