Books

My review of Books by Larry McMurtry(2 stars)This is a book I CAN put down rather easily. It has no "juice". Reminds me of an inferior iteration of a W.S. Burroughs cut-up job, randomly incomplete snippets of a bookman's life. I'm about halfway through Books and I am finding it quite lacking on so many levels. McMurtry just gets started with something of interest, and poof, he moves on to something else, almost fascinating, only to leave his reader once again in the dust. It's maddening. Of course I can't stop reading it right in the middle so I will continue through to the end, although I know I will regret losing another hour to finish it.Learning of his early upbringing with no books in the house, I was hooked. When he begins to tell of his growing passion for books, and his fear that this would be a narrative of interest only to others with a similar passion, I became excited to read more. McMurty does not deliver. Rather than holding my attention and awe, I find "books" to have devolved after the first few chapters into something quite dreadful and boring.An author with the ability to write as McMurtry does has cheated an audience he alone might have held in the palm of his hand. Rather than caress fellow bookmen like some fine leather tome he might hold in high regard, he has relegated us to the remainder pile, covers removed...no love at all. It is a shame, as I am certain the depth of his real life in books is far more interesting than the poorly rendered skin of what he has provided here.I noticed McMurtry split up his memoirs into 3 parts. Reeks of over-commercialism, and I already feel like it won't be worth the time to read the other 2. After reading the reviews for those, I definitely won't purchase either of them.