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What we're reading

Find your new favourite book or recommend one on our Book forum.

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Original poster

Y'know when you just can't get into a book? How long before you say forget it

25 replies

MamaG · 09/07/2006 14:01

I tend to soldier on for a couple of chapters, although its not often that happens to me. I'll read anything, even back of a shampoo bottle when I'm in the loo

OP posts:

southeastastra · 09/07/2006 14:05

it depends, i seem to have alot of half read books! i like to read them all the way through if possible without any breaks or i forget what's happened!

waterfalls · 09/07/2006 14:06

I give up after the first chapter, I am halfway through a book at the moment, but I have lost it, searched everywhere for it.

LilacWine · 09/07/2006 14:06

i give it 10 pages. if i get past that, it's a good one.

expatinscotland · 09/07/2006 14:09

50 pages. After that it goes the way of the Dodo bird.

trinityrhino · 09/07/2006 14:10

a chapter maybe

clairemow · 09/07/2006 14:11

depends how terrible it is! I have been known to stop after a paragraph - think that was a Salmon Rushdie book. I know others think his books are fantastic, but I just couldn't do it.

BettySpaghetti · 09/07/2006 14:13

I used to find it impossible to give up a book and would soldier on to the end regardless.

However that was BC! Now I have a little collection of books I've given up on -some were dire, some just didn't hold my attention enough for me to read every day so before I knew it 2 weeks had passed and I'd forgotten where I'd got to etc.

I don't like giving up on a book though -I feel I've failed it and let the author down in a strange way.

nikkie · 09/07/2006 14:21

2 or 3 chapters usually , used to read to the end regardless but now my to-be-read-pile is so big and time is so short I will give up.

Bucketsofdinosaurs · 09/07/2006 20:32

I'll manage about a third before I admit it's not my cup of tea and I don't care how it ends. Doing a lot of bookcrossing lately and starting books because they're trendy or I think I should have read them. Got to admit it, I just like funny shallow books .

Original poster

MamaG · 09/07/2006 23:10

I like funny shallow books too

OP posts:

KBear · 09/07/2006 23:19

Usually within the first chapter. It's a bummer when I get on the train, start reading, think "this is crap" and then I have to read "OK" over someone's shoulder!

brimfull · 09/07/2006 23:44

I hate giving up on books ,never used to,but I feel life is too short now ,so give it about 3/4 chapters and if I'm not looking forward to reading it when I go to bed I change books.

MrsSpoon · 09/07/2006 23:49

I hate giving up on books and will often soldier on, sometimes wish I hadn't bothered by the time I get to the end but often find I have really enjoyed the book.

The latest I have given up on is The Accidental, feel a bit about this as it comes so highly recommended.

hana · 09/07/2006 23:51

I really wanted to like 'Time Travellers Wife' but just couldn't get thorugh it. might try when we're away later this summer......

brimfull · 09/07/2006 23:54

mrs spoon, I gave up on the accidental aswell...crap.

dmo · 10/07/2006 00:26

try to get into book but if i cant put it back on shelf for another day
go through phases some weeks i read crappy mags from shop and then others i read books
can read a book in a couple of days if really good, love just being in book shops

muffinmum · 10/07/2006 00:53

i tend to have 3 books on go at same time and the one i am finding hard work i put by the loo cos will always read it then!

babyonboard · 10/07/2006 01:12

up to 50 pages..but I always have reeeeaaal trouble severing ties with an unfinished book..teehee..
these days I don't have time for ones that don't really engage me..

clerkKent · 10/07/2006 13:11

I almost never give up. 100 pages for me. Sometimes I put a book aside for a few years....

alittlebitshy · 10/07/2006 13:18

interesting.. I was thinking about this the other day. i have been reading a book for a good 6 weeks if not more.... and it got to the point where was ONLY reading it on my journey into work (one evening a week). Then last week i was away for a few days at my parents and did lots of reading, only thing was, I was reading other things.. lighter stuff. I can't decide if that means I have given up on this book or if i will soldier on. Am well over half way through but it is not the best book i have read, although dh loved it!!

Blackduck · 10/07/2006 13:25

Very much depends on the book....have half read some, skim read, given up after 10 pages (Mr Norris one...)....used to soldier on regardless as hated to be defeated, but now figure 'so many books, so little time' so dump it fairly promptly unless I'm absolutely desparate (on holiday/travelling...)

GeorginaA · 10/07/2006 13:31

I tend to soldier on unless it's really dire, in the hope it'll get better.

I have been known to fling books I hated against the wall on finishing - it's very therapeutic and is an expression of my disgust at having wasted part of my life reading it...

JessaJam · 10/07/2006 13:34

I'm also one of those who tries to just keep going to the bitter, poorly-edited end...

exception being some CS Lewis book that I read until about 40 pages from the end, decided i hated it and didn't like the way it was going, and put it back on teh shelf - about 12 years ago ...still have it..still unfinished

Blackduck · 10/07/2006 13:41

GA - you obviously subscribe to the Dorothy Parker notion 'This book should not be lightly put aside, it should be flung with great force...'

GeorginaA · 10/07/2006 14:03

It's even better if it ricochets off the wall at just the right angle to fall straight into the bin (although my social conscience does get the better of me and I fish it out to go to the charity shop)

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