Sometimes You Just Have to Put It Down...

As a former English teacher and now Library Media Specialist, saying this isn't easy.  But...sometimes you just have to say this book isn't for me.  It might be for you, but it isn't working for me and reading it is no longer enjoyable.  That happened to me with the latest book I picked up on a whim at WHPL.  I absolutely LOVED The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd.  It tells the story of the Grimke sisters and their slaves.  They are reluctant slave owners, born to be something they don't want to be!  Later they would become abolitionists and women's rights activists.  I also loved Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy, about four women during the Civil War.  I thought Mrs. Grant and Madame Jule by Jennifer Chiaverini would be along the same lines.  I am a huge Civil War buff and have visited Gettysburg and Manassas.  This book is a fictionalized account of the relationship between the future wife of General Grant and the slave she was given as a child.  I really wanted to like it!  It was just too slow for me!  The courtship of Ulysses Grant and Julia takes FOREVER.  I do love Miss Jule's "family" (she is of course no longer with her birth family as a slave).  I also liked Julia's father's character.  I just could not get over the forced feeling of the conversation between the young couple and between the slave and mistress.  Nope, sorry, just had to put this one down!
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