Her comment got me thinking about my criteria for quitting a book. I also read for pleasure, mostly, although I also like to keep my brain fit. I find that--with all the short, quippy, internety things to read--I have to work a bit harder to hang with dense literature. Sometimes I'll make myself finish a book I don't adore because I feel like I should love it. Example: The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards. How the world raved! Yet I...kept fanning the second half through my fingers, willing it to pass faster. Still. What if the problem lay within the shadowy corners of my own cheap-entertainment-saturated brain? Better press on, I said, and I did. Sometimes I'll keep reading a book I don't love if I have somehow managed to get most of the way through it, and I want to count it toward a reading challenge. I'm
But there are books I cannot finish. They make me feel irritable, distracted, and vaguely panicked, like I'm holding a stretch in gym class.
When do you give up on a book? At the first whiff of boredom? Do you soldier on to the end no matter what? Tell me in the comment section and I'll mail one of you my copy of The Memory Keeper's Daughter. You'll love it. Probably. Most likely. (I'll throw the comment numbers into Random.org and pick a winner that way. I'll announce it on Monday morning's post).
61 comments:
Oh, don't put me on the list for The Memory Keepers Daughter. I didn't like it -at all- and thought.. what is wrong with me? lol
I'm struggling with Middlemarch by George Eliot right now. Like.. massively struggling. I pick it up and promptly fall asleep - which is great for nighttime but not so great for trying to get the book read.
I'm only 264 pages in, but I will continue to press. Why? Because I want to read all those dratted books on the 1001 books to read before you die list. I will do it, yes I will!
I stick with 2 chapters or 50 pages. If it doesn't capture me by then, I put it down for either another time when I can get in the mood for that book or to pass it on to someone else.
Well, I generally give it about 65 pages or so unless it is for a challenge and I keep hoping it will get better. I just finished (finally!) Sons of Fortune by Jeffrey Archer and only because it was for the British Challenge and cross over to chunkster challenge. By the end, I couldn't have cared less what happened to any of the cardboard cutout characters.
Lydia, that is hilarious, because the first book that came into my head when I saw this posting was "Middlemarch". I'd pick it up, read a few pages, and then put it down for weeks. The story was so uninvolving for me and I didn't care what happened to anyone. I guess those are my criteria for quitting a book (and no, I never finished "Middlemarch", so you are my hero for getting there! :)
I read Middlemarch for a class, and I felt like I was dying. Like I was trying to swallow SAND.
It really depends for me. If at any time I realize I'm just bored with a book and have no desire to read any further, I'll stop. If I heard it's a WONDERFUL book I might keep reading a little more. I just hate when I have more than one of these in a row because than I feel like something's wrong with me, lol. But in general I looove to read so if I'm NOT wanting to read it, I put it down.
I also did not like The Memory Keeper's Daughter! In fact, I put that one down long before I started becoming okay with "quitting" books, lol.
Oh I am LOVING all of this Memory Keeper's Daughter non-love! Is that wrong? I feel so vindicated and fresh...
hahaha
I will try and finish a book even if it is boring or I don't like the direction the plot takes, just for no other reason than to finish...mostly because I don't want to have wasted the time spent.
The only time I will flat out stop reading a book is if I find the content/messages offensive, or if it's just really disturbing. But there have been a few books (WICKED LOVELY, for example) that I have just flat out tossed aside and will never read again, just because I was so disgusted.
A lot of readers can handle things better than me, I guess, but that's what happens with me :)
So to answer the question, yes - I definitely stop reading books at a certain point, and I personally don't think there's anything wrong with that! Your time is valuable and you shouldn't have to waste it on something that's not an enjoyable experience!
I don't really have a fixed number of pages, it's usually the first few pages (longer if the writing is good), and then I flip inside (not too far, maybe 1/3 in) to check up on character dialogue and consistency of quality
I try to finish most of the books I start once I start liking even one character, but I'm harsher with books I'm potentially buying =T
Amelia, I will completely stop reading a book if I am disgusted or offended by a message. Totally. I have a very low tolerance for any kind of creepiness or devastation regarding kids, too, so if that starts to emerge in a plot, I'll quit. I can't handle it during this season. I'm a mom of little kids.
I rarely stop reading a book, but if I do, it's usually 2-3 chapters in. If a writer hasn't grabbed me by then, they just won't. Right now I'm reading War & Peace and 8 chapters in I still can't see why people think this is a classic.
I usually soldier on, scanning more than reading, and finish it up.
There was one this year though that I skipped through entire chapters and still was bored to tears. I finally gave up the ghost and gave myself permission to throw in the towel. It was a nonfiction tome on the history of water. I should have known...
I didn't like Lovely Bones. Am I the only one?
I usually try to give a book at least a chapter or two, just to be fair. But there are some books that I can tell I'll dislike, right from the first sentence - and in those cases, I abandon and move on without looking back. So I suppose I'm a "first whiff of boredom" kinda reader at heart.
I definitely agree about The Memory Keeper's Daughter - never was able to finish it. On the other hand, Lolita is one of my all-time favorites - I just loved it, and I've reread it a couple of times. Guess we all have our own likes and dislikes. Makes the world an interesting place, right?
Rachel, don't put me on the list either. I rarely read Christian fiction (as I have previously told you) so when I do, I'm already sure that it's a winner. Those that are given to me I, unfortunately, feel obligated to read to be able to say to the giver that I read it. The latest was a recent "phenom" that I really DID.NOT.LIKE.AT.ALL.
My question is this: what do you do with the books you are given and don't like? I love books so much that I struggle with what to do with books that have been given to me and don't like. If I don't like them, I don't want to pass it along to someone else or throw it in the trash lest someone else pick it up. However, I can't bring myself to burn them so, alas, they sit on my, already overloaded bookshelves.
I have to stick it out to the bitter end...It would bug me to know end if I didn't. I just try to be careful of my choices keeping it in mind I'll have to finish it.
I don't like to quit on books but if when I'm reading a book , all I am feeling is irritation , I have to stop. I also find it hard to read a book that has a blurb that gives a great summary of good story, but when you start to read the story, the story is so bad .
Also sometimes I'm in the mood for a certain kind of story , if I start a book that doesn't fit my mood I have to stop reading it and put it down for another time.
Don't enter me either, although I was one who enjoyed Memory Keepers Daughter.
I used to be a "have to finish" reader. Now I have less attention span and I will read until I find I am bored to death. Then I will just quit. It still gives me a twinge of regret to do it but I have so many books I want to read and I don't want to waste my left over brain cells on an unsatisfying read.
I give a book 100 pages - if after that, I'm still not liking it, then figure there's just not enough time to waste on books I don't like. The last one I gave up on was Dracula.
Lately I haven't been able to finish anything no matter how much I seem to enjoy it, I seem to be in a bit of a reading rut. But normally I usually read about half way through before I decide if it's worth it to finish the rest. And if it's so what entertain after about half way through I start skiping narration and only read the dialog until the end just to see what happens.
I try to give a book a fair shake before quitting. Sometimes I know 10 pages in that a book is not for me. Other times I try to stick it out for at least 50, I figure by then I should know. Right now I'm sloggin through one. I'm at 186 out of 550. It's not looking good becuase I have no desire to pick it back up. I probably won't.
OMG, this blog is looking weird now with all the graphics gone!! What happened? nership....
Please don't enter me for "Memory Keeper's Daughter" because I did not like it at all. I had to finish it though for the book club I was in. I agree, I couldn't see what was so great about it.
I have a horrible habit of stopping a book half way through if I lose interest. I am trying to get better about it though, because some books are worth it to finish (and it is sad to have wasted that time and not completed something). The challenges and reading blog keep me going on a lot of titles!
There are some books I just have a horrible time with. I tried "Ivanhoe" because I love Jane Austen and so did Sir Walter Scott and I couldn't make it even 1/3 in.
I also didn't like The Memory Keeper's Daughter and thought I was alone, lol! I use Stephen King's idea about a book - give it 20-25% and if it doesn't have you by then odds are it won't. Granted, I have trudged through books that haven't grabbed me by that point, but for the most part he is right.
This used to really bother me! I felt obligated to finish a book - even a library book! Now I realize that there are just TOO many GREAT books out there to HATE what you're reading. There for, I give a book 100 pages - if I'm still not enjoying what I read, I drop it. It's what I'll tell my students to do too.
BTW - WELCOME!
missremmers at gmail dot com
You can enter me for The Memory Keeper's Daughter. I have never read it or even tried.
I usually give a book 50 pages or so before giving up on it. If it hasn't engaged me by then it goes back on the TBR shelf. I will usually give a book a couple of chances before I pass it on to someone else. Of course, I read only for pleasure. Any self-improvement is purely accidental!
There are many "classics" that I have never read and never intend to read. I was a geography major not an English major. I see no reason to struggle through a book just because someone said it was the greatest thing since sliced bread if I don't agree.
I suppose that is why there is such a variety of books. There is something for every taste.
You don't need to add me to the giveaway list. Already read Memory Keeper's Daughter (which I liked). So, when do I quit? At no later than 50 pages (which seems to be popular). I figure that I am 52 years old and I will never get to read all I want. Life is too short!!
I try to finish every book that I start, even if that means it takes me a year to read. That being said, there are books that I don't finish. Typically if I'm offended by a book I just can't finish it. Ridiculous amounts of cursing or a bunch of "gross" scenes just creates a story that gives me no enjoyment.
I am with other people who stick to 2 chapters/50-60/pages/about an hour of reading for fiction. There are some books I hated first time through or just wasn't into (Pride and Prejudice, Lolita) that I now absolutely love, though. If it's a classic or seems well-written, I'll give it more of a chance than I will some others.
I have a much lower threshold of quitting with non-fiction. Honestly, the story is probably not going to get better. ;)
If I am not interested by 50 pages, I go on to another book. I will make a note of the title for future reading if I feel it was my mood that made me quit. If it is a book I agree to review, I will try to push on a bit further.
Don't enter me into the giveaway.
I almost always try to finish a book I don't like. I hate to start and not finish. There are very rare occasions where I just can't do it.
I usually never abandon a book completely. I've found that sometimes I am trying to read a book at the wrong time, so setting is aside for a couple of years doesn't hurt. But generally speaking, I finish everything I start,
Please, don't mail me a copy of The Memory Keeper's Daughter. I didn't love it either. I'm like the others here, wondering what was wrong with me. I did finish it, but that was because of reading challenges.
I haven't quit a book in about 3 years, because of the challenges. I've got to get to 100! (OCD??) Case in point, I finished The Gate House.
I used to quit books if I got to where I just didn't care and wasn't interested it getting back to it, however long that took. No hard and fast rule just boredom.
I didn't care that much about The Lovely Bones either Gwen.
One book I thought I'd like a lot and had a hard time finishing was the Picture of Dorian Gray. Yikes!
I rarely give up on books. I think I've maybe put aside a handful in my lifetime.
But, the last one I did put down, "Tales of Soldiers and Civilians and Other Tales" by Ambrose Bierce, was just a chore. I had many other books that I wanted (and even needed) to read, so I set it aside after the first few short stories.
And then proceeded to feel guilty about putting it down for a few days.
I rarely completely quit reading a book. I usually just set it aside to come back to "some day" if I REALLY can't get into it. On the rare occasion that I just cannot finish a book, I'm usually over halfway through it, trying to convince myself that I'm "this" close to finishing it already so why not just keep at it. At which point I start dreaming about the next book on my shelf. So, the book I couldn't finish goes into my used bookstore box and the next book on the shelf ends up in my hands
About the halfway point... I give every book a chance, but if halfway through I am still bored (or annoyed) I stop and never return.
I finised the Memory Keepers Daughter very recently and am finding it hard to write the review. I didn't have trouble getting to the end, but it wasn't as good as I expected.
I have to admit that I dont have any particular criteria for quitting a book. I know that I wont quit only a dew chapters in (the only exception to this being Atonement), I do usually give them a proper chance. But basically, if I dont want to read it, and im only forcing myself, ill stop.
I do try and come back to them in the future and try again though
Life's too short - if I don't like a book by 50 pages in I move on! I have WAY too many books on my shelves to hang on reading to ones I don't like :)
Even when I really want to, I feel that I MUST finish the book. Sometimes I apply, author-librarian Nancy Pearl's recommendation in her Rule of 50 in which she states, "If you still don't like a book after slogging through the first 50 pages, set it aside. If you're more than 50 years old, subtract your age from 100 and only grant it that many pages."
I was the same with The Memory Keeper's Daughter. It was okay but I didn't think it was wonderful. I thought it was lacking a lot of important details.
I try really hard to keep going with the books I'm reading. I'll push myself on to keep reading for as long as I can if I find that I'm struggling. I hate quitting - especially when I've read books that have started really slow but then have turned out to be fantastic.
Usually I'll give up when I realise that I'll do anything to avoid reading this book. Reading becomes something I don't look forward to ... which is never a good sign.
Oh, yeah - the Lovely Bones. Don't get me started on that one. Overhyped, seriously.
I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one having/had problems with Middlemarch. It's seriously like watching a snail trying to figure out which direction to move in. So. Slow. But I read another 20 pages tonight!(and I think I aged 10 years in the meantime.)
I have a post about it on my blog right now as well: http://thelostentwife.net/2010/02/26/friday-check-in/
I put down "Lolita" as well. I keep thinking maybe I will come back to it someday. I just am not compelled to do that.
I rarely just stop reading a book. I do try to keep going. However, like so many of you I will stop if the book offends me.
Books that I feel have merit but are not really pulling me in are books that I will probably keep working on. Often I put down the book for a while, read something interesting and then come back to it. This habit is probably a result of college (English degree). Mostly these days I read for pleasure but old habits die hard.
No, I will give up if the book really does not interest me. I actually liked reading The Memory Keepers Daughter. One book that got rave reviews and my best friend said I must read was The Time Travellers Wife. I got half way through it and stopped. I just couldn't get into it.
I don't generally quit a book just because it bugs me knowing I didn't finish one. But no matter how much it kills me, if I've made it half way through a book then I will finish it. period. *shrugs* It's a compulsion.
I don't have a hard and fast rule of when to quit a book, but ideally want it to grab me by the first page. Sometimes I'll stick it out for awhile if everyone has raved about it, but if I'm bored or feeling frustrated, I'll finally put it down.
Finally realized a few years ago that I didn't have to finish a book, which was hard at first as I'm a little OCD about reading. :-)
I'm a push through until the end kind of reader. I have only ever given up on a handful of books. Not to say I like every book I read, I don't. Maybe it's all the assigned reading in high school and college that makes me read on? I don't know.
Although I don't give up easily, I will often find myself skimming when I find something dreadfully boring OR setting it down for months at a time and then picking it back up again.
I think I'm weird for NOT giving up on a book I think is crappy.
I mentioned in a comment just a few posts ago (on confessions) that I don't give up on many books. I purposefully do not pick "heavy literature" although occasionally I may be in the mood for one. I mostly go with lighter entertainment: romance, suspense, mystery. I do struggle to get past foul language but if it fits the characters and the author has used it for authenticity (mobsters, prisoners, evil psychos, etc) I get through it. If I feel it is just thrown in for no really good reason or used more than needed I am annoyed and may not read that author again.
Having checked the blurb and reviews for The Memory Keeper's Daughter I would say not to include me...better it go to someone who really wants to read it.
the only book i quit was carrie by stephen king. i try to read it because my friend keep bothering me to read it and it was her birthday gift to me. the book was like a psychopath type of a book and since i'm easily absorbed by a book, i found the book was too horrific for me. i even had a nightmare on the book(yeah, no kidding).then i just quit reading it.though i i only have about 3-4 chapters to finish. i just don't want to know the ending.creepy.i even tossing his other books on my bookshelf behind other books *LOL*
yup, i chicken out easily; maybe. i just avoid to read any books alike to his.ha!
I try never to quit on a book. Although trying and doing aren't the same thing. I am sad to say I have quit the same book about 5 times. I truly cannot get through "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea". Sorry can't do it! But other than that I seem to at least give every book the benefit of the doubt. I mean people put their hearts and souls into these novels. And to truly give a proper review or opinion I think you need to finish the book (no matter how much you wanna use it as a paperweight).
I can't remember ever having not finished a book I started, although I suppose I must have sometime or other.
Some books I don't like and will never re-read but I always read the blurb to see what a book is about, dip into it by reading a page here or there and then decide if I want to read it or not.
Maybe this is because I try not to be too influenced by what other have to say about a book and just read because they tell me to.
Thre are many books that I have not read and have no intention of ever reading no matter how other people may rave about them. For instance I have read one Kafka novel, did not like it and will never bother to read him again.
Carol
Well, I just remember prominently the two books I couldn't finish were Evermore (becuase of the mary-sue protag, the Edward wannabe but still creepy love interest, and basically because Ever drove me insane.)
Also, I can't finish Liar because when the "big secret" was revealed, I just thought it was ridiculous. so ridiculous i cant keep reading which is seriously rare.
I do finish most books though, i keep a list of books I've read and love adding titles, somehow it makes me feel accomplished lol :P
After being one of those people who had to finish every book I started blogging changed me because it increased my reading amount and books I wanted to read so I've given myself freedom.
If a book has 400 or less pages I quit after 50 pages if I'm bored, repulsed, reading the same sentence over and over. Bigger books I give 100 pages before I turf them. Depending on the book though if I think I really should have enjoyed it, I'll just put it back on the shelf to start again later, much later, some day. The others that were truly bad get taken out of the house asap to make room for new better books!
I read Memory Keepers Daughter a few years back and it was ....ehhhh. (ehhh = not so bad but not so great) To me it felt a little like a Jodi Piccoult rip off.
So back to your question - I really try to finish books that I have said I would review. If I looked it over before I said yes and made sure (as much as possible) that I thought it would be something I would enjoy.... then I really try to complete it.
My own books however if they can not grab me by 50 pages in, I have no problem putting them down and moving on. Sometimes they are to be picked up again at a alter date... and other times, they eventually are passed on through giveaways or donations.
Okay I love this post-someone finally got it out in the open!
It's a horrible feeling when a book has had such a huge build up-The Story of Edgar Sawtelle-I didn't like it. It has been most embarassing to admit it because everyone raves about it.
Thank you for letting me say it out loud. LOL!
I have just quit my first book! The girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I didnt enjoy it at all and stopped after about 20 pages. Up till now I have always felt bad to not finished it and soldiered on. When ihave put books down I have always picked them up after a week or 2 and ended up finishing them. This year I have decided though that if I want to do 100 in a year, I cant be stuck for ages on 1 book, so am going to leave them if they dont appeal. I have the Memory Keepers Daughter and havent yet actually got to start it, mmm, now I am not sure if I want to lol
Rachel, let me tell you are on to something. You have opened Pandora's Box! I love it! Great start with the taking over the new blog thing. J.Kaye would be proud!!!
I was reading Son of a Witch, but then I started reading The Historian with my reading group thinking I would go back to Son of a Witch after that. Now that I've read the Historian I just have to read the original Dracula, and I'm on this horror book kick because if it. I've never just stopped reading a book before and I'm feeling a little guilty about it. I just happened to switch gears in mid-book. I've never done that before. I'll probably go back to it later.
Tracy, Girl with a Dragon Tattoo is HORRIBLE for the first half of the book. So slow and boring and so much set-up, but it really does make up for it in the second half. If you ever decide to try it again!
It took me 10 years to read Jane Eyre. I'm not kidding.
I recently read Forever Amber, up to the last few chapters and had to quit. I thought the book was going to go on forever.
Another book I read that I hated was sent to me for review She and I a Fugue. Only wrote the review because I felt I had to.
I don't really have a set limit, if I start to feel like I want to poke my or someone elses eyes out, I stop reading. No I don't have anger management issues. Why do you ask?
I always feel like I need to finish a book that I start, otherwise I've wasted my time already. But there are some that I just can't (or I think I'll pick it up later, and maybe it'll work better then). Lolita and Love in the Time of Cholera are two books that I started and then thought, "Maybe later."
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