Must I Finish?

My Book Club is reading a nonfiction book this month. It's called Furious Love and is about Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton's love affair and marriages. I figured it was an old book and something the person who selected it had read before. Not so!

It was published this year. Why dredge all this stuff up now, I wondered. I was reading another book so didn't get to this one as soon as I hoped. I knew I needed to as it is nearly 500 pages. So, one night I sat down and began to read. After one chapter, I knew I'd learned all I ever needed to know about these two stars of yesterday. And I was there reading all about it as these things happened. The making of the budget-breaking movie, Cleopatra, was in the news all the time while it was being filmed. I finished the chapter and went to bed.

The next morning, I made a monumental decision. No way was I going to suffer through the remainder of the book. I say that the decision was monumental because it's very hard for me not to finish something I've started. I was raised by very strict parents who demanded that anything begun was to come full circle to the conclusion. No matter how painful it might be. This included household chores, schoolwork, activities and groups we kids joined and others. It didn't take too long for finishing things to become ingrained into our personalities.

But at the age I've reached, it's perfectly alright for me to decide whether to finish a book or not. Yes, I'll have to admit it at Book Club next week, and I won't feel too good about that. It may hurt the feelings of the person who selected the book, but there's no reason to read something that I consider drivel.

After I put the book aside, I mentioned it to two other members of our group, and one said, "I got through two or three chapters and decided it was enough!" The other one told me she'd only scanned it after reading the first few pages. So, I'll have company in my confession.

I'd like to know what age group of people are buying and reading this book. I think seniors like me have had enough of the lives of celebrities. I must add that there is nothing wrong with the writing. The author did a fine job in what she set out to do. It's the subject matter that turned me off.

Now that I haven't finished this book, maybe there will be others in the future. From now on, if I don't like what I'm reading, I'm done! And I will have no guilt. Not all books are meant for all people. Time is precious. Read only the things you really like.