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Original poster

Should I give up on my book?

55 replies

StealthPolarBear · 26/03/2020 17:33

I love reading and love having a book I can't wait to read each other evening. Every now and then I buy one that I can't get into, less frequent now I use an e reader and get samples.
But I'm into one at the moment. I can't remember who's who and can't say I really care. Nothing is happening, it's just so dull. I had a look last night to see if I was almost finished and was shocked to learn I was less than a quarter of the way through.
But I invested 99p :o and have invested time so far. I am mildly interested in how it ends and would like someone just to tell me so I can give up on it.

OP posts:
Original poster
StealthPolarBear · 26/03/2020 18:57

Ah that's not fair. I enjoy a lot of 99p books, they're often new authors. I've never found a free book I like though :)

OP posts:
Wishihadanalgorithm · 26/03/2020 18:57

Give up. I heard so much good stuff about A Prayer for Owen Meany. Well but It was (to me) the most boring, trite, self-indulgent nonsense I have ever read. At least I managed to persevere through Wolf Hall but then immediately gave it away which is something I never do - I hoard books.

OP, I really regret making myself reading those books - life is definitely too short and there is so much good stuff out there.

Bookridden · 26/03/2020 18:59

Don't keep bothering with a book that bores you. Give it 40 pages, and if you're still bored, move on. I agree with Sparday(great name btw), that current events are so strange that it can be hard to concentrate on fiction.

Original poster
StealthPolarBear · 26/03/2020 18:59

From the book I'm reading!

Should I give up on my book?
OP posts:
SoupDragon · 26/03/2020 19:13

It was 99p for a reason

Yes, but that reason isn't necessarily because it's a bad book. I've read loads of great 99p (and cheaper!) books.

JayAlfredPrufrock · 26/03/2020 19:16

Proud to say I’ve never finished Middlemarch. Despite starting it many times.

Or Captain Corelli’s Mandolin.

I am still wading through A Suitable Boy which I am enjoying but .....

TheCrowFromBelow · 26/03/2020 19:49

I love A Suitable Boy! Lovely book.
Never finished mIddlemarch. Or a single book by Dickens. I have a good English Lit degree Blush
There are some fantastic books in the 99p monthly deals.

HollowTalk · 26/03/2020 19:51

Join your library online and you can have access to tons of e-books through an app called Overdrive.

ThatLibraryMiss · 26/03/2020 19:56

By the power vested in me as a Librarian, I hereby grant to anyone who is reading a book they don't enjoy, and are not obliged to read, permission to stop reading it and read something nice instead.

lachy · 26/03/2020 19:58

oh god. Captain Corelli's Mandolin Confused

I've started it twice, and twice I've given up. I shall not be starting it again!

JayAlfredPrufrock · 26/03/2020 20:00

Exactly. Life is too short and precious to read something that’s too much effort.

Original poster
StealthPolarBear · 26/03/2020 20:23

Thank you ThatLibraryMiss I do feel better now it's someone in authority :)

OP posts:
InDispairThisWeek · 26/03/2020 20:41

Thanks Stealth, I was looking for a new book to read so just bought skins. I’m currently reading Stephen King’s 11.22.63 which I am enjoying.

Original poster
StealthPolarBear · 26/03/2020 21:23

I'm on chapter ten, really enjoying it

OP posts:
SurpriseSparDay · 27/03/2020 02:42

Thank you, Bookridden!

flossyflorenceflounces · 27/03/2020 02:45

I'd leave it, you might be in the mood for it another time. I have about 100 a dozen unfinished books on my kindle.

flossyflorenceflounces · 27/03/2020 02:46

A suitable boy is one of the worst books I've had the misfortune to read

KnittingSister · 27/03/2020 07:31

This sounds to me like the sunk costs fallacy. Time, money and effort all spent and gone, but don't let that affect future decisions. You could just read the last couple of chapters. I used to think that I shouldn't ditch a book I'd started, now I think life's too short and your life should be enriched, not depleted, by a book.

HPLikecraft · 27/03/2020 09:18

I've ditched so many books over the past few years.
My concentration is shot due to perimenopause, as well as the fact that I have become more fussy, and grown more intolerant of badly written literature, which seems to form the bulk of 99p books!

The PP was correct about the sunk costs fallacy; you are not Magnus Magnusson!

Original poster
StealthPolarBear · 27/03/2020 21:18

Finished skin, very entertaining

OP posts:
Michaelbaubles · 27/03/2020 21:20

God I finish about 10% of the books I start. So many of them are abject shite. Thank god for the library (and library e-books).

samlovesdilys · 30/03/2020 11:32

Found how to delete from my device!! Surprisingly easy!! At the end of each entry are 3 vertical dots, click on them and delete from device!! Spent most of yesterday deleting trash!! Can't believe I never knew that before 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️

TheMustressMhor · 30/03/2020 11:42

Reading this thread is a good deal more entertaining than most of the books I've started.

If it doesn't hold my interest by the tenth page I do not persevere with it.

DH ploughs through every book he starts. Every. Single. One. And then he almost always tells me that it was terrible.

Seriously? I mean - why carry on reading a bad book?

Grin
Original poster
StealthPolarBear · 30/03/2020 13:20

I always hope that if I persevere I'll start to be gripped.

OP posts:
Lightofthephoenix · 30/03/2020 13:23

Currently reading this one and it's only 99p on Kindle at the moment.

Should I give up on my book?