books to skip

Sometimes it's valuable to keep track of things that got tepid reviews, so that I won't spend my limited time slogging through them.

Two in that category:

War of Necessity, War of Choice by Richard Haass. Reviewer Geoffrey Wheatcroft opines that it covers little new ground.

The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work, by Alain de Botton. Botton is bored by his interviewees, which makes the book mocking and condescending. We can't all be famous French essayists, surely. I'd much rather read the Crawford book about the joys of shopwork - in fact I am planning on it.