When a Friend Recommends...

I am currently reading a book recommended to me by a friend entitled The Limits of Enchantment by Graham Joyce. It's okay, but for a book I began last weekend and that is less than 300 pages, it should be moving much more quickly than it is. When I do pick it up to read, it's pretty good, but I do find my mind wandering occasionally. I wonder why some books that are such hits with people I know well just seem to fall flat when I pick them up? Is it mood? Is it some subtle shifting of the universe? I don't know what it is. The truth of the matter is, I am very good at foisting books off on people I think will really enjoy them, but I don't necessarily enjoy having books foisted off on me. And for some reason, I'm usually proved right when I do pick up a book a friend has recommended, unfortunately. This particular friend has read several books I've told her about, and she always loves them. She was so excited when she found this one and wanted me to read it. It's taken me a while to pick it up, and I even put it on my tbr_challenge list. I don't seem to have this problem with books recommended to me from my online friends. Maybe that's because we're all such book nuts and we know each other's styles so well? Or maybe it's my oppositional/defiant disorder...I want to be in control! All I know is that this particular book is dragging for me, and not for any special reason I can ascertain.

~taminator40