Being strangled by the Vine

When I got that e-mail from Amazon inviting me to participate in the Vine Program, I was thrilled. What could be better than getting free stuff just for reviewing it at Amazon.com? Mostly I've gotten some good stuff and some not so good stuff, but have overall enjoyed the activity. Until now. I'm in a real slump here lately. I'm not sure if the pickings have been slim or if I've just been a bad picker, but I have been slogging my way through some really awful books. I've written reviews of two books recently that I didn't even manage to finish, just read enough to write a reasonably intelligent review and called it quits.

Here is the first paragraph of my review for The Ninth Day, by Jamie Freveletti:

The bad news is that the events of this book are implausible, illogical, and impossible. Almost nothing in the entire book rings true. The geography makes no sense. The behavior of most of the characters makes no sense. The science makes no sense. And not only did the ending make no sense, it was unsatisfying and provided little payoff for having stuck with the book until the end.

And yes, I did manage to stick with that one until the end.

At the moment, I've got 2 non-fiction and one fiction book still awaiting review. I've just started the fiction book, Red Flags, a mystery set in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. So far it seems pretty good, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I've had one of the non-fiction books, a book on insects, for a long time and I just can't seem to get through it. It's not that it's bad, it just isn't keeping my interest.

I did go ahead and pick 2 new books for this month, a novel from the Mystery/Thriller genre and a Costa Rica guidebook, because I've always wanted to visit there. Maybe I will be inspired to plan a vacation there. But, I'm thinking seriously about taking a break from the Vine. I've got a stack of unread books on my night stand that aren't from the Vine Program and I just bought myself a Kindle to try out, so I've got plenty of stuff to read. And I think it will be nice to not have to worry about writing reviews unless I feel inspired by the book to do so.