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Giving up
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Dan
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Feb 11, 2008 02:15PM

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Catch 22 was shut forever on page 41. i reread those 41 pages three times before i made the decision to end the torture. I just could not go on.
Altas Shrugged got me a little further... 64 pages and I knew it was hopeless. I hated every character that was introduced and i could care less about the railroad lines.
Strange Highways by Dean Koontz... just plah. didnt care.
Usually I will suffer through a god-awful novel in the hopes that somewhere in there, it gets better. And for the most part, it always does. But for those three... I just dont want to find out.





once or twice i've started a book because someone raved over it and had to stop becuz i was bored to tears.....but i never made it past the first 7/8 pages.....you know how someimes you just know a book is not for you?? sort of like that.......

The winner? The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner.
The first part of the story is the hardest thing I've ever read. It made my head hurt trying to make sense of it at times. At the time (about 5 years ago), I didn't realize that once you get past ~75 pages, the narrator changes, so it is on my list to re-read this spring...first part and all.
Wish me luck.
Like many of you I very rarely stop reading a book once I have started it. However, there have been a few.
I usually love Barbara Kingsolver but I was unable to finish The Poisonwood Bible. I struggled my way through half of the book before I gave up. It never caught my interest and I never grew to care what would happen.
I usually love Barbara Kingsolver but I was unable to finish The Poisonwood Bible. I struggled my way through half of the book before I gave up. It never caught my interest and I never grew to care what would happen.

One book that I really gave up on was Patricia Cornwell's non-fiction book on Jack the Ripper - _Portrait of a Killer_. There were several times I almost threw the book across the room in frustration. The writing was okay, but her logic and the conclusions she drew from the facts were outrageous. This books should be read in school as classic examples of faulty logic and reasoning. She knew what she wanted to prove and bent all the facts to support her theory. I got about half way through and quit so as to save the drywall.


I read over 600 pages of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrill before I got terminally hacked off with the total lack of editing. Just because an author does vast amounts of research doesn't mean s/he has to put it all in the book. Especially not in footnotes in five point type.

On very rare occasions, I might pick up a book that I had abandoned a while back to see if it was just a timing thing and that it would now hold my interest. Sometimes this has made the difference and I can appreciate the book, as my life and outlook changed. However, for the most part, a bad book is a bad book. And life is too short for tedious reading.

I think that two books were put down because I got distracted by other books. I intend to re-read these someday. They are the lord of the rings (the first one) and the odyssey.
Another 1 or 2 were put down because they were boring and at the time I didn't have the patience. I also indtend to re-read these. One was gullivers travels. The other I can't remember. But there is also the second half of the little house on the prarie books that I never got through, and I don't know if I will read the rest of them.
Two more books I just wasn't ready to read. Brave New world and Through the looking glass. I will read these someday.
But there is only one lonely book that I put down because I couldn't stand it. I knew what would happen in the end after about the first chapter, but didn't realize it until the third or fourth. This book, ladies and gentlemen, was called Loch. It was about the loch ness monster. So, even though I havn't gotten all the way through(and never will) here is what happens: The main character saves the baby monster with the assistance of his beautiful best fried whom he happens to be madly in love with. She realizes how heroic and marvolous he is and falls madly in love with him. After a while, each one notices that the other is madly in love with them. They get together and live happily ever after. THE END.
So, because I already knew the ending, and the story wasn't that well written, I put it down and returned it to the library, never to be toutched by my hands ever again.






Angela's Ashes bored the hell outta me. I'm sorry to say that - I know a lot of people loved it, but I didn't.
Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure just didn't hold my interest, the premise sounded good, but I couldn't get into it.
I have one more book that I've tried and failed to read a couple of times, but am determined not to give up on - Frank Skinner's autobiography (for those who don't know him, he's a British comedian). Almost everyone I've spoken to about this has loved it, and so I'm determined that I will re-read it at some point. Therefore I don't count this in the unfinished category.
2 books is nothing considering how many books I've read. Something has to be REALLY wrong for me to give up on a book.

Most of the time, a book will get read all the way through on the second go round. I think it's a matter of matching subjecct matter and writing style to present mood and interest. Though with my book backlog, I suspect there are a few that won't get a second chance. WIth shelf space at a premium, somme books have to go to the used bookstore or get donated once in a while.
One of the few books I did officially give up on was Patricia Cornwell's book "Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper - Case Closed." I found her logic and "deductions" so terrible I kept wanting to yell at her and argue with her while I was reading. I gave up about half way through.

I can only think of two books I didn't finish in my entire life. The Silmarillion by Tolkien and I didn't read the last ten pages of The Unnamable by Samuel Beckett, I had read Molloy and Malone Dies before that and was getting a little tired of him.



I will give a book I gave up on second and third chances, but I won't stick a book out if it fails to hook me.
One I'm thinking of now is Wicked. I've given up on it twice, but so many people loved it I know I will try it again.



All the best,
Debra

I will give a book a 50-100 page buffer if I don't care what is happening to the characters, or if the plot line is monotonous I will put it down.

I quited "Eat, Prey, Love ..." by Elizabeth Gilbert. Probably I wasn't in the right mood for starting it. I took it due to some friends that advocated me the book much intense. When I told them that I quited the book, they were very dissapointed. I promised to further read it.

If I am reading with a group and I don't enjoy the book I keep on reading because the discussion means a lot to me and I like to learn why others like a book. I try not to just say "I hate it" but say things that I didn't like or did like and explore.
If I have gotten a book myself...I give it the first 50 pages. I feel if a writer hasn't gotten a lay down of the emotional conflicts and challenges by then...it's not going to be a strong book.
I base that on my onwn experience and I am not sure if I am too hard on a book in this way.
I have found many times...that a book I may not begin enjoying...if I am going to get into it...it willl occur in those pages.
Great question, really enjoyed reading all the responses!

I quit Eat,Pray,Love too... It definitely is one of those books you have to "be in the mood" when you read it... I thought I was the only one. I want to finish it, but like I said, I have to be in the mood and who knows when that'll be again.
Anastasia, I agree. It is to be in the mood. I must also confess that I can't stop myself to try books that are much acclaimed. And sometimes is working. This is how I discovered "A Thousand Slendid Suns" that I currently read and like very much. And same way I discovered Orhan Pamuk, the "Snow" is one of my favourite. But finally, it is a problem of being in the right mood for a book in order to be able to "receive" it. I randomly read parts of "Eat, Pray .." and liked some. For sure I will start it later.


A rule of thumb I try to follow is the following:
No. of pages to read before giving up = 100 less the age of reader
i.e., With age comes increased wisdom to decide whether continuing to read is a waste of time.

I started this book but just couldn't get into story and put it down quickly
Overall, I think knowing when to cut your losses whether in life or when to give up on a book and put it down is a very difficult to do but will free up your life to enjoy it more or your reading time for more worthwhile books


A rule of thumb I try to follow is the following:
No. of pages to read before giving up = 100 less the age..."
I like this rule Clif, think I might have to start applying it when I'm not enjoying a book as a the moment I just force myself through it (which I'' admit is a bit of a waste of time).

When you reach the age of 100 you may stop reading a book any time you feel like it. There will be no obligation to give the book a fair chance.
I'm not quite sure what to do with the negative numbers created by being older than 100. Perhaps somebody reading this will have a clever suggestion.
Has anyone read Sutree by Cormac Mccarthy... If so give me a reason to go on I am trudging through, I am on p.129 and I don't know if I have the will to go on reading 1 or 2 pages at a time before I am bored and have to stop.

It sounded so good but I hated it.
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