I actually have a compulsion to finish whatever book I start. I’m an optimist, in some ways, and I always think the book might get better; it might just take a while to get into it. Sometimes I’m right to be optimistic and continue working at it. For the following books, I may never know unless one of my readers persuades me to give it another try.

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. I tried to start this one at the park while watching my little ones play. I don’t know if I was distracted or if the author was, but I couldn’t make heads or tails of the plot or the characters. And is Fford a made-up name?

Ireland by Frank Delaney. I tried this book because somebody recommended it. Thank you, but . . . I couldn’t get started, and it looked so long and I like long books, but Ireland started out with some kind of strange wandering minstrel or storyteller, and I couldn’t tell what century we were in, and maybe I missed it, but . . .

Theif Lord by Cornelia Funke. I read most of this book, and then I realized that I didn’t really care what happened to the band of orphans who make up the collective “main character.” So I quit.

Total Truth by Nancy Pearcey. This one is really good, really, but I, unfortunately, have to read in snatches—lots of snatches, but snatches, nevertheless. And Pearcey’s book requires concentration. I’ll probably pull it out again when I think I’m going to have some uninterrupted time—in another life.

God Is the Gospel by John Piper. I’m having trouble concentrating on this one, too, and what’s even worse is that I’m supposed to review it. So I’ll have to find some time soon.

That’s not so very many unfinished projects for 2005. Of course, that’s only the books I didn’t finish. We won’t talk about home improvement projects or study projects or, well, you get the idea. My compulsion to finish things only goes so far.

Coming Soon: The List (which is never finished)