Do you feel obligated to finish reading a book

Do you feel obligated to finish reading a book once you start it?

  • Yep

    Votes: 35 29.7%
  • Nope

    Votes: 74 62.7%
  • Eggplant-colored Orlando Bloom

    Votes: 9 7.6%

  • Total voters
    118
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JennaGlatzer

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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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Ha!

I feel the same. I guess that makes me weird.

I'm stubborn. So call it bloody-mindedness, but it takes a lot to make me give up on a book. Even then, I usually give it another go some weeks or months later.

It's like, "You're a damn book! You won't beat me!"
 

thethinker42

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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.

HELL. NO.

I've been known to drop books 100, 200, even 300 pages in if they just fall apart, or aren't holding my interest. Usually I don't make it past 50 pages (that's kind of my "if it doesn't grab me by now, it's not going to" mark). Life is too short to waste on a book that at best doesn't interest me, at worst bores me.

I learned this when someone insisted that Stephen King's "IT" was slow to begin, but by the end I wouldn't be able to put it down. So, I took them at their word and kept reading. And reading. For WEEKS. Somewhere around the second to last page, it caught my interest, and then it was over.

Never. Again. Life is too short for bad movies, bad books, bad...nevermind. Bottom line - If I don't like it, I don't finish it.
 

Williebee

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It's a weird feeling isn't it? You've invested yourself in this thing, so you really want to like it. And you know that it's just going to let you down... and then you turn the page anyway.
 

Cybernaught

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There are so many good books out there that I don't have time for the bad ones. I usually know I'm bored of a book if I'm 100 pages in and I don't remember anything about it. That's when I put it down.
 

Puma

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In all my years I've only succeeded in dropping one book unfinished - and I tried to read the thing, believe me.

But, I also have been known to re-read favorite books (only a few) up to a dozen times over the years. My Dad used to get very frustrated with me for doing that. His stand was that life was too short to waste it re-reading something I'd already read; my stand was - there's comfort in old friends that never let you down. Puma
 

Diana W.

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It takes a lot for me to give up totally on a book. I have done but often what I'll do is put it aside, go on to read something else then when the mood strikes me I'll pick the book up again and resume reading it. Often I manage to finish it at the second attempt.
 

JennaGlatzer

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But, wait, there's more! I added a poll!

:D

I was trying to figure out how many people were saying yes/no, then I realized it'd be easier to just poll.

I'm trying to stop reading this book.

I hope no one is out there trying to stop reading my books. How sad.

OH. And the other part to my equation here is that the book is a bestseller... there's always this analysis going on in my mind about why something sold so well. So in part, I'm now just reading for research, to figure out why this book appealed to so many people even though it's not holding my interest. (It's not awful, by the way, just not my cup of cocoa.)
 

Linda Adams

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No. If a writer fails to keep me interested or pings high on the suspension of disbelief issue, I'll stop reading. I just stopped reading a book 169 pages in because I couldn't put up with the writer's sentence structure any more (lots of one word descriptions of dialogue). Another author went by the wayside halfway through when I landed in a scene where the characters were dumb because the story needed them to be dumb for something to happen.
 

redpbass

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I've only given up on three books that I remember...two of them are considered to be really good by reviewers. I usually find something to like about most books I read, even if it's not obvious initially.

I hate to do it, but if the book is really boring...oh well. Luckily all three books were borrowed from the library rather than purchased from a bookstore.
 

Beach Bunny

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Even if the book is by one of my favorite authors, if I lose interest in the story, then I will put it down. It doesn't matter how far into the book I am, if the author lost me, then I put the book down. I have way too many favorite books that I can reread and there are a lot of books sitting on my bookshelves that I haven't read to waste time on one that is not holding my interest.

In fact, I just put down Nora Roberts "The Pagan Stone" and I've read almost everything she has ever written. I'm not sure if I'll finish it or just skim through to the end. That is something I never do with one of hers.

Someone posted that their father thought that rereading a book is a waste of time. Not true. Second, third, even fifth reads of a book reveals things to me that I missed the first time through.
 

JoNightshade

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The older I get, the less obligated I feel. :) I used to read to the end of any book I picked up. Now, I'm pickier and I have less time to read, which means I don't want to waste my effort on something I don't like.

Although I have to admit to a certain reluctance to giving up on books I BUY. I'm usually very good at picking stuff I will like, but the last book I bought just totally failed. I said I would read to page 100 just to give it a chance, but I got to page 74 and realized, there are 4 main characters and every one of them bores me to death. Is there any chance of that changing in the next 25 pages?

Nope.

Caveat: Currently I'm reading a book I don't like, because grandma wants me to read it, and what grandma wants, grandma gets. :)
 

Clair Dickson

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I have problems not finishing what I started. But I do start to skim if I get bored. At least I can say I finished the stupid thing, even if it was dreck.
 

ishtar'sgate

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No, I don't feel obligated to finish a book once I've started it. The only thing that really bothers me enough to stop reading, though, is if the MC is so irritating I don't want to spend one more second reading about her. Fortunately that's only happened a few times.
 

Lady Cat

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I try to finish a book once I've started reading it, if only to justify the fact I laid out X number of dollars for it. I have a bad habit of buying books and then forgetting why I bought them.

Sometimes it takes me a long time to get into the right mood for a book (the Faded Sun Trilogy by C.J. Cherryh; the Mote in God's Eyes by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle) but when I do finally start I'll finish them.

The only book I started and never finished is Moby Dick, which I started reading online when I was working a midnight shift. OMG that thing just drags on forever! I gave up around page 200 and they still hadn't even met up with the whale!
 

Mandy-Jane

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In the past, I've always perservered with books because I felt that if the writer went to all the trouble to write it, then they deserve for it to be read. However, the older I get, the more I'm in line with the "life is too short" attitude.

Now I think I'm just extra picky about what I'll read.
 

aka eraser

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I've thrown books against the wall at page 1 and page 450. It doesn't matter how deeply am I into it - if the author loses me - I bail. Life's too short to read something you're no longer enjoying.
 

ChaosTitan

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I've only given up reading a handful of books, but when I want to stop, I stop. It's probably a product of being forced to finish school-assigned books that I absolutely despised. If it doesn't hold my attention, it's going back in the pile.
 

Nivarion

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if they seem like they will get good again, they yes. if not, well, no.

i just put down blue indigo because the character started to seem more interested in sex than the plot of this mysterious death that had happened, which didn't seem that mysterious anyways.
 
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payitforward

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I always start at the beginning of a book, read 20 pages in. Then I go to the end of the book, and read 20 pages in. Then I flip back and forth until I reach the middle. No joke--how I got my Ph.D. in lit this way is beyond me.

Anyway, this all to say that if I don't "finish" a book--it's the middle of it that's lost. Yeah, I'm a freak.
 
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