Here’s this week’s question:
How much time (or how many pages) do you give a book that you aren’t really enjoying before you’ll set it aside? If you’re reading it for a book group discussion, or for review, will you give it more of a chance than, say, a book you’re reading for your own interest? Why, or why not?
I have a really hard time not finishing a book — ever. Usually if I’m not enjoying something and getting antsy to start a new novel, I’ll set aside the boring book with the intention of coming back to it later! It’s pretty rare that I consciously decide not to finish reading something, and I don’t have a formula for it . . . basically I stop when I feel like throwing the book across the room, or have rolled my eyes so many times that I’m worried they’ll get stuck in the back of my skull!
I’ve actually stopped reading books just pages from the end . . . because I didn’t care anymore. I couldn’t take another stupid page.
If I’ve been sent a book for review, I absolutely finish it. I’ve made a committment to an author and/or publisher to thoughtfully read and discuss a book, and the ending of a novel is pretty crucial to my overall feelings about a book. Take The Friday Night Knitting Club — I was just about in love with it until I hit, oh, those last 50 pages or so. And then BAM! Total disaster. If I’d reviewed the book prematurely, you’d be sitting with one happy, bubbly Meg. Instead? You get this lovely, caustic version who nurses a love/hate obsession with author Kate Jacobs!
Thankfully I have yet to receive a book for review that I, um, completely despise. That would be awkward. All of the books I’ve hated with a passion were purchased with my own money, so I can feel (slightly) less guilty about that! I’d give up on those way before I’d ever give up on a review book. And I really don’t enjoy hating on the work of others . . . I promise. But some of it is just so terrible, it’s hard to scrape together some positive thoughts on the work as a whole (see: The Anglophile, one of my life’s greatest disappointments!).
And because I love lists, I bring you:
Meg’s Random Assortment of Books Discarded Lately
• Phyllida And the Brotherhood of Philander by Ann Herendeen
• There’s A (Slight) Chance I Might Be Going To Hell by Laurie Notaro
• Pretty Little Mistakes by Heather Mcelhatton
Books Meg Probably Should Have Stopped Reading –
But Stuck It Out To the Painful, Bitter End
• Love The One You’re With by Emily Giffin
• Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella
• The Anglophile by Laurie Gwen Shapiro
• Summer Blowout by Claire Cook
• Bring On The Blessings by Beverly Jenkins
• Frangipani by Celestine Vaite
I can count on one hand the books I’ve broken up with in my life. I am so stubborn that I stick it out until the bitter end, even when I know better. I’m so sad that 2 books I have slated for my summer reading challenge popped up on your abandonded books list!!! Wish me luck!
Hi Meg. I tend to finish. Here is Musing.
I also wanted to invite you to join Cafe Blue which is the new book discussion forum I started on my blog.
Even a bad book would merit a couple or two good passages. I try to finish a book that doesn’t live up to my expectation, skim through it and call it a day.
It has come to a point where I can’t stand bad writing. The more I write, the more I’m conscious about the mistakes I make in writing, and the more i’m conscious about the mistakes other people make. There was a book I reviewed not too long ago. I finished that one, but the grammar was so bad.
I’m like you in that I will ‘set aside’ a book thinking to go back. The problem is I rarely do!
I agree with you on Love The One You’re With! I have rolled my eyes through a few books!
I love lists too! I put everything in a list when I can!
I read “Remember me” from Kinsella and had a really hard time enjoying it, too. I usually like her novels and have great fun reading them, but this one felt ridiculous more than anything else!
I try to finish every book too, but I hesitate less than I used too now. There are too many I want to read, and too little time! But if it was for a review, than yes, absolutely I would finish it so that I could write a fair review of it.