What makes you give up on a book?

Bad writing. Plot holes. People behaving in unlikely ways, eg. keeping a big secret when they don’t need to. Things that suddenly jar. Nearly all new books. I rarely enjoy anything written since the 60s, apart from Shardlake and that’s boring now.

I'm tempted to google those scenes now

the Bad Sex one must have been written for a bet!

Agree with too much description

Using 20 words when 2 will suffice

Also, when nothing happens

Also, political views shoved in with no relevance to story.

This is an entry to the annual Bad Sex Award. 2019. The Guardian prints all the short list ones. They are hilarious. You can find more online

River Capture by Mary Costello

He clung to her, crying, and then made love to her and went far inside her and she begged him to go deeper and, no longer afraid of injuring her, he went deep in mind and body, among crowded organ cavities, past the contours of her lungs and liver, and, shimmying past her heart, he felt her perfection.

I don't have time to read for pleasure sadly but I have let my DD give up on books recently. Mainly when the characters are overly sexualised for a 7yo content or are bad stereotypes.

Eek. Don't think that'll be going on my bedside table, then 😱

@Dablikeacrap Exactly so.

I don’t mind a long description or paragraph if it’s done well. Ie Trollop, Dickens etc.

But when it’s full of clichés - nooooo.

There's a much worse scene than that in the book.

I have given up on 2 books recently;
1) The Survivors by Jane Harper. About a group of youngish Australians, who apparently survived a storm some years ago, and are back in the vicinity for various reasons.
2) Islands of Mercy by Rose Tremain. Bath in 1812, a tall woman who always wears white meets another woman in a teashop, and I presume they become 'an item'.
I have read and enjoyed other books by these authors, and will give both another go sometime.

I recently gave up on a book as it kept describing a 5yo child as a toddler, with toddler behaviour and mannerisms. (No SN, it was just badly written and one if many continuity errors in a series) It just bugged me too much...

Spelling mistakes.

Too many words. I'm looking at you Stephen King😀 His later books could be cut in half and still tell the story.
I struggle with too many characters trying to place them all and how they relate to each other I usually try and persevere if it's written well.

I've only seen the film of The Road. If you mean the one where they enter a house and find a room full of people in a particular predicament, yes, it's horrible, but for me, the one in Doctor Sleep is worse. Something about the way it's written.

The Road was a gruelling watch, and I can imagine the book is even more so, as you have your own imagination backing up the words.

Not sure where the rogue "be" came from.

Really tempted to Google what the horrific scene in "Doctor Sleep" is. Is it be worse than that scene in "The Road"?

I struggle with too much description

”she slowly lifted her left hand to bring a takeaway cup of dairy free latte to her lips and sipped the scorching liquid”

when “she sipped her coffee” would do

That bit of Doctor Sleep still haunts me

@Amid i listen as well. Who decides that a narrator is good. Because damm they are not.
boring and one tone. Have not listened to and not got entire series because of awful narrators.

If I have got to the end of the first chapter and there are more people then I can keep track off. I write them down most of the time. But even then. Sometimes I just can’t.

I don’t like fantasy books as there is always a new world to learn about and I just can’t get my head around it all.

I once read a book where someone spent two pages describing a house that they were only for ten mins. I don’t long long descriptions of things. Yes. It’s a pretty house. But I don’t need two pages of it unrelevent backstory when it means nothing.

i stopped reading a book when the author did a huge paragraph about some women s breast in the first few pages. Never went back and got the rest of there books either. I have seen boobs. I don’t need them described to me or how they jiggle thanks. Bad writing.

I also hate it when books tell u the story from seven different people. Just no.

I have poor eye sight so listen to Audiobooks.

The readers voice can put me off in seconds.

If a book is okay and I haven't got a next book in my list as yet then I'd probably stick with it - if I had a few books lined up then I'd just skip an 'okay' book.

If its one of a series and I've liked the other books I'll usually stick with it.

Stephen king writes sex terribly, which he’d just stop

Sex
romance
biographies and autobiographies
books similar to Katie Price books (ones she openly admits she doesn’t write)
non-fiction
motivational books

i like what I like and refuse to join the masses (eg Harry Potter) and any other books that are hyped up

Unrealistic sex scenes, unnecessary sex scenes, too much description (Stephen king), projectile vomiting (Twilight Saga).

Cross post with @SoupDragon Clearly both agree that reading shouldn't be a chore!

I'm also starting to give myself permission to give up on a book when I'm not enjoying it though I used to try to force myself to finish.

Absolutely this! I'm late 50s and have always read huge amounts. I used to be unable to just abandon a book - I kept thinking I'd keep on ploughing through in case it got better, or just to find out what happened.

I suspect it's a case of having little free time to read/spend on myself and getting older. I've now found in the last two or three years that if I've read for an hour or so and I'm roughly a third of the way through and bored/not really interested in it that I can just put it down and think "Life is too short".

It's quite freeing to be able to abandon something you're not enjoying. Reading shouldn't be a chore.

I started a couple lately that had been highly recommended but a child's death was at the centre of them and I just couldn't go there. Less tolerance for things like that . I switched to a light hearted one or crime drama that's really more of a thriller