Do you feel obligated to finish reading a book

I tend to slug through a book, even if it isn't doing it for me. Partly because I'm stubborn (I've never let a book beat me yet) but it's also because I think I learn as much from reading books that don't work for me as I do from books that do work (e.g. I can work out if it's the pacing, the actual story or whatever that I don't like and then see why it doesn't work). However, if a book is really getting me down, I might put it down for a chunk of time, read something else and then come back to it - I managed to get through Bleak House by Charles Dickens in about a year using this method (although I did find myself more into that book by the end).

MM

the only thing that can keep me from reading a book through to the end is 'bad writing'. don't ask me to define that though, coz i'm sure it means different things to different folks... i could give a few examples, but would rather not (yup many such are indeed 'bestsellers'!).

if it's an author, theme or location in which i happen to have a vested interest, i will plod through the book anyway.

Once I start a book, no matter how terrible it is, I stick it out 'til the end. I don't think I've ever given up on a book, and I've read some bloody awful ones!

It depends on the length of the book and how far I am. Usually I'll keep a bookmark in the book and get back to it a couple of months...or years later. Smaller books I'll tend to just finish, especially if I can read it in one or two sittings. Larger books...well, some of them have been sitting in my bookshelf for several years. I'll get to them...eventually...

I will put the book down, though. I just always have the intention to finish at some point in time...

Absolutely not. I've thrown many books across the room at 10, 50, 100 pages in when I either lose interest or something written makes me cringe. The only feeling I get is that of being ripped off, and I then make a determined effort never to read another by the same author.

I used to force myself to read every word of every book I picked up, but eventually I realized that I was wasting my precious reading time. If I'm only 50 pages or so in, then I'll just put it down. But if I'm already halfway through before I decide to give up, I usually skim the rest of it just to see how it ends.

I'm glad this topic came along. I just stopped reading Baldacci's Camel Club about halfway through. I merely skimmed the rest of it to see how it ended. Something in my mind says, "But this was a bestseller!" Geez, I reply. I can't see how that's possible.

This is one of the reasons I have stopped buying new books. If the library doesn't have it, but the book does have decent reviews, I'll look for a used copy somewhere online.

I have come across some pretty lousy books recently. Does anyone else here think that authors pump up their page count with filler just to justify the nearly 30 dollar price?

Anyway, I have returned to the dying genre of the short story.

JennaGlatzer said:

once you start it?

I don't if I've read only a few pages. But if I've read, say, 25 pages or more, I feel like I have to finish it because otherwise I've wasted too much time on something that has no closure. Or something.

The irony, of course, is that I'm only wasting more time finishing something I've realized I'm not actually enjoying.

I stopped being interested in my current read at least 50 pages ago, but now I'm slogging through it just because I feel like otherwise, it'll always be hanging there over my head as this unfinished project.

I suspect I am weird.

But I also suspect you are weirdoes.

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I'm much the same way. I feel like, if I've started reading the thing, I may as well finish it, even if it's not really what I expected or hoped for. I'm trudging my way through the "Bartimaeus" trilogy now...it's not HORRID, but it isn't really what I would've preferred.

Sometimes, unfortunately, I'll slip on the last few pages. I read "The Hobbit" ages ago and actually stopped short of the last chapter! I didn't MEAN to...I just told myself I'd get back to it later, and never did. I do that more often than just not finishing on purpose, period.

But aside from that I'm usually a committed reader. It takes a REALLY awful book to make me stop when I'm a good deal of the way through.

Off the top of my head, I recall that I was reading this series of short books about supernatural and strange things in Michigan, and they were just so woefully poorly written...not only with spelling and grammar, but the writer just kept jumping to all these incredibly stupid conclusions ("Vikings visited Michigan! Well, there's no proof to say they did, but they COULD HAVE, so, I'm going to write a chapter saying they PROBABLY DID!")...I read like four of the books in the series, and forced myself to keep reading despite how cringe inducing they were, but finally I just got so fed up with all the ridiculous speculating that I stashed them away in my room and never finished. Kind of a shame since I liked the subject matter and they COULD have been good books if the writer hadn't been so...well, ridiculous. And if he'd used a proofreader.

Aside from that though I usually stick to it. Perhaps because I'm just forgiving/hopeful that way, perhaps because I've usually bought the books I read so it'd feel like a waste not to finish them.

Not anymore. I used to. Out of some hope that maybe by the end it would have all been worth it, but not anymore. I don't like it, I stop reading. Usually if it's a mystery or a thriller I'll read the ending to see if that is worth the waste of my time and it never is. I have more recently learned to walk out of movies too. That was a hard one. But one day I thought "Why am i sitting here when all I want to do is scream at the screen and the audience for eating up this garbage? It's not worth my aggravation." So i got up and left, and I felt liberated. And I've done it several times sinces.

That was a hard one. But one day I thought "Why am i sitting here when all I want to do is scream at the screen and the audience for eating up this garbage? It's not worth my aggravation." So i got up and left, and I felt liberated. And I've done it several times sinces.[/quote]

Heh I've done that a few times myself. The record was 10 minutes. That was when I went to see Master of Disguise. As soon as Dana Carvey (if that's how you spell his name) appeared on the screen and started talking in the worst Dutch (I can only assume that's what it was supposed to be...it was so bad I couldn't tell!) accent I've ever heard. I vowed after that disaster to never go see another movie with him in it! Funny thing is I wasn't even the first to get up and walk out!

I don't feel "obligated" to finish every book I pick up, but I'm one of those people that needs to a) know what happened and b) know how it happened, even if it's the worst book I've ever read in my life. I can't just skip to the end and read the ending because it doesn't do anything for me (plus I think it's an insult to do so... I mean, if you were meant to read the ending first the author would have written it that way).

I very rarely stop reading books, and I'm even less likely to stop reading a short story. It has happened, however. It's just unusual.

I always feel committed to finishing a book, especially if I've bought and paid for it. But I will start skimming and skipping over whole chunks to get to the end.

It depends on how much time I've invested into the book. If I'm over the halfway hump and I want to put it down, I usually stick with it. But if the book seems irredeemable after a few chapters, I'll usually dump it. I have to many books in my TBR pile to waste time on sloppy writing. Sometimes I'll check the amazon reviews before I give up. If I find many along the lines of: "It got so much better after the first five chapters" then I'll keep reading.

Yeah, if it gets so much better after the first five chapters, then those first five chapters probably should have been deleted. Or condensed into one chapter.

No, I don't always finish books. I can't be bothered to waste my time with something that's boring or completely illogical or pissing me off.

Generally, I do some research before book-shopping to make sure the book doesn't disappoint me.
Hence the books I read are more likely to satisfy me.I have never- to date- put away a book without reaching the end. Even if it's absolutely terrible (I read one like that last week) I'm generally curious about the ending. In the case of the last book I read (Assassin's Quest); it's the last book in a trilogy and the first 2 were great so I kept 'hoping' for a great ending. But sadly, it never came.

Oh well.

JennaGlatzer said:

once you start it?

I don't if I've read only a few pages. But if I've read, say, 25 pages or more, I feel like I have to finish it because otherwise I've wasted too much time on something that has no closure. Or something.

The irony, of course, is that I'm only wasting more time finishing something I've realized I'm not actually enjoying.

I stopped being interested in my current read at least 50 pages ago, but now I'm slogging through it just because I feel like otherwise, it'll always be hanging there over my head as this unfinished project.

I suspect I am weird.

But I also suspect you are weirdoes.

Click to expand...

No, I never feel obligated. I've gotten halfway through some books and just quit because of whatever reason -- bad writing, just didn't hold my interest, or what have you.

I figure if the writer didn't take the time to create something worth my while, why should I invest my valuable time reading it?

I"m one of those obligated weirdos. I have to know what happens. Then again, I do often start skimming when the book doesn't hold my interest, but I'm compelled to find out the end. Yes, it sucks away valuable hours of my life.

I've given up on books less than halfway through with no feelings of guilt whatsoever. Heck, I've tried reading The Golden Compass twice, the second time moving further into the book than I had the first, but just. Couldn't. Care. About anything.

I can toss aside a book with no compunction at all.

It takes a lot for me to actually put down a book. Usually, if I don't like it, I'll kind of skim around until I get to the end, or near the end, then put it away never to be taken off the shelf again. But there are a few books I have had to put down, and it doesn't matter how far into it I am. If I can't take it anymore, I stop reading.

The Last of the Mohicans was so furkin' boring I dropped it. Took 3x to get through the Exorcist after stopping around pg 80 twice.

It depends on the book, and how angry it makes me. If I'm bored, I'll dump a book PDQ. But if I'm annoyed, I'll read until I have to throw the book, or get to the end. I like to know what I'm complaining about when I complain later to my friends about this hideous book I just read. ;D

BenPanced said:

Heck, I've tried reading The Golden Compass twice, the second time moving further into the book than I had the first, but just. Couldn't. Care. About anything.

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INT. HOME OFFICE -- DAY

WORD JEDI points his browser toward amazon.com and removes GOLDEN COMPASS from his wishlist.

No, and I have quite a number of books I have started and probably will never finish reading. I would usually give a book at a chance -- at least 20-50 pages. But if it doesn't hold my interest, I won't pick it up again. And that includes best sellers. I have better things to do and other books to read.

The only book I felt "obligated" to finish was Grisham's A Painted House. I couldn't get through the first 60 pages, but I tried three or four times and finally got to finish it -- it was actually a really good book, just very slow.