Adventures of a Reading Addict

I really don't like it when I don't like a book. I feel like it has defeated me in some way, that I could not grasp material in some way. The author or Geraldine Brooks spent much time researching, travelling to places to research, writing, spending quite a bit of effort putting words in a specific order to create tone, pace and a story that you are suppose to sink into. And all I can do is be a little bitch and groan, and go, really? This book is well written, it's an interesting premise, the first king of Jerusalem, mixing myth, tradition, story telling and religion should be my wheel house. I just read 'The Fishermen', which kind of has a similar tone, and I am ready to pass it around like gospel. So I have to come to the conclusion, I for what ever reason, do not have the patience for biblical fiction, I am putting Satanic Verses as well as the Red Tent, I know two completely different books that shouldn't be compared, but there is a tone, an old testament - new testament, Gabriel coming down from the heavens have this heavily kind of ponderous tone, everything begets something, everything keeps on beginning again. 'The Secret Chord' kept felt it kept starting for about 60 pages. And I wasn't 100% sure if I was in Natan's story or David's, I think ultimately it was both, which didn't work for me . I knew the book wasn't working for me, when the story starts again with David's mother and David's conception - because it's old testament it's 'How I meet your Mother', and of course this is special, he is illegitimate and legitimate at the same time. And this isn't really a spoiler, its just a biblical tone that probably works within the reality of the book and fits in well with a biblical tone, because the bible loves an unusual conception. But it pulled me out of the book and I could not get back in. Me and the bible just doesn't mesh, for good or for ill.