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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

Are you a quitter!

44 replies

fatowl · 21/01/2015 15:49

I'm not..... Will read a book to the end and more and moan about it incessantly.
But currently 250 pages into a 600pager and not even remotely looking forward to my reading time. (Plus it's a classiomg it's hard work happens) but img it's hard work
Very very rarely give up on a book

OP posts:

imaginative · 23/01/2015 09:57

Just quit my latest book - 'Pop goes the Weasel' by M J Arlidge. Absolutely loved his first one, 'Eeny meeny' but this second one just annoyed me. The lead character (same as in the first book) just seemed to get more and more self centred and unlikeable.

PeteCampbellsRecedingHairline · 23/01/2015 13:40

I'm a quitter but try not to be. Have previously given up on Wolf Hall and The Book Thief. Now struggling with The Luminaries. I've only read 3%.

tumbletumble · 23/01/2015 13:49

I am not a quitter. I completely agree with the logical arguments above (why carry on when you're not enjoying it) but for some reason I just have to persevere to the bitter end. Except with Ulysses. And Proust. Those are the only two I can think of. And I'm thinking of giving Ulysses another try sometime...

katsnmouse · 23/01/2015 13:54

quitter, mostly...life is too short not to enjoy it/there are too many books that i may enjoy out there. i will now persevere if its a short-ish book,i never ever used to bother.

Thenapoleonofcrime · 23/01/2015 17:26

I have also given up on Wolf Hall, twice. Just can't face it again, it was dull!

I have always given up on things I hate. If I don't mind a book though, or think it's a bit light but fun anyway, I'll read it extra speedily, especially if crime fiction- the denouement is still fun if you've skipped a bit.

I can't understand people getting stuck on books for ages, not able to read them, not able to start something new. Just ditch it and read something pleasurable. I'd rather re-read one of my all time favourites (again) than read a not very good new book, as I don't have much time or mental energy for fiction and I'd rather use it wisely!

MollyMaDurga · 23/01/2015 19:42

Books used to be rare. . When i was growing up they were expensive and to be savored. I did go to the local library but it was very small. I'm not as old as i sound
But now. . Books are everywhere, life is too short to waste time on a book I'm not enjoying. It took some getting used to but now I'm a quitter! Kindle definitely helped on that one.

DustWitch · 23/01/2015 19:48

I'm a quitter and another who gave up on Wolf Hall.

I have so little time for reading these days, that I don't want to waste it on reading a book that I'm not enjoying.

FastWindow · 23/01/2015 19:51

I quit IT by Stephen King. Dull as ditchwater. And Spycatcher... Im not even sure I still have it.

Every single other book I have read, I have read cover to cover... I'll read the back of a shampoo bottle, me.

Cheesymonster · 24/01/2015 13:04

I was going to start this thread yesterday

I'm a quitter. I always think what a terrible shame it would be if I was hit by a bus tomorrow and had been reading a book I didn't like! But I will go back and try again if it's one I had been wanting to enjoy.

fredfredsausagehead1 · 24/01/2015 18:26

Well I'm reading we are all completely besides ourselves and thanks to this thread I persevered! It's getting better!

HoldenCaulfield80 · 24/01/2015 21:50

I've tried to read Catch-22 three times and quit: clearly it's not for me. It does make me quite sad to stop reading a book though so it doesn't happen too often.

Postchildrenpregranny · 25/01/2015 10:52

Used to read to the bitter end .It seemed a bit rude to the author to give up ! Now I'm older (and perhaps more discriminating) I give up after a couple of chapters if I'm not gripped (I'll sometimes skim a couple more chapters in the middle and look at the end)
I persevered with The Luminaries,partly because I have visited the town it's mostly set in .And was glad I had .Will have to re -read now I understand what happened
Read Wolf Hall when it first came out and had to finish it as stuck in Aberystwyth alone with elderly MIL and nothing else to read .Agree it needed editing Enjoyed the plays at Stratford and Tv series shaping up well ,Might re-read and tackle BUTB
Have found when tackling foreign classics you need a really good translation .Have tried Le grand meaulnes twice without succes ..,

MyFriendlyDaemon · 25/01/2015 17:32

When i was growing up they were expensive and to be savored. I did go to the local library but it was very small. I'm not as old as i sound
But now. . Books are everywhere, life is too short to waste time on a book I'm not enjoying. It took some getting used to but now I'm a quitter! Kindle definitely helped on that one.

Me too. Think of the proportion of your available money to buy a book when you were still in school and the proportion to buy one as an adult. Same applies to records CDs.

KermitsGreen · 26/01/2015 19:18

I don't like to think that a book has defeated me - took 3 attempts to get through Lord of the Rings many years ago and have just spent about 6 months ploughing through Great Expectations. Have vowed never to touch another Dickens. All the quitting advice above makes sense - I have little time enough to spend reading so if a book is not enjoyable then let it go... but it is soo hard. Having said that, if I find something I really enjoy I make extra time to finish it in a few days so perhaps the amount of time I find to spend reading is directly proportional to the enjoyment I am getting. I enjoyed Ep 1 of Wolf Hall last week, and though about reading it, but from the comments above will perhaps give that a miss - I might never start another book!

BringMeTea · 03/02/2015 12:11

I did an English degree and used to feel guilt at quitting. Not any more. I have a 60 page rule. Sometimes I will quit much later. Recent example is The Book of You which has a thread on here now. Got more than half way and gave up. Badly written, predictable, awful 'hero' aspect. Life is too short indeed. Also as pp have tried Catch 22 twice. Just accepted it wasn't for me.

I do have to say to the Wolf Hall quitters, it IS worth the effort.

wwbuffydo · 03/02/2015 19:21

For me the extremes are easier- if a book is so good I can't put it down, I won't, or so bad ( 50 shades of grey, the da Vinci code for example) I can't stop reading in horrified fascination. It's the ones in the middle I find difficult to judge. If a book is merely OK, I am much more tempted to put it down. I would ammend the sentiment on here to 'life is too short to read unmemorable books'. For example the book I'm reading at the moment is definitely better than twilight, but I will remember ( and become self righteously pissed off when I do) twilight for much much longer. Does that make sense?

wwbuffydo · 03/02/2015 19:23

I have always felt guilty for quitting on catch 22 , Tea. I'm going to try again later on this year. Not holding out much hope though!

bluesbaby · 03/02/2015 23:24

Never used to be, but if something is godawful I will quit. I can actually recount each and every book I've consciously quit: I once tried to read a Jackie Collins novel, same with Marion Keyes - never again! Don't know why I bothered. Atonement was a novel that nearly made me blow my brains out within the first chapter, Harry Potter I had no interest in (book 1, chapter 1-3), Stoner was too depressing (got halfway through before I lost the will to live), Pride & Prejudice (unbearably dull), Great Expectations (another dull one - this was required reading!)... and Lolita. Lolita made me hopping mad, that one got thrown across the room - I'd got about quarter of the way through and during one of the more explicit descriptive verses I just saw red. How can anyone read that and not get incredibly angry?!?!

Putting a book on hold is fine though. :) I have 3 books on indefinite hold. Thus Spake Zarathustra - I continually renewed my library loan until they asked for it back, permanently. I need to buy a copy so I can finish it because I'm still interested in it. I was rereading the early passages a few times to make sense of it.
The Odyssey - Well, it's a huge ass book. When I bought my kindle I really went off holding massive weighty novels. I should rebuy this in kindle format so that I'm more inclined to finish it. I was enjoying it before my arms nearly fell off.
A short history of nearly everything - I don't think Bryson intended this to be something to read all the way through once. This is something to return to and reread passages. I haven't made it to the end yet. I'm continually enticed by my fiction novels over reading fact after fact after fact (although he does make it interesting). I think once I make it to the end this is one I'll be rereading anyway from time to time because there is too much information to take in in one go.

ChillieJeanie · 04/02/2015 07:00

I forced myself to finish The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman recently, on the basis that I refuse to be defeated by a 200 page novel. Ye gods, it was awful though! Took me a whole week to read because I could barely face picking it up. So I tend to plough on through, but I should probably quit books like that in future.

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