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Original poster

Do you have to finish a book

26 replies

HellKitty · 01/05/2015 06:16

..once you've started? Even if you hate it?

I've really struggled with one at the moment and have skipped pages and skim-read but refused to go onto the next one until I'd finished this tripe.

OP posts:
YonicScrewdriver · 01/05/2015 06:19

Yeah, mostly. If it's crap in a chapter or two I can abandon it though .

Bolshybookworm · 01/05/2015 06:49

Not since I had kids, no. If it doesn't manage to hook in to my now limited brain-space then it's binned. Last one was We Shall Be Forgiven. Don't think I'll regret not finishing that pile of codswallop.

FairyPenguin · 01/05/2015 06:52

Used it but not anymore. Decided life is too short. Reading is for relaxation and pleasure. If I'm not enjoying it, then don't read it. It was very hard to get to this way of thinking but I feel liberated!

confusedandemployed · 01/05/2015 06:53

Usually, yes. I didn't finish Gone Girl though, I really just could not give one shiny shit what happened to the silly cow.

PlasticCircus · 01/05/2015 07:02

Nope- life is too short and there are too many good books out there to waste on rubbish ones.

I find it really hard to find books where I care about the characters that much since I had a baby- my attention span must be a lot shorter! If I don't care about what happens to the characters, I stop reading.

ARightOldPickle · 01/05/2015 07:05

I used to be like that, but as I've got older I've found the inner strength to admit defeat Grin Life is just too short!

happystory · 01/05/2015 07:10

On the whole, yes. It has to be baaaad for me not to. If unfinished, I feel it's lying around waiting for me to finish it!

AntiDistinctlyMinty · 01/05/2015 07:19

I always did. Since I had DS2 though I give it three chapters; if it doesn't improve I give it up as a bad job. My reading time is too precious now to waste on bad novels!

Original poster
HellKitty · 01/05/2015 07:57

I need to be stronger! It has to be bad if you keep checking the % in the corner to see how much more you have to plough through.

OP posts:
MythicalKings · 01/05/2015 08:14

I used to make myself finish books, because it's what my father taught me (English teacher). Then when I hit 50 I decided life was too short.

HowlyBabblyBansheeeeeee · 01/05/2015 08:23

Until a couple of years ago I forced myself to always read to the bitter end. I finally realised that if I'm not gripped by the writing then it's a waste of my valuable time and I happily let it go.

Trills · 01/05/2015 08:26

I deliberately stopped reading a book the other day.

I enjoyed stopping very much!

Adarajames · 01/05/2015 08:35

There have only been a couple of books I've given up on, usually I'll finish them even if crap, but I do read ridiculously quickly so even a rubbish novel only takes a couple of hours to finish, if that. I've given up on more audio books that paper ones when it's not grabbed me / storyline too slow / really hated the narrator, somehow not finishes them doesn't bug me as much as not finishing a paper book

Sallystyle · 01/05/2015 16:49

I have a 100 page rule. If I am not enjoying it by then it goes away.

200 pages for books over 600 pages.

mumslife · 01/05/2015 17:32

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

tobee · 03/05/2015 01:29

I wonder why we feel the need to plough on? (Those that do) Is it left over from school? Is it books are some kind of intellectual symbol and if we don't finish we might panic that we are dim? But that doesn't make sense though for trashy books. Is it because we've paid? Like it's hard to walk out of a film? I remember hearing about a book called Rationality. One concept from it was it was actually ridiculous to carry on with something we're not enjoying because you're basically punishing yourself and you also lost money.

Original poster
HellKitty · 03/05/2015 07:36

I don't think it was from school, I think it's begrudging the 99p (or whatever) I paid on the kindle for it! I skipped to the end, found out the not very surprising 'twist' then read back a few pages to see how it fitted in. I can mentally tick it off as 'read' then Wink

OP posts:
tobee · 03/05/2015 10:53

Yeah but aren't you losing out twice or more times? The money, the lost time and the good humour you had? We don't tend to keep on eating food we don't like for example. I have to confess I don't often practice what I preach, btw!

Trills · 03/05/2015 10:53

Sunk cost fallacy :)

The 99p is gone whether you finish the book or not.

mammuzzamia · 03/05/2015 11:16

It used to be a 'thing' with me, when I was a child that I had to finish a book no matter how dreadful. Life's too short to waste on bad books I later, and sensibly, decided.

TodaysAGoodDay · 03/05/2015 21:14

I used to but don't anymore. If you read 1 book a week for your entire adult life (let's say 65 years as an adult, not counting the first 15 years before that ) that's only 3500 books you will read. This is also the reason I very, very rarely re-read a book, it's one less new book I'll read. So no, I wouldn't waste any time forcing myself to read one I hated, rather start another one that I enjoy.

BrianButterfield · 03/05/2015 21:19

God no. And I am an English teacher! I probably only finish 10% of the books I start. There are more books on this earth than you could ever read. Why waste time on ones you don't like?

tobee · 03/05/2015 21:30

Hey, Brian. Are you going to set up the Butterfield School of English? I'm sure it will be very successful.

abigamarone · 05/05/2015 13:03

I read the synopsis on wikipedia and decide if it's worth ploughing through, I'll sometimes just skip through bits.

NotCitrus · 05/05/2015 13:31

I start skim reading and getting faster and faster.
A really crap book will be done in about 5 minutes!

Some books are enjoyable fluff, others are just tedious. I'm never even going to read all the books I'd like to before I die, so I'm much fussier about dumping tedious ones now, even the classics.