Do you always finish a book once you've started it?

[Mumwhensdinnerready]

As a child it was a rule at our house that you had to finish a book no matter what. This stood me in good stead when I had to read books for English Lit that were not of my choice. It was a rule I followed unquestioningly until I was in my 20s.
I can't remember what triggered this but I decided that reading was for pleasure and entertainment and why should I make myself finish a book I didn't enjoy?
I usually allow 2 or 3 chapters and if I'm not eager to pick the book up again I move on to the next one.

Because I always fall for pretentious bollocks and feel I should keep going and will eventually get it......I never do!! Dickens is a prime example - he just goes on, includes too many charaters and is a miserable fecker.

i speak from experience of having stuck with a dross book just in case it improved.it didnt

Great Expectations Scottishmummy?

I never finish a book if I don't want to. Some books I've started several times. Some I will never try again.

LOL the book or a clever pun?both in my case

Clever pun - it's all I have!! My SIL keeps buying me Charles Dickens and my workmates dispair of me. Love Christopher Brookmyre though - I get him!!

These days I have a fair idea of what I should avoid, don't even touch chic lit for example

so I do generally finish the books I start even if a few years down the line in some cases

I am also quite loyal/ obsessed / 'completist' mad regarding some author and will struggle through their lesser offerings just because

Undervalued - LOL at Dickens being a miserable fecker. DH and I said that all the way through Little Dorritt on the telly - don't know why we watched. Could never face the books.

Let me know how the Blind Assassin ends - maybe I should have tried a bit harder.

Er...you might have to wait Niecie.... just for you I will attempt to read it on my flight to NY next month
I love some chick lit, it entertains me - especially Jane Austen - supurb chick lit.

NY - cool.

Business or pleasure?

Don't ruin the flight with that book though! You want something absorbing for a long flight. Although I suppose it might help you sleep if you have an overnight flight.

Both really - a school trip. I can't sleep on a plane, too busy gripping the chair and repeating Hail Mary's - I'm not even catholic!! I need a good book for the flight, any suggestions?

Don't say Charles Dickens...

School trip? You mean you are going with children? What about the shopping!!?

What kind of books do you like? Obviously high-brow chick lit (Jane Austin) but what about your average 3 for 2 paperbacks from Waterstones type low brow chick lit?

Dickens wrote to entertain people 150 years ago when people didn't have TV and mumsent and the like. I bet he didn't imagine we'd still be reading his books now. The middle classes had hours free in those days to spend reading about people like them living in the Victorian age. I totally loved Tale of Two Cities, Nicholas Nickleby and also David Copperfield. I remember thinking those BBC adaptations they used to put on on a Sunday afternoon were soooo boring when I was a child!

Lol at Jane Austin being high-brow chic lit. That is so right!

I've just been into Waterstones in town and I totally despair at the 3 for 2s on offer. A load of the same old, same old dross such as Ken Follet and friends. Boring!

Becky- I just finished Nights at the Circus! I thought I'd hate it, but I didn't at all- was great fun, with fabulous characters... but yes, rather odd!

For me- Dune and Captain Corelli's- both utterly dire, and I usually do finish what I start.

Always always always. I NEVER abandon a book until the very end. I think it is because I read so quickly. When I was a child my mother bought me a book a week, but I had to prove I had finished the previous week's before I could start the new one.
If something doesn't appeal to me the first time, I have been known to read it again, just to check.