Cutting your losses when that Booker Prize winning novel fails to enthral, or a favoured novelist fails to deliver

Strike 1: Paul Murray's Skippy Dies

Strike 2: Téa Obreht’s The Tiger’s Wife

Strike 3: Melissa Marr’s Graveminder

Life is too short to read a book that is not enthralling you, so why waste your time on them when there are so many other books still to read that you will feel very differently about.

Skippy Dies and The Tiger’s Wife, both strongly recommended to me and very well reviewed. Although I can see why, I feel distinctly meh about them. I cannot bring myself to care strongly enough about these characters, despite the excellent plot premise and writing from both authors.

You may feel differently. Read author Patrick Ness's review of Skippy Dies in The Guardian here. Or the New York Times on The Tiger's Wife here.

As for Graveminder, despite enjoying Melissa Marr’s previous books, this one is not pulling me in as easily and I have abandoned it – for now (I may come back to it).

You can read more about the work of Melissa Marr here on her website, starting with Graveminder.

One of the advantages of ebooks is that it’s so much easier to take a risk on a new book, combining immediate access and low cost. Also, not having to look gloomily at a pile of unread or half unread books next to the bed also makes it easier to justify moving on to something else entirely.