How many books do you abandon?

[imaginative]

I don't know about you, but a book has to really grip me from the start if I am to read the whole thing. I am not very tolerant of a large amount of descriptive purple prose. I would say I start around 6 books a month and abandon at least half of them. Two books have really stood out to me recently as great reads from the start to the end. Those two books are 'Gods Inc.' by Sarah King and 'The Lie of You' by Jane Lythell. Gods Inc. is a racy thriller about a man who has to save his wife from a serial killer. Only problem is, he is dead. And The Lie of You is about a woman who systematically destroys the life of another woman. I am not going to list the ones I abandoned as I don't think that would be fair.

I am so grateful for my kindle. You can imagine the amount of money I wasted before ebooks came along with my intolerant attitude to slow books.

What are you like? Do you abandon many books? And if so, why?

Kindle has turned me into a very fickle reader.

I don't see reading as some sort of moral commitment.

Education aside, books are there for my entertainment. If it fails to entertain - for whatever reason - I will abandon it.

Glad I'm not the only one!

Very few.

I got half-way through Parade's End and ran out of stamina, and have just had the same problem with The Brothers Karamazov. But would like to finish them both one day.

If I start a book and it is complete tripe - like Fifty Shades of Grey - I will ditch it, but if it's fairly well-written but not an easy read I will tend to plough on.

Have probably abandoned fewer than ten books in my life.

I rarely abandon books and have mostly found I end up with a good experience afterwards. The last book I almost didn't finish was the autobiography of Judy Collins which was not just badly written but also a woe is me excuse for awful behaviour

Kindle has done the same to me, I'm very fickle now and used to be soooo faithful to my books.
There are so many books.. Life is too short to waste on ones that don't do anything for me.

I abandon at least half, I'll persevere for about 30 pages (the Grapes of Wrath threshold). Life is too short if I'm not enjoying it.

I choose books carefully so minimise the chance that they're not for me, but don't abandon them after a few pages. If you give up, you will never know if there is something to that book or not.

Many books set the atmosphere in the first 50/100 pages and then something wonderful emerges.

I rarely give up on a book. Like Cote, I know the sort of books I like, and always allow the story to develop over 50-100 pages - some are slowburners.

If I do find I have to give up on a book it is usually not because I don't like it but because I don't want to read it right at that moment, and so it goes back on the shelf for the right time to read.

The last one I gave up on (temporarily) was We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver. It's waiting for the right moment to try again.

And if I'm not sure about a book, if it's on kindle, then I download the free sample chapter(s) and read them first to see if I like it.

And I make full use of our local library :)

Lots and lots of books abandoned here. Thank goodness libraries are free.

I usually make it through to the bitter end but I abandoned Oscar & Lucinda not just once but twice at exactly the same place (page 102), and the last book I totally gave up on was Julie Myerson's Home.

Like Cote/Duchess I do choose very carefully and usually have about 30 unreads knocking about at any given time so I can read a couple of pages, see if I'm in the mood, change if necessary. Some stay unread for a long time though, getting moved up and down the bookshelf/on and off the front Kindle page.

I'll have to admit that there is one lonely book that I have abandoned. Not just abandoned but threw in the bin. And that is the crapola called Catcher In The Rye.

I finished Home, mimble, but can safely say you didn't miss anything. A very dull book.

I don't usually abandon books, but I think I should do it more often. It's like clearing your plate - it can feel like a moral imperative but in fact there's no real value to it.

I'm just about to drop Candia McWilliam's What to Look for in Winter back to the library. It got rave reviews, but I've found it maddening the ways she keeps circling her story rather than telling it.

I also had to ditch Robert McFarlane's The Old Ways. Nature writing is not for me. In theory I like the idea of looking the hedgerow and naming all the plants, but in practice I'm all yeah yeah yeah, just tell me why you're standing in the bloody hedgerow in the first place. And it better not be because of the wistful yearnings of your heart.

If family or a friend have said 'you MUST read this' or buy me a book I usually feel I have to stick with it.

If I've made a poor library choice I give it at least a chapter or two and give up if I think it sucks. Maybe I should persevere, but my reading time is precious to me. So, I have rejected many, many books.

The point about the Candia McWilliam book being that I haven't finished it, obviously....

If I can't get into it I give up, if I stop being into it I move on.

Being able to download a free sample has saved me lots of money, I rarely buy a book unless I can try the kindle sample first.