I followed the Kindle rule: Always download the free sample first before actually buying a book.  I read the first chapter and really enjoyed it. But I didn’t read the second one. Since I was going on a trip, I wanted the Kindle loaded with good reading material, so I bought The Sun Also Rises and started reading on at Chapter 2. I made it to Chapter 4 when I couldn’t do it anymore.  I wasn’t interested in the characters, droning on about how clever they were, off in Paris. There was no suspense. I could not find any reason to keep reading other than knowing that it’s Hemingway!

I have not read any Hemingway other than The Old Man and the Sea (which I think I read three times at different periods of my life). It seems that every aspiring writer, which is what I was for many of my younger and middle-age years, must read The Old Man and the Sea.

Alas, today, I need suspense, perhaps some history, fascinating and thought-provoking ideas and concepts, something to keep me reading. Bland characters spewing out drivel on and on does not do it for me.

I am sure there is a literary professor out there that can argue that I am wrong, that I am missing the big point. That’s ok. I think it’s time to stay away from Hemingway for a while.