DANIEL SILVA | The book that took me 3 years to read

You may think since this book took me three years to finally finish that it wasn’t very good… turns out, it’s quite the opposite. Portrait of a Spy kept more more intrigued than the last four books I’ve read. Hands down.

My father reads Daniel Silva books like it’s his job and hands me down his favorites! This book was one of them and FINALLY I understand why.

Portrait of a Spy sat on my bookshelf for a year at home where I re-read the first few chapter three times over the year. Each time I loved the first 50 pages, but got distracted by some new “best seller” that popped up… and just by life in general.

When I was packing up my bags to move to DC, I contemplated just throwing the book into the Goodwill pile. Daniel Silva deserved someone who would actually read him, and that clearly wasn’t me. But somewhere deep down inside I KNEW I had to keep it and read it cover to cover.

I brought this book all the way up to DC and it’s been sitting on my bookshelf for almost 2 years with these other under-appreciated books.

But the good news is that summers are for reading and I made the rule (after I finished the “must read” book, Luckiest Girl Alive, and hated it) that I would not read another “trendy” book until I finished Daniel Silva! I was determined.

It took three years, but I did it :) You can tell by the abused state of this book that it spent many weeks in the bottom of my purse with the best intentions to read more than a page or two a day.

Once I finally set my rule and focused on finding some quiet time to sit down with the book, I ended up devouring the last 100 pages in one evening with a glass of wine (ok, two glasses of wine).

I loved the characters, loved the storyline, loved the writing! It was so different from popular “thrillers” that are best sellers these days and it was such a wonderful change.

There weren’t cheating husbands, social media references, and stories about drunk nights out. Portrait of a Spy had a twisting plot, undercover agents, extreme terrorists, international travels, and strong characters you fell in love with. That is what many books are missing these days (INHO).

It’s so important to read books that make you happy. Whether you’re into historical, sci-fi, or inspirational novels, read what you love and not just what the media tells you that you should love (I’ve been tricked one too many times by those must-read BuzzFeed book lists).

What books have you read recently that you feel should get more attention?

The next “off the beaten path” book I plan to read is A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle.