Books can be tough to finish

It’s a long way from “Bowser the Hound” to “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.”
Or maybe it isn’t.
I still remember checking out “Bowser.”
It was at the old Carnegie library in Portland, the one that seemed so big when I was a kid.
Concrete steps — the sort that would never be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act — led up from East Walnut Street. On either side of the steps, the concrete was angled so you could slide down on your rear-end if you didn’t care about damaging your jeans.
Inside, under what I thought at the time was the most elaborate dome any architect could ever devise, complete with stained glass, the librarian sat behind an elaborate oak counter.
The books for grown-ups were in the section behind the librarian — probably Margaret Antles much of the time — while what we would call “young adult” books were to the left, along with a reference room that would become a favorite haunt in junior high and high school.
To the library visitor’s hard right as he faced the librarian was the children’s room.
It was there that I met Dr. Seuss for the first time, beginning a relationship that continues to this day and which is likely to prosper with the arrival of our first grandchild this October.
I distinctly remember taking home “And to Think that I Saw It on Mulberry Street.”
At the time, I thought it was one of the finest books I’d ever read. And I’m still pretty fond of it, though other Seuss titles — “Cat in the Hat,” “Red Fish, Blue Fish,” “Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?” and others — always grab me. And I haven’t even touched upon the Sneetches.
But on one visit, probably after getting my first library card, I made the big leap: Chapters.
A real book. I had hit the big time.
It was “Bowser the Hound” by Thornton W. Burgess. I’d read a chapter or two while my mother picked up the latest mysteries to feed her addiction. So when it came time to leave, “Bowser” came with me.
Suddenly, the inimitable Thornton W. Burgess was my favorite author.
I took the book home and all but drooled over all the other titles the gifted Mr. Burgess had written to send my way.
But a funny thing happened.
I didn’t like the book. Each chapter became a burden.
And it was with a profound sense of Calvinistic guilt that I took it back to the library a few weeks later, unfinished.
I felt that I’d failed a test.
And I’ve often struggled with similar feelings with dozens of other books over the years.
One defense mechanism is not to start a book you don’t think you’ll finish. But once I start I feel obligated to push on, even though that has meant slogging through a book I disliked until I reached the final “The End.”
On the other hand, if I like a book its length doesn’t seem to matter.
I’ve clocked hundreds and hundreds of pages on works like “Life and Fate” and “American Aurora.” One is fiction. One is not. Neither is light work. But both are incredibly rewarding. And I finished both exhilarated and satisfied.
The “Bowser” factor seems to set in when I start a book liking it, then change my mind.
That was the case with “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” a best-selling mystery by a Swedish author.
In true “Bowser” fashion, it caught me for the first few chapters. I even recommended it to my sister Linda when I was about 40 pages in.
But then it took a turn and another turn and another, until I was ready to toss it into the fire.
But I didn’t.
I persevered and made it to the end.
Enjoy it? No. Recommend it? No. Did I find it cynically exploitive of violence against women? Yes.
But at least I finished it, and I can’t say the same about “Bowser the Hound.”
Thornton W. Burgess, eat your heart out.[[In-content Ad]]