A question on unfinished book

[Papaphilly]

Do you always finish books you start or do you discard them? Why or why not. I have only put one book down in my life and that was Shardik. I just could not get into to the book. However, I will finish it sometime in the future, but it has been on my shelf for thirty years. It took me thirty five years to read Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, so I hold out hope.

I finish what I start, minus the previous book. It is not a point of pride thing for me, but I need to finish because I cannot just let it sit there mocking me.

How about you?

[Farah]

I used to almost always finish books I started. I have forced myself to finish several books just because I felt, if nothing else, obligated to.

More recently (I'd say within the past year and half or so), I don't have as big of an issue setting a book down. I just don't have the time to force myself to read something I don't enjoy.

I used to try to give a book 2-3 chapters before giving up. But then by that point, I'd feel as if I committed and I'd just keep going, so it was kind of a catch-22. But I also used to be a lot more picky about what books I'd start.

Now, if a book can't pull me in the first few pages (and it hasn't been recommended to me by someone), I discard it. If it holds my attention for a few chapters, then it becomes apart of my 'reading list'. Once that happens, I rarely discard a book from that point, but I have done it if it just becomes too ridiculous. It also depends on how fast of a read it is. If it becomes crappy at say 75%-80% and it's a short read, I'll suck it up. But otherwise, I'm moving on.

I still find it hard to give up on latter books in a series. Like say books 1-2 are really good, but the 3rd is garbage. But that too is becoming easier with so many unnecessary sequels/trilogies and/or milked titles becoming the norm.

[Papaphilly]

Evanleia wrote: "I used to almost always finish books I started. I have forced myself to finish several books just because I felt, if nothing else, obligated to.

More recently (I'd say within the past year and ha..."

I give up on a series if they start to suck, but I finish what I start. Shardik will be finished by me at some point, but I am not sure when. What kills me is when everyone else says is it is great and I think it is terrible....

[[deleted user]]

I usually give books about 50 pages and if they re not totally engaging me then I discard. There are far too many books that I want to get to to be held back by a book that I am just not interesting me. Not all books are made for everyone. I Think the one exception I made was Gone Girl. Everyone was talking about it and a movie had been made so I kept thinking it was going to get better.