ARTICLE: "What Does It Take For You To Give Up On A Book?"

[Joy H., Group Founder]

I received the following comment at one of my GR book reviews. I'm passing it on:
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"About a week ago, they did a program on NPR on how hard it is to give up on a book (compared to switching off a TV show or walking out of a movie.) They also talked about books people had trouble finishing. Below is the link if you're interested."
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/st...
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I found the article very interesting.

HERE IS MY ANSWER TO THE QUESTION:
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For me to give up on a book, I have to find myself feeling any of the following:
-bored
-dislike of the subject-matter or writing
-lacking in curiosity about the subject-matter or the writer
-unable to comprehend what's being said

I don't usually feel guilt or shame about giving up on a book, but I do feel bad because the book didn't give me the good experience I was looking for.

One thing I try NOT to do is give up on reading, especially after having tried a number of books which disappointed me. I keep telling myself that there has GOT to be another book out there which will compel me to read it!
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What's YOUR answer to the question: "What Does It Take For You To Give Up On A Book?"

[Jim]

Fun articles, Joy. I agree with all you wrote for fiction books. Factual books have a different set of standards. Anyone who writes an interesting factual book gets high praise from me. I have to slog through far too much boring, horribly translated, acronym filled pages of documentation far too often (constantly). If I'm reading fact for fun, it better be really interesting, well written & fun or it's getting traded.

I don't feel guilty when I quit a book - it's the book's fault, not mine. It's job is to entertain or enlighten me. It has to grab my attention & keep it because, when all is said & done, there were a half million others published this year for me to choose from.

Sometimes it is my mood that makes a book fail, so I keep it around & sometimes return to it. If a book is badly written (typos, misspellings, grammatical errors) it must have a really fascinating story or I drop it. If the writer (craftsman) can't take the time & effort to do good work, I can't take the time to read them.

Some people feel guilty if they can't make it through a classic. I have to be in just the right mood for a lot of the classical writers & some have never & will never thrill me. I got some Children's Classics for my kids & found many of them were much better than the original. They were fun, quick & exciting rather than laborious reads. "Moby Dick" & "The Count of Monte Cristo" are two that come to mind. I read both in their unabridged versions decades before I got the others & enjoyed the abridged versions far more.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jim wrote: "Fun articles, Joy. I agree with all you wrote for fiction books. Factual books have a different set of standards. Anyone who writes an interesting factual book gets high praise from me. I have ..."

Yes, Jim, about factual books, if one is obligated to read them for work or school, there are times when we have no choice except to force ourselves to slog on, no matter how we feel about them.

I also agree that one's mood may influence our motivation to keep reading. Moods are strange things.

As for blaming a book for failing to interest me, I usually don't let myself do that because I see that there were many other people who thought the book was great. But I must admit that I feel gratified when I see that there are many other people who had the same negative opinion of the book as I did. :)

I like your idea that reading some Children's Classics is more fun than reading the originals. This is probably true of many of the original books which were written years ago when writing styles were more stilted and wordy. Of course, some people enjoy those styles. To each his own taste.

[Bickety]

I've tried James Joyce's Ulysses several times, but never get to page 100. Someday I will make it.

Another book I set aside was The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. I only got a short way into it and I knew something really bad was about to happen. I just wasn't in the right place in my "real" life to go there just then.

Some books that have taken more than one try to finish have turned out to be some of the best books I've read. The Sound and the Fury and Ragtime come to mind. So, I feel compelled to come back to a book again and again until I can finish it.

The only exception is when the writing really is bad. Every so often, I do manage to get my hands on something that is just poorly done. Oh, and Tom Clancy. I know there's a payoff at the end for reading all those technical details, but I can't do it.

[Mary JL]

I am often affected by not being "in the mood" for certain typles of books. So, I usually give a book a second chance. I put it away on the bookshelf, and try a few months later.

If I still cannot get into it, I dontate it to the library book sale.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Bickety wrote: "I've tried James Joyce's Ulysses several times, but never get to page 100. Someday I will make it.
Another book I set aside was The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. I only got a short way into it..."

Bickety, you might want try The Kite Runner again. I loved that book. I understand your reluctance to continue because you "knew something really bad was about to happen". I know that feeling. However, if you can get past it, you may be glad you did.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Mary JL wrote: "I am often affected by not being "in the mood" for certain typles of books. So, I usually give a book a second chance. I put it away on the bookshelf, and try a few months later.
If I still ca..."

Mary, I hardly ever give a book a second chance. Maybe I should. :)

[Werner]

Like Jim, I don't feel at all guilty quitting on a book that doesn't major up! Poor, boring writing, as others have mentioned, will turn me off to a book. Other factors that have made me give up on a particular read have been main characters I couldn't like or sympathize with (such as one who turned out to be a rapist!); too much moral darkness, grunginess, and bad language and illicit sex that the author appears to revel in for its own sake; or "experimental" writing where, as far as I'm concerned, the "experiment" patently flops. :-) Also, in nonfiction writing, there's only so much I can tolerate when it comes to statistics and statistical/numerical theory and analysis!

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Werner wrote: "Like Jim, I don't feel at all guilty quitting on a book that doesn't major up! Poor, boring writing, as others have mentioned, will turn me off to a book. Other factors that have made me give up ..."

Yes, Werner, as you mentioned, it's so important to like some of the characters in a story. If we don't like them, we lose interest in them very quickly. When we like them, it seems we can't get enough of them.

[Jim]

I agree, Joy, although I'd say understanding & possibly identifying with, not necessarily liking, a character are major points for me. When characters do things for reasons that I consider illogical or don't understand, the author loses me quickly.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

I see what you mean, Jim. I guess we might say that the reader has to connect with the characters in some way in order to remain interested in them. However, I find that liking the characters is a strong draw for me.

[Mary JL]

Actually, Joy, regarding message 7, in giving a book a second chance: That statistics for me are about 50/50. Half the books I give a second chance too still remain unread.

I tend to hang on a little longer if the writer is someone who I have enjoyed in the past. Some books start slow, but end well, which makes it worth it.

But then, we all have our reading styles.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Mary JL wrote: "Actually, Joy, regarding message 7, in giving a book a second chance: That statistics for me are about 50/50. Half the books I give a second chance too still remain unread. I tend to hang on a..."

Mary, I have to admit that I hardly ever give a book a second chance. I'm too busy giving other books a first chance. :)

[Katherine]

When I was younger, I plowed through every book I picked up to read, whether I liked it or not, especially if I paid for it myself.
Now that I'm older, I feel that I don't have to finish a book I don't like. There are so many more to read.

[[deleted user]]

I feel somewhat like you Katherine, I used to finish a book I started, no matter what. Now I may feel a certain amount of remorse for not finishing, but I don't force myself. For example, I read about half of 2666, and I was simply fed up with it. It was depressing to me, pointlessly so IMO, so I've re-shelved it and more than likely will never finish it.
I do however, have a stack of partially finished books that I will really get back to someday. You know, when the days become 46 hours long, and I have no other pressing dilemmas on my hands. IOW, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. lol

All that said, there are many books that I have picked up again, and been able to finish, in fact have become some of my favorites.

Go figure. :)

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Katherine wrote: "When I was younger, I plowed through every book I picked up to read, whether I liked it or not, especially if I paid for it myself.
Now that I'm older, I feel that I don't have to finish a book I d..."

Katherine - Oh, how I hate that feeling of "plowing"! I think it's good that you got over the idea that you HAD to finish a book.

KM - I know that feeling of being "fed up" with a book. I felt that way about The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich. I forced myself to finish it (because it was a group selection) and the ending made me even more "fed up"! I expressed all that in my GR review.

[Werner]

Katherine M., I've also had the experience (not often, but occasionally) of, for some reason, deciding to give a second chance to a book I quit reading earlier, and finding that I really liked it! (That happened with A. Merritt's The Ship of Ishtar, for instance.) I guess sometimes when I read something and don't know what to expect (or may be in the wrong mood for it psychologically), I don't give it enough of a chance, or pigeon-hole it too quickly on the basis of superficial factors.

[Jim]

Mood is usually my reason for giving a book a second chance. I usually ask myself what the problem is. If it is poor writing or a type that I don't like, then it gets swapped out. Genre is sometimes a reason, too. I remember getting a book that I thought was an urban fantasy, but turned out to be a steamy romance. I traded that without a second's hesitation.

Mood, though... I read a fairly diverse range of books, but I'm not always in the mood for certain ones. I started a paranormal fantasy the other day & just couldn't bear it. I've read a lot of them in the past few years though, so I moved on to a murder mystery & now find myself reading a thriller-romance.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Yes, I think mood can be a big factor in influencing our choice of books... and our choice of movies too.