Reading slump :(

[Sara]

I seem to have hit a bit of a reading slump this year - I have given up on more books than in any other previous years (12 so far this year - mind you, I have read 141, so maybe it''s not too bad). I can't decide whether I have become less tolerant of ploughing through books that I am not enjoying or if I have just had a run of "bad" books. In my youth, I felt that I should finish any and every book I started, but nowadays I guess I am more likely to stop if I'm not enjoying it for whatever reason.

What do other people think? Do you plough on regardless or give up?

[Josie]

No, I definitely give up! Life's too short and there are too many great books out there to waste time on reading ones you don't enjoy.

I think it's a kindness to yourself to allow yourself to give up on a book. We're no longer in school where we have to finish a book even if we aren't enjoying it. I'm not quite sure what it achieves to finish a book you don't like but plenty of people seem to fellthis obligation to do so, like eating your greens or something! 😂

I think Goodreads should have a shelf called "gave up on". I saw someone else had created their own shelf and called it something along these lines so I did too. You can't review a book unless you've marked it as finished, so they should have a rating that says couldn't finish it - wonder if anyone else would like to see this?

[Sara]

Josie wrote: "No, I definitely give up! Life's too short and there are too many great books out there to waste time on reading ones you don't enjoy.

I think it's a kindness to yourself to allow yourself to giv..."
Thanks for your comments. I do have a shelf marked "did-not-finish" and I review the books I put on there - which is why I know exactly how many I gave up on this year. Unfinished books do not count towards the reading challenge as only books marked with an end date do so - but you can review a book even if you don't finish it.

[Paula]

I dump after 1/3 through. What did you all think of Three Things About Elsie? I enjoyed its shocking ending after I realized how truly sad the story was....