A few weeks back my Dad (a voracious reader) passed along a Washington Times article that discusses economics professor Tyler Cowen’s argument that there’s an economic case to be made for quitting a book as soon as you stop getting anything out of it. Cowen finishes one book for every five to ten he starts. “We should treat books a little more like we treat TV channels,” says Cowen.
That’s probably an extreme case, but I’m sure we’ve all had moments when we wanted to fling the old Kindle against the old wall, whether because of a character who was driving us batty, an implausible plot line, or maybe even because your copy of THE SHINING just happened to be missing pages right when it was getting to the good part (yup, still mad, Colusa County Library. Seventeen years has not dulled the pain).
So do you stop reading books or are you a compulsive finisher? And for those that stop midway, what causes you to stop? How do you decide to ditch a book and start something new?
Ink says
Nathan,
You must! I think it's part of California law. A new amendment.
Addendum 47c: All San Francisco based literary agents must read The Outer Dark and Child of God sometime in the year 2009. Some bloggage of said texts is necessary as proof of reading.
A puzzling bit of law process, I admit, but apprently this is what the voters want. Vive le Democratic Process.
magolla says
When I roll my eyes more than twice. Life's too short to read something that doesn't interest me.
David says
If my heart sinks a little when I see the book on my nightstand, in the kitchen, etc., then I know it's time to drop it. I might push on a bit after that, but usually, the die is cast.
The Godfather Returns, I am looking in your direction.
joyroett says
I'm a compulsive finisher, at least of print books. There are only two prints I've started and haven't finished: Stephen King's Misery-it bored me, and Nancy Drew The Mysterious Mannequin-damn the public library! The 2nd half was missing, I haven't forgiven them either.lol
I usually only read prints of my favorite authors. Sometimes over the years their styles change for the worse and I give them 2, maybe 3 tries before I give up on them completely and never buy their titles again. Sometimes a popular series that was really good initially begins to seem like new books are getting pubbed on the weight of the earlier stories while the new ones suck and I cut myself off from those authors then too.
Ebooks that I don't like I tend to close and open another one about quarter way through, and never get back to them. My waiting to be read list is too long to waste on sucky ebooks.
Xiexie says
I give it about 3 chapters. If the book doesn't have me by then, I'm usually done.
However, if the writing and voice is there and the plot is dragging a bit, I'll suffer through (or even skip some pages and see if the plot got going again).
One book that I absolutely could not read after chapter 1 was Cold Mountain. It was for summer reading. I finished the first paragraph and knew — nope, won't like it. But I kept on because it was a requirement. I gave up after chapter 1 and read sparknotes the morning of the test. I got the highest grade in class while my friends who loved the book got bad grades. So weird!!
Maya / מיה says
Once I get past a certain point, I usually finish books out of sheer stubbornness. If I hadn't been so far in the book I just finished, I would probably have stopped reading at the point when Manly Man put his hand on the small of Sexy Woman's back and felt her butt with his thumb… think about it, that's anatomically incorrect unless he put the back of his hand on her back! Heh. Yes, small things that shove me out of belief in a fictional world annoy me. I was already sick of the way the book kept verging on porn (including porn's, er, adept characterization and complex plot lines), but the thumb thing pushed me over the edge… ALMOST. But damn it, I was 200 pages in, and I wasn't stopping!
LV Cabbie says
I buy books because I generally like the author or the genre. However, sometimes the particular novel ends up boring me.
Example – everybody says back story is a no no. I am reading a Dale Brown novel that I normally love and he hit me with more than 4 pages of back story! I almost put it in the finished pile.
I am also trying to read a book about pre-history American Indians from a pair of authors I generally enjoy a lot. However, this particular book – while containing some absolute gems of beautiful showing – is driving me nuts and I had to set it aside. I'll go back to it again and again but it won't be easy to finish.
So, in answer to your question, I do my darndest to finish every book I buy. But, some of them just turn out to be hard. I rarely give up – maybe once out of 50!
Mira says
That was funny about Colusa County Libray. If only they knew this would return to haunt them 17 years later on your blog! 🙂
There are some books I'll push myself to read because they are supposed to be 'good' or 'good for me.' I forced myself to read D.H. Lawrences' Women In Love. The whole thing. I still have no idea what that book is about.
But reading for fun – if I'm not into it by 2 pages, I'll drop it. Just not a match.
But if I stop a book mid-way through, which I do sometimes, I'll feel guilty about it. Sometimes for years. What is that about? Don't I have enough things to feel guilty about. For example, taking those pages out of The Shining. I'm really feeling guilty about that now.
Valerie says
If I can make it past the first 10 or so pages, I pretty much always finish.
Ink says
And for any Cormac McCarthy fans reading all these comments, a recommendation: give Peter Matthiessen's Shadow Country a try. Brilliant.
Maya / מיה says
Btw, until I pass the "point of no return" and stubbornness sets in, I do start a number of books and not finish. It's usually not a conscious decision. I start reading a book, then put it down. If nothing draws me to go back to it, I don't… and if I try to force it, I usually find that I can't. I can't figure out what makes me do that, except that I have to LIKE characters pretty early on to be drawn into their stories.
Fay says
When I'm either so sickly bored I don't want to turn the page or bother skimming, or the writing really isn't my kind of thing.
Suprisingly, the books I have put down, of which total 3 or 4 ever, I think have all been ones highly recommended,
e.g. last month, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (I made it to page 7, realisied nothing had sunk in AT ALL, reread it, rolled my eyes, fell asleep, blah)
in the deep end of the pool says
i usually try to see what's going on in the first couple of chapters, but if it's lame by then, i will put it down. Twilight, bought for me by a friend, was just too YA for me. i hated 'quitting', but i had to. the issue is that in the past, i've stopped reading due to boredom, then gone back later and ended up reading the whole thing because i finally got into it and thought it was good.
Anonymous says
I tend to read a chapter at a time just because of time constraints. A book can be excellent, I can admire the writer's style and still not get back to it.
The ones I finish tend to be the ones in the genre I most love to write which elicit a deep emotional connection to the main character(s). The connection need not be fully realized by the end of chapter one, but the potential for it has to be there and it has to continue to unfold.
If I make it halfway through a book, chances are good I've already decided I need to know how it ends.
Elaine 'still writing' Smith says
I think I learn more from the books I don't like than the ones where the reading is effortless. Those I make myself complete… as quickly as possible.
If I've adored the book I can't bear to let it end – I'm a master of delaying tactics then.
Heidi C. Vlach says
I definitely agree with this. Unless you have to finish the book for a report or something, why on earth would you spend your free time forcing yourself to read a book you dislike? Sounds masochistic to me.
I stop reading the second the book bothers me. The usual suspects are characters with no personality, dry politics I find myself skimming, or bad pacing where nothing is happening, but a wrong fact that ruins my suspension of disbelief has done it before, too.
Regan Leigh says
I try to finish everything I start, but that is also why I'm picky about the books I DO start reading. If I'm not pleased with what I've chosen, I usually continue anyway just to see where it goes and hope that it will improve.
It's rare that I'll stop reading, but in the past I have stopped for a few different reasons:
– If it's a book that gained a ton of attention, but it comes off as badly written to me…well, it's a NO. That just tends to frustrate me too much. I give lesser known books with flawed writing more leniency in that respect.
– A book recommendation from a trusted source usually makes me stick with it, even if it's just to debate the book with them later.
– I stop reading if I don't care about the characters.
– My mood. If I've recently dealt with darker issues at work, there is no way I want to read about similar dark themes. I'll definitely drop a book because of that.
Crystal says
I've never not finished a book, no matter how bad it is. Right now I'm reading Relentless by Dean Koontz, and I was seriously considering stopping reading it. Turns out, it's getting pretty good. Still not one of my favorites, but a good read none the less. If I had stopped reading it midway I wouldn't have gotten to get interested in the story.
So the way I see it, you should finish every book you start. If you like it, you get to pass on a good read to others and tell them they should read it. If you don't, you can tell your friends not to read it.
So the short answer, I finish every book I read 🙂
Crystal
AM says
The only two books that I have not been able to finish were TRUE BELIEVER by Nicholas Sparks and AT RISK by Patricia Cornwell!
I tried to finish them. I really, really tried to finish, but I just couldn't make myself. They were that painful – yikes.
I purchased both novels because I had always enjoyed those authors novels in the past.
I felt as though the authors had personally deceived me. As you can see, I still hold it against them.
I literally wanted my money back.
Laurel says
I am nowhere near disciplined enough to finish a book I'm not loving.
I can't quite crack the code on when/why I put one down. It's never an active decision, just more that I'm not fascinated enough to get back around to it.
Since I love most of what I read I seldom leave one unfinished. I also power straight through what I'm reading. If a book takes me longer than two days, three if I'm very busy, odds are good I won't finish it since if I liked it I would have read the whole thing in that time.
Excessive bleakness seems to do me in consistently. Steinbeck was always painful.
Sherry G. says
I usually don’t start books that I can’t finish. I can only think of one writer really, that I’ve tried to like because so many people do, and for whatever reason I can never finish his books, because, well, he writes in a way that doesn’t grab me. I can never visualize any of the stories he’s trying to tell me. I read maybe half of It, tried to read Misery, and a few more of his books and could not finish them no matter how hard I tried. I use to think maybe it was because I lean towards female writers, there really is a difference in the way men and women write, but I’ve finished several books by male writers— Wallly Lamb, Frank Herbert, Dean Kootz, Dan Brown, to name a few, but cannot finish anything written by Stephen King.
Bane of Anubis says
Rick, can definitely see how your view/appreciation could be changed by fatherhood.
Nathan — ah, an acquired taste, like a fine wine (unfortunately, never been a big wine drinker — there goes my chance for query brilliance ;)…
I appreciate CM's spare prose immensely and he can definitely turn a phrase. I've just never felt the dramatic underlying tension the way most others do. One thing I give him major props for (now he'll have a Bane SOA to go along w/ that piddly PP and Oprah book club thing), something you referenced, Nathan, is his ability to step up his game with each endeavor (or at least not to stay on par)… that's quite impressive — he's the Satchel Paige of authors.
WV: novelub – thank you, novel I am.
Anna Claire says
Most have probably said the same, but there are just too many good books out there to waste time reading a bad one. I usually give it about 20 pages or sometimes less, depending on how good I originally thought it was going to be, which is based on the cover, the jacket copy and/or a recommendation.
I *have* slogged through a few boring books just to say I finished them, but I don't do that much anymore now that college is over. Eat that, Dostoyevsky.
Anonymous says
I finish almost every book that I start reading. There was one book though that I just could not finish. Every second contained at least 2 swear words and I just couldn't do it. I mean, if the only way you can get your point across is by swearing . . .
Other than that I usually stick to a book until the end.
Jay says
I usually finish a book if I start it. I like to say "yeah, I read that book and it sucked" rather than "I started reading it, never finished it." The only reason I'd stop reading is if there was an excessive use of vulgar situations or unnecessary profanity. Stephen King's Dreamcatcher was this way for me. I love Stephen King and I don't mind the occasional use of profanity so long as it ties to the characters and the plot but in this book it was excessive and kept jarring me out of the story.
RW says
I put down lots of books — about twice as many as I finish at least. I find that an awful lot of them are good or even excellent but I'm encountering it at a moment when I'm looking for something more than merely excellent. Usually it's because I'm longing for the pop of something new.
In a way, saying what makes me put down a good book is almost as hard to say what makes me hungry to keep going — it's something intangible in the voice. The ones I put down feel like they are good in an overly familiar way.
Tracey S. Rosenberg says
If I'm not enjoying it by page fifty then I'm just not going to like it.
If I want to know what happens, I'll skim to the end, but sometimes I don't even do that.
There are too many books in the world – hell, there are too many books IN MY HOUSE – to stick with something that isn't grabbing my attention.
And hey, Tyler Cowan! Had a seminar with him once. Was quite influenced by his comments about cultural integrity (not his term) – that, for instance, English folk songs or (fill in name of tribe here) tribal chants should stay 'untouched' by modern culture. But everything is influenced by other things. I think he traced hip-hop back to Franco-Flemish church music, or something like that. Anyway, thanks for the reminder of that.
Tracey S. Rosenberg says
Oops, sorry, managed to be so rapt about his seminar that I misspelled Cowen's last name.
But hmmm, maybe I should check out his book on globalization and the world's cultures.
Alina says
I rarely stop reading a book. The last one I put down was by an author I really liked but it was quite different from her usual. It was VERY dark. When the main character slept with her best friend's son she'd known since babyhood it upped the dark weirdness up one notch too many for me.
I've lost steam on several series that just didn't hold up to the first book. For example, I LOVED Ender's Game, liked Speaker for the Dead and hated all that followed. Same with the companion books to that series. Liked the first two then lost interest.
Like I said. I'm usually one who plows through to the bitter end–and sometimes it IS bitter (think Needful Things–ugh).
aleesha says
I'll usually read the entire book. I have great faith that when a book starts out dumb or slow that it will recover sometime within the book. Most of the time, it doesn't get better. However, I still hold out for it.
wonderer says
I'm with the "always finish" crowd; stopping makes me feel guilty. I'll slog through in the hopes it will get better (and sometimes it does), or if not, at least maybe I can figure out what made it popular (often I can't).
HOWEVER, I'm very picky about what I start in the first place. By the time I start seriously reading a book, it has to:
– pass some process of recommendation (friends, websites, awards)
– make it onto my TBR list
– pass the test of reading the back and skimming the first 1-5 pages to make sure the style won't drive me bonkers. (Does that count as reading? Once I get past the fifth page or so, I'm committed.)
– be enough of a priority for me to buy or acquire it over the scores of other books on my TBR list
kt711 says
I stop reading if I discover that I don't care about or don't like the protag. Or if something new is introduced in the plot that would force me to have to go back and re-read previous chapters to make sure the new stuff makes sense. Even if it's supposed to be a mystery or there's some some type of "thrilling" plot twist, it's annoying when the story hasn't flowed well enough to sustain the weight of that.
Scott says
When the book becomes so inane it's not even worth reading!
When I can figure out what's going to happen next!
I used to always finish books I started, even if I laid them aside for a time. Now, can't be bothered. Too much to do, and too little time to spend reading a book that has 'jumped the shark' so to write!
S
wonderer says
Forgot to add: By the time a book has gotten through all those hurdles, I figure it deserves attention.
mkcbunny says
I usually decide within a few pages whether the book is the right choice for me on that particular day. If it's not grabbing me, I usually set it aside and try another.
Some books have been on the "pass" pile for two years before getting another chance. If a book is on that stack at all, it's because I had a reason/desire to read it, so I'll always give it another try when I think I might be in the right mood.
If I've picked it up and put it back down more than a couple of times then I usually give up. The stopping point on books that I've delved further into is usually when I get bored or when the writing style becomes annoying to me in some way.
mkcbunny says
Nathan, must you mention 160-proof whiskey at this hour? I am thinking now of Booker's bourbon, and it's only noon!
Rick Daley says
Margret, you asked about those of us who "finish a book no matter what. Dear dog, WHY?"
From my perspective, I don't start a book unless I have a mild interest in it. I'm more likely to never start than to abandon a read.
Here are a couple case studies on books I trudged through:
Last Christmas I read THE BOOK OF FATE and I really didn't like the plot or MC, but I just had to see if it pulled some twist out at the end that justified it. It didn't.
I read TWILIGHT to see what all the fuss was about, and while I will not read any further into the series, I did finish the first book even though I didn't like the MC. I wanted to finish it so I could have a fair opinion of the entire book. And while I admit I am far from the target market, it's worth noting that I thought THE LOVELY BONES was a great story and Susie drew me in as a character, so I'm not totally blinded by the fact that I am a 37-year-old male.
I'm almost done with Michael Crichton's NEXT, and I don't really like it. I like what it's trying to say, but not how it's saying it. It's really a series of short storied that are loosely tied together, and I'm curious to see how they resolve. So far it appears that they will just be gratuitous tie-ins.
KayKayBe says
I skim everything, and finish it all unless it gets too graphic. I compulsively read books in one or two sittings- whether it's a 100 pg YA or 1776. If I liked it enough, then I'll reread and soak it up. I reread my fav books over and over.
Dani says
Once I pick up a book, I'm usually pretty committed — it's rare for me to intentionally abandon something (to say nothing of accidental sidetracks). Even if I hate it, I'm almost always hopeful, right up to the horrible, unsatisfying ending, that it'll turn around for me.
Aimless Writer says
There are books I've tossed after about half way. Face it, I'm half way there…if you can't keep me in the book…it stinks.
Generally, I'm a finisher. If I start it, I have to finish. Maybe thats the Virgo in me.
Rhonda says
I always finish. "To always finish what you begin" was part of my Bluebird creed as a kid if I remember correctly. I guess it stuck. My daughter abandons books all the time and it drives me nuts!
Lindsay Price says
There's nothing I hate more than losing interest in a book. It's the reason I've nearly stopped buying them and borrow instead.
It's even worse when I'm grabbed by the first few pages and then it all falls apart. That's happening more and more.
My husband must finish the book. Even if he hates it and complains about it (and I ask him why he's still reading) he still preservers…
PurpleClover says
Rick –
I feel responsible for NEXT. I'm sorry you don't like it. I thought it was just me. I actually put that book down. Although I did have every intention of picking it back up because I thought I would eventually enjoy it.
But a year later I decided I wasn't picking it back up and that was why it was in the pool to be given away. Sorry!
Anonymous says
As though it was a commitment of my character, originally, I read every book I ever started all the way through.
That was probably a good exercise. The are a number of books that didn't get going until after page 100 and there were books I would have missed if I had not read to the end where it all made sense and left me wowed.
There were also some clunkers.
Now, I read parts of non-fictions regularly.I stop when I want to think on an idea. I might go back. I might not. Non-fictions are idea or learning areas. I take them in bites more often than whole books.
I read On Writing all the way through and The Courage To Create but with nf, there's often a toss up about reading the whole book and I STILL consider that most were valuable -at least to a point.
With fiction, if it is depressing or REAL DEPRESSING or includes smutty material, it's done. I toss it on the spot.
With a poorly written or boring or too-heavy-on-the-world-building, it gets tabled.I lose interest but keep the page marked. Who knows. I might still get back to those one year.They can be good for insomnia and they don't mess with my motto:
*do no harm to my soul in a book.*
great question
Melissa McInerney says
I go with the aforementioned Nancy Pearl rule. Some books I don't finish because they are just…bad. Some books I feel I should read and I just can't finish them. They are usually dense, chewy books with lots and lots of words and descriptions. Henry James, Dostoevsky and Tolstoy come to mind. Also, I can't finish any stupid picture book, even if it's only ten pages. Must be some kind of defect.
Jen P says
I'm wondering if my selection process is too picky, because I too, almost never give up on a book. (wonderer – your selection process sounds almost identical) In fact, I'd say, I may put it down (Half of a Yellow Sun – Adiche, Plainsong – Haruf), but would complete at a later date – perhaps years later – but I'd never not finish it. (Although I have to admit several years ago I did try The Bible from In The Beginning and didn't get too far, perhaps this is a good prompt to try again.)
I'm the same with films – must see the end in the same sitting, if I've watched more than 10 minutes or so.
Lynne Connolly says
I tend to put books down when I lose interest in them. I might give them another go, in case I was in the wrong mood.
Some books, the author's voice just doesn't work with me, and I know that fairly soon.
Otherwise, it's the dreaded "sagging middle" that does it for me.
It reminds me of the old "Hancock's Half Hour" episode where he gets a thriller called "Lady Don't Fall Backwards" and the last page is missing. The whole episode is Hancock trying to locate a copy of the book, or someone who has read it and knows who did the murder.
"The Missing Page." A classic.
Anonymous says
I learned to finish books when I was doing research for various chapters of my dissertation. Non-fiction is much harder to read IMO thank fiction.
That isn't to say that I like finishing all fiction I start reading. I learned to speed read a long time ago – it comes in handy for wading through plot/subplot dreck and getting back to the more interesting parts of a novel.
Yet, there is a current NYT bestseller on my Kindle that became so disconnected from what made the story initially good, that I moved on to more interesting books and have not felt any compulsion whatsoever to finish it.
Thank god reading tastes are subjective.
Carly says
I'm with EC Sheedy and others. I usually finish books, and used to ALWAYS finish them. However, the older I've gotten the more I've given up if a book fails to interest me or impress me about a third of the way in. In one real case, when an author of a certain novel had a gypsy exclaim, "Sanctimonious bastard!", I wanted to throw it against the wall. Um, many real gypsies in Europe aren't formally educated or very literate, and most literate people I know rarely use the word 'sanctimonious.' If I don't believe in the characters, how can I engage in the story?
Robin says
It is rare for me not to finish a book. Boredom is usually the reason or a central character that is annoying me to distraction. I used to feel guilty about not finishing a book and would keep it as a visual reminder of my shame on the bookshelf. But I finally got over that, thank God.