I was arguing with a friend of mine about giving up on books.

He is of the opinion that a book should always be followed through to the end, and that people giving up just have no stamina. He says this about all books.

I, on the other hand, will sometimes give up on a book and refuse to feel guilty for doing so! For example, I got half way with Trudi Canavan's 'The Magician's Guild' and decided that I really didn't care for the lead charactor, nor anyone else. Therefore, I decided that there was no point in me carrying on!

How likley is it that a charactor will grow on you after half way through?


Also, I don't see how great it is to wear a badge of honour that says "Yes, I read books, even when I'm not enjoying them." There are too many books in the world so I ain't going to be wasting my time on one's I don't enjoy.

This, however, is different from being stuck in a novel. I've got stuck, I often just leave it for a bit and then go back to it.


So, what do you guys consider holy in the world of reading books?

I'm with you.

there are too many books in this world i want to read, without wasting my time reading books i'm not enjoying.

thats not to say i won't stick out a book i'm finding difficult if i think it's worth reading - although this tends to be more non-fiction books that fiction.

Generally if I can't get into a book in the first few chapters I'll give it up. If I'm halfway I'll usually slog through.

I give up if I really don't like it. Usually though, I end up wanting to know how it'll end, so I keep at it, even if I'm not really enjoying it. But I have no problem with not finishing a book if it's really terrible or I just hate it.

If I get bored on the first few chapters, because I can't seem to find anything interesting in the book, I'll probably leave it there and find another one I'll like better (same as you said : far too many books I'll enjoy to waste my time with books that get me bored).

But sometimes I only get bored because of the way the story is told (it's too long, badly written, too descriptive, never seems to get to the point...), but I still am interested in what's gonna happen to the characters. When that happens, I'll just skim through the book, reading only what catches my eyes. Or even, I'll read the last pages and decide then if that kind of end deserves a few more efforts from me to read it through.

And there are also books that I'll leave half-read for months before coming back and finishing them. Not because I don't like them, but because I found something more interesting to read inbetween, or because I'm waiting to be in the perfect reading mood for them again.

There can't be a right holy way to read a book. Reading a book must be about pleasure. So many people I know never read because they've been forced to finish too many books they didn't like in school.

I gave up on Alan Moore's "voice of the fire."

I usually feel like an "honor code" to finish a book I start, but I occasionally struggle with one and I did give up on a couple of them. I don't quite remember right now the title and such.

But yeah, usually if you don't like a book by the half of it it's not likely you'll enjoy the rest of it. Giving up is a perfectly reasonable use of your time.

I rarely give up on a book. Even books that I've put down and not read for months or years, I still consider "in progress." These include Lolita, Hammer of the Gods, and Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. It's the only way I got through the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

I have only given up on 3 that I can recall: Bloodhype by Alan Dean Foster (poorly written and no chapter breaks), The Once and Future King by T. H. White (dry), and Candy by Mian Mian (no plot and it changed narrators halfway through with no warning). I thought they were all so stupid that it was a waste of time to continue them.

For Pete's sake, there are so many edifying books that are also enjoyable! It's all a matter of taste.

i've given up on one book, and i mean given up completely, never to pick it up again. and it wasn't becuase i didn't like the book. it wa sbecause it was printed in the ODDEST type face *ever* and i just couldn't ignore it to just read. very strange. i'm sure i'd have loved it if it was in a different type face.

I'm absolutely of the opinion that life's too short to read bad books.

That said, the first few chapters of the Elizabeth Haydon books are awful awful crap, and I very nearly put the book down. As I had nothing else in the immediate vicinity to read, I kept reading. It was a styalistic ploy of the author. After the first few chapters, the book got really really really good. So I'm a bit more leary now about putting a book down. They might be trying to fool me.

if a book hasn't reeled me in after the first few chapters, for whatever reason, i just skip to the back, read the ending and then i'm done with it. luckily, this doesn't happen with too many of the books i read...must be the authors i choose.

I try to finish, but that said I still have quite a few unfinished books lying around somewhere.

As a writer, I say you should give up. It's not the reader's job to persevere, but the writer's job to present a tale that is engaging enough to hold your interest. Responsibility lies with the author.

If it's a book I chose myself, I'm apt to give up, at least in the short term. I don't have many unread books.

If it's a book that was recommended to me, I will plow through it as far as I can but, honestly, am more apt to give up on it than if I chose it. I have more than a few books given me by friends that're gathering dust, although some of them gather dust in other people's book-shelves by now.

I also occasionally willingly endure a bad book just for the fun of it.

I subscribe to Dweller's last thought -if I'm haitng a book, it's because it's bad, and I will go on and on, hating it and talking to everyone about how much I hate it. I think it's healthy

If I find it boring, and not because it's bad, but because it just doesn't appeal to me, I feel bad. I feel it's my fault I'm not liking it -I'm not smart enough, don't have the patience... I'll try to finish, even though I don't want to. Sometimes I do, most of the times I'll put it down, but keep my bookmark in it and make a note to finish it one day.

Lately, however, I find myself leaving more and more books unfinished. Nothing seems to hold my attention for long, the moment I start to get into a book something else comes along and I want to read the new one. It didn't use to be like that...

quote:

Originally posted by Suite Madame Blue:
The Once and Future King by T. H. White (dry)

Dry? Breaks my heart, makes me sad and hopeful. I feel for Arthur, Merlyn, Lancelot the Ill-Made Knight. Kay is a bully and Gawaine is a bloodthirsty wacko, but even they can be sympathetic. I enjoy the long enumerating paragraphs, describing Merlyn's room, falconry, jousting. The pathos makes White's exposition more interesting than Umberto Eco's rambles.

I usually have to be in a certain mood to read certain types of book. If i'm not in that mood, I put it to one side and return later. I have sometimes given up on a book completely, usually because I find the main character irritating, or because there is no plot or emotional development. There are 3 books that I nearly gave up on, but now regret finishing: Martin Amis The Information, Will Self How the DEAd Live and American Psycho Brett Easton-Ellis. I wish I had given up on thees after all, they were a complete waste of time and made me feel bad about myself for reading them.

quote:

Originally posted by ZoneSeek:

quote:

Originally posted by Suite Madame Blue:
The Once and Future King by T. H. White (dry)

Dry? Breaks my heart, makes me sad and hopeful. I feel for Arthur, Merlyn, Lancelot the Ill-Made Knight. Kay is a bully and Gawaine is a bloodthirsty wacko, but even they can be sympathetic. I enjoy the long enumerating paragraphs, describing Merlyn's room, falconry, jousting. The pathos makes White's exposition more interesting than Umberto Eco's rambles.

I know plenty of people who loved it. I just lost all interest after Arthur's early lessons. *Shrug* I have no patience for that sort of description.

Yeah, if a book doesn't interest you, why try to force it?

quote:

Originally posted by Suite Madame Blue:

quote:

Originally posted by ZoneSeek:

quote:

Originally posted by Suite Madame Blue:
The Once and Future King by T. H. White (dry)

Dry? Breaks my heart, makes me sad and hopeful. I feel for Arthur, Merlyn, Lancelot the Ill-Made Knight. Kay is a bully and Gawaine is a bloodthirsty wacko, but even they can be sympathetic. I enjoy the long enumerating paragraphs, describing Merlyn's room, falconry, jousting. The pathos makes White's exposition more interesting than Umberto Eco's rambles.

I know plenty of people who loved it. I just lost all interest after Arthur's early lessons. *Shrug* I have no patience for that sort of description.

i loved that book.
it was on my high school reading list...and i enjoyed it more than all the other books put together. and then my younger sister and brother read it too. the book eventually fell apart because we all re-read it so much (it was a paperback edition).