What makes you give up on a book?

[SoSaidTheSwan]

If you DNF books, what type of things make you give up on them?

I'm reading, or was reading, The Dumb House by John Burnside. I've waited years to get a copy but I just can't finish it. I knew that it was going to be dark and disturbing but it's even more so than I anticipated. I think as I'm getting older, I'm becoming more sensitive and struggling to read details of graphic cruelty, especially to women and children, in fiction. Animal cruelty is a definite no.

I'm also starting to give myself permission to give up on a book when I'm not enjoying it though I used to try to force myself to finish.

What things make you stop reading a book?

Using 28 billion words when far fewer would do - you know the author is boosting the word count with filler.

Too many niche words or phrases.

Bad spelling & grammar, sadly getting common these days.

Writing in accents when the author clearly doesn't speak with that accent or knows anyone who does. I read one where the Chief of Police in Yorkshire spoke like a Last Of The Summer Wine extra:

'Appen as 'ow we'll catch t'culprit Barney. Tha mind me well, lad.

I never used to give up on a book but as I get older and since I have had some issues I find I lose concentration and interest a whole lot quicker now, so I will just stop reading if I’m not enjoying it.
In fact I am really struggling to find anything that holds my interest. I used to read several books a week.

Usually it's things related to bad writing. Characters behaving implausibly, plot holes, poor punctuation, stuff like that. I can't get lost in a story if I keep noticing things like that, and I need to feel the author really knows what they're doing so I'm not wasting my time.

But I also find that as I get older, I'm less able to deal with the content you describe. I usually read some spoiler-free reviews first, and if there's child abuse or cruelty to animals I don't buy the book. Two scenes in particular stayed with me in a bad way, one in The Dark and one in Doctor Sleep. I'm a huge King fan but I'll never read that one again, and I won't watch the film either.

@IllDoItButOnlyForTheAttention - I know the scene you mean in Doctor Sleep. I've seen the film too and it's very, very disturbing.

A lot of books are overhyped these days and when you actually start reading them they're not that great. Like @Crocky I'm too old for that shit now

If the plot is too slow. If the author uses too many characters in the story (Yes you Jilly Cooper)
Can't keep track of who is who and no I don't want you to list a dialogue of names and who they are to who at the front.. It makes it hard work to read the story

Lots and lots of tell and never getting to any show. I don’t mind a well-told bit of exposition at the beginning but then I want to get into the meat of the story with some scenes. I just read a Stella Newman rom-com and it never felt like it truly began because the entire thing was the heroine narrating stuff without ever zooming in to it happening in real time.

I stop reading if I lose interest. Why I lose interest varies, sometimes life gets in the way and I can't focus, but other times, it genuinely is just because I realise I don't give a stuff about any of the characters. Sometimes I go back and try again and it works, other times it doesn't. Some writers I just cannot gel with their writing style. Whatever the reason, I often try a couple of times but then it's off to the charity shop or a book swap with it.

I gave up on a Kate Mosse recently because I just couldn’t concentrate on it - I read the same chapters three or four times & my attention kept drifting off.

If the author describes someone being a messy eater or talks too much about gender, that’s instant charity shop pile.

Reading should not be a chore so anything that makes it seem like that. Dull, too slow, style doesn't appeal, no interest in the characters or what happens to them...

I started a couple lately that had been highly recommended but a child's death was at the centre of them and I just couldn't go there. Less tolerance for things like that . I switched to a light hearted one or crime drama that's really more of a thriller

I'm also starting to give myself permission to give up on a book when I'm not enjoying it though I used to try to force myself to finish.

Absolutely this! I'm late 50s and have always read huge amounts. I used to be unable to just abandon a book - I kept thinking I'd keep on ploughing through in case it got better, or just to find out what happened.

I suspect it's a case of having little free time to read/spend on myself and getting older. I've now found in the last two or three years that if I've read for an hour or so and I'm roughly a third of the way through and bored/not really interested in it that I can just put it down and think "Life is too short".

It's quite freeing to be able to abandon something you're not enjoying. Reading shouldn't be a chore.

Cross post with @SoupDragon Clearly both agree that reading shouldn't be a chore!

Unrealistic sex scenes, unnecessary sex scenes, too much description (Stephen king), projectile vomiting (Twilight Saga).

Sex
romance
biographies and autobiographies
books similar to Katie Price books (ones she openly admits she doesn’t write)
non-fiction
motivational books

i like what I like and refuse to join the masses (eg Harry Potter) and any other books that are hyped up

Stephen king writes sex terribly, which he’d just stop

I have poor eye sight so listen to Audiobooks.

The readers voice can put me off in seconds.

If a book is okay and I haven't got a next book in my list as yet then I'd probably stick with it - if I had a few books lined up then I'd just skip an 'okay' book.

If its one of a series and I've liked the other books I'll usually stick with it.

If I have got to the end of the first chapter and there are more people then I can keep track off. I write them down most of the time. But even then. Sometimes I just can’t.

I don’t like fantasy books as there is always a new world to learn about and I just can’t get my head around it all.

I once read a book where someone spent two pages describing a house that they were only for ten mins. I don’t long long descriptions of things. Yes. It’s a pretty house. But I don’t need two pages of it unrelevent backstory when it means nothing.

i stopped reading a book when the author did a huge paragraph about some women s breast in the first few pages. Never went back and got the rest of there books either. I have seen boobs. I don’t need them described to me or how they jiggle thanks. Bad writing.

I also hate it when books tell u the story from seven different people. Just no.

@Amid i listen as well. Who decides that a narrator is good. Because damm they are not.
boring and one tone. Have not listened to and not got entire series because of awful narrators.

That bit of Doctor Sleep still haunts me

I struggle with too much description

”she slowly lifted her left hand to bring a takeaway cup of dairy free latte to her lips and sipped the scorching liquid”

when “she sipped her coffee” would do

Really tempted to Google what the horrific scene in "Doctor Sleep" is. Is it be worse than that scene in "The Road"?

Not sure where the rogue "be" came from.

I've only seen the film of The Road. If you mean the one where they enter a house and find a room full of people in a particular predicament, yes, it's horrible, but for me, the one in Doctor Sleep is worse. Something about the way it's written.

The Road was a gruelling watch, and I can imagine the book is even more so, as you have your own imagination backing up the words.

Too many words. I'm looking at you Stephen King😀 His later books could be cut in half and still tell the story.
I struggle with too many characters trying to place them all and how they relate to each other I usually try and persevere if it's written well.