Reading Novels

jonereb · Jan 22, 2007

How often, if ever, do you give up on a book within the first 100 pages? I don't like doing it. But as a saleperson at Books-A-Million told me, "there are too many good books out there." I gave up on two in the past year.

I mention this as a reminder to myself that a significant development needs to happen up front. Maybe not always. It depends on the genre and topic, I guess. But I confess, I'm drawn to books that hook me in the first chapter. I don't like to read 4 or 5 chapters to find out if there's a reason for this book to exist.

My question for you is this -- how far into a book do you read before you toss it?

Julie Worth · Jan 22, 2007

jonereb said:
My question for you is this -- how far into a book do you read before you toss it?

To the first he thought to himself (or equivalent). I don't buy books anymore because I can't finish them. Ever since I became a novelist, the only books I can finish are my own, and those I read and reread until my eyes cross.

Jamesaritchie · Jan 22, 2007

Reading

I'm not sure I have an answer. I read until I'm no longer interested in reading. Sometimes this is two pages, sometimes this is two hundred pages.

But I will say some of the best novels I've ever read had lousy first chapters, and some had lousy first one hundred pages.

britwrit · Jan 22, 2007

Yeah...

Four or five times a year. They're usually library books, so I get 50 pages in and decide to return it. If I don't like it, someone else probably will.

Provrb1810meggy · Jan 22, 2007

I read like 5-10 pages of a book, was heck of annoyed and bored by it, and stopped. Thankfully, it was free. I'm sort of notorious though for never finishing books, sometimes even ones I buy.

CaroGirl · Jan 22, 2007

I try to finish all the books I start. But even with that goal, I give up on about 1 or 2 books a year, on average. How far I get into those books varies depending on the novel.

Jenan Mac · Jan 22, 2007

There've been a couple I've quit on recently. One was a Christmas gift from my husband, and I wondered what on earth made him think it was my kind of book, and read about 75 pages in to figure it out. Only thing I can figure is he had me mixed up with his other wife or something.

victoriastrauss · Jan 22, 2007

I get a lot of books for review; I also like going to the library and taking out a big armful of whatever new books pique my interest. So I do a lot of book grazing, and I think I probably set aside as many books as I read all the way through.

Occasionally I can tell within 5-10 pages that I don't want to read something, but I usually give it at least 50 pages to grab me. If not, into the reject pile it goes. Life is too short, and the list of interesting books too long, to waste time on a book you don't like.

- Victoria

doeraymee · Jan 22, 2007

I gave up on a few last year. I usually read about 40 pages, but then I dip into the next few chapters and read the last few pages (hoping that it might get better). If it doesn't look any more promising, then I put it aside.

Shadow_Ferret · Jan 22, 2007

Let me put it to you this way, it's rarer for me nowadays to get past the first hundred pages and finish a book. I'd say out of 10 books, I might actually find one that keeps my interest long enough to finish it.

At the moment, I can't think of what the last book I finished was or how many months ago that was.

veinglory · Jan 22, 2007

If you include test browsing I skip over 90%. If you mean from books I bought, about 10%

Judg · Jan 22, 2007

I almost never give up on books unless they're offending me deeply and repeatedly. Mind you, the jacket blurb is usually enough to prevent me from getting into those.

I'm a very fast reader, though, and it is my practice to read any decent book a second time, right away, so I can catch all the setups and foreshadowing I missed the first time, as well as taking the time to savour the texture of certain passages now that I'm not so intent on getting to the next part. I'm reading more like a writer then, and the really good books will transfix me the second time also, so I still miss the technical details. I am finding that fewer books are enticing me into that second read now, because I'm reading more things I wouldn't have bothered with before, exploring writers outside of my normal tastes to see what I can learn from them. Perhaps only about 50% are managing to pull me all the way through a second read. Before it was more like 75-80%.

PeeDee · Jan 22, 2007

Like James, I just read until I lose interest. It's not anything conscious. It's just that I go to read, and the book I was trying to read is NOT the one I pick up. I pick up some old book I've read a milion times, or I pick up new novel and read that.

Sometimes, it's not that I've even abandoned a book, it just hasn't grabbed me so strongly as to hold my conscious attention. It's why, around the house, I have so many books with bookmarks in them

Usually, I eventuall come back and read them. It took me a year to finish Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, and it wasn't because I spent a year continuously reading the book

Edward G · Jan 22, 2007

I am such a harsh critic of fiction that I rarely finish a novel. Most are such garbage, I can't believe a publisher puts money into them. Even the good ones usually have some serious handicap (unrealistic dialogue, shallow characters, unrealistic or improperly motivated behavior, mixed POV within the same section, etc.). So, I often toss books in the trash before finishing them. My books may end up being no better. I hope that's not the case.

CaroGirl · Jan 22, 2007

GordonJerome said:
I am such a harsh critic of fiction that I rarely finish a novel. Most are such garbage, I can't believe a publisher puts money into them. Even the good ones usually have some serious handicap (unrealistic dialogue, shallow characters, unrealistic or improperly motivated behavior, mixed POV within the same section, etc.). So, I often toss books in the trash before finishing them. My books may end up being no better. I hope that's not the case.

Wow, really? How do you choose which books to read? I'm a harsh critic as well, so I tend to peruse the list of literary award winners, read serious book reviews, and ask people whose opinion I trust for a recommendation. I'm pleased to say, I rarely make a bad choice, particularly if I'm buying instead of borrowing.

And don't throw books in the garbage. So many community libraries, schools, and even homeless shelters could use the books you so carelessly toss.

Sean D. Schaffer · Jan 22, 2007

Jamesaritchie said:
I'm not sure I have an answer. I read until I'm no longer interested in reading. Sometimes this is two pages, sometimes this is two hundred pages.

But I will say some of the best novels I've ever read had lousy first chapters, and some had lousy first one hundred pages.

That's about what my answer would be, also. I don't think there really is a solid answer to this question. I toss the book if I lose interest in it, no matter what page I'm on.

I hope this helps.

Jamesaritchie · Jan 22, 2007

GordonJerome said:
I am such a harsh critic of fiction that I rarely finish a novel. Most are such garbage, I can't believe a publisher puts money into them. Even the good ones usually have some serious handicap (unrealistic dialogue, shallow characters, unrealistic or improperly motivated behavior, mixed POV within the same section, etc.). So, I often toss books in the trash before finishing them. My books may end up being no better. I hope that's not the case.

Odd. Very odd. You and I have opposite experiences and opinions. I'd think at least 90% of what's published is fair to good, and at least 10-15% is excellent. Why try writing them if you don't like reading them? Whatever your onion of quality, thsoe books you hate are what the reading public loves and wants more of.

Gabriel · Jan 22, 2007

I usually discover the sheer craptitude of a book within the first few pages. It's rare that I am fooled into reading a bad book further than this and when I am and I eventually realise, it's a very darth vader moment.

finch · Jan 22, 2007

I can count on one hand the number of times I've failed to finish a novel. Even the ones I just know are going to be execrable. There are several reasons for this.

One, I am a frighteningly fast reader. Not skimmer, reader. The average novel doesn't last more than a day or two in my clutches, so it doesn't cost me a lot in terms of time invested.

Two, for all I know there's a point of genius somewhere near the end, something that validates all the preceding tripe and puts it all into shocking, crystal clarity. I'd hate to miss that, and just because I can't think of a book that's ever done it doesn't mean they don't exist.

Three, even if it is horrid, someone paid money for it, and spent money on marketing and distribution for it. Someone, somewhere, made considerable effort to get it to sit prominently on a table at Borders. Even the most god-awful inarticulate crap has a lesson to teach if it's sitting on a shelf at a bookstore, and it behooves me to learn that lesson if I expect to write for a living.

Shadow_Ferret · Jan 22, 2007

GordonJerome said:
I am such a harsh critic of fiction that I rarely finish a novel. Most are such garbage, I can't believe a publisher puts money into them.

This from the guy who thinks in 100 years Dan Brown will be listed among the classics.

CaroGirl · Jan 22, 2007

Shadow_Ferret said:
This from the guy who thinks in 100 years Dan Brown will be listed among the classics.

You're kidding? Did he really say that? I'm having trouble finding the time to keep up with the incredible volume of posts. It's funny because Angels and Demons is one of the two books I started and couldn't finish last year (it was appallingly awful, imo).

aadams73 · Jan 22, 2007

GordonJerome said:
I am such a harsh critic of fiction that I rarely finish a novel. Most are such garbage, I can't believe a publisher puts money into them.

Wow, that's hard to believe. I've read a lot of really great books lately. I don't always wants the same thing in a book and choose widely from various genre's. Just about every one has been a hit for me. You sure you're not browsing the bargain "bins" out behind Publish Americaca's office building?

jbal · Jan 22, 2007

I've only given up on one in the last year, and I was about 200 pages in. I read pretty fast, (about 100 pages an hour average?), and I try to finish everything. Especially sine I started writing it seems like at least I can learn something from a badly written novel, by trying to determine why it didn't work.

JerseyGirl1962 · Jan 22, 2007

I think I've given up on about 3 books that I can remember.

One was a Neil Gaiman book I desperately wanted to like, as I enjoyed Neverwhere. I gave up after about the 4th chapter.

The 4th book in The World of Time saga - I read about 1/3 through and couldn't take Nynaeve's braid pulling anymore.

The 3rd book I gave up was an erotic, Native American-type book. It moved way too slowly for me, although I thought since I like a lot of Native-American myths, I would enjoy this. Nope. Just not my cuppa.

I've also pushed through on books I didn't completely enjoy; Ender's Game comes to mind, but there have been a few others. Like the one I'm reading now; it isn't out-and-out awful, but the writing is...weird. I actually liked the idea behind the book, and it's interesting and moves forward at a good pace...but I just can't seem to read more than a couple of pages at a sitting, and I'm a voracious reader. Give me a Stephanie Plum novel, and there's a good chance I'll finish it that day or in a couple of days. (Same thing with Jim Butcher's Dresden Files novels, which I finally discovered and ordered near the end of last year.)

As for trashing novels you can't stand...I second bringing them to a community center or the local library. Or how about the Paperback Swap website? I've mailed off a dozen or so books that were gathering dust in my house; at least now they're with good homes (I hope!).

~Nancy

lfraser · Jan 22, 2007

I almost never give up on a specific book, although I may give up on an author if more than one of his or her books fails to grab me. I can usually tell within a few pages whether I will like a book, so I spend a little time browsing before I actually plonk down cash, especially if I'm not familiar with the writer.

If a book I don't particularly like does get past my radar, I do try to spend a little time figuring out why I don't like it. It's all learning.

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