December Books That Did Not 'Make the Grade'

Although I read two amazing books this month, there were a few that just didn't engage me enough to be reviewed. So, here are the books for December that, unfortunately, did not “make the grade”:

The 100 year old Man Who Climbed Out if the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson- This was a fascinating story with great characters but the continuous flashbacks to the main character’s previous life was unnecessary and after a while they did not correspond to the story.  I understand Jonasson was trying to give back-story but it was, as previously stated, unnecessary; which brought the rest of the story down as a result.

Asta in the Wings by Jan Elizabeth Watson- The critics say that Asta is one of the most ‘appealing heroines of our time’ but unfortunately, I couldn’t find the patience to trudge through the many pages of seemingly unimportant information before I found the actual plot and see what they saw in Asta.

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell- Right off the bat, the storyline eluded me. The story is broken up into several storylines sectioned off by chapters, but I couldn’t past the first one because Mitchell wrote the story was in a mix of Old English and Modern English, making it difficult to read and understand as well as making the story even more confusing and unappealing.

Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin- I had high hopes for this novel but I found myself falling asleep as I tried to wade through the meaningless detail before getting back to the story. (This seems to be a common issue.) Personally, with Historical Fiction, it is a 50/50 chance if the book will be a success. This is because if there are people, like me, who know the truth behind the matter they are writing about, it will take a lot to make me a believer but sadly, this book didn’t take me to any kind of Wonderland but only land of disappointment. 

Thanks again for reading!

~Shelly-Beans