When Do You Give Up On A Book?

[Jessica]

What I've discovered that's even more annoying than not being able to finish a book because it's terrible is for that writer to then go on and write another book that amplifies tenfold everything you disliked about the previous one, and that book goes on to become a huge success. I gave up on Michael Pollan's "The Botany of Desire" because he came off as such a pompous blowhard, and it doesn't sound like he's toned it down at all in his promo appearances for "In Defense of Food." Argh!

I'll also second the ambivalent reactions to "A Confederacy of Dunces" - I made it to page 180 before I realized that, for a book promoted to me as hysterically funny, I hadn't so much as cracked a smile.