Alternative uses for bothersome books

Some books are only good for squashing spiders!

I read too many books at a time, but I like to think that I usually know when to jump ship on a book and return it to the library, rehome it, or, as a child encountering The Three Billy Goats Gruff, tear it to pieces. Some books don't deserve to be in print. I kept with the following two titles until the end, but I wish I had skipped them!

I found this title on a list of must-read Halloween books. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and autumn is my favorite season; there's nothing like coming home with lungs full of that cinnamon-leaf-fall smell, pulling the covers up to your chin, and opening a scary read to mark the quick-coming darkness. Well, sometimes you should stick with the classics... This book was dedicated to Ray Bradbury and billed as containing some of his style, but I sure couldn't find it. Having a host of ghost narrators was interesting - but also confusing - and it was difficult to find much of anyone to empathize with, let alone to cheer for. If you're looking for an autumn read, try Partridge's Dark Harvest or Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes before turning to this!

Maybe I'm out of the loop. This book kept coming up on the various lists I check for book recommendations and I found it on my library site. At 250 pages, it was a short read and I will say that I wanted to know what happened enough to keep reading... but that's as complementary as I can get. Set in Amsterdam, the novel centers on two brothers and their wives who meet to discuss a crime committed by their children. The adult characters start out unlikable and shortly become despicable... even if their actions are (sometimes) motivated by the love they have for their kids (who were old enough not to such a terrible thing -- I blame [fictional] genetics). At the end of reading, I felt agitated over the time I'd spent with this disgusting group of people. If you're going to write about "villains" at least give me interesting villains - not petty, everyday, abusive narcissists. Yuck.

So, spare yourself these ones unless the summer spiders start invading!