Books I didn't finish

I am proud to say that I started two books, I didn't like them, so instead of forcing myself to finish them, they went back to the library.


The first was A Return to Modesty: Discovering the Lost Virtue. I picked it up after reading Nine Parts of Desire and thinking about Muslim's women's veiling, thinking it might provide a cohesive argument that might shed light on how veiling is a good thing for women, not just a way for men to control women. But, I didn't like the book at all. Shalit throws around terms like "feminism", "conservative" and "liberal" without clear definitions. Her arguments are all over the place. And her book is more about sex than general modesty. I read a few chapters and then tossed it aside.

The second was In Search of King Solomon's Mines. The author takes a fancy to the idea of travelling through Ethiopia to look for the famous mines of King Solomon's temple. He's not an archeologist or anthropologist. He breezes about the country. I didn't like the writing much. It didn't grab me. So, it's gone too.