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When do you stop reading?
I usually decide that a book sucks about 50 pages in. I just recently finished one that took me 100 pages to decide it was horrendous, but because I was so far in I finished it. Sometimes it's taken as little as 10 pages (I might retry that one).
I have the 100 page rule too - if it hasn't grabbed me by then it never will. I did try harder with The Book of Lost Things beacause it was a group read and got to page 143 but it poved my theory cos I couldn't go any further.I have been known to stop as early as page 10 too but on occasion have gone back to them. I did that with Atonement, I got a chapter in, didn't like it, stopped and went back a few months later and loved it. But if I get as far as 50-100 pages and don't like it I can safely say I probably never will.
I used to struggle all the way through books before, but now I think life is too short and there is plenty more I want to read.
I usually try my damndest to finish a book, however, if I feel "forced" to read and am just miserable after about a quarter or a third of the book, and another book is calling me to be read...i MIGHT stop reading.Rarely happens though.
I usually give a book about 50 pages to grab me - 100 if it's a long one.After a stroke I've come to realize that life is too short to read books that bore you!
I give a book 50 pages or 3 chapters, whichever is longer.
I used to feel bad about not finishing books, but I agree with you Susanna life is way too short to read crappy books. I would have to say The Princess by Claire delaCroix is one of the worst books I've attempted to read. What's one of the worst books you tried to read?
I used to never stop reading a book. However, like Susanna I realized life was too short to read something that felt like a chore.I usually go about 100 pages in or so and if I still hate it, I stop.
I would say that the two worst (which started my "it's OK to stop reading kick) were 'Tis by Frank McCourt and Tea...I can't remember the author. Tea was so depressing I just couldn't get through it without suicidal ideation! Since then, there have been others.
I hate to say it because it is critically acclaimed and people are going to read it here, but Oscar Wao was another book that I just couldn't stand. I was reading it for my book group and when I found out my husband had a gig that night and I couldn't go I think I actually jumped for joy that I could stop reading!
Well, I've hated books far more (but had to finish them because they were college assignments - I'm lookin' at you, Samuel Beckett!) but Angels and Demons just bored me so much I dropped it about a third of the way into it.Novel: A Novel was weird, but I finished it because it was indeed weird and not predictable. I didn't quite like it, but it certainly was not boring!
Someone told me that after page 100 would tell you whether you'd like or not. I think page 50 should tell you whether to finish it or not. I used to finish books that I started reading but after so many years, I finally figured that life's so short for reading things that don't interest you.
I usually don't give up on a book, especially if I'm reading it for some challenge or something (thanks, TNBBC-ers for pulling me into your sick, twisted, competition-riddled world!) but A Million Little Pieces made me want to dig my eyes out with a plastic spork and render myself comatose. So after 30 pages, I will never pick up that book again, and I will certainly lose no sleep over missing out on the chance to die having said I finished every book I ever started.Sorry, it's a fresh wound.
I don't stop. Unless I'm in torture....okay, scratch that. Unless I feel pain if I read one more chapter...scratch that tooo. Ummmmmmm, I can't answer.
So, call me a quitter -- I've never felt compelled to continue reading a book I really disliked. I probably give it about 50 pages, as few as 25 in a few cases (yes, I'm talking about The Hobbit). To me the author's writing style is just as important as the story, so I can usually tell fairly early if it's something I'm going to enjoy. If a book has been recommended by someone whose opinion I trust, I'll probably go at least 100 pages -- and sometimes even finish it, but in all those cases my first impression ended up being my final impression.
Mod
Catch 22 and Altas Shrugged were two that I just couldnt get into AT ALL. Detested them from the first page... so after 40-60 pages they were both chucked at the wall!!!
I forced myself to finish Saturday, that was hell for me. But I did it hoping that something great was going to happen on the next page.. yeah, not so much! Thats really the only one i completely regret reading cover to cover.
All in all tho, i quite enjoy the ones I buy and read on my own. I trust my gut....
I have to admit to being like some others here and never ending a book no matter how bad it was...isn't that funny how many of us automatically did that? Then I had someone tell me that they ended a book whenever they weren't into it because "life was too short" and I also realized they were right. I still can't do it easily though! :) I've stopped two in recent years and by recent I mean no less than 3 or 4 years at least. But I can't say there is a page I go by- I just go until I can't go any longer usually. I'll give it an unusually long amount of time compared to others I think because I always have hope it'll get better. I'm still trying to help myself be "okay" with stopping a book before the end.
Aaaaah! April! I loved your post!! I did force- and I DO MEAN FORCE- myself to finish that piece of crap but oh boy was it hard!! That and another one titled Smashed by Koren something or other- those two were by far these worst pieces of writing to ever see the light of day! Fiction or not, it still sucked and when I red something that is supposed to be a memoir I want it to be just that, the same with any other genre.
I just stop when I feel I can't go on anymore ....sometimes at50 sometimes at 100 pages in. There are some that i revisit and try again and totally get sucked in Lies of Locke Lamora- Scott Lynch , I started got maybe three chapters in and then left it sit for about 2 months , I picked it up again last week and am happy to say I will finish it tonight or tomorrow. Sometimes I am weird like that (Charity I made that way too easy for you to abuse me please refrain).
I finish a book even when I don't like it. Fighting with one right now "Marie Antionette". It's just too much! Worst is that there are so many other books so I am currently reading too many at one time! I need to stop that.
I used to be that kind of reader too, plugging away to the end, no matter what. Now that I'm writing (and getting older :) , I find I'm less tolerant. I will put down a book at any point if it doesn't grab me, but chances are I'll give it at least 50-100 pages or otherwise wouldn't have chosen to read it in the first place. The dilemma comes with books that I haven't chosen myself, but are "Book Club" choices. I don't want to let down the person who's chosen it or make her feel bad. This is the case with the book I'm reading right now, THE PAINTER OF BATTLES. I'm at page 30 and it's so slow - and dark - that I'm sure I'd have given up if I'd chosen it myself. But, it has a lot of good ratings/reviews on Goodreads, and I don't want to disappoint a friend, so I will persevere. At least for another 70 pages...and then I'll be almost done anyway.
Currently, I never leave a book unfinished....I feel I have to finish it.I currently have 2 that I have put aside, to finish later...but it's driving me crazy that they arent read yet...LOL
I need to get over this, because like you all said...life is short....and my to-read list is long...LOL
Maybe I will try the 100 page rule....
I usually try to stick to the 50 page rule but sometimes I give up sooner. The other day I read 20 or so pages of Beginners Greek and just had to give it up at that point. I just could not get into it.
anyone read Rant by Chuck Palahniuk.....I tried it about a month ago and then gave up. But I did finish Snuff and it's written in roughly the same format.
Rose Ann,I am just like you. I have to finish a book. The only one I can think of that I never finished is Moby Dick....and there may have been one about Adolf Hitler but that was a long time ago. Since I have been reading like a crazy fool, I finish a book no matter what.
Always thinking, well, maybe the good part is yet to come.....I guess that's kind of an irrational thought if I'm 10 pages from the end.
But you are so right. I should work at attempting the 50-100 page rule since there are so many books to read....
I always try to read at least 50 pages, but have gone on as long as 100 or 200. I abandoned An Exchange of Hostages just 50 pages before the end.
It's such a liberating feeling to be freed from a bad book.
I've only ever given up on 2 books - Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure and Angela's Ashes (don't hate me!).... I hated them both, and will never go back to them. I also put down Frank Skinner's (a British Comedian) Autobiography, however I will pick this up again some day.2 books out of all of my reading life is pretty good going I reckon. I do have an OCDish thing about finishing a book I've started, however I have to say that I have a pretty good understanding of my own likes/dislikes and so I seem to be good at my book selections. There are probably only a handful of books that I've had to force myself to finish.
LOL Kellie..that's what I think too....so close to the end and still hopeful...lolRight now I'm reading Memoirs of a Geisha, and it is far from me tossing it aside...I about 100 pages in and liking it.
I may try the 100 page rule in the future....(cant start with 50 page rule...I need baby steps..lol)
Kellie,I could not get through Moby Dick either, or anything else by Melville for that matter. When the teaching assistant for my Political Science 101 course assigned Bartleby the Scrivener, not only did I decline to finish that one, I soon after dropped the course...
Rose AnnI LOVED Memoirs of a Geisha. IT is one of my "classics"
Eileen
I felt so guilty about not finishing Moby Dick. I really tried. I read over 1/2 of it. I just couldn't take it anymore. I was so lost.
I made the attempt to read "classics" and failed miserably. So, now I just make up my own.
I usually read a book straight to the end. I am a fast reader, thankfully. If I am 75 pages (approximately) into it and still haven't found anything to hook me, then I will usually drop it. Sometimes I will skip to the end just to see if it ever gets good.
I have a Three Eye Roll rule.If I'm reading something that I'm finding implausible,foolish or just plain stupid and it has made me roll my eyes for the third time I am free to throw the book against the wall,stomp on it or whatever feels good in the moment!I have 0 tolerance for bad writing, irritating characters and cheesy plot devices.
That being said I'm a lot like Kirsty and tend to know what I'll like and have pretty good luck with my books.
I wish I had a rule like that Sherry! I would've finished Twilight long ago. I've been thinking of lighting Breaking Dawn on fire and making a Youtube video out of it....
LOL. I'm serious though! It's kind of sad...I think your rule is really good Sherry! I'll TRY to apply it to my own reading :).
It is entertaining to read your posts though while you're reading the books you detest! :D
Haha! I do have to give Meyer some credit, her books are addictive. Like chocolate or some really strong drug.
I love how you've made your own "classics", Kellie...lol
Well, I can usually tell pretty quick if I am going to like a book or not. But, right now, I am reading a book A MILLION NIGHTINGALES that started out ok, and now, I need to find out what is going to happen. But it is taking forever!!! I want to read something eles!!!
I usually finish it regardless maybe im crazy but if it caught my intrest i feel ive got to finish Im hopelessly optimistic i alwys think maybe it will get better!lol
For the most part, I usually stick with a book and feel as though I have to finish it, even if it's rough in the beginning. I have stopped a few, but a couple of them I hope to go back to and try again.
I don't have to finish a book, but usually I try. The 100 page rule seems pretty good, but I haven't got a hard-fast rule. Quickest book to get rid of: The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls. It was an audiobook from the library (thank God!), and I made it just past when her dad sprang her out of the hospital after her burn. I was still on the first CD, and I packed that bad boy up and returned it to the library mere minutes after quitting. This was also the moment I quit reading memoirs.
I also quit on Running with Scissors--what is up with people?!?!?
Recently, I also stopped reading an Iris Johannsen book--thought it would be really good, and I stuck with it through 2/3 of the audio set, but I realized I had spent a week listening and I still didn't care.
There are other I give up on but want to go back: Love in the Time of Cholera and the Hobbit are two, and the Gunslinger series is another.
Rarely, but never say never. I just could not get past first 100 pages of Pillars of the Earth and did not finish House at Riverton despite every effort to stay with it.
When I was younger I always finished what i started.I would feel so guilty quitting a book I picked up even if i didn't like it.I would think well it will get better.Now that I'm older there are way to many on my list and don't have the patience to finish something i'm not enjoying.I give it to about 100 pages in and if it's not something i'm liking out it goes.
Mod
Kristie, what did you dislike about Rant? I thought it was a great return to form by Palahniuk after the shock-you-because-I-can misstep that was Haunted. My wife didn't care for Rant either though and I'm left wondering whether I was reading the same book as everyone else.I'm waiting until Snuff comes out in paperback before picking it up.
Ken - you give me reason to try another Melville. Moby Dick just about killed me although I liked all the chapter up until they got on board the ship. After that it was pure torture. From what I understand, Melville had a great relationship with Hawthorne and Melville tried to write his feelings on religion without being too obvious about it.
My rule is to finish. So I don't finish when a book is so boring to me that I decide to read something else and I never end up picking the boring book back up. That being said, I usually finish.
My rule is to finish. So I don't finish when a book is so boring to me that I decide to read something else and I never end up picking the boring book back up. That being said, I usually finish.
I generally don't like to leave a book unfinished. There have been times I'm put a book down and then picked it up later down the line and absolutely loved it! Can't explain that, but its true.
It's rare that I stop reading a book, mainly because there have been several books that I would have stopped based on my imporession early on that by the end I really liked. Don Quixote is the first that comes to mind. I ws terribly bored with it for large portions of it, but when I finihsed, I realized that I actually liked it quite a bit. I know that sounds very odd, but hey. Charles Dickens is like that for me, too. His stuff is just pain for the first half or more but by the end I'm enjoying it. Certainly sometimes I have not come to like the book, but it's rare enough that I totally hate a book (The Sun Also Rises). Maybe I'm just that good at picking them out! LOL
Its like an OCD thing with me, I have to finish the books I start. Its like I have to finish it to decide if it was really a waste of time. Thank goodness I have not come across too many that I have had to self mutilate to finish...lol I finished reading the first book in the Left Behind series and yes, I was a bit drawn in but it was also tedious at times. I continued to book 2 and so far it was worth the torture of book 1 for book 2. Let's see. Same thing happened with Dear John by Nicholas Sparks.
Just because I didn't like Moby Dick, doesn't mean you won't. My taste might be different than everyone elses. This book was just not for me.I don't want to influence someone to not read a book :)
It might end up being your favorite!!!
Sherry I love your idea of the Three Eye Roll!! That is the coolest ever!! LOL!
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When I read, I generally try to finish a book that I start. However, there are times in which the book is so bad, that I just cannot continue. I usually can tell I don't like a book about 30-100 pages in. When do you decide that you don't like a book and give it up? Just curious.