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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not finish a book I'm not enjoying?

92 replies

PlasticPotPlant · 16/09/2023 16:50

I was always taught that if I started a book I had to finish it (Aurora and the little blue car and Miss B when I was 7, I'm looking at you)

Now, after a friend pointed out I have statistically already used over half my allotted weeks on planet earth, I'm wondering if I should abandon books I'm not enjoying, but cracking on through is very engrained in me, and the books I find least enjoyable are often non-fiction ones that do increase my general knowledge, and often I do enjoy them, eventually.

So wise ones, AIBU to start abandoning books or should I carry on persisting to the end?

OP posts:
cocksstrideintheevening · 16/09/2023 17:59

No. Don't like it don't finish! Would
You sit through a movie / tv show / performance you don't like? I wouldn't

Finteq · 16/09/2023 18:00

Didn't even realise this was a thing.

I mentally can't finish a book im not enjoying.

EverythingYouDoIsaBalloon · 16/09/2023 18:01

Life's way too short to persevere with a book that's giving you no satisfaction whatsoever! Free yourself for other books that you will enjoy more, that's my motto.

JWhipple · 16/09/2023 18:07

I've given on books on the last chapter before. I don't feel I missed out. Life is too short to waste on books you don't enjoy. There's so many other books you could be enjoying, or even rereading old favourites.

10HailMarys · 16/09/2023 18:20

It’s a book, not medicine. Of course you don’t have to finish it!

Reading is meant to be entertainment. It should never be a chore.

I read around 70 books a year and you can bet I absolutely do not press on with a book if I hate it. Life is too short.

neverbeenskiing · 16/09/2023 18:45

valadon68 · 16/09/2023 17:33

Eh, I disagree. Pushing yourself is a good thing and unlocks new doors as you familiarise yourself with new concepts & terms. I already watch far too much crap TV to relax on the reading front!

And to add - you'll miss out on higher tiers of enjoyment if you just stick to what you know! So if pleasure is the goal, then putting up with a bit of boredom is probably the way forward...

Edited

This is a little patronising. OP didn't say anything about struggling with these books because they contain "new concepts and terms". Your post reads like you're assuming that the books she's not enjoying must be too challenging, or that her not liking them indicates a reluctance to push herself outside her comfort zone. Maybe she's just not enjoying certain books because they're not particularly good?

LittleRedYarny · 16/09/2023 18:50

Nah bin it off, find a book that does bring you joy. This isn’t for your job or for studying, so don’t punish yourself.

Thelnebriati · 16/09/2023 19:03

I skip to the end and read the last few pages. So far I've never changed my mind and made an effort to finish a book I'm not enjoying, life's too short.

BlueisthenewGrey · 16/09/2023 19:05

I was like this. Now I read the 1st page of each chapter and/or skip to the last chapter. I like to confirm it is a shit book and usually proved right.

BigGapMum · 16/09/2023 19:07

Life is too short to waste time finishing books that you aren't enjoying when there are so many good ones out there. Just move on to the next book.

piscofrisco · 16/09/2023 19:10

I used to finish every book I started as like you op I thought I should. Recently I've given up on it. Life is too short and there are two many great books to read, to waste time labouring through one's I'm not enjoying just because...

BlueSoul · 16/09/2023 19:12

Nobody checks! Just do what makes you happy.

usernother · 16/09/2023 19:34

What do you is going to happen if you don't finish it? The unfinished book police are going to arrest you? Grin

Ihaveaskedyouthrice · 16/09/2023 19:36

God no. Why on earth would you finish reading something you're not enjoying, life is far too short and there are millions of other books out there.

WhyShouldThatMeanItIsntReal · 16/09/2023 19:37

I’m not finishing A Court of Thorns and Roses. Thought I’d really enjoy it but it’s so badly written so I’m abandoning it. Only 10 more days to wait until the next Strike book comes out!

jannier · 16/09/2023 19:37

Is it trading for pleasure or punishment? .....life's too short and busy to waste on shit books, shit films or ironing if it doesn't get me on a chapter 10 others will, I will never read every good enjoyable book before I die I'm not suffering through a shit one.

HousePlantNeglect · 16/09/2023 19:40

I am currently hate reading a book I really am
not getting on with. I've always done it, some
weird compulsion to 'complete' things and also occasionally getting part way through a book and then suddenly loving it.

After 3 kids I'm finally getting back to reading and had my head in a book since January until this week. My DH even noticed this week or so Im not reading and when I told him it was because I hated it he just said 'well don't read the rest of it then'. Like it was the most natural thing in the world. But my mind is blown. I really want to not read it.....but I feel compelled to finish it!

Darkdiamond · 16/09/2023 20:04

When I was pregnant with my first, I decided I downloaded a free app called 'Classic Books' or something. It was loads of the oldies. My plan was to work my way through them as I wouldn't have time when the baby was born.

I spent the entire pregnancy painfully labouring through Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. I just couldn't do it anyway and abandoned it 2/3 of the way through. The relief I felt when I admitted defeat, was akin to when labour was over when I had the baby.

Original poster
PlasticPotPlant · 16/09/2023 20:30

Thank you all... great to hear that I'm not alone and also that I can start parking those books that I don't enjoy!

OP posts:
TowerRaven7 · 16/09/2023 20:36

Life’s to short to finish a crappy book!

foulksmills · 16/09/2023 20:39

I used to think like that, that I had to finish a book. I vividly remember ploughing on through Irvine Welsh's Glue even though it was a difficult read (it was written in dialect and the subject matter wasn't something I enjoyed either). I didn't actually buy the book myself, the person who did abandoned it early! And I regretted it. I didn't enjoy it any more as the book continued.

So now I don't finish a book if I'm really not enjoying it. I will sometimes feel that a book isn't very good and I might persevere because it's not terrible. But they generally don't improve much and I usually again slightly regret wasting my time.

TL;DR? Some books are shite and finishing them would be throwing good time after bad.

Doyoureallyhavetoask · 16/09/2023 20:41

Is this some kind of book version of clearing your plate at dinner time?

Nope, just stop if you don't like it! There are many terrible books in the world. I've stopped wasting my time on them.

valadon68 · 16/09/2023 20:46

Absolutely, if a book is just bad, that's different, but OP mentioned increasing her knowledge while reading non-fiction. Often non-fiction is impenetrable to begin with because it uses terminology and concepts which have evolved outside of ordinary language and haven't been absorbed by the mainstream yet. There should be no stigma involved in not knowing them. Why would you, unless you'd spent time with it - i.e. by reading books you don't completely understand? I was thinking more of myself than the OP when responding, anyway.

Wanttobekind · 16/09/2023 20:50

There are many great joys of being an adult such as eating chocolate for breakfast, going to bed at 8pm because who needs to prove anything by staying up late, and also not finishing a book because who the hell is checking!

StoneofDestiny · 16/09/2023 20:52

I'd not finish a book I didn't enjoy - any more than I'd watch a TV programme I didn't enjoy.

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