To ask if you always finish a book you start?

[TheCatOfAthenry]

I love to read, and want to read more than I think I can get through in this lifetime. Therefore, if I'm really not enjoying something, I stop and move on.

I'm just curious to find out if many others do the same thing or if I deserve to go to a literary prison alone for this sin.

I can't not finish them....I can never decide if it is because I refuse to believe a book is so terrible and I hope against hopr it will get better, or if somehow it is so dreadfully rude to start and not finish.

I am the same with films very few I have left unwatched to the bitter end.... Benjamin Button, Lost in Translation, 28 weeks later and Burn After Reading ...all switched off!

I never force myself to finish a book, if I don't like it within the first couple of chapters then I have no qualms about ditching it. I ditched one book two pages in because it was so badly written, the grammar and sentence structure was making me scream.

I am going to ditch more books instead of persevering when I'm not enjoying them. I would turn off the TV if it's a load of crap, but it feels wrong when it's a book.
My mum put a book in the recycling bin, which really shocked me! She said it was so bad she couldn't give it to the charity shop. Infuriatingly she didn't tell me which book!

Not many, but I have given up on a few that were just too dull or just bad. I couldn't finish Moby Dick either.

I'm usually good at ditching them if I hate them but it's harder of it's proper lit...like now I feel bad that I'm not enjoying a Zadie Smith...

Loved Life After Life and the Goldfinch, though! Hate most 'classics' or Booker winners if I'm honest.

I start reading and if I'm short of time and don't get back to the book for a week or so I often abandon it even if it is a book I am enjoying. These days I don't start a book unless I know I will have time to finish it in a short space of time.

No. I work out why I’m not enjoying it though, as I’m a writer myself. I wouldn’t want to make the same mistakes.

I ditch if it's not holding me. I don't manage to read much so when I do it needs to be good.

I wonder how much of the book the judges read. I might be cynical but I always suspected they read the first 100 pages or so and then the final chapter.
I am not a judge and do not know any judges personally.

No, I will read at least a few chapters and if it's still bad for any reason will stop reading.

I very rarely ditch a book. Interestingly I share Ulysses and Moby Dick with a pp. I can add The Luminaries to the list.
It took a few attempts to finish Crume and Punishment,- it was too effective ; it gave me nightmares and made me feel a bit unhinged. I succeeded in finishing it when I attempted it at a good point in my own life and I enjoyed it.
I completed The God of Small Things though gritted teeth, I loathed it. It was the Big Thing at the time too.
I’m currently struggling with The Golden Notebooks, I’m gutted as I assumed I’d love it.

I even finished a Harry Potter book once. In my defence - it was the only reading material and I was bored to death.

I will usually finish a book I've started even if I'm not enjoying it much, but will start to skim read it. If I'm really enjoying a book I take my time!

I ditch loads of books ... life's too short to read something that the author couldn't be arsed to have proofread, or where the editing process wasn't good enough. The minute I see 'she was stood/sat ...' then I know the (low) standard of what's to come, and that the book is not worth my time. I receive lots of books to review so at least haven't paid for them. If I have to pay for a book then I would check reviews first, and would probably make more of an effort to finish even if I didn't like the story.

I especially like the 'download sample'' on Kindle. Costs nothing to find out if a book will be to my taste.

I tend to read them (I’m a writer though and generally think all books add something to my skill set) but there are a couple of abandoned novels that spring to mind. I lasted two pages of ‘PS I love you’ (but that’s completely not what I would usually read) and have never got further than chapter two of ‘Wuthering Heights’ - I love the story but cannot stand the writing.

Life After Life is a fantastic book! I love her style of writing though.

Almost always but I sometimes wish I didn’t feel compelled to finish.

I used to finish them and it was hard work. I don't finish them now. I recently heard a librarian talking on a radio prog, who was very keen on encouraging children to read and her thoughts were that people didn't need to finish a book that they're not enjoying when there are so many books available to read that can be enjoyed. I always follow that advice now.

Usually try and plod through, think there only 2 I have tried reading more than once and given up, Moby Dick as mentioned above and To kill a mockingbird I thought it was utter shite.

If I'm not enjoying it I stop reading. Life is too short
However I have gone back to books a 2nd time and really enjoyed them.
Always wanted to read the hobbit etc but really can't get going.

Life's too short to fight on with books i don't like. I usually give it 50-100pages and if i don't like it by then i leave it

Depends.
If it’s a classic then I'll carry on. Watched a brilliant YouTube video about why you should read the classics. I loved how the guy likened it to going on an epic hike up a mountain. The journey up there is hard but it’s worth it when you reach the top for the view. That has really stuck with me. Have recently read Robinson Crusoe and yes, at times the ‘climb’ was fairly hellish but the view was worth it. It’s a fabulous novel and I'm so very pleased I stuck with it.

Anything 'easy read' though, nope. If I'm not enjoying it I'll bin it, apart from book club books though, then I feel obliged to finish them so I can comprehensively slag them off in the discussion.

No, though not many I have given up on.