The Sword and Laser discussion
walking out of the theater
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Eric
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Dec 22, 2011 04:06AM
I use goodreads to keep track of what I've read. Unfortunately, I frequently start a book that I just can't stand to finish. My question is do you review the book without finishing? If I don't I won't know that I've read it and might try it again someday. If I do I'll never try it again and might miss reading a great book that changes halfway though. I myself may also change and the book might become a better fit for me... Comments? Suggestions?
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I move things to a exclusive 'not finished' shelf and try to note in the review whether I've abandoned with or without prejudice (although I don't bother with this if it's a book I own, I'll get back to it eventually in that case).
I have an "abandoned" shelf for books I disliked too much to finish. I don't (usually) give them a star rating, because it seem unfair to me to rate a book I didn't even bother to finish.
Mod
That's a good idea, I need one of those too!
It depends on why the book's unfinished. If I've just got bored with it, or it's not grabbing me I'll probably just mark it 'unfinished', but if I've stopped because I'm actively disliking it I will mark it and possibly review it. Although part of me does feel this is slightly unfair.
I dont use the rating system for other people personally. I use it so I don't forget a couple years later and try to read it again. If others want to see my ratings and care, great but otherwise I use it for my own convenience.
Violinknitter wrote: "I have an "abandoned" shelf for books I disliked too much to finish. I don't (usually) give them a star rating, because it seem unfair to me to rate a book I didn't even bother to finish."This is what I do, but I think I give them 1-star. The only things that get 1-star are ones I've given up on.
Oddly, I didn't start giving up on books until joining this group. I used to feel guilty abandoning a book. However, I realized that as I get exposed to more books, I don't want to waste time with ones I don't like.
terpkristin wrote: "Oddly, I didn't start giving up on books until joining this group. I used to feel guilty abandoning a book. However, I realized that as I get exposed to more books, I don't want to waste time with ones I don't like. "Yeah I'm giving up on more lately.
If I don't finish it because I don't have time, or other books come along, I have an abandoned shelf too. I won't rate a book if I haven't read a few chapters of it at least. (The one exception is Twilight. I gave it one star after about ten pages.) But having people give negative feedback is just as important as positive for me. There are some books people should be warned away from.
If I don't finish because I lost interest, or because work reading has interfered, I move the book back to my to-be-read shelf. If I don't finish because it is dreadful, I give it a 1-star rating, move it to my "abandoned" shelf and explain in my review just why I won't return to that book. I make it clear in the review that I didn't finish the book. The older I get, the less time I have to slog through poorly written books.
I have an abandoned shelf and if it was truly awful I give it one star. I also note DNF as the review.
Fiction books I abandon I tend to not rate or review. Non-fiction books I give up on I tend to do so because I hated them. I pay it forward by warning others.Sometime in my early 20s I stopped finishing books out of a misplaced sense of duty. So many books, so little time. If it doesn't work for me, time to go on to the next one.
Your life's currency is measured in hours. You don't have so many that you can just burn them doing things you hate.
I have stopped reading few books that I can remember like "Dragonworld" and "The Eye of the World". That is until last month, when I finally made it through the most boring (IMHO) of the Wheel of Time series and made it on to the rest. I have had that paperback since it came out and I regret not reading past it until now. Maybe I'll find my paperback copy of "Dragonworld" and read that once I finish the rest of the Wheel of Time series. I'm on #7, "A Crown of Swords".
Sometimes you just have to make it past a certain point in a book before it "clicks". "Dune" was that way with me. Mind you I was only a kid, but the first 83 pages took me longer to read then the rest of the book. Having to learn all the terms he used/created for his vision of Dune took me some time.
I've always felt bad about not finishing a book, but I'm trying not to force myself to finish a book. Why keep reading a book that you dislike when you don't have to? I like the idea of creating a separate shelf for books I've decided not to finish. I recently tried to read the Count of Monte Cristo but it couldn't hold my interest.
