Recently I read an article titled “When To Give Up On A Book.” I read it hoping it would, in fact, tell me when to give up on a book. This is always a problem for me. I slog my way through books I don’t like, forcing myself to read them each night just as I force myself to do sit ups, cook meals, floss.
I know. WTF, right? Why keep reading a book that isn’t working for me? Life is too short to do yucky stuff I don’t have to do. Intellectually, I know that. I believe it. And yet, when the time comes to give up on a book, I can smell it – the stench of failure. Julie Keller, the article’s author, asks why the prospect of not finishing a book fills her with shame, dread and self-loathing?
Exactly.
On page 147, I gave up on The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. I kept hoping the next paragraph would be better… the next page… the next chapter. But try as I might, and no matter how many glowing reviews I’d read (A LOT), I couldn’t get into it. When finally I decided to stop reading, I felt like I’d done the late author a disservice, like I’d treated him unfairly. I felt kind of terrible, and guilty. I put the book back on its shelf gently, apologetically, feeling both defeated… and enormously relieved. (I turned to The Yiddish Policemen’s Union for redemption.)
A friend on Twitter suggested the standard formula for giving up on a book: 100 minus your age equals the number of pages you must read. I like that. I enthusiastically shared that formula with The Boy, and he said, “It kind of sucks to be me.” I said, “Yes. It does. For once, it’s good to be old.”
What do you think? Do you give up on books? Do you keep reading even after it stops being enjoyable? What’s the earliest you ever gave up on a book, or have you never actually done it?
Wild
I’ve given up on books, the most recent was one my son picked out for me from a book fair. He kept asking me how I liked it and I had to fib. It was about Vampires, a love story kind of thing. I didn’t really like it that much. I kept reading it because my son went through the trouble to pick it out for me. He shared his book fair allowance on something for his mom. Yeah, giving up that book caused some guilt. It’s hiding in my closet. I got through at least 300 pages or so, long book. Maybe I’ll pick it up again over the summer. Maybe I’ll like more too.
There have been some here and there that I closed up early. No guilt. It’s my time and my enjoyment or lack there of. Most recently, I read Howie Mandel’s book, Don’t Touch Me. I hated it. I didn’t like the way it was written and I didn’t really like Howie. Despite the fact I felt bad about his OCD issue, he really came off as jerk to me. I finished it, begrudgingly. I wish I had given up on it early. Sorry Howie.
I’ve had similar experiences with all the Dan Browns, Wicked, Sophie’s World, anything by Thomas Hardy and his ilk, and a number of others.
I figure the time to stop reading a book is when I start actively looking up flights to the author’s place of living in order that I can remonstrate with him/her. It is never worth feeling that cross/despairing over a book. I have far too many good ones (I hope) yet to read to worry about feeling shame and self-loathing for not finishing something that is ultimately disappointing or infuriating (yes, some books make me cross).
Apart from not finishing something because it’s some form of bad, sometimes you can’t finish a book because you aren’t ready. Because you can’t read it yet. You can’t understand it.
I know, you’re speaking specifically about books you may not enjoy. But that can change. It won’t mean they’re technically better than they were on first reading but you might find yourself more able to read them at some other point. So, if you’re feeling bad about it, give yourself a break by saying you may just be giving up on it for now.
Joanne, Was it Twilight? ;-) It’s sweet that you’ve gotten as far as you have because your son picked the book. And sweet that he picked a book for you. There. A bright side!
Jose, I love the word cross. Some books make me cross too… but I instinctively side with the author against myself. Writer empathy.
Wordsedge, That’s true. I had that happen with The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. I couldn’t tackle it the first time I picked it up, but the second time it was life altering. (And the “just giving up on it for now” would feel much less shameful! Thank you.)
I have this weird logic (surprise), that once I “start” a book – I really need to finish it. Now my definition of “start” is not the first page – no it is some indefinable part in the beginning of the book (differs for all books), that marks a point of no return for me. So 4, 25 or even 50 pages in – I might not have really “started” the book and so can give up on it, but if I pass that point, I feel like I’ve internally decided: “I will read this entire book” and if it turns out I was wrong – I suck it up and finish (one book as a teenager literally took me 3 yrs to finish – but I did). I have no idea why I’m like this, I don’t know what we feel we owe the authors of books that we don’t particularly like, but that’s the way it is. Maybe we are just optimistic – like you mentioned – that the next paragraph will be better and if we quit now, we will miss it. I don’t know, but I could free up quite a bit of my precious free time if I could figure out how to stop reading what’s not worth reading. Any ideas – please pass them on! :o) thanks J for another “thinking” post!! <3
I used to never give up on books even if it was awful. I couldn’t do it! Like you said, I felt so guilty. But now I know there are so many wonderful books out there, why waste my energy plodding through a book I don’t like? My limit is one hundred pages. I’m a fast reader so it doesn’t take long. It’s a fair chance for the author. Though if it takes 100 pages for a book to get good, I always wonder how that editor or agent even had a job…
There are simply too many fantastic books out there to muddle through one that you do not enjoy. Abandon with glee and without guilt. I think it’s okay to abandon a book at page 2, 22, or 222. And so does my husband, who is a librarian. (Throwing the book across the room also helps purge one’s feelings).
Happy reading!
I used to have an OCD that whenever I picked up a book, I had to finish it. I could have been eight years old, but if I opened a book on “Sleeping Your Way to the Top” I had to finish it.
Then something happened. About two years ago, I did something outside my comfort zone; I stopped reading a book. The first book I’d ever aborted was Eat, Pray, Love. I got to about page 20 (also the earliest I’ve aborted, most I give longer to hook me). Since then I’ve swung the other way, entirely. I’ve tasted the blood of book-abandonment and I can’t go back.
Now I can’t find any I want to commit to. I think I’ve finished three books in two years. I’ve abandoned about forty. The longest of those forty was I got to page 300 or so and gave it up.
I’m ruthless and I hate it. I want to return to my old OCD. Help me.
My passion is a good book. Not a single day goes by that I do not read and it is how I put myself to sleep. Yes, I have abandoned a book or two. Sometimes a reader just doesn’t click with an author. I love to be transported, and if I find myself going blah, blah, blah or having to reread paragraph after paragraph that does not transport me it irritates me. So just grab another great book open it and be transported. You honestly know when a book is not working for you.
I read every book until the bitter end based on the thought that I can learn something from every book I read. Even if that something is only that I can write better than the author can.
Caroline, Actually, I think it’s weirder that I needed some sort of external formula to make the same determination you’re making on your own! (You’re more normal than I am. Don’t even try to compete.)
Laura M, I am a painfully slow reader. So we’re doing the same thing, only I get to stop sooner than 100 pages now! Woo-hoo!
Ironicmom, It was a librarian who posted that formula too. I guess when you work in a library you are faced with the constant reality of how many good books there are to read!
Laura H, Yes, I do. But I have had books kick in later and then been very glad I stuck with them. Something between giving up on page 3 and waiting until page 147 is the answer, I think!
Swampy, Well, coming away with that certainty is probably worth the trouble!
I’m afraid that I’m rather cruel when it comes to not liking a book. I don’t take the author’s feelings into account at all. I’ve never heard of an author with the kind of ESP that lets them know someone has stopped reading one of their books, so I figure they won’t come after me. ;-P As soon as I know I don’t like the story or the writing, I’m done. Not to say that I won’t go back years later to see if my opinion has changed, because our tastes do change.
I gave up on lots of books during high school, probably cause I was told to read it and not picked it out by myself.
One of the most terrible reads would have to be anything from Franz Kafka. Had to read some of his writing for international reading in my Hungarian classes, but could never finish even though I tried very hard.
I’m known to read something to the end even if it’s terrible writing but I like the plot, that’s where I try to rewrite it in my head :P Good exercise at least.
Time to give up on a book? Hmmm… probaby around the first pages (up to 20-30 for example). I’m pretty picky so if I don’t even like the plot or anything I just won’t read the rest 300 pages of it, I don’t like to waste time on/with anything in general, so I give up on that book cause I could be reading something actually good.
Judy, I’m not sure if it was Twilight or not, just looked for it and I must have hidden it too well. Nowhere to be found. Guess what I did find? Left here from a friend who lived with us for a short time, The Blind Side! Now that’s a good one right? Excited.
Yeah ironicmom! What she said.
A long time ago I used to read until the bitter end. Now, I don’t like to keep reading something I am not enjoying because there are so many others.
The first one really is the most difficult. I didn’t read anything else because I was determined to get through that book. I had never NOT finished a book. “What was I becoming? A girl who couldn’t finish what she started? Oh no!”
Where I acquired the feeling that I HAD to finish every book I start I dont’ know. But now I can pick up a book and put it down and never even THINK of it again. Ahhhh.
Oh, Dani, you are very silly to assume that my guilt is at all realistic or based on logic! ;-)
Estrella, I think it’s not really about if the book is good or not, just whether or not it works for you. (If you adopt the suggested formula, you’d still have to read a whole bunch of pages, youngin’!)
Joanne, You’ll have to report back on The Blind Side.
Terre, Good for you. It certainly makes more sense to stop when it isn’t enjoyable.
Just so you know — I heard The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo really starts rocking on page 420.
Anyway — yes, I’ve given up on two books recently. I’m not going to reveal them because I could get into some serious trouble if word got out. My plan is to come back to them with a new attitude. I think I owe that much to the writers. I’m pretty sure y’all (writers) prefer we read and experience the story with you rather than just giving our money at the store (of course, I’m sure that’s a plus).
So, yes — I quit books. I feel guily mainly because I don’t like giving up. That’s why I always include a “will return later” clause! But it can get embarrassing when I’m still telling people I’m reading the same book 6 months later!
I’m giving up on this comment — “will return later” ;-)
I loved “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”!! :)
It is a rare event for me to give up on a book – I can remember doing it only once.
I did, though, sometimes stop reading a book, only to come back later to it with a different attitude, like bsain said. :)
Becky has a great point with returning to the book with a new attitude ~ but I find plot inconsistencies get me to stop reading although sometimes my mind takes me on to a whole different tangent if there is a mistake of somekind in the text. I hope you give the Girl with The Dragon Tattoo another go [and the two other titles that make up the Millennium trilogy] especially as I’ve heard those dreaded words regarding the film; “Hollywood remake” noooooooooooooooooo
Becky, Yes. I like wordsedge’s suggestion that I think of it as giving up on the book “for now.”
Paolo, Well, you are not alone. I thought it needed editing. Way, way too much detail for me. Like the hardware, software, storage capability, operating system, screen size, etc. of every character’s computer, for instance… I know. I am alone on this. Still love me?
Simon, Did you read them? Did you like them? I actually think The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo would work well as a movie. It would eliminate the detailed passages that I found it so hard to get through and focus on the mystery instead.
You felt guilty? You felt terrible? You felt like you had done the author a disservice? You felt defeated? — Sheeesh, I would think that odd and a bit lacking in self worth but since I read over the weekend that you act how you want to feel I guess I can’t say much!
OK, I was saying that with a wry smile and good heart (very good and welcoming heart) but come on, buckle up buttercup! At least figure out that if some author put together a bad read its not incumbant on you to make them feel good by trudging thru it till your eyes bleed!
Do you listen to every song on the radio you dont like? Do you watch every tv program that comes on you dont care for? Do you…. oh heck, you get the idea!
psssssttt….you know you can skip over the “too much detail” parts?
That is what I do. Don’t tell.
Bobby, Well, good. I’d hate to have you out there making judgments about my self-worth.
Hippiechick, Well that was more problematic in this case because it’s a mystery, so it’s hard to know what’s important as you read. But there were times after reading through tons of details, the author would discount their importance himself. AFTER I read it all. (But thank you for the advice. I won’t tell.) ;-)
never ever never never!
J-on my frequency-ster,
Ha! I gave up on Dragon Tattoo on almost the same exact page!
How about your age plus 20 for pages? Why should a ten year old have to read 90 before giving up?
Okay, for me if the editing is terrible I am so outta there. Mainly because it pisses me off that something shoddy made it though the process to get on a bookshelf when I know so many folks who SO deserve it more.
Otherwise, not making me care about the story or the characters does me in.
Cool post!
George
Depending on the content, since most of the books I read are non-fiction, I take the Mrs. Taggart tactic to the book…..
I redline it….
It gives me a bit of power, where I feel like the book/author took my time and subjected me to their attempt at greatness (or whatever), I take all of that back and grade the book. I have redlined sentences, paragraphs, and whole sections, making my comments, “X”‘ing out information, and feeling very good while I do that. I suppose I could do that with fiction books, but I’ve only done that on my own works :-)
hmm, 100 minus your age… how about 100 minus “how old you feel when you are reading”? The more you read, you feel life ebbing away, the quicker you realize you need to get your life back…
Judy, I have to say that the book was kind of painful for me to read as well … at first. Normally I know within the first 25 pages or so, and some books I have tossed aside after about 5 pages …
Those books were guilty of being “oh this same ole tired story again?”
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo was like two different books. The first 3rd was a snorer. For some reason I kept going but I changed my approach. I skimmed through all the BS turning pages rather quickly. Then it turned into a completely different book when the scenery changed to the main character’s getting hired to dig into an old family friend’s family. The book got better and better from then on, and had a great finish btw. I was glad I flew thru the terrible first third of it. -J
George, Rumor has it (read Jeramy) that we gave up too soon. I might have to give it another try. (Wanna form a book club of two?)
TPM, that’s funny that you mark books up editorially. I read much more fiction than nonfiction. I wonder if I’d find it easier to quit a nonfiction book… (I like your formula, which takes into account time slipping away as you slog!)
Jeramy, Okay. I might give that last (more than) half a try. I did get to the part where he’s digging into things, but so much background on each person he reads about before they’re even part of the story… gah! But I’ll trust you it’s about to pick up. (You’re so influential!)
Judy, you quit right at the moment the book takes off. Why the author took so long with the painful background stuff we’ll never know, except that this was his first book. Did you know that the author turned 3 manuscripts into his publisher at the same time? They are referred to as the Millenium Trilogy. At least two were hits and the movie rights were sold, but Stieg Larsson never knew. He died of a heart attack shortly after he gave the manuscripts to his publisher. To make matters worse, he died without a will … now his girlfriend and his family are fighting over his money.
Sorry but I find it kind of fascinating. At least for about 5 minutes.
Read on … The last half rocks!! -J
I think it’s fascinating too. And I did know all that. “The last half rocks” was the one piece of information I was missing. (What would I do without you!) ;-)
I recently felt guilty for struggling to get into a book considered both ‘seminal’ and a ‘masterpiece’. I gave up after 30 pages. I felt like a failure, the one who didn’t get it. I probably would have soldiered on, refusing to be a quitter, had pragmatics stepped in. The book was on loan from a library. I’d taken two out and had 3 weeks to read both. The small window forced my hand. I picked up the other (by the same author) and was immediately swept away with the story. I intend to go back to the original though ;-)
You mention feeling as though you did the author a disservice. I think maybe we bcome attached or feel as though we’ve rejected the book and therefore the author – and rejection sucks whether your the rejector or the rejectee. Maybe it’s because we read to connect and rejection causes disonance – rejection’s not part of the deal. It’s a little disconcerting…can you tell I’m a psychologist? :-)
I hope The Yiddish Policemen’s Union is unfolding intriguingly or satisfyingly at least.
This is an interesting topic because sometimes I through the book aside and sometimes I read the dribble complaining the whole time “this is the worst book ever.” There is reasoning behind my continuing to read “the worst book ever.” I think that it will somehow help me see into the minds of the masses and why the heck they are reading this. Usually when I think a book is really bad it is made into a movie a year later. Ugh.
I played yesterday, but I disappeared. Check your spam. I hate it when I’m spammed. I feel so cheap.
Tricia, How could that have happened? I hate you being spammed too! And I almost missed this wonderful line: “I’ve tasted the blood of book-abandonment and I can’t go back.” Somewhere between that and my tortured book reading soul lies a healthy literary consumer. Let’s mine meld!
Alex, yes, I agree, and as a writer, I know the sting of rejection. So, maybe I’m projecting. (That was my little psychological nod to you! How’d I do?) I finished Yiddish and loved it. And Jeramy has convinced me to revisit Dragon, too. Right after the 7 books on my nightstand waiting for their shot at holding my interest!
Rose, Ha! But at least with a movie you’re only there for 2 hours. Books take so much longer! I chose Dragon for exactly that reason. Everyone loved it. Reading it, I kept thinking, how could this much detail not bother anyone?!
If you don’t have me at ‘hello’…. :)
I kid.
I hardly go by others’ reviews unless it is a reviewer I am extremely trusting of and fond of.
Usually I drag myself to the end.
If I have been dragging myself to half-way I will finish it…one day…soon.
If I don’t make it to half-way after 3 attempts…there is a different reader for you, writer.
I give a book the first 100 pages. If it doesn’t have me by then, it’s not going to.
Anna Karenina – got to about page 400 and something. When I have to write a novel about each person just to keep the surname changes straight then it’s grounds for dismissal. Those crazy Russians!
Independent People – again read about 300+ pages and yet I still did not have any idea what it was about or where the plot was going, called it a day.
Olive Kitteridge – I read this to the end, but enjoyed none of this book. I realized two things with my ADD – I dislike short stories, and I especially dislike short stories where events have no relationship to each over – or are without a clear twist like Twist of the Tail by Jeffery Archer. I know many will disagree with me on this one.
I always read the last page and often the last chapter first so technically I always finish the book before I start.
So that maybe my loophole for this clever question Judy?
Mairi
a.q.s., I think you might get to give up sooner using the formula 100 – your age! Yay?
Amy, That seems more than fair (says someone who hopes to grab you well before page 100).
Mairi, I’m pretty sure Harry tells Sally the same thing. That he reads the last sentence first in case he dies before finishing. ;-) (I struggled big time through Anna Karenina!)