The phrase "I couldn't put it down" is often used when praising a book. We tend to hope that it does not mean the hand and the book fused, requiring surgery to allow normal use to return. The structure of a typical thriller has been that a serious misdeed, such as a murder, has been committed and we get to follow along as brilliant Sherlock and his faithful assistant, Delila, work to figure out who did the dirty deed. When a critic says she couldn't put it down, that she left phone calls unanswered, meals uneaten, bills unpaid, she is trying to indicate how gripping the story was. She is trying to persuade me that I too would be gripped in a similar way. Of course, she has no way of knowing that
I don't like to be gripped
I have a wandering mind that goes off on tangents, parabolas and conic curves and I enjoy those sidetrips. So, please don't direct me to books that limit my excursions.
