I used to be one of those readers.
You know the kind. Maybe you’re even one yourself. The kind who would finish a book no matter how tedious they found it, who would slog through, page by page, refusing to allow themselves to pick up a new, appealing book until they’d finished the one they were (not) enjoying. The kind who had a deep conviction that all books started must be finished, even if the finishing (and the beginning and the middle too) proved to be pure torture.
Thanks to Nancy Pearl, my friends Anne and Jessica, and an ever-growing shiny new stack of books to be enjoyed, I’m done.
I realize there’s value in sticking with a book through a slow start, a boring chapter, or a character (or characters) you don’t care about. (That last one is a particular turn-off for me: I like at least one character I can root for, and prefer multiple characters in whom I am interested.) But if I’ve given a book 50 or so pages (Nancy Pearl’s rule of thumb) and find myself completely uninterested in what will happen next, or totally turned off by a major plot element, I’ll usually put it down.
Caveat: I am a fast reader, so I’ll often give a book slightly more than 50 pages, or the length of a morning commute, before I decide to abandon it. I also try a little harder if it’s a classic, or if it’s a book recommended by a friend whose taste I trust. But the guilt I used to feel over tossing books aside is slowly disappearing.
The reason – besides that teetering, tempting stack of to-be-read books, and the rereading I love to do? Life is simply too short. I read for enjoyment, education and entertainment, and if a book is providing none of the above, I’d much rather move on to a book that will score on all three counts.
I don’t keep track of the books I don’t finish on Goodreads. (Maybe I should?) But as best I can remember, here are the books I’ve abandoned in the last few months. They may be great for other folks, but they were either not my cup of tea, or I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to read them at the time.
- On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes by Alexandra Horowitz
- The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert
- Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan
- Where Angels Fear to Tread by E.M. Forster
- Odd Type Writers by Celia Blue Johnson
- All the Land to Hold Us by Rick Bass
- Scoop by Evelyn Waugh
- My Dearest Friend: Letters of Abigail and John Adams
- Several potential books for review, of which I did not read enough to remember the titles/stories
(Most of these books came from the library or were free review copies, so I had no financial guilt over abandoning them. I bought the Forster and the Johnson used – which still hurts less than buying a book new and having to give up on it.)
What about you – do you abandon books? Or do you feel duty-bound to finish them?
cakes, tea and dreams 
Maybe like you, this is a new habit for me – or actually “habit” is strong, but something I’m newly willing to do. That is, to put a book down when it’s not grabbing me, not to finish. I am so sad to report that I feel the same way about Elizabeth Gilbert’s new book – gah! I wish I loved it. I WANT to love it. But I am struggling to get into it … xox
I wanted to love it too! And I was hooked for a while…but eventually lost interest altogether.
I am trying to live by Nancy Pearl’s rule, but as someone who is accustomed to finishing books, I’m finding it very difficult. If i give up it is usually more around the 250 page mark. I feel particularly guilty of abandoning books if they have been sent to me for review. But maybe DNF is better than a bad review? Or is that a review in itself?
It is tough. Sometimes I think not finishing is better than a bad review – but perhaps you’re right and it is its own review!
I rarely abandon books, maybe one or two per year. In most books, I can find a tiny bit of interesting stuff that keeps me reading. And I definitely give them more than 50 pages. I had to get 150 pages into Cloud Atlas, my last great read, before I liked it, but after that it became better and better and I’m so glad I finished.
I always, just like you, try to plow though books I don’t particularly enjoy, but as I have less and less time to read (unfortunately) I am coming to realize I need to ditch the books I don’t like. I am considering giving up on Sofie’s choice. It’s just not doing it for me.
First of all, when I think of my wife’s “fortress of solitude”, I can see her in this picture sitting on a comfy leather chair with piping hot coffee no more than an inch away. I genuinely feel a decent amount of guilt when I don’t finish something. But I think that is because I choose very carefully the books I read. I am a pretty slow reader. Books that would take my wife 3 or 4 days would take me a month and a half of dedicated reading time. So, I have to ask myself. “How did I miss the mark when I selected this book”. I don’t like wasting a time investment in a book. That’s just how I am and many people are different. Oops, I think I wrote too much. Sorry. Great post Katie!!
I’m not a fast reader so I have learned to be picky about what I read. I have the 50 page standard, too. I can’t remember which blog I copied this from. “The Rights of the Reader” by Daniel Pennac lists the following 10 commandments for readers. The reader has the right to (1) Not read (2) Skip (3) Not finish a book (4) Read it again (5) Mistake a book for real life (6) Mistake a book for real life (7) Read anywhere (8) Dip in (9) Read out loud (10) Be quiet
My mother, at age 88, about her shelf of mysteries: When asked if she’d like a few new reads, she replied, ” I read from left to right. When I get to the end, I start over because I’ve forgotten how the mystery was solved.”
My Dearest Friend: Letters of Abigail and John Adams
Was the book really bad, or not just what you were wanting to read. I have been contemplating looking for this one to read. I really like History, especially Early American History.
Steven
It wasn’t bad, but it was slow, and I just wasn’t in the mood at the time. I find the Adamses fascinating and I’ll probably pick their letters up again sometime.
I used to always buy my books, but now I usually check them out at the library. I don’t always finish library books. I can’t tell if it’s because I choose a wider variety (because of price) and therefore don’t like all of the choices as much or if it’s something else.
[…] for this post is brought to you by Tea, cakes and Dreams. Isn’t that lovely. Why on earth I feel so intensely sinful for casting aside an unfinished […]
Yup, Nancy Pearl changed my mind about this too. Before, I found myself avoiding reading as much as I normally would because I felt guilty for not wanting to read the book I had started. Now, I don’t look at it as stopping, but pausing. I have before on occasion not been into a book, then for whatever reason picked it up a few years later and couldn’t put it down.