Because I'm reading a book and I don't think I like it.

[threeplusfire]

These are the sort of things that bring me to a screeching halt on a Saturday night. I'm reading a book and I don't think I really like it. I don't know if it is the translation, the subject, the style or just me. I hate to stop reading something once I've started. I've only quite a handful of books. So I'm conflicted on whether I devote more time to trying to like it, or if I give up and find something else to read that I'll enjoy more. So the only good thing to do was to make a poll.

[Poll #1641537]

Comments

[lillian13.livejournal.com]

Hey, stop reading boring books and come harass me at the Austin Celtic Festival! More fun! More music! :-D

[awdrey-gore.livejournal.com]

Here's my comment at length:

I almost never stop reading a book once I've started it. It is a weird personality quirk but I simply have to finish a book once I've started it. I may read it in small spurts, I may skip small bits if it's completely over my head (a recent book about how archeology proves alien beings shaped the modern world comes to mind - one chapter was so dense it had its own gravitational pull), but I just have to finish it.

There are a few exceptions. While I can stomach certain bad ideology if it is old ideology or there is some oddness to it (Nazi spaceships, Jungian misogyny, etc.), the only book I can recall ceasing reading in recent memory was a ridiculous polemic about how multiculturalism (she meant cultural relativism but was too stupid to know it), was ruining the western world by making us all adolescents who never grow up. Bill Clinton wore a baseball cap when he jogged but Cary Grant wore flannel suits with double breasted coats in his movie roles so is it not clear America is doomed? Her argument was so flawed that within 20 pages I had to stop. It insulted every ounce of intelligence I have. I still wrote a 4000 word review of the piece of shit based on the horrors in the first chapter.

Otherwise, I wade through it. I was like this before I declared my intention to read every book I read.

[horosha.livejournal.com]

I hit my DO NOT WANT point recently while reading Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. I suffered through the first two books, but halfway through the third I just couldn't stomach it anymore; even skimming chapters was painful. I definitely feel annoyed, though. I hate leaving a series unfinished!

[dine.livejournal.com]

I was well into my 30s before I realized that Keep reading, because once you've started you have to finish and damn it you will finish. didn't apply to leisure reading. before then, it was imperative to finish, even if I wasn't having any fun

it's still not my first reaction, but I do find it easier now to set a bad book aside and never go back

[splix.livejournal.com]

I went through a period where I would simply toss a book if I was bored or annoyed by it, but in the last couple of years I seem to be sawing away again. Not sure what that's all about. My compulsive behavior in this area is silly, but there you go, I guess. Bah!

pee ess - curious about what you're reading.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima.

[rachel2205.livejournal.com]

I wonder how many people who answered "keep reading" would keep watching a movie on TV if it was boring them rigid? I think there's this feeling that reading ANYTHING is somehow a "worthy" pursuit and so we should stick with it. But I think if one isn't having fun/gaining something from the experience, why bother?

[cjwriter.livejournal.com]

I have quit 2 books within the last month. Both fiction. One is very popular right now and I was going to read it because I thought it sounded interesting. I don't think I got through the first chapter, partially because of the writer's style and partially because NaNo was about to start and I don't like reading while I'm doing that.

The other book has been on my to read list for a while. I started it, but only got about 1/3 of the way through it before the story started getting annoying.... and NaNo was about to start. I might go back to book 1, but I doubt I'll try book 2 again.

I have several unread books on my shelf that I am not really interested in, but keeping to try out of some odd sense of guilt.

[alainn-sorcha.livejournal.com]

I used to be very adamant about finishing books whether I liked them or not. Then one day I had an epiphany. There are too many books to be read, and life is too short to waste on those that are unpleasant. So far this year, I've abandoned four books and quite gleefully, too.

I do, however, force myself to finish most professional literature.

[k00kaburra.livejournal.com]

Unless it's a book I'm committed to reviewing, I'll drop it if I don't like it, often within the first 50-100 pages. I've got waaaaaay too many books for me to waste time on one I don't even like.

Big exception? Textbooks, naturally. Stupid school.

[eroticcakejob.livejournal.com]

Dude, reading is hard. I don't get all you crazies who do it for pleasure.
If I wanted to read I would go to school! :P

There are a few books I've started and never finished because my attention span is too short, or they were just too hard to get into, or I ran out of time, or found a hobby that I can do while watching movies or TV. Helloooo knitting!

Once grad school is over, maybe I will read for fun again.

I've started a lot of books I've meant to finish that were actually good. Like I said, attention span or something.

Don't feel guilty, by reading for pleasure you are already smarter than me! Just pick up another book.

[litos.livejournal.com]

I only keep reading dull books if they are nonfiction and possess knowledge I think I need.

[psylent1.livejournal.com]

You're more likely to stop reading if: I feel it's toxic on my brain. I stopped reading a series of books 3/4 of the way through the series because the content became so hateful and inhumane that reading it felt emotionally self-abusive. I still have the series because I use it for reference on how not to write, and for other future plans.

Another time I stopped reading on page 4 because I couldn't digest the author's writing style. In that instance, I sold that book and watched the movie to see how it would end.

Sometimes I just get annoyed, read the end, and sell the book. I never feel guilty about it, screw that.

[mielikki.livejournal.com]

Wikipedia has become the Cliff's Notes of the future. Sometimes I'll think "you know, I ought to read [x]" and instead of doing that I'll just read the Wikipedia article about it. Because I am a lazy-ass!

[psylent1.livejournal.com]

I did that with Kerouac's "On The Road." I couldn't get into it at the time.

[meallanmouse.livejournal.com]

One of the major things that's been turning me off reading a book recently is rabid, rabid Marysue/Garysue-ism in the main character(s). :(

I feel no guilt stopping reading a book, particularly when it's lazy/bad writing.

[cymry.livejournal.com]

I used to force myself through to the end, but the pile of books to be read keeps getting bigger, and I keep getting busier. So now, depending on the book, I'll either just give up, or put it aside and come back to it later, if it's more a case of "just not in the mood" rather than outright dislike.

I do find it harder to give up on a series, I'll admit - I've invested time and money into it, how can I give up now?

[rachel2205.livejournal.com]

Unrelated, but: Queenie icon - <3

[bodlon.livejournal.com]

I do typically give a book a chapter or two more before I really commit to quit reading, but yeah. I can put a book down if it isn't working.