Just Couldn't Do It

You know how, sometimes, you just can't make yourself read a certain book?

I really hate it when that happens, particularly when it's a book I really want to want to read. The most recent book that I've run into this problem with: Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld.

I've been holding onto this book for a couple months now, sure that I would pick it up eventually. And it just kept sitting there and sitting there and getting pushed bback farther and farther in the tbr stack. Finally, I grabbed it, made it three pages in, and had to put it back down again. It's officially time for me to call it like it is and say that I am sinerely not in any way interested in this book.

This pains me greatly because I'm a huge Westerfeld fan. His Uglies books were some of the key books that really got me hooked on reading, and his Midnighters books were beyond brilliant. When I heard that he was coming out with a new series, I was thrilled. So here I am now, a little shocked and confused as to why I can't seem to make myself read this book.

So I did a mental disection, using what little I know of the book. Here it is:

• This is a book set during WWI
• It follows a man named Aleksandar through his battles
• There is also a girl named Deryn thrown in there, with whom Aleksandar most likely inevitably falls in love with
• It's written by Scott Westerfeld
  

The top two of these are cons in my book, and the bottom two are pros. I can't stand books set between the years of about 1910 to approximately 1990, mostly because most of them will involve one of the World Wars or the Vietnam War in some way, shape, or form. But also because I just can't understand those time periods. They're so close to ours, and yet so completely different. It just doesn't quite mesh with my brain.

I also very much dislike male protaganists. I know, all me sexist or whatever it is that you want, but I can't connecct with them or their stories unless they have total kick-ass stories to tell. Hearing that there's a girl thrown in there, along with the hints that there's going to be a romance thrown in as well, gave it a bit more promise. But, if we're being completely honest, I would have to say that the romance aspect of the story has never been Westerfeld's strong point and certainly not enough to base reading an entire 434 page novel off of.

And so we come to the last bullet point. If any other author had written this book, I never would have even glanced at it. It's really a tribute to Westerfeld that I tried so hard and for so long with this book. But in the end, even that wasn't enough.

Is this just me, or are there other people out there that have books like this? I genuinely want to know.