Ever feel guilty if you can't finish a book

[Chocolatefrenzy]

I'm reading 'The song of Achilles' by Madeline Miller. It's a book club choice, I'm half way through and really not enjoying it.Feels like homework. I hate giving up on books but wish I was reading something I couldn't put down etc.
So my question is, Do you always try and plough through to the end or do you tend to give up on books if they don't float your boat.

I often give up on book club books - life is too short to waste on a boring book. The latest book I gave up on was The Ten Thousand Doors of January. I can still contribute to the discussion when we meet and talk about why I didn't like it.

I can dither for months over a book that doesn’t grab me, especially if it’s highly recommended. Shuggie Bain, I’m looking at you.
It’s annoying because some of the best books I’ve read have come together after 200 pages, and been blinding, but it’s a drag getting there and I do give up, often. I love a page turner.

Wish I'd given up on Piranesi - I struggled on thinking it would make sense in the end. Did it feck.

Yes, I feel guilty if I give up on a book. It doesn't happen often but I do feel a failure when giving up as ridiculous as I know it is

I used to! Then I forced myself to read one that just never improved and I was annoyed at all the time I'd given to this god awful character. Now if I'm a quarter through and hating it, then i donate the book.

Me! I'm currently labouring through the mercifully short 'O Caledonia' which is allegedly the greatest undiscovered novel of all time. I'm beginning to realise why it's undiscovered.

I never used to give up on books, but I do now occasionally. This week I abandoned My Phantoms by Gwendoline Riley. Has anyone here read it?

I learnt a while ago to just not finish books I'm not enjoying. So liberating! I've given up on two this week and not one once of guilt felt).

I usually skim to the end.

No. Once upon a time I might have, but now I'm experienced enough to know that I'm very competent at finishing books, therefore if I'm struggling to finish a book after making a really good attempt to get into it I'm not to blame, either the book and I are incompatible or the book is unfinishable.

My last failure was "Gone Girl". I got about two thirds of the way through and thought, "I don't like any of these people and I don't care what happens to them," and stopped reading.

I felt the same about the characters in The Secret of Lost Things. Add to that a writing style that I just couldn't engage with and I made it about half way through before saying "nah".

A word of caution though. I struggled with Wolf Hall initially. Gave up after a few chapters. Went back to it a while later and it all just 'clicked' and it was glorious, with Bring up the Bodies a total triumph (I've not yet read The Mirror and the Light so it all may fall apart yet!).

Sometime it might just be right book, wrong time. Only you can judge that for yourself.

I used to, then I realised that these days I read for enjoyment. Now I don't.

We have a rule in book club that you don’t have to finish a book you’re not enjoying it. Generally I’ve found that many others didn’t read it all either. We just speak about other stuff we’ve read.

I have this with the book this month. I'm probably not going to finish it but it's a collection of short stories so I'll just not engage in the ones I haven't read. Usually id say finish it. Because it might get better. And I do a book club to expand my choices. Plus I'd be annoyed if someone didn't finish my choice especially if I enjoyed it / had a lot to say.

Always. Usually I will skim so I can feel not as guilty.

I happened to enjoy that book but i do not continue with books i don't enjoy. Life is short and the list of books i want to read is long! I feel bad about the wasted money, but i see it like buying a pastry that turned out to be too sweet, it's not the shops fault i chose something i didn't then like. So i shrug it out, put it in the charity bag and move on. I tried a book club once and stopped for this very reason.

Not in the slightest. I give a book a couple of chapters and if it's not keeping my attention I give up. Reading is for enjoyment, it shouldn't feel like hard work.

I have eddiemairswife. I didn’t like it at all, found the daughter’s cruelty and total lack of forgiveness of her mother quite disturbing and wished I’d given up rather than ploughing through it.

I used to try and plough through to the end of books, but I’ve given up on that now.

I read books for enjoyment. Life’s too short for reading books if I’m not getting anything out of them. It certainly shouldn’t feel like homework!

If you’re halfway through and still not enjoying it, then it’s not likely to get any better for you.

Used to, nut no anymore. I think I felt obliged to the author to complete the book, but no life’s too short.

Nope. Life is too short. I come from a very academically snobbish family where failure to finish any reading is regarded as evidence of intellectual weakness. It’s taken me until my 40s to detox my thinking and now if I don’t like a book, I joyfully trip along to a charity shop with it or take it back to the library and am much happier for it. Why would you fill you precious time and headspace with something you don’t care about or enjoy?

Totally agree that life is far too short to read a book you're not enjoying. Just wasting time that could be spent reading something you'll love

I gave up on Grapes of wrath years ago. Never went back, just couldn't get into it.

Sometimes if it's tedious I'll read bits further on to see if it picks up usually it doesn't.

Oh I enjoyed Song of Achilles. I’ve given up on other books though - one year I did the 52 book challenge which really helped, I just didn’t have time to devote to ploughing through boring books and didn’t feel bad about. I gave up on The House in the Cerulean Sea. I almost gave up on A Little Life but I wanted to be able to say it was absolute rubbish with the full picture.