Failing

Staring at the possibility of a painful failure at the moment, and I blame V.S. Naipaul. It's a long, long time since I bought a copy of his non-fiction work The Loss of El Dorado thinking that I was in for an enjoyable and informative read on the history of Trinidad. I knew next to nothing of the topic and also knew that Naipaul had never let me down in his work, fiction or otherwise. So I knew I was on a winner.

Now my copy looks distinctly the worse for wear, time and the humid climate having done their usual ravaging. But it remains stubbornly unread, despite some six or so attempts to put that right over the years. The last attempt began two days ago and it's fast fading (and it will be the last.) The darned thing is stubbornly unreadable. Who are all these people in the opening pages and what are they doing? And, more to the point, why should I care?