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That 1970s sci-fi novel I grabbed for 50 cents at a library sale
Picked up this beat up paperback at a library sale in Portland last March. Looked like nothing special. Cover was half missing. Took me three days to get through the first 30 pages. The prose was so dense I almost gave up. But then it clicked and I couldn't put it down. Finished the whole thing in one sitting after that. Anybody else struggle with an old book that took way longer than it should have?
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lisa67111d ago
@ivanb41 totally get that, yeah. Read something online once about how some authors from that era took forever to build the world before the plot kicked in. Kinda like how old movies had those slow opening credits. Bet that western was worth the wait though.
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ivanb4111d ago
Honestly, that line about "the prose was so dense I almost gave up" hits home. I had a similar thing with a western novel from the 60s I found at a thrift store in Tucson. The first forty pages were just describing a desert landscape and I almost tossed it, but then a character got bit by a rattlesnake and suddenly it was this crazy survival story. I ended up reading until 3am and had to call in sick the next day. Ngl, sometimes those slow starters end up being the most unforgettable.
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