What Makes You Put Down a Book?

The older you get--the more picky you get when picking a book to read--as a member of the Library Board in our small community, I tried to read the controversial books in order to support their addition to the library. Some books are just written for shock value (the Fifty series) or complication value (the Dragon series) and some are written for how many characters the author can kill off and the reader will remember them (the Game of Thrones series). I finished them all.

I, like many other readers, have put a book down and then picked it up again because it was supposed to be sooooooooo good--Now I just throw away the bad ones--too many interesting people creating interesting books to worry if that "bad" book was not for you. Authors have their vision--we all do not share it with them-but that does not make their vision wrong--it just makes that vision different from something that will engage our interest. How many books did you read last year?--I read 93--I still have a life outside of a book!

The only book I've abandoned in the last 20 years was "Fifty Shades of Grey". The writing is just so incredibly BAD. I kept getting jerked out of the story by moments of disbelief. In the end, I gave up about a third of the way through the book, and gave it away.

Pushed through Dragon Tattoo and was very happy I did, but it took quite a while to catch my interest. Once it did, it went so quickly, and I read the other two in less than a week. I put down books a lot. Sometimes I think "I will finish this in the winter (or summer, etc.)." I I didn't really care for "Eat, Pray, Love", but I did read it through. Sometimes I start a book and misplace it, and just start another until I can find it. I read everything!!

As a self-published author I try to support other self-published authors. However, when there are spelling mistakes and grammatical errors on the first page (which is far too often), I don't get any further. I think there should be too categories of self-published novels - professionally edited and not professionally edited. I would avoid the latter!

Linda wrote: "I did finish Dooms Day Book by Connie Willis, but only kicking and screaming. I *hate* a book for of repetition. Did you know that the plague started in China in 1333? Eeeeek! I should have aba..."

And I loved that book, and have re-read it, along with a couple of other follow-up books of hers. I didn't really find it repetitive in an annoying way, but enjoyed how she pulled threads of disease/plague through centuries, applicable to today too, of course.

Serene wrote: "I agree. Preaching is a real turnoff, even if it is a cause I support it can be a drag to read."

I definitely notice when an author is pushing an agenda. If the agenda is one I happen to agree with (like Dragon Tattoo), it doesn't bother me too much, though it can be annoying. The story still has to hold together and be well-told. I have to be able to BE in the story. If I'm too aware of the author pushing an agenda, that creates wariness, and makes it harder just to be there.

Unless it's really poorly written, I get to the middle, often close to the end before I put it down and don't get around to picking it back up. I'm not quick to quit unless it's REALLY bad or actually offensive (I'm not easy to offend). I'm patient in letting a story unwind at its own pace if it's well written. Bad writing? You can't hold me.

What a pondeously tedious book! I gave it a lot more pages than I am usually willing to give to a book I'm not into. Evan after over one hundred pages the was not one character that I remotely cared about. I know it's a classic, but not for me!

I stopped reading The World According to Garp after the car accident. It was too distressing. I read somewhere later on that one-third of the readers who didn't finish the book stopped at that point.

I find it interesting that a lot of people say they will abandon the book within 50 pages if it isn't "fast" enough for them. Speaking as a writer and carnivorous reader, 50 pages is nothing. I'm wondering how much of this mindset is based off of our fast-paced, fast-consuming society, like everyone is used to movies and how quickly they go compared to a book. A book isn't meant to be too fast... It's a story meant to be taken in and savored. It's a world where you're supposed to fill in the blanks and make it your own. Enjoying a book is 50% the writer and 100% the reader.

I loved this. For the record, when I first picked up Catch-22 (in high school) I found it to be confusing and not all that attention-grabbing. But, MAN, am I glad I stuck with it. Work of hilarious genius.

I agree with a comment made by several people in earlier posts, life is too short to finish a book you're not into, put it down and carry on with another!

Lauren, I'm the opposite. I enjoyed Catch-22 as a kid, but now I find it putrid - perhaps the most overrated and uninspiring book I've ever read, way oversold.

The only one that comes to mind, the one that tops it all, is The Bible.

The irony of it . . . one written by Joseph Heller and the other written by "who the hell knows"!

I completely agree with Catch 22. It was required reading for one of my college classes and I absolutely HATED it.

About Wicked? I thought it stunk. I didn't like ANY of the characters and it went on and on. I read it. All the way. I wish I'd given up sooner. Persistence didn't pay off.

Genko wrote: "Linda wrote: "I did finish Dooms Day Book by Connie Willis, but only kicking and screaming. I *hate* a book for of repetition. Did you know that the plague started in China in 1333? Eeeeek! I s..."

I loved all her books, but especially Doomsday Book, Blackout and All Clear. Admittedly I'm fascinated by the 14th century and history in general. You need patience and interest in the subject. I have trouble understanding why other people aren't as fascinated with all of this as I am. But most people have no interest in history anymore. They are, as Michael Crichton said, like leavves that don't know they are part of a tree.

The Paris Wife because the main character was so insipid, story very receptive, and we know how it ends! Loved the whole Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series and wish there were more. Finished Eat, Love, Pray although I agree that the main character (the author) was self-centered and just not a nice person. Re-reading Gatsy (and seeing both movies made me wonder what I saw in it when I read it in high school. I was surprised about how racist, anti-Semitic it was and how silly Fitzgerald made the female characters.

I haven't abandoned many, sometimes scan through or read the last chapter to see if it ever gets better. Too many good ones to read to waste time on bad ones.

I made it to p. 3 of The girl with the dragon tattoo; tried Eugenides' _The marriage plot_ three different times, and never made it to p. 60. Now I wish I knew how to delete it off my e-reader ...

I used to always try to finish a book, but life is too short and some books aren't worth finishing, not with so many gems out there.

The main reason I abandon a book is bad writing. A good friend with usually impeccable literature taste recommended Twilight to me before it became a film and well-known as utter rubbish.

I got about 50 pages in and felt my brain cells dying with the terrible prose coupled with an nonsensical plot line and bland characters. She later took me to see the film to encourage me to give it another go, by the end I was extremely glad I hadn't wasted my time bothering to read it.

Her last attempt to get me to pick Twilight back up was to tell me "but the writing gets better. The plot gets worse though". I promptly told her that wasn't really a selling point and she gave up.

I vowed never to pick up a book because of hype again, and I never have. Recommendations are all well and good, but if someone who usually doesn't read tells me a book is amazing, I don't have great expectations of it. Especially not considering how much nonsense has been on the best seller lists recently.

Karolyn wrote: "As a self-published author I try to support other self-published authors. However, when there are spelling mistakes and grammatical errors on the first page (which is far too often), I don't get an..."
You're so right! I've almost given up self-published books because of the lack of basic editing.....almost, not entirely. I've found a few authors who, imho, shouldn't have to self-publish -- their books are that good! But the spelling and punctuation errors drive me crazy, as does the "climax" of the story appearing on page 25! Puh-leeze -- I wish these authors would spend a little money and have a professional editor clean up these errors and wrong turns. I have a feeling they would sell more books if they did!

I could not get into Eat, Pray, Love. She was self-absorbed and whiny,and I didn't care about what happened to her.

Karolyn wrote: "As a self-published author I try to support other self-published authors. However, when there are spelling mistakes and grammatical errors on the first page (which is far too often), I don't get an..."

I totally agree Karolyn! Nothing is as big a turn-off for me as a sloppily drafted book!

Suzanne wrote: "Karolyn wrote: "As a self-published author I try to support other self-published authors. However, when there are spelling mistakes and grammatical errors on the first page (which is far too often)..."

At the risk of throwing cold water on a lively discussion, when I published my book, I couldn't afford an editor. I live on disability. So I did the best I could. It isn't perfect, but I've done a lot of editing for other authors ... and even at fire sale prices, it's a solid $1200 for a 320 page book. Some of us really can't afford that. Should we never publish because we are poor?

I abandoned Casual Vacancy. I thought it might be good but I couldn't get in to it.

Stereotypes can bug me. Could be great writing but if the character is too cliché I find myself growing annoyed.

The only book I have never finished was The End of Mr Y, and I've read some pretty terrible books in my time. This one has my prize though for being overwrought, taking forever to do anything, having irritating characters that I wanted to slap with a brick, trying to be sexy and coming up just sounding crude or stupid, and just overall being; dull, irritating and feeling like a chore to slog through.

Yep I agree - I abandoned Casual Vacancy and Wicked. Just couldn't get into them. For me I give them a few chapters and if they aren't grabbing my attention move on. I don't have time to read bad books! I loved the Girl with the Dragon tattoo series however and read the 50 shades of grey.

Bronwyn wrote: "The only book I have never finished was The End of Mr Y, and I've read some pretty terrible books in my time. This one has my prize though for being overwrought, taking forever to do anything, havi..."

Tell me how you REALLY felt :-)

Amanda wrote: "I used to always try to finish a book, but life is too short and some books aren't worth finishing, not with so many gems out there.

The main reason I abandon a book is bad writing. A good friend..."

I figured out the problem: the book was written for 14 year old girls. I know this because my granddaughter who was 14 when it came out LOVED it as did all her girlfriends. We are not the audience. We are (ahem) too old. And too literate.

I read Moby Dick 5 times, but I can see why people might not be able to finish it. When I start getting bored with a book--but still need to know what happens--I usually just go google a review or wikipedia, or Goodreads, and get the answer. Takes 5 minutes and done with the book. Working on Infinite Jest now, which is very easy to put down, but I'm hellbound to finish it.

My outlook on whether you should finish a book you don't like started very young. My mom read A Little Princess to me and I loved it, so I went ahead and read the Secret Garden, HATED IT. A couple years later for some reason I read it again and I loved it. to this day it is one of my most favorite books. I didn't finish the last book of the Chronicles of Narnia because I never wanted it to end. I have read Casual Vacancy and I rather liked it. Wicked is one of my most favorite books. I really liked the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and went on to the second of the series which was also good. I refuse to read 50 Shades of Grey because it just sounds stupid. I couldn't get into anything written by Tolkien. I haven't read any of the others.

Bad dialogue will drive me to not only not finish a book, but to hurl it at the wall and then throw it in the bin so that nobody else has to put up with it.

You guys are way more generous than me. I haven't read more than 10 pages of something I didn't like, ever. Usually they lose me on the first page.

Da vinci's code is the only book i did not finish .Some of the books on the Oprah book club list,although i finished them i could not fathom their popularity

I like it when you DO finish the book and the next day, you can't remember anything about it.

Lynn wrote: "My outlook on whether you should finish a book you don't like started very young. My mom read A Little Princess to me and I loved it, so I went ahead and read the Secret Garden, HATED IT. A couple ..."

And that's why there isn't just one book for all of us. There are books I admire but don't enjoy ... books I enjoy, but don't admire. Books for which I have a completely unreasoned dislike. Go figure.

For me it's incorrect facts, particularly historical facts. Like when Madeline Miller used the word "lunch" in The Song Of Achilles. I'll probably finish the book someday, after I get past the word. (There was no such meal as lunch until the early 1800s.) Or when an author placed Beau Brummell in the 1850s, instead of the Regency. Or if I just can't get into the story.

I can read Georgette Heyer and Patrick O'Brian over and over. One or two others - The King Must Die and The Bull From The Sea by Mary Renault a few times, Kipling's Kim until I outgrew it.

We're all different!

Marilyn wrote: "Suzanne wrote: "Karolyn wrote: "As a self-published author I try to support other self-published authors. However, when there are spelling mistakes and grammatical errors on the first page (which i..."
I couldn't afford to pay $1200 for editing work either. But we all know librarians, teachers, even gifted high school students with a good grasp of spelling and punctuation. Might be worth the time to seek out someone like this who would be interested in contributing to the work of a new author for a minimal amount, or even at no charge to be included in the author's dedication! Publishing a book without any decent editing -- if you're not able to handle this chore yourself -- is just unprofessional and won't win you many fans.

The reason I abandon books is only when I feel like my eyes would bleed its so bad.

I abandoned Casual Vacancy and LOTR.

Casual Vacancy was just so boring I was thinking JK Rowling probably hired a ghostwriter for this. Either that or she just really sucks in writing an adult book.

JK Rowling must learn that adult book doesn't equal boring.

LOTR was so boring too. Descriptions. Descriptions. Descriptions. Sentences aren't creatively/wittily written.

That 38.1% of the population/ people who finish a book no matter what are the reason why there are so many 1 star reviews on Goodreads.

If you hate a book, stop reading it! Nobody wants to read your 1 star hateful review.

I loved reading Eat, Pray, Love. It was witty. But the spirituality topic isn't for everyone, I guess.

I read Girl with the dragon tattoo after I watched the movie made by David Fincher. So I guess that made the reading easier.

Some books need motivation though. Like Game Of Thrones. Once you get pass the confusion in the beginning, it gets brilliant!

I think the rule to "finish everything" is wasted on books. Life is too short for silly pseudo-heroism. (or is it pseudo-intellectualism?)
Book I should have abandoned but didn't: 50 Shades of awful writing.

Victoria wrote: "I find it interesting that a lot of people say they will abandon the book within 50 pages if it isn't "fast" enough for them. Speaking as a writer and carnivorous reader, 50 pages is nothing. I'm w..."

about the 50% the reader should fill in... it does not work with a visual reader. when i read, it unfolds like a movie and if ½ of it is missing, well, that's like watching parts of a movie.

also, the Dragon Tat actually has a message. yes, it's pretty brutal in places, but so is - surprise! - life, especially for women. even in sweden.

the Help disappointed me. it started off well enough, then got diluted into oblivion.

i once started to read a nora roberts lying around the house. it began beautifully with amazingly beautiful and descriptive writing. when i mentioned that to daughter, she said "i guess you'd not reached the part where she gets raped and murdered by her brother-in-law in front of her 6 month old daughter....?"

i literally dropped the book and shudder when i see the writer's name. how could you?!

Jodi wrote: "I usually try to finish everything, no matter how much I dislike it. However, I recently came very, very, very close to abandoning Kate Atkinson's "Life After Life". Not only did the story move at..."

Absolutely agree. It took me forever to finish this. I was really disappointed because I love everything else she has written. It seemed repetitive, unoriginal and thoroughly depressing.

I was told to read Ian McEwan's book 'Atonement' as it was "just amazing!" So I tried it out. Didn't like it much. Wasn't enthralled by the characters. The writing and language was very good. The description of the battle field was superb. Such a disappointing ending. It just didn't seem to work for me.

My husband bought me a novel by Helen 'Zennor in Darkness' by Helen Dunmore. Just thought this was so beautiful, and wonderful. Cannot praise this book enough. Took me to another time and place. Magical.

I have abandoned "Foxe's Book of Martyrs" several times because of the violence (made it only to page 3), and "War and Peace" several times because I didn't like any of the characters.

Does it count that I sometimes read the beginning and end, and skip the middle? If a book gets bogged down in detail or boring characters, I will skip to the last chapter to find out how the mystery ends.