What makes you stop reading a book?

[La-Lionne]

I stop reading when author tries to explained to mean what's going on, rather than show me. It's like they're afraid that readers aren't intelligent enough to understand what was being said or done. So author goes on explaining, to make sure reader "got it".

I recently read a book where author used sentences like "Remember that noise you read about? Well, that was actually..." or "When this or that character said this, what he actually meant was..." It irks me to no end.

Another reason for DNF is grammatical or editing errors. When someone like me (English is my 4th language) starts to notice them, it makes me crazy. Especially when a book is written by a native English speaker. I know I don't notice a lot of them, and everyone who knows me, know that my own English is wobbly, so when I do, it irritates the hell out of me. It makes me think "How is this even possible?"

[E.G.]

Misuse of words. I recently read a romance where the author kept referring to the male MC's erotic 'administrations.' (I think she meant ministrations, which poses another set of issues.)

Anyway, I laughed out loud the first time. By the third time (along a number of other similar errors) I was so distracted, I had to put it down.

[Stan]

I recently stopped reading a book because it was too literary.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

[Lisa]

Too literary => illiterate
Too much sex => too little sex
Too much violence => too little violence
Too much description => too little description
Too much info => too little info
Too long => too short
Too complicated => too simple

All of those reasons not to finish are valid for the person who decides. Other people might feel differently about the same book. One person's 5* is another one's 1*. I think it is vital that individuality is respected.

[Micah]

Apart from some "classics" and a few history books that bored me to death and I was trying to read them because I had to (school), or because I felt I should (a friend's recommendation or gift, or just 'cause I was trying to branch out and "improve" myself), I can only think of one book I actually stopped reading.

I stopped partly because the plot was so unbelievable that it was becoming a sad joke...but mostly because it was science fiction and the author clearly did not understand even rudimentary Newtonian physics.

I know several other books in a series that I should have stopped reading, but their crimes against a well known and highly lauded science fiction classic were of such magnitude that I had to finish them, if only as a strangely fascinating masochistic exercise in awfulness. Epic badness commands its own undeniable power, I suppose.

[Micah]

Specifically: the author constantly telling me how awesome a character is and how they command so much respect and loyalty that people will gladly die for them...and yet every time the author actually shows the character doing something, that character is depicted as stupid, selfish, childish, weak and uninspiring.

So who is this awesome character you keep telling me about, and why didn't you actually put them in the book?

[G.G.]

Micah wrote: "So who is this awesome character you keep telling me about, and why didn't you actually put them in the book?..."

That's when I'm happy I was not drinking anything when I read the comment. I'd have had a major clean up to do! :P

[Parinaz]

Most of the books I read are non-fiction. So when the book really stops giving me 'real' good tips to improve, I stop reading it!!

[Rhoda]

G.G. wrote: "Micah wrote: "So who is this awesome character you keep telling me about, and why didn't you actually put them in the book?..."

That's when I'm happy I was not drinking anything when I read the co..."

Agreed! lol.. that was awesome. I just saw this in a book yesterday.

If it is too unbelievable. I think I need to connect with characters first to then experience paranormal or crazy stuff.

Also... when a scene could be great, because the idea is awesome, but the delivery is flat, or worse yet-- the action stops! I saw this not long ago where a child who was put up for adoption finds his birth parents. He comes to the door, the mother faints.... and then the guy is back on a plane in the next sentence. There was SO much that could have been done emotionally in that one scene, yet it just switched to something else.

[Martyn]

Micah wrote: "So who is this awesome character you keep telling me about, and why didn't you actually put them in the book?"

Sometimes it's like a joke that has been built up too much and fails at the punch line.

[Adriano]

For me, lack of originality. Write as you want, write what you want, but write with your voice and write something new.

[Parinaz]

I agree with you Adriano!

[Rinelle]

I generally stop reading if the writing is too complex or convoluted. When I read, I stop seeing the words, so if they interrupt the flow of the story, then it gets too hard to read.

I also don't read stories that get disturbing or too violent, but that's a genre preference, and nothing to do with the quality of the story.

[Martyn]

Rinelle wrote: "I also don't read stories that get disturbing or too violent, but that's a genre preference, and nothing to do with the quality of the story."

I don't think my books feature gratuitous violence, but there are scenes of violence that might be considered disturbing, so you best avoid my books.

[J.D.]

Me too, Martyn. It looks as if I'll never have any more readers. Disturbing, violent, complex... all appear in my reviews. Like you, I never write anything gratuitous, or hope I don't, but I understand why some might wish to avoid any of the above.

Re the original question: I stop reading a book if it lacks a good and involving storyline or in which the characters or dialogue are wooden.

Unless it's 'Pinocchio'.

[G.G.]

Martyn (a.k.a. M'sieur Sang Froid) wrote: "G.G. wrote: "Rhoda wrote: "I was just reading a book that constantly spoke to "you" the reader..."

I keep wondering about that sentence so I'm going to take the plunge and ask. What do you mean by..."

Hmm I had missed this one (or I was on my iPad and planned to reply later anyway...)

Books written in the second person POV are rather rare. That's why I thought she meant those who 'breach the fourth wall'.
Although I can see where that may jar people off the story, sometimes it adds to it. That's why I was wondering what was it that she disliked about it. What kind of 'breaching the fourth wall' is acceptable for her and what kind isn't. Or if all weren't.

If it's ok with the mods, I'd like to start a thread about it.

[Marc]

G.G. wrote: "Martyn (a.k.a. M'sieur Sang Froid) wrote: "G.G. wrote: "Rhoda wrote: "I was just reading a book that constantly spoke to "you" the reader..."

I keep wondering about that sentence so I'm going to t..."

please do, breaching the fourth wall is very much my approach to writing.

[Justin]

I usually stop reading a book if after a chapter if I find it really boring, sometimes I can move past it if it's dragging but if I feel it's not going anywhere then it's usually cause it's boring. Another reason is if after so many chapters I am lost and confused as to what's going on I will stop reading. I once read 5 chapters of a book and was still confused as to who was who and what was happening.

[G.G.]

Marc wrote: "G.G. wrote: "Martyn (a.k.a. M'sieur Sang Froid) wrote: "G.G. wrote: "Rhoda wrote: "I was just reading a book that constantly spoke to "you" the reader..."

I keep wondering about that sentence so I..."

I've started the topic. I too tend to use that 'device' in my story. Someone once told me I was breaking the POV when doing it, which is entirely different. So I'd like to know what people think about it.

[Peter]

There is very little that will make me put down a book. No matter how bad it gets (I have read some really bad ones) I always figure the author can turn it around. It has happened before.

Really the only thing that will absolutely get me to stop reading is if a book is unbearably boring.

[Martyn]

J.D. wrote: "Me too, Martyn. It looks as if I'll never have any more readers. Disturbing, violent, complex... all appear in my reviews. Like you, I never write anything gratuitous, or hope I don't, but I unders..."

I had a beta reader who read a draft of my second novel, which starts with an execution of a complicated 'murder masked as accident', and she was glad that I lived on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.
I told her she shouldn't think I'm as bad as my protagonist, but she just replied that I was the one thinking it all up...

She's still one of my best betas though.

[J.D.]

Martyn (a.k.a. M'sieur Sang Froid) wrote: "J.D. wrote: "Me too, Martyn. It looks as if I'll never have any more readers. Disturbing, violent, complex... all appear in my reviews. Like you, I never write anything gratuitous, or hope I don't,..."

:) It is odd how some readers think the writer must have experienced events in their book to be able to write about them, but in some ways it's a compliment, since the writer has at least involved a reader - which, for most of us, is the point of writing.

A reader sent me a DM on Twitter asking what sort of cesspool of a mind could make up what my Norse berserker, Thorkild, did in my first novel, Northman. My answer was that I didn't. History did.

[Stefani]

Martyn (a.k.a. M'sieur Sang Froid) wrote: "I told her she shouldn't think I'm as bad as my protagonist, but she just replied that I was the one thinking it all up... "

Oh, if anyone official ever saw my google searches they would be convinced I was a vicious serial killer and probably a pervert. I have actually written a scene that was so graphic that I gagged a little when I re-read it.

My mom often asks me why I can't write "happy" things :) I told her the voices won't let me, we don't talk about it much anymore. I can commiserate on this.

[Martyn]

Stefani wrote: "Oh, if anyone official ever saw my google searches they would be convinced I was a vicious serial killer and probably a pervert."

Henry Martin wrote on his blog:

Other than his above bio, Martyn is a fellow ADVRider member. His European manners and insights are a breath of fresh air on Goodreads where he contributes whenever he does not write, folds people for a living, or contemplates how to establish real-life Loki Enterprises and get away with it. I suspect that he is the shadowy mastermind behind Loki, masking his chosen profession as a writer of suspense fiction in order to fool international law enforcement agencies.

Hah.

[Martyn]

J.D. wrote: ":) It is odd how some readers think the writer must have experienced events in their book to be able to write about them, but in some ways it's a compliment, since the writer has at least involved a reader - which, for most of us, is the point of writing."

Well, killing people is not much of a problem, but walking around blind and learning how to play jazz saxophone... Or becoming a Rastarian and growing my own ganja...

I just do research.

[Vanessa]

The sickening torture and mutilation of all characters with any positive qualities - ha.

That and the ones where the main character is writing the story of the book at the end.

[[deleted user]]

I agree. In my novel I switch back and forth from first to third. Some may not be too fond of that, but I think it makes it unique. :)

[Stan]

One of the shortest reviews I do is, "This was an unpleasant book about unpleasant people." That's an book killer for me.

[Marc]

Stan wrote: "One of the shortest reviews I do is, "This was an unpleasant book about unpleasant people." That's an book killer for me."

by any chance?

[Stan]

Marc wrote: "Stan wrote: "One of the shortest reviews I do is, "This was an unpleasant book about unpleasant people." That's an book killer for me."

by any chance?"

That certainly looks like one to avoid.

[Marc]

Stan wrote: "Marc wrote: "Stan wrote: "One of the shortest reviews I do is, "This was an unpleasant book about unpleasant people." That's an book killer for me."

by any chanc..."

while I disagree with you re unpleasantness in books, this IS one to avoid, although it is widely regarded as a modern classic. I hated it

[Harold]

The author has to present something I consider worthwhile. I want to become emotionally involved with characters. I want their actions and experiences to reflect a universal truth (I want to recognize in the author's thinking insight). I want the subject matter to be somewhat unique. I want the author to demonstrate a command of expression. Nothing will stop me faster than to read purposeless dialogue, narration that does not show action, and the absence of sensory detail.

[Micah]

Stefani wrote: "My mom often asks me why I can't write "happy" things..."

My wife says that to me a lot when I'm discussing plots.

My answer is to quote Tolkien from The Hobbit:

"Now it is a strange thing, but things that are good to have and days that are good to spend are soon told about, and not much to listen to; while things that are uncomfortable, palpitating, and even gruesome, may make a good tale, and take a deal of telling anyway."

Also, a long time ago I contemplated writing short fiction but just couldn't get my head wrapped around it. Then one day I thought...well, if I wrote novels about people who didn't live long enough to have a full novel written about them, then that would be short fiction, yeah?

Ever since then a lot of my short fiction characters come to rather bad ends {:S

[Martyn]

Marc wrote: "while I disagree with you re unpleasantness in books, this IS one to avoid, although it is widely regarded as a modern classic. I hated it "

You just didn't understand it...

*Runs away laughing*

[D.C.]

Marc wrote: "Stan wrote: "Marc wrote: "Stan wrote: "One of the shortest reviews I do is, "This was an unpleasant book about unpleasant people." That's an book killer for me."

..."

So not going there, and I really liked Less Than Zero although it may have far less charm for me at 47 than it did at 22. He had another one that I liked too, and then American Psycho came out and it kind of put me off him permanently.

[Marc]

Martyn (a.k.a. M'sieur Sang Froid) wrote: "Marc wrote: "while I disagree with you re unpleasantness in books, this IS one to avoid, although it is widely regarded as a modern classic. I hated it "

You just didn't understand it...

*Runs aw..."

Oh I 'got it'. Just wished I hadn't devoted the time to read it as I felt it wasn't worth getting. I'd held off until last year until reading it. I'd resisted all the hype and plaudits. Should have stuck to my guns

[Ed]

Nothing bothers me except stupidity , repetition and endless mistakes - that's when I stop reading and delete it from my Kindle.

[Preston]

If I get past the first fifty pages, then I'll finish it no matter what.