Why I am not going to read SERENA (2008)

Recently, in a talk to a group of book lovers, I shared Nancy Pearl's approach to enjoying reading. She espouses her Rule of 50 which states "If you still don't like a book after slogging through the first 50 pages, set it aside. If you're more than 50 years old, subtract your age from 100 and only grant it that many pages." Being well over 50 these days, allows me to read even fewer pages before calling it quits.

Ron Rash's new book The Cove is on reserve for me at my local library. While waiting, I thought I would read his earlier Serena. There seems to be much division of opinion on Serena. Love it or hate it. I just don't want to read it.

"The year is 1929, and newlyweds George and Serena Pemberton travel from Boston to the North Carolina mountains where they plan to create a timber empire."

Right there things begin to fall outside my areas of interest. Rash's first novel was called 'a masterful balance of violence and beauty' and 'riveting' so don't let my lack of enthusiasm turn you away from this book. And who knows what my reaction to The Cove will be?