This is not a Threat, It's a Promise

Three times now in our marriage Avram had given me a novel he owns. "You must read this," he says. "It's a great book," he says. "You'll really like it," he says.

So I eventually, after giving my due amount of protest over mediocre paperback fantasy cover art and presumed mediocre insides, read the book. The great book, the book I'll really like.

Three times I have finished the book, and said, "Well, it was not bad. Even had some good parts. But it is the first book in a series (which three times he did not tell me about beforehand), so how come you do not own the rest of the series? Because now I need to know desperately what happens next" (As I am not a patient reader).

And invariably Avram responds, "Oh, I didn't like the rest of the books. They weren't as good as the first one. I wouldn't recommend reading them."

And so three times I am stuck having read the beginning of a trilogy or series, with no plot resolutions in sight, because the next books are "not worth reading."

Three times I have restrained from doing my husband bodily harm.

But he should beware offering a fourth must-read tacky artwork cover part of a large lame series paperbook fantasy to me, insisting that I must read it. The next time he will not be so lucky.