Firstly, I want up say thank you for all the support I received on my last post. It was a personal post and the response I had to it, meant a lot. I couldn’t just move on to today’s post without acknowledging that. So thank you.
Today is a post that came to mind at the weekend in relation to people’s reading habits. I have a book I was reading for our book club which gather at the end of the month to discuss what they liked and didn’t like about that months choice. The problem with this book I was reading, is that at 62 pages in, I was still bored and rather annoyed.
So I tweeted a question out to Twitter, asking if I was obliged to finish a book club book? There were a couple of yes responses, meaning I should finish it, but I was so pleased to see lots and lots of no responses. For example: too many books to read without sticking to ones you aren’t enjoying – and such.
As a younger reader I hated putting a book down unfinished, it made me feel ill. I have since figured out that there aren’t enough hours in the day to read everything I want to read, so should I not be able to get into a book, it goes, quite without guilt, down. Ok maybe a little guilt. It is a book.
What are your reading habits? Persistent to the end, or give up if not drawn in by ten pages?
Annalisa Crawford says
I usually read to the end, but the ones I’m not enjoying lie beside my bed for a much longer time than the ones I am enjoying. I just can’t be bothered to pick them up sometimes. I think there’s only ever been about three books I’ve not finished – so you know they really didn’t impress me!
Rebecca Bradley says
I always used to read until the end, until I saw my TBR pile growning and growing. Now I realise my time is precious. I accept not all books will appeal to me and I begrudgingly stop.
Jane Isaac says
Hi Rebecca. Some friends and I had this debate just recently! I’m with you, although I’m afraid I’m a little less patient. Unless I’m hooked within the first 50 pages or so, then I move on. It may not be badly plotted or written and may suit somebody else just fine – but time is so precious that I prefer to spend time reading books I love. And there are so many of them to choose from:)
Rebecca Bradley says
That’ it, isn’t it? It’s all so subjective. None of it means the book isn’t any good. It just didn’t fit with it’s current reader.
Patricia (@patricialynne07) says
I don’t often give up on books, but there are a few books that I couldn’t finish. Usually, I will go to the end and read that just to see how the ending goes.
Rebecca Bradley says
That’s something I haven’t thought of doing Patiricia. But I may just start now!
Alex J. Cavanaugh says
If I’m not into it by the end of the third chapter, I stop reading. Life is too short. You could glance at the ending, just to know. When your book club meets, you can at least discuss why you couldn’t finish the book.
Rebecca Bradley says
I think I might just turn into a sneaky end reader. Thanks Alex. 🙂
Margaret says
Although I don’t like to be defeated by a book, I will give up on it if I just can’t get into it after a few chapters. There are too many others books I do want to read.
Rebecca Bradley says
Exactly. That TBR pile isn’t slowing down for anyone!
Margot Kinberg says
Rebecca – I am a firm believer that a reader has the right to stop reading at any point in a book. There are far, far too many books out there to read them all and far, far far too many to finish reading books one isn’t enjoying. I’m glad you gave it a go for the first 62 pages. That should be enough to give you a sense of whether it’s worth continuing. In this case – it wasn’t. ‘Nuff said.
Rebecca Bradley says
It’s was such hard work and I found it depressing. I have a massive TBR pile, so I moved on to the next one. I used to hate leaving books unread, but now I know there are plenty more out there waiting to be read 🙂
glynissmy1 says
I always try to get to the end. If I struggle with a book, I tend to read a chapter before getting into one I enjoy. This way I don’t feel I have let the writer down. If it really is hard going, I skim read just so I can say I read, but I do not review if I cannot give my full attention. That is not fair.
Sorry to read your previous post, and see how you struggle. Keeping positive and writing is credit to your character, a strong woman. 🙂
Rebecca Bradley says
Thank you Glynis. I try to keep moving forward and that is what is important to me. Sometimes slows me down, but it won’t keep me down 🙂
I don’t ever leave reviews on Goodreads or anywhere else, on a book I haven’t finished, absolutely not fair and being a writer, I don’t leave negative reviews on any books, even if I’ve read it all. I know a lot of work went into that book. It’s one of the reasons I’ve not named the book I’ve struggled with.
julierkendrick says
Hi there,
Yes I am with you. If i am not into a book I have to put it down. But, I have to have given it a good go first at least a quarter of the book. It is very rare though that a book will have that affect on me and I do usually finish but, like you, I have far too long a ‘to read’ list to waste time on rubbish.
The last book I put down unfinished was…… yes you guessed it 50 shades ha ha.
Julie x
Rebecca Bradley says
You did better than I did, I got it as a secret santa gift and I still haven’t read a word! 🙂
Elle Turner says
I don’t like to give up on a book – I’m more likely to persevere than not, but if it becomes too much of a struggle I’ll move on. I do feel (a bit) bad about it when I do though.
Elle x
Rebecca Bradley says
I also feel bad Elle, though as I’ve got older and I’ve done it more often, I feel less bad. I don’t see it as a slight on the author, more of a lack of fit between me and the book.
Vikki (The View Outside) says
I apply the 100 page rule, or sometimes the 50 page rule. Life’s too short! 😉
But, if it’s a book I have to read for class I grit my teeth and plough on through to the end lol
Xx
Rebecca Bradley says
It’s about 50 pages for me as well Vikki, though I did well with 62 with that last book. It’s hard work gritting your teeth through a book your not enjoying!
Vikki Thompson says
Definitely! Too many other great books out there 🙂
Xx
Stacey Mitchell says
I hate to give up on a book, but you’re right — there are too many to choose from to read one you really aren’t enjoying! Having said that I’m pretty good at picking books that I’ll enjoy, so it doesn’t happen too often.
Rebecca Bradley says
Sometimes I think it’s to do with the mood of the reader as well. There are days when I really have no idea what I want to read, so when I pick one, if it’s not an enthusiastic choice, it may not do so well. If I’m in a reading zone, it’s hopefully full steam ahead.
Joanne Phillips says
I used to feel obliged to read to the end of a book, but not anymore. Time is just too precious to spend it doing something I’m not enjoying! (If I’m reading for pleasure, that it. If it’s for an index then I have to read to the end!) But I will say this – I’d never review or criticise a book I hadn’t finished. If I don’t like it that’s a personal thing, but who knows – it might have got amazing from the point I chose to stop, so it would be wrong to give a 1 star review, say, because I couldn’t finish it. I know some authors who do this and I think it’s a tad unfair.
Rebecca Bradley says
I don’t leave reviews for books I haven’t enjoyed never mind books I haven’t finished. No matter my personal thoughts on them, I know the author slaved over it for a long time. It’s about being respectful. I can still put it down if I don’t enjoy it though 🙂
Julie Flanders says
I never finish a book if I don’t like it, I can’t stand trying to force myself to read a book. I feel like I had to do too much of that in school! And really I’m probably too harsh sometimes, but if a book doesn’t grab me fairly quickly I won’t keep going with it.
Interesting topic! Have a great weekend, Rebecca. 🙂
Rebecca Bradley says
If you’re forcing yourself to read a book, you’re never going to enjoy it are you, The whole”force” word kind of says it all. Books are meant to be enjoyed and that’s why I now move on.
Thanks for your comment Julie. 🙂
charmaineclancy says
As a kid I never put down a book even if it was completely dull (I thought Nancy Drew sucked). But books were different then, actually they were the same, I should say they were perceived differently. Books in Australia are expensive, when I was a kid and given a book, I knew if I tossed it in, I wouldn’t get another quickly. You had to physically visit a bookstore to get a book. Books were things I’d receive as gifts or rewards, so I treasured them. Most of my books came in nice hardcovers, although paperbacks were about. Now with access to books at the touch of a button, there is no need to persevere with a dull book. I put books down if the first couple of pages don’t grab me.
Rebecca Bradley says
That’s a very interesting point that hasn’t been mentioned yet, and that is the physicalicality of the book. It being in your hands, Having spent money on it, felt it, touched it, smelled it and feeling bad about not liking it.
The books I have so far put down, have either been library books, so not mine, or ebooks, which, yes i have bought, but I suppose, mean that little bit less to me. A valid point on how I’d feel if I bought the book myself – which I do have real hold in my hands books – but none of those I’ve failed to read. Very interesting….
Gwen Tolios (@GwenTolios) says
First off, I wondered why your blog hasn’t been showing up in my Reader. You moved! I love the new site.
I felt the same way when younger, I hated not finishing a book. But then I took a Sci-Fi lit class and it was impossible to finish these dense reads for class in a single week! Haven’t been part of a book club for awhile, but I would try to finish as much of it as I could. However, books I just read for personal pleasure I have no problem setting aside when I drag my feet reading it. Kay, not no problem, I still feel guilty and a light bit of self failure every time I do it. But if I’d much rather read something else, it’s no fair to punish myself by reading a ‘torture’ novel. I do give it a good deal of a chance to redeem itself though, I usually get about halfway through before moving on.
Rebecca Bradley says
Thank you Gwen! I’m so glad you found the new site and stopped by and said hello!
I do feel that bit of guilt when putting a book down and it took me a lot of years to be able to do it, but there are just so many books waiting to be read!
yasminselena says
Definitely not, no guilt whatsover – and I don’t blame the writer for it either. I blame the editor and publisher for greenlighting a read that wasn’t ready to see light of day. And when I say that, I don’t mean me dissing a book that just isn’t for me, my taste like say for example, The God of Small Things.
I mean books by authors I’ve loved in the past, but one of their offerings have been roundly freaked out at, by the writer’s own audience! There is a Martina Cole brick of a book and one by Wendy Holden where I struggled to get past 40-50 pages, they were just turgid, lazily written and unappealing. And I’ve loved previous books by both. Like I said, not the writer’s fault. These books would have had a ton of cash thrown at them. I’m just glad I didn’t pay full price for either. I would have been livid if I had.
But having said that, I’ve struggled with some books which had a difficult middle section and then picked up beautifully, Zadie Smith’s ‘White Teeth’ was like that for me. But that was rare, I’m not sure I’d have the patience nowadays. When I wrote Gunshot Glitter it was important to me to have a strong start because I know I enjoy being engaged from the outset myself.