Do you give up on a novel you do not enjoy?

[ihavebrownhaira]

There are many novels I have a hard time plugging through. Some of Jack Kerouac's writing, Shakespeare's work is tough for me, Jack London is tough. A lot of the classics. I'm not a brilliant scholar. I am intelligent, but I'm not brilliant so I get lost and I become frustrated and I quit. Sometimes I plug through. Its not only that. Reading Nora Roberts for example frustrates me because we share nothing in common-not that I ever read Nora Roberts. There are a few guys who write classics that I enjoy, but that is not the point this is only personal experience. My main question is this.

When you grow bored or frustrated or confused with a novel do you set it down? Now what do you do the majority of the time?

The majority of the time I quit. I move on and find something else. What do you do?

[JBI]

I finish it, then put a note to myself that I didn't like it. Though generally I will put the book down if I don't like it within 50 pages, and critical consensus doesn't have an opinion on it yet.

I read mostly contemporary literature, so it's important to put books you don't like down, or aside. Classics though, I tend to finish, I may though just delay reading them for a while.

[subterranean]

I simply put it a way, it doesn't worth the time spending. When you know that you've put enough effort yet you still can't get it, then there's no point to continue. There are too many books around, yet so little time to waste.

[semi-fly]

Yes and no. If I find a book rather difficult I'll put it down for some time until the preconception I've built up are gone and then I'll try to finish the book. I've noticed a lot of the books I find unenjoyable are those that are assigned for a class reading.

[The Comedian]

The majority of the time I quit. I move on and find something else. What do you do?

Me too. I have a 50 page rule -- If the book isn't workin' for me by page 50, I abandon that puppy. There are too many good books that I would like to read and my reading time is too limited and too valuable for me to read something that stinks because I have a a foolish sense of devotion to finish reading it.

I don't think I even made it to page 50 of Howard's End before it got replaced by something better. And no matter how much I want to like Henry James, I just can't make it to page 50 in any of his books.

In this regard reading is a lot like fishin' -- if you're fishin' for walleyes and you're catchin' perch, it's time to move the boat.

:)

[kiki1982]

I rarely really dislike a book. Maybe I just enjoy difficult... The behind the façade, the better...

No, I was joking.

There is one book I have given up on (at least in Dutch, my mother tongue): Dostojevski's Crime and Punishment, but it seems to be more enjoyable in German. So I'll try that.
I'm currently hooked on English, though.

I usually try a few times. Your age has changed, your views have changed, your mood has changed or maybe (in Shakespeare's case) your ability for understanding has got better, whatever. Chances are that you'll like it then.

[ihavebrownhaira]

I also believe I find common interest in authors writing and if I can find these interest I am more likely to enjoy them and read them. Like Dostoevsky for example. I find it interesting to read about his prison sentences and the madmen banging on the walls-not that I have been to prison its just the idea. The idea of a innocent intelligent man being surrounded by maniacs- or Hemingway writing about the sea or John Steinbeck writing about a farm and the fields and the trees. These things catch my interest and I enjoy studying these things.

But I do not enjoy watching theater and plays so I tend not to lean toward Shakespeare. The language is so old its something you really have to study and analyze. That is why they have classes on Shakespeare I suppose. Jack London I do not know why I don't like a lot of his work. It floats all over the place. I don't have the capacity for that. Though I do enjoy some of his stuff. Faulkner is simply not simple. I lean towards Hemingway. I don't know if this has anything to do with intelligence or preference. Probably a little of both. I believe Hemingway to be more intelligent than Faulkner though. He certainly traveled much more as far as I know.

[ihavebrownhaira]

There is one book I have given up on (at least in Dutch, my mother tongue): Dostojevski's Crime and Punishment, but it seems to be more enjoyable in German. So I'll try that.
I'm currently hooked on English, though.




That is funny. The one novel you have given up on is one of my favorite novels and writers.

[Niamh]

Some books i stick out, others i stop reading.

[Chava]

I try to find out why I don't like it, sometimes reading it with a different perspective helps. However, I think there are few books, very few that I have simply put down. I just feel guilty, silly as it seems. :) Like I'm upsetting the author or something.

[Lynne Fees]

My dad, now deceased for 10 years, used to say, "If someone took the trouble to write a book and I was interested enought to start it, I finish it." I'm kind of like that, also. As far as Shakespeare, you should get a study guide that has a "translation" on the opposite page. After a while, you'll get it.

[LitNetIsGreat]

I finish it, then put a note to myself that I didn't like it. Though generally I will put the book down if I don't like it within 50 pages, and critical consensus doesn't have an opinion on it yet.

I read mostly contemporary literature, so it's important to put books you don't like down, or aside. Classics though, I tend to finish, I may though just delay reading them for a while.

Yes similar thing with me but I read less contemporary stuff so I rarely reject books. Tom Jones is one that didn't make it, the pain got too much around page 397.


Kiki:I usually try a few times. Your age has changed, your views have changed, your mood has changed or maybe (in Shakespeare's case) your ability for understanding has got better, whatever. Chances are that you'll like it then.

Yes I think there is a lot in this, people change in their reading maturity and tastes as they get older. I remember attempting to read To The Lighthouse in my late teens there was simply no chance that was going to work, I was always a late developer, now I am quite fascinated by the gentle unfolding of her work and the fine detail of her characterisation, studying modernism helps too.

Another poster also mentioned James, James never worked from me really until I did theory and close read The Turn of the Screw through Freud, I find that you have to read James slowly to fully appreciate his skill as a writer. Overall I am quite interested in these gentle texts that you have to slowly delve into in order to get more out of them, this is true for most books, but for some more than others.

[Lokasenna]

I'm not sure. It feels sort of wrong to just abandon a book mid-way through. I've done it, but it has to be truly awful for me to do so. Even novels like Mrs Dalloway, or The Catcher in the Rye, that I really disliked, I saw through to the end. I quite often like to think that a bad novel can redeem itself eventually!

[seanlol]

I finish it just to see if it gets better.

[bailo]

if i realize i really don't like the writing in the first twenty pages or so then i'll put it down. but once i get about a quarter of the way in i won't put it down no matter how painful it is.

[optimisticnad]

My dad, now deceased for 10 years, used to say, "If someone took the trouble to write a book and I was interested enought to start it, I finish it." I'm kind of like that, also. As far as Shakespeare, you should get a study guide that has a "translation" on the opposite page. After a while, you'll get it.

That's a nice saying!


I finish it just to see if it gets better.

:D Very optimistic.

I try my bestest to finish it! I do! I have an irrational fear of not finishing a book and I'd like something to tell my parents when they ask me 'Name one thing you've stuck by/finished!'.

Like kiki1982 said your taste changes as you get older etc. What you didn't like at the age of twelve - like Dickens, you become a fan when you're mature enough to understand.

However having said that there are some books which simply just aren't worth the time - which is where critical opinion comes in. You're reading trashy popular fiction. It doesn't interest you after the first chapter (like the da vinci code). Do you stop? Yes! We have very little reading time, don't waste it. However you're reading...Crime and Punishment. It's long, it's taking you ages, some sections you don't understand. Do you stop? No! Millions of people can't be wrong about it. BUt if you really must stop - come back to it later. I - quite recently - nearly gave up on The Kite Runner after the first few chapters, but I thought I'd stick with it just a little bit longer and what do you know - it turned out to be the best book I read in 2008. Point is be patient, if all the best bits came in the first chapter you wouldn't finish it would you?

[optimisticnad]

p.s I don't know if anyone's noticed but the above post is the first time I've used multi-quote - I've just worked out how to do it. :blush: :lol:

[Wilde woman]

It feels sort of wrong to just abandon a book mid-way through. I've done it, but it has to be truly awful for me to do so. Even novels like Mrs Dalloway, or The Catcher in the Rye, that I really disliked, I saw through to the end. I quite often like to think that a bad novel can redeem itself eventually!

Me too! Since I'm pretty selective in what I read (so little time to read, but so many books), I'm loath to just abandon a book if its style doesn't meet my fancy.

It depends on what I don't like about it. If it's difficult stylistically, that doesn't deter me. I just whip out my pen and start taking notes like mad. I'll read more slowly and give it time to settle in my brain. I'm glad I slogged through difficult stuff like A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man or Moby Dick, because it rewards you in the end. But if I don't like the content (as in...ahem...Twilight), I'll abandon it pretty quickly.

As some of you have a 50 page rule, I have a 1/4 rule. I'll try to stick to a novel at least a quarter of the way through, before giving up on it.

[Virgil]

I usually persevere so I can say I have read it. At least if they are serious reads. Less serious reads that go stale I may just toss them. I started just before the New Year The Death of Virgil by Hermann Broch, a relatively important work in Austrian literature, or so I'm told. I had to put it down after a 100 pages, about a fourth of the book. I'm sorry, it was bad. I may resume it, since it supposed to be an important work, but then again I may not. ;)

[Virgil]

p.s I don't know if anyone's noticed but the above post is the first time I've used multi-quote - I've just worked out how to do it. :blush: :lol:

:lol: Ok, it seems like it's the little things in life that make you happy. :D

[Emil Miller]

Very seldom, because I only read those books which I am reasonably certain to find agreeable in the first place. If there is any doubt, I will check them out at a bookstore beforehand.

[Amylian]

As far as I am concerned, yes, I do put books that are no interest of me any more down. It is useless to resist and carry on reading things you wouldn't benefit from.

[sofia82]

it depends on the reason I read that book if there is a obligation as a book in a course and my studies I never put it away, but if it is just for fun yes I stop reading I cannot tolerate reading something it is boring and just cursing all the time myself why I choose this book :D
And the important point is that every book especially philosophical novels need proper time, if I choose to read such books and got bored I drop it, but later I know I can pick it up and read again, just it was not th proper time

[kiki1982]

That is funny. The one novel you have given up on is one of my favorite novels and writers.

Yes, but rejoyce there is light at the end of the dreary tunnel. I seem to have won over my aversion for it and I think it was a ghastly 70s translation that was the problem...

I was 18 when I was forced to read it in uni and I absolutely hated it. I tried it a little later again at 19, and got a little further (past the murder of the hospita), but it did not work. In German it seems to work better: it's more lyrical, so I might try that when I have done most of the English I want to read... It was probably my age. I am now much older so chances are I will like it, or at least at one point...

[amalia1985]

This does not happen often, because I do my best to select books that I am 90% certain that I will enjoy. However, when it DOES happen, I try not to give it up, but I cannot resist. I become so angry with myself for choosing it, and I don't have the "clear" mind that reading demands. Therefore, I abandon it completely.

[optimisticnad]

Very seldom, because I only read those books which I am reasonably certain to find agreeable in the first place. If there is any doubt, I will check them out at a bookstore beforehand.

ditto! i check them out in the library before i buy it - because 'it's a bookshop, not a library'. :lol:

[mystery_spell]

Typically, no, I do not give up on a novel no matter how much I do not enjoy it. Sometimes I'll read a whole series of books, even if I dislike them, just because it could get better or because I just have to read them. That's how it was with the Twilight series. I read the whole series, even though I think they are written terribly and not very interesting.

[ihavebrownhaira]

Now I feel a little guilty for giving up on novels that confuse me or I do not enjoy. I put down the Jack London short stories I was reading. I enjoyed a few of them especially a piece of steak and now I am reading Fyodor Dostoevsky's short stories. Its fantastic! I love it. I am very excited because soon I will come upon the famous Notes of the Underground. It will be nice, but I am going to pick up some Poe today and if I do not enjoy it I will try to get through all of it. I feel guilty setting the books down.

[Mariamosis]

I try to force myself, until I become disgusted at the wasted time.
Then it's time to give it up.

[beth01081]

I give up when I find myself avoiding a book. Also when I find myself not reading another book because I'm "reading" this one (that I'm avoiding).;)

[PabloQ]

I almost always push through to the end. Usually, somewhere between 50 and 100 pages the writer gives me something to cling to -- plot, an interesting character, voice, form. I slogged all the way to end of The Wings of the Dove despite finding every page of it painful. Sadly, the only book I gave up on was Don Quixote. In that case, I was reading it at the wrong time in my life. It's the on the shelf for me to circle back to.

[promtbr]

When I was a student (oh so long ago), I used to give up more readily on works, esp, (as others above have posted), those that were mandatory or suggested reading for my lit studies...I would negatively react to some works that were said to be classics.
Also, when I read more commercial stuff for entertainment, if I wasn't "feelin' it" I would give the book away asap.

My later (current) approach is I to read to try and engage a work (difficult or not) with as little expectations as possible. I have found a huge difference in what texts say to me now, as opposed to when I was younger. Several authors have written essays to this affect, warning how one should not make a lifetime judgement on a work that does not connect with the reader at a younger age. I have found this to be true (tho not always, some stuff still :sick: does not work for me)

That said, I struggled a bit early on with Proust's 4300 page behomoth, but I am not going to stop, as I have found the payoff (sentences that will stay with me the rest of my days for example every 4 pages or so) worth the reading. But that's just me. If I wanted to be kept entertained, I would not have started it.

Interestingly I just finished a section of the Search, where Marcel, attends a play by Racine, featuring a world renowned actess as Phaedre several years after he had been totally dissapointed by the same actess' performance in the same play. He realized his preconceptions were so huge, he had fine-tuned his perceptions to analyze all the nuances of her performance, and he could not understand the critics acclaim of her "dramatic genuis", and felt she had been vastly overrated. Years later, he attended another performance not to see this actress, but to make a social connection with some lights of Paris society. He was thunderstruck at her performance, and he realized it was because he did not try to extract it (her "work"), separate it from the rest of the play, he came to the conclusion that his preconceptions (expectations that her performance was "classic", unrivaled) clouded his emotional engagement (this is a huge oversimplification on my part)

[Behemoth]

I usually persevere to the bitter end, but I did abandon Mansfield Park at just over halfway through because the urge to gnaw on my own limbs was becoming unbearable...

[thomas212]

Untertainmant not being always what i look for in a book,i don't give up a read i do not enjoy.Litarature being to some extend a reflexion of life,it would mean suicide each time one faced hardship.
But a stupid,predictible or boring can be avoided or abandonned,like their conterpart in people.

[optimisticnad]

:lol: Ok, it seems like it's the little things in life that make you happy. :D

Oui! And today I categorised some of my blog posts! :D

[mccaberu]

I cannot understand why people feel so precious about finishing books that are torturing them. If a person does that, then surely they cannot claim they are reading for pleasure but for blatant pretension. Either that, or they just feel obsessive about it. There is just such an abundance of literature out there that will produce genuine excitement and emotion. Why feel pressured to overstuff your mind with words that somebody else claimed were penned by a master. A good example of this is Stalingrad, while obviously an invaluable book that informs on something so important, I know several people that have been reading it for several years. Little beads of sweat pool at their temples at the mere mention of the now paper-weight. Why stress, after all, who is watching?

[ihavebrownhaira]

I believe it is an exercise and sometimes after I am finished reading a difficult novel a simpler novel is much easier and more enjoyable. Like reading Ezra Pound which baffles me then reading Steinbeck.

[promtbr]

I cannot understand why people feel so precious about finishing books that are torturing them. If a person does that, then surely they cannot claim they are reading for pleasure but for blatant pretension. Either that, or they just feel obsessive about it. There is just such an abundance of literature out there that will produce genuine excitement and emotion. Why feel pressured to overstuff your mind with words that somebody else claimed were penned by a master. A good example of this is Stalingrad, while obviously an invaluable book that informs on something so important, I know several people that have been reading it for several years. Little beads of sweat pool at their temples at the mere mention of the now paper-weight. Why stress, after all, who is watching?

Ah, no accounting for differences in tastes OR in what different motives for why we all read literature...Since this is another famous bantering type thread, I might as well, banter...;)

In my humble opinion is some derrive "pleasure" from challenging their mind with approaching difficult texts. Who is to say for those readers, something or someone causes them to be "pressured" to do this, and what does it matter anyway? For some, that would be "torture". I find "precious" reader's who approach literature for "excitement and emotion", there is always blu-ray for that :D

[mono]

I typically try to push myself through a difficult book. Through such challenging books like Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon or Finnegans Wake by James Joyce, I practically threw them across the room in frustration multiple times, like a Rubik's Cube I could not solve, but eventually came back to them and finished both over time. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy also took a lot of effort to not give up, and after several hundred pages, and even more research on French and Russian history, I figured "well, I've come this far, might as well end it."
With a book I do not enjoy, I refuse to even try to exert myself. With a challenging book, I figure there exists something between the lines that I do not understand, so I will actually feel motivated and 'step up to the plate.' On the contrary, with something that does not appear challenging nor capable of enjoyment for me, I practically toss up my arms and say aloud "done!" For this reason, I have never finished a thing by Gore Vidal, Umberto Eco, or Ayn Rand; in addition, I have never gone near Dan Brown, Terry Pratchett, or JK Rowling.

[Babelfish]

Honestly, if I find that within the first 50 pages or so that a writer has a style that is particularly irritating to me or that he/she really has nothing to say, I'll put the book down; to hell with it. Someone else can read it. As for me, there are a few billion other things out there that I would much rather spend my time on than reading a book that doesn't interest me just so I can add it to the list of books that I have read for the year.

p.s. But don't give up on Jack London. Try again - and if you get all the way through one of his stories and wish that you had stopped, have a couple drinks and kill the very memory of the it. Those brain cells were probably just taking up empty space anyway. Good luck.

Babelfish

[ihavebrownhaira]

Well I put all this to the test. I'm reading Dostoevsky's short stories and so far I have loved all of them. I was looking forward to Notes of the Underground, but now I hate it. Its complicated. He just rants and raves and contradicts himself and admits to contradicting himself. He admits that he thinks and raves and rants like a madman out of boredom and he admits that he is a coward who has lived in a cellar for 40 years. Dostoevsky is a cool guy. Anyway I have not given up on it yet. I was about to loose my temper and throw a chair through a window, but I contained myself. Woopee. Life is great. It is. I have a roof over my head and an idea of what I enjoy. I have an idea of what I hate. I see men and women who I want to strangle at times and kiss at times and praise at times and ruin at times. This is human nature. We grow and love and learn and live, but at the end of the day it all may be a big fat joke. Who knows?

[Babelfish]

I have never finished a thing by Gore Vidal, Umberto Eco, or Ayn Rand; in addition, I have never gone near Dan Brown, Terry Pratchett, or JK Rowling.

I tried multiple times to finish Eco's "The Name of the Rose," but always fell asleep before the first 100 pages.

[ihavebrownhaira]

Ah, no accounting for differences in tastes OR in what different motives for why we all read literature...Since this is another famous bantering type thread, I might as well, banter...;)

In my humble opinion is some derrive "pleasure" from challenging their mind with approaching difficult texts. Who is to say for those readers, something or someone causes them to be "pressured" to do this, and what does it matter anyway? For some, that would be "torture". I find "precious" reader's who approach literature for "excitement and emotion", there is always blu-ray for that :D


I read your post and I instantly did not like it. Now I realize your the son of a gun who put down Orwell, Huxley, and Bukowski. It seems natural that I don't like you.

[mono]

Ah, no accounting for differences in tastes OR in what different motives for why we all read literature...Since this is another famous bantering type thread, I might as well, banter...;)

In my humble opinion is some derrive "pleasure" from challenging their mind with approaching difficult texts. Who is to say for those readers, something or someone causes them to be "pressured" to do this, and what does it matter anyway? For some, that would be "torture". I find "precious" reader's who approach literature for "excitement and emotion", there is always blu-ray for that :DI read your post and I instantly did not like it. Now I realize your the son of a gun who put down Orwell, Huxley, and Bukowski. It seems natural that I don't like you.
:lol::lol:

Yes, I will admit, not to mention any names, there exist a few, very few, forum members whose posts I read the first few sentences of, roll my eyes, and skip to the next post. :p

[promtbr]

I read your post and I instantly did not like it. Now I realize your the son of a gun who put down Orwell, Huxley, and Bukowski. It seems natural that I don't like you.

People trash writers I admire all the time on this forum, it is no reason for me not like them or wish them harm.These forums are simply an exchange of opinions and debate. The suicide reference after my post on the other thread and your personal attack on my profile page was a little extreme. No ill wishes and I truly hope you enjoy your literature explorations.

[Lord Bas]

If the book is absolutely unbearable, then yes I put it away.

[Joreads]

Once I start a book I have to finish it no matter how bad. Thing is I have no idea why I am a little weird I guess.

[kiki1982]

I tried multiple times to finish Eco's "The Name of the Rose," but always fell asleep before the first 100 pages.


I tried it once and I put it away, but it is still on my list. I haven't given up as such yet... You know it was in the top ten of most unread books in Belgium. It was best-seller and everyone bought it for Christmas, birthdays or whatever for another and no-one apparently read it. :lol: Does not mean that it is bad, though, but just puts best-sellers in perspective. I think The Losrd of the Rings was also on it. When the film came out there was such a hype...

Anyway, to Mono:
I had preconceptions about Prachett, but I went to a play of one of his books. Hilarious and original and good references to Shakespeare. I am warming to him. I might just try one of his books as an in-between...

[thomas212]

:lol::lol:

Yes, I will admit, not to mention any names, there exist a few, very few, forum members whose posts I read the first few sentences of, roll my eyes, and skip to the next post. :p

I like Promtbr posts ,i don't ever roll my eyes or would not discribe Dostoevsky as a cool guy....
I would not have post this because it has very little interest but since you two decide two make public your distaste why not show mine.

[mono]

Anyway, to Mono:
I had preconceptions about Prachett, but I went to a play of one of his books. Hilarious and original and good references to Shakespeare. I am warming to him. I might just try one of his books as an in-between...
I have taken a glimpse into Pratchett's works, and thought them humorous as well, but did not feel too impressed. Maybe someday, admirably like you, exploring other areas of literature, I will give him a chance, but likely not anytime soon.

I like Promtbr posts ,i don't ever roll my eyes or would not discribe Dostoevsky as a cool guy....
I would not have post this because it has very little interest but since you two decide two make public your distaste why not show mine.
On the contrary, I never showed a distaste towards promtbr's posts - point out if I clearly have, please. That I showed a ':lol:' emotiocon while quoting ihavebrownhaira's post does not mean that I disprove of promtbr's posts, but rather that I disprove of other anonymous poster's posts. If you must know, I enjoy promtbr's posts, love Dostoevsky, and think that you must have some interest in this thread if you have followed it up to the 43rd and 44th replies.

[manolia]

I have taken a glimpse into Pratchett's works, and thought them humorous as well, but did not feel too impressed. Maybe someday, admirably like you, exploring other areas of literature, I will give him a chance, but likely not anytime soon.


Oh mono you should give Pratchett a go :)
His discworld series are immensely funny. It may not be great literature and all but he has a great sense of humour (which is such a rare quality these days - there are few people that can make me laugh as much as Pratchett). I can guarantee that he'll make you laugh too :D

[ihavebrownhaira]

I am impulsive and I do not always think things through rationally before I comment and perhaps that is simply your writing style and I am jealous because my writing style is very simple and childlike. I cannot help it. I read all the time, but my vocabulary only goes so far. My structure is very basic. I am average and the teachers see this and sometimes they enjoy it, but most of the time they write more detail more detail. Some men can pull it off with imagination, but when you are lacking... well....

[Tsuyoiko]

It depends how far I got with it. If I only just started and realised it was crap I'll give up on it. If I got over half way I'll stick with it so as not to waste the time already invested.

[promtbr]

I am impulsive and I do not always think things through rationally before I comment and perhaps that is simply your writing style and I am jealous because my writing style is very simple and childlike. I cannot help it. I read all the time, but my vocabulary only goes so far. My structure is very basic. I am average and the teachers see this and sometimes they enjoy it, but most of the time they write more detail more detail. Some men can pull it off with imagination, but when you are lacking... well....

It's all good. I have to learn be more aware of a "preachy" voice in some of my posts. Just chalk it up to age. I would have roled my eyes some of the condescending tones in a couple of my posts when I was your guy's age as well. * inserts proper emoticon*

It so cool so many from so many walks of life and so many different countries share a passion for great writing!

[Pensive]

Depends upon what I am reading the novel for.
If I am reading it for enjoyment, why should I continue with it if it's not fulfilling my
original purpose?
If I am studying it for school, why should I get my grades down by following my heart which would hardly let me do anything for school if I started caring for it so much?
If I am reading it for the sake of some philosophical purpose or anything, if that purpose is being fulfilled why should I care about the enjoyment?
If I am studying it for the sake of a discussion, why should I let go of an opportunity to criticize something? :p

Though it's rare that I don't find a novel enjoyable (I quite enjoy both badly-written works as well as well-written works :))

[jhonerliz]

Actually enjoying what I read depends on my mood. If I'm in the mood reading a novel, of course I enjoy it. But if not, I just stop reading it and continue whenever I like. Once I started reading a book, I try to finish it.

[thrillerchiller]

Time is limited. If I'm not interested after 50 or so pages I tend to just start something else and never get back to it. This does not happen often, but I can't waste time on uninteresting books.

[eyemaker]

I tend to force my self to like a book especially when it's "boring" to deserve the word, especially if I really "want" it to be finished. And if that certain book has a name on my list- I ought to have it finished even if it's too unbearable.

[Quark]

It depends how far I got with it.

Yeah, this is definitely important. If you only have another hundred pages to go, then finishing probably can't be that unbearable. I usually enjoy the conclusions of stories, too. The ending can also change our reading of the action before--maybe even salvage it. You won't get the three or four hours of previous reading back, but you might not see it as such a total waste. I don't feel so bad about abandoning a book after fifty pages or so, though--particularly if there are the usual symptoms of a boring story.

[subterranean]

I think I have mentioned this in some other threads

I totally unable to enjoy Gormenghast by Peake. So I gave up and until now, have no intention to try reading it again!

[Phangirl7]

I keep reading it, just to see if I might change my mind the more of it I read.
The Sf anthology I'm reading right now has 29 stories. I've read 19 and only liked 4.
P.G.7.

[Sapphire]

I tend not to give up on it.

I can not really explain why though. Maybe it is because I hope it gets better. Maybe it is because I do want to know how it ends. Maybe it is because I think that if somebody made the effort to write it, and someone else to print it, there must be something to it. Maybe it is curiousity. Maybe because it feels a bit like "losing", not being able to read it all. Probably it is just stubborness. :D

[Pryderi Agni]

Most certainly. In fact, I'm so extreme I once threw my copy of Pride and Prejudice into the trashcan after reading the first page.

[higley]

Generally. I've never felt an obligation to stick with a book unless it was a present, and then I finish it out of guilt. There are a few books, though, that I put down after reading about only fifty pages, and picked it up months later to find that the rest of it was a truly enjoyable read. I've discovered some of my favorite books that way.

[Basil Valentine]

I absolutely hate to give up on any book (it feels like a defeat in some way), and have slogged my way through all sorts of things over the years. Two especially difficult reads that spring to mind were Wolfram Von Eschenbach's 'Parzival' and Nikolai Tolstoy's 'The Coming of the King'. In fact, the only thing I can positively remember abandoning partway through was William Burroughs' 'Naked Lunch', which I found completely unreadable. I did enjoy his 'Junky' though...

[electricpenguin]

I don't give up on books, I elect to dismiss them. I have no qualms about this at all. There's no way I'm going to read something I'm not enjoying just because I feel like I should read it. I was forced to do that too many times at school and it almost put me off reading for life.

This feels like a particularly weird stance to take as I'm a literature student and, to the disgust of some of my classmates, I haven't read many of the 'classics' they think are essential for a literary life. I hate that kind of snobbishness.

Anyway, I'm offloading (!!). Putting down a book you are not enjoying is a reasonable course of action. Who knows, you may pick it up again in a few years and find yourself getting on with it in a way you may never have done if you'd forced yourself to finish when your heart wasn't in it.

Penguin xxxx

[jcjp]

I absolutely hate to give up on any book (it feels like a defeat in some way), and have slogged my way through all sorts of things over the years. Two especially difficult reads that spring to mind were Wolfram Von Eschenbach's 'Parzival' and Nikolai Tolstoy's 'The Coming of the King'. In fact, the only thing I can positively remember abandoning partway through was William Burroughs' 'Naked Lunch', which I found completely unreadable. I did enjoy his 'Junky' though...

Tolstoy is an acquired taste: you have to have quite the patience to read ANYTHING by him. I felt rather disgusted after reading War & Peace, I must admit, I just didn't see the entire point behind all of it (though I certainly will respect it, the depth he goes into is amazing).

Have not even heard of Parzival, so I can't comment on him, but as far as Naked Lunch goes: You have to take the book less as a straight linear novel and more as an "experience." I believe a film or something was done on it once even (think so?). I just shook my head at that, no idea how in the heck they were able to do it, much less make it decent at all.

[PositiveEnergy]

I refuse to read any book I don't like. I used to feel guilty and try to slug through a bad book because I'd paid good money for it, but now, I get most of my books from novelaction.com book trading service and since they're so cheap, if I don't like it, I send it back to them and get something else! life is too short for bad books :-)

[Emmy Castrol]

I tried reading Maugham's The Magician and it was so boring I stopped at the beginning of the second chapter. I haven't made the effort to attempt it again although I have seen the film adaption of The Painted Veil which was quite good so I may try and read that.

[Emil Miller]

I tried reading Maugham's The Magician and it was so boring I stopped at the beginning of the second chapter. I haven't made the effort to attempt it again although I have seen the film adaption of The Painted Veil which was quite good so I may try and read that.

As someone who has read all of Magham's work, I think you should have stayed with The Magician until the end. Maugham wasn't at his best with the supernatural but the story is based on his meeting with Alaistair Crowley who was thought to be possessed with supernatural powers. The Painted Veil is one of Maugham's best novels. I haven't seen the film you refer to, but I can't believe that it is anything as good as the novel where the prose writing is superb. If you want to read the best of Maugham's novels, as opposed to his wonderful short stories, I would suggest The Razor's Edge and The Moon and Sixpence, but almost anything by Mauigham is writing at its finest. Maugham was a true man of the world in a way that NO other writer mentioned on this forum can possibly match. I have learned more about human nature from reading Maugham than any other writer.

[Apocrypha75]

This is an excellent topic.

Before the start of 2009, I like others in this thread would have a compulsion to finish reading anything I started; however little I enjoyed it. Since New Year I have taken a different approach and give a book a 100 pages to work it's magic, after that it's off to the charity shop. :)

However, despite my new regime I still have trouble forcing myself to give-up on a book! I guess, at the end of the day, the time spent trudging through a book you don't particularly enjoy could be better spent reading something that really engages and makes a difference to you.

Fortunately, I have not had to exercise the 100 page rule too often, but the most recent offenders would be Dr Zhivago and The Spire by William Golding. Dr Zhivago started okay, but then I just started sleep-reading through it and after 100 pages of it could not face the rest.

It's worth noting that I do have trouble with aspects of Russian literature and struggle to connect with sections of it. The Master and Margarita: some of it was absolutely brilliant but other parts were slow for me. I also recently finished Crime & Punishment and found it very good but I'd be a liar if I did not say that I found large sections very boring, mainly in the set-up of scenes; when something kicks-off or during dialogue between characters, it's fantastic, but elsewhere its all a bit pedestrian and over-long. I have also read The Brothers Karamzov and again found some sections tedious, but others exemplary! Dostoyevsky has a great rep (I know he has a few fans here on the forum) and I do find his themes and philosophical angles intriguing, but I do find some of his writing a little plain.

Based on my experience so far a lot of Russian lit could use a good editor; but being classics who would have the bottle to take that job :)

The Spire was short, but I found the writing nothing special and the story didn't really hit me. A bit of a non-starter really.

Just my opinion; be kind. :)

Apocrypha75

[El Carmo]

I think you have to try again and again. Some novels seems hard to please, but if you try reading, you´ll meet the unexpected beauty. It´s not easy to read James Joyce´s Ulysses, but what beauty in it! So, go on, on your readings. El carmo.

[Lynne Fees]

However having said that there are some books which simply just aren't worth the time - which is where critical opinion comes in. You're reading trashy popular fiction. It doesn't interest you after the first chapter (like the da vinci code). Do you stop? Yes! We have very little reading time, don't waste it. However you're reading...Crime and Punishment. It's long, it's taking you ages, some sections you don't understand. Do you stop? No! Millions of people can't be wrong about it. BUt if you really must stop - come back to it later. I - quite recently - nearly gave up on The Kite Runner after the first few chapters, but I thought I'd stick with it just a little bit longer and what do you know - it turned out to be the best book I read in 2008. Point is be patient, if all the best bits came in the first chapter you wouldn't finish it would you?

I like this analysis - if it's a tried and true classic, there's probably SOMETHING worthwhile in it somewhere!

[Lynne Fees]

That last quote was by optimisticnad - I'm not sure how to quote it properly!

[grotto]

I don’t buy the “they took the time to write it, so you can read it” theory. I took the time to select it, it’s my choice whether I read it or not. There is a lot of people who make a living writing garbage.

Some books I will plod along with, some that are difficult, I will put down for a while and come back too. Others aren’t hard to read, they just fail to spark me, Kafka does this to me, I find him boring, yet I loved Nietzsche’s Thus spoke Zarathustra.

Two I recently gave up on were Joyce’s “Portrait of the artist as a young man and Sartre’s Nausea. That one I actually threw across the room! Could he be any more redundant! That was a short book to boot!

I read to learn and to be entertained, not for the sake of labor. I pretty check out what I read now before I buy a book, I have a running list, get a cup of coffee and start spot reading at the book store.

[K.K.]

On occasion, I've given up on a book; however I rarely do so. Frequently, I find that books that seem incredibly redundant or boring pick up after several chapters, and-- while I don't believe that readers are obligated to complete books that they begin-- I do believe that books should be given a fair chance. Sometimes it does take work to appreciate a book.

[Adderhead]

Even if I hate it, I must finish a book because it will drive me mad when I wonder whether the latter part of the book was good after all. I'm crazy that way.