Finishing a bad book.

[mckenney99]

I am an avid book reader, never was a reader as a child but picked it up while I was in college. I read a lot of military history, historical fiction, biographies, autobiographies, humor and have a few preferred authors for fiction I enjoy. When I start a new book and I am really into it, I can and have finished them in a single day/night.

However, there are those books that I struggle with for various reasons. Either the story/narrative just never takes off or maybe the writers style makes it hard for me to follow but I seem compelled to struggle my way through all the way to the end. I can probably count on one hand the number of books that I have finally given up on part way thru. Maybe I have a bit of an OCD personality that won't let me quit on it before I finish it.

How many of you readers can give up on a troublesome book and how many of you are compelled to struggle your way to the end of a really difficult read?

Am I alone?

 

[Heymatt]

I'm the same way. Start a book, finish the book. No matter how bad it was.

 

[mark brewer]

i never even try to finish a book if the writer isn't up to some certain standard. i cannot define what that standard is, but i know within one or two pages if it works or not. i'm talking about fiction here, my standard for nonfiction is completely different. that one depends on how interested in the subject i am.

is anybody here into Cormac McCarthy?

 

[S42N8]

This issue is one of the things COVID has messed up for me. There's lots of stuff available online, but reading nonfiction is really hit or miss for me. I don't mind buying the occasional book that I can't finish, but it was much easier (and cheaper) to go into a library. First World problem, I guess.

 

[sigp220.45]

I'll give a book the first chapter. If I don't like it, off it goes to Goodwill.

My Mom was an avid reader and always had two books going. Many times she told me "I hate this book!" She was a child of the Depression and the idea of not finishing a book she had paid for was completely foreign to her.

Not me. Life's too short to waste on a bad book.

 

[mtgianni]

I have no problems setting a poor book aside for a while. Life is too short for me to waste my time on something that cannot keep my interest. I make exceptions for book club books, educational ones I am asked to read and authors I usually enjoy.

 

[old bear]

I give any book I start 100 pages to hold my interest, No interest by then I put it down. The only exception is anything by James Michener, I give his works 250 pages.

 

[Telecaster]

I'm that way, if I can't get into a book I put it aside for a while. Sometimes I never go back to it.

 

[Muddyboot]

I have enough books waiting to be read that I have no problem putting one down that doesn't hold my interest....

 

[Jeff423]

Life's too short to read a bad book.

 

[Absalom]

The nice thing about Kindle.

If I start a book and it doesn't catch fire, I start something else. If I feel I might not get back to it for some time, I clear it off the Kindle and park it back in the Cloud.

Paid for it, it'll be there always. Occasionally I'll go through my list of purchased book and re-check unfinished stuff. There are quite a few books I finished on the second or even third run.

 

[Smithboomer]

I never finish a bad book. I delete it from my Kindle. Goodbye.

 

[ImprovedModel56Fan]

I reformed a few years ago. Used to have to finish a book. Not any more. I'm still a little slow to reject a bad one, but I'll do it if there is a reason, including that I can't get interested.

I am 76, so I am obviously a slow learner.

 

[pasound]

I read a lot of books. Keeps my aging brain refreshed. I've only deleted a couple of books from my Kindle over the years I've used it. I go back and give them bad ratings if they really were that bad. Recently. I've been buying paperback copies of many I read 50-60 years ago, and re-reading. They are still as good.

 

[sparkyvega]

Same here.

I'm the same way. Start a book, finish the book. No matter how bad it was.

 

[lkabug]

Bad book, bad women.....move on!

 

[Onomea]

I'm with the "if I don't like it early on, I chuck it" crowd.

Recently ordered a used book by or about Finn Aagard, a famous African Hunter, entitled "Finn." Found it at a very good price. When it showed up, unfortunately it was a book with the same the title which, per reviews, was an extremely dark, fictional take on Huck Finn's father, Pap Finn, written about 15 years ago.

The reviews were so depressing that I threw the book out without attempting to read it, a first for me, I think.

I don't like depressing books. I read for pleasure and occasionally for edification. Got enough depressing stuff happening in the world without reading depressing books...

 

[Rustyt1953]

Like others here I use Kindle. If, after 2 or 3 chapters, I am still slogging through a book then off to the phantom zone it goes.

With my clock ticking I haven't the time to waste on bad books, bad tv and bad music.

 

[riverrat38]

I usually read the free sample on kindle. If I like it, I buy and read on.
Usually works, but once I read a sample of a lawyer book. Was well written and interesting. I paid, and it immediately became a very anti second amendment book about suing a gun manufacture for a killing. I removed that one from all devices and the "Cloud". Then, I ripped it a bad review. There were many others, and I could have saved my money. They were spot on.

73,
Rick

 

[moosedog]

The local librarians know my wife and I very well. I usually order two or three books at a time and will read them thru as long as they are well written and hold my attention. The wife likes fiction, myself mostly history.
If the book is bad, I don't read it.