Do you stick with books you don’t enjoy?

[Namechanger67]

I always feel very guilty to abandon a book I am not enjoying so what normally happens is that I keep it in standby and feel unable to start a new one. Then I fall out of the habit and takes me months to start reading again. Obv not a good approach but I wonder how many people persevere or abandon books they don’t like. Do you then give them away or keep them in your collection?

I used to doggedly continue once I'd started a book but for the past ten years or so I have decided life is too short. If after two chapters I'm uninterested still I ditch it and move on.

It depends how long it is tbh. I have several books I have half read waiting for me to pick them up again, but usually it's from lack of time I stop. However I recently tried Josephine Tey after seeing on here she was meant to be similar to Agatha Christie. I started with The Franchise Affair which I found hugely conservative, with child abuse where the victim was blamed and the man testified in court against her! I had bought 3 books at the same time of hers as there was an offer on and thankfully the first didn't put me off because the second one I read was Brat Farrar, which was so much better and a completely different vibe. I really enjoyed it and was glad I didn't write her off after one book. About to start the last, Daughter of Time and hoping it is like the last.

As above. I used to until I realised that it made no difference to anyone else but made a huge difference to me. I love reading and when it becomes a chore then I would do everything to avoid finishing that chore.
If something isn't working for me - I'm ok with that even if i 'should ' enjoy it (looking at you Wolf Hall etc).
If it was an album of music you weren't enjoying would you devote 25hours plus listening to it 'just to make sure'?
One life and as I get older I don't want to regret anymore time wasted that I can prevent.

Oh and I give them away - but I also give away books I have read. I keep some but I try to be careful of keeping things for things sake.

I read for enjoyment so if I am not enjoying the book I will stop and go to a different one.

Depends.

The one I’m currently reading is getting a bit boring but there are only 6 chapters left so I’ll finish it.

I stopped reading the Cazalet Chronicles halfway through the second or third book, not sure which, because there were so many descriptions of messy eaters in there that I was starting to feel sick.

Interestingly I used to feel some moral imperative to finish any book I started.

I now give myself permission to stop if I am not enjoying it.

There is a slight difference-some feel a bit of a slog at points but I can persevere (Anna Karenina sagged a bit in the middle-bogged down in heavy political issues but worth it) others are just not worth my time and I feel happy to never look at them again.

There is a current thread on this same topic. The consensus seems to be that it's fine to abandon.
It's a skill that comes with age.

I get the majority of my books from the library or charity shops so have no problem with not finishing them if I’m not enjoying them. I have persevered with some dreadful (IMO) book club books in the past, but now feel ok saying I didn’t finish one and give the reasons why, which contributes to the discussion.

OP, what are you feeling guilty about? That you’ve spent money on the book, that you feel obliged to the author, that you feel you should be enjoying a popular book, or something else?

Don't feel guilty OP, you're probably not missing out. I've read a lot of books for book groups that I knew early on that I wasn't enjoying. I never got into them.

I didn't gain any new perspectives or insights I couldn't have got from reading a summary online!

I couldn't get into Wolf Hall either - loved the TV show but the book just never quite hooked me.

I give a book fifty pages. If I'm not enjoying it after that I give up and read something else. There are so many great books in the world, why waste my time reading something I don't like?

Yes, but as I possibly said on that thread, if you’re abandoning books regularly, it’s a sign you’re not choosing them carefully enough.

I do but sometimes I go back to them. Wolf Hall I actually stopped reading two or three times then came back and for some reason clicked with it, sped through all three one after the other, and absolutely loved them.
I will never go back to A Little Life though, that was awful.
Some books, mostly genre, if I'm not engaged I just skip through to the end rather than abandon. Just did that with How to Lose a Lord in Ten Days.

If I decide not to finish a book, I drop it at the local book exchange next time I’m passing & that robs me of any feelings of guilt.

Maybe it’s not the best reason for persevering, but the books cost pays some part in the decision. Something I’ve bought for a pound on kindle that’s just not doing it, I’m not bothered, but when I’ve forked out £20 for a new hardback, I’m more likely to keep going, even if it’s not doing it. Having that with Dan Browns latest, it’s not dreadful, but it’s not exactly riveting, bu5 as I asked for it specifically as a Christmas present, I’ll keep going

This is me now too. My father utilises 'The 40 page test'. If he's not into it by 40 pages, it's out.

When I was at school we had to write a short review about every book we read. If we abandoned it, we had to write a whole page. That instilled in me the habit of ploughing on and it was a long time before I felt comfortable giving up on a book.

There are certainly books I'm really pleased that I persevered with, and that I enjoyed even after a slow start. These days I'm much more relaxed about giving up. Good Reads helps, if I'm hating something I have a look at the one and two star reviews, and if they back up my feelings about a book that confirms my decision not to waste any more time.

I used to force myself to read books I disliked until the bitter end, but I’ve stopped doing that now. Life’s too short to force myself to finish reading a book just for the sake of finishing it.

I’m reading for enjoyment, so if I’m not getting anything out of a book, I feel no guilt at all about abandoning it partway through and moving onto something more interesting.

As for keeping books, as a general rule, I’m only going to keep them if I think I’m likely to read or reread them in the future.
There’s simply not enough space in my home for me to keep every book I read, and I’m not going to waste the available space on a book that I didn’t like and won’t pick up again.

I honestly can’t be bothered trundling through a book I’m not enjoying. If it’s considered to be a great work of literature, I do wonder if I’m a bit dim and missing something and might persevere for a while😅 But if it’s just a bog standard novel, then I stop without a moment’s thought. Occasionally I have a look at reviews to see if people are saying it picks up later on, but mostly I don’t care. We can’t like everything. And some books are simply the Emperor’s New Clothes to me. Just like works of art I don’t get. Or some worthy, cryptic TV shows.

If it is awful I cheat, and just skim enough to know how the plot resolves. Then it is finished and I can move on without feeling guilty about not giving the book a chance.

I have a 3 chapter rule, so if I'm not into a book by the end of the third chapter I ditch it.

I've just done this with a library book - duller than dull and too many characters.

No. Life's too short to read books you don't enjoy, especially since there are so many good ones!

No. I used to but I don’t waste my time anymore.

Just this week I got 65% through a novel and a non binary character was introduced. I immediately stopped reading because it’s so tedious to try to pick though the jumble of pronouns to try to figure out who is doing what.

I actively avoid books with non binary characters for this reason but I didn’t know there was one in this one. It’s a hard stop for me.

@Namechanger67why do you feel guilty? Who is being affected by you not finishing a book? You’ve bought the book so not the author/publisher. The only person being adversely affected is you so why continue? Life is short and reading is a joy so just stop reading books if you don’t enjoy them and start a new one!