Putting a book down

[Drizzt Do'Urden]

Have you ever read a book so horrible or boring that you stopped reading it? I tell you, this isn't a wise idea. On my first RA Salvatore book "Ascendance" I thought the book to be REALLY boring. I put the book down for about a year when I told myself I should probably just finish it. Afyter the first 50 pages or so, the book was awesome. I mean, Salvatores books tend to start off very boring, but 50 pages in they're awesome.

 

[funes]

It is very rare for me to put down a book once I've started reading it. However, the few that I have given up on are ones I'll never go back to. There's too much other stuff to read.

 

[dele]

Yes, that happens from time to time. I find usually that it wasn't the book that was awful, just that I wasn't at the right stage in my life to appreciate it fully. Going back to it later, I usually enjoy them a lot more.

 

[xmissyo]

I get that way sometimes, where I can't stand to even look at the book's cover it's so horrible, but it's usually a school book that I have to go back to, or I look at it later and think "Maybe it'll get better" and end up reading it all the way through even if it doesn't get better.

 

[Drizzt Do'Urden]

Yah, I just finished reading all of my "Unfinished" books....Thank the Lord I read "Ascendance"! lol

 

[cajunmama]

I ocaissionally put a book down, but not very often. I have a very ecclectic taste in literature so for me to find something too dull is rare. But it has happened.

 

[honeydevil]

I passed this depression (put a book down) only once in my life!! I know people will hate me, but it was IT by STEPHEN KING. I just couldn't figure out, how long he needs to come to the main theme in the book, when he needs about 4 to 5 pages to describe how a little boy plays with his papership.
bye

 

[marlasinger]

I've put quite a few down - but I always plan to pick them up later.

I've stopped reading Black House, House of Leaves, and Lord of the Rings.... I guess I just wasn't in the mood to read them at that time.

 

[magemanda]

I've sometimes wanted to put a book down, but something - morbid curiosity? - makes me continue reading. I guess I always want to give a book that last chance, and sometimes it pays off. There are a number of authors (Stephen Donaldson included) whose books tend to be putdownable until you hit the latter half. And if you didn't persevere through that not so great bit, then you might miss gems.

 

[Wabbit]

Yes, I do it all the time. Life is really short and I try to live it as well as I can. Life is far too short to be reading crap. Why will I bother to waste my time? That's the great thing about reading and not watching TV. It's not passive. IF I don't like the book then I just put it down and read something that i DO like. Having said that I am pretty lucky in that I don't get too many crap books a year!

 

[jenn]

i've gone back to most of the books i've put down and then been glad to have tried again. i agree with dele in that i think it was not the right time for me to reading that book. however i have tried to read the english patient 4 times!!!!! i saw the movie thinking knowing the end would help things along, but i JUST CAN'T DO IT!!! i don't know why. everyone i know lOVES that book and LOVES the movie. me, i got nothing. oh well, some relationships are not meant to be.

 

[direstraits]

I've only done it once, because like Cajunmama, I seldom pick up books that I won't read. But it happened with Melanie Rawn. I consciously forced myself to finish The Sunrunner's Wife, and had begun the second book when I realized that I could actually stop reading I book I didn't like. What a relieve it was! As I had already bought the trilogy, it's now sitting around somewhere in my Library Limbo (tm).

ds

 

[tartan_skirt]

Only once so far have I done that. It was Wuthering Heights, maybe one day I'll go back to it but for now I'll pass. Almost put down Lord of the Rings but made myself continue. Also almost put down Anne of Green Gables a few years ago, but since I had nothing else to read I read it all and as it turned out I enjoyed it, the start was really quite boring but it got better. Infact I think I actually re-read it not that long ago.

 

[Halo]

Only once so far have I done that. It was Wuthering Heights, maybe one day I'll go back to it but for now I'll pass. Almost put down Lord of the Rings but made myself continue. Also almost put down Anne of Green Gables a few years ago, but since I had nothing else to read I read it all and as it turned out I enjoyed it, the start was really quite boring but it got better. Infact I think I actually re-read it not that long ago.

Tartan_skirt, I can't believe you wrote this, because it is almost exactly the same for me! The only two books in my life that I have started and not finished are Wuthering Heights and Anne of Green Gables! I too almost gave up on LOTR, but then carried on and loved it. This is too spooky!

 

[tartan_skirt]

Tartan_skirt, I can't believe you wrote this, because it is almost exactly the same for me! The only two books in my life that I have started and not finished are Wuthering Heights and Anne of Green Gables! I too almost gave up on LOTR, but then carried on and loved it. This is too spooky!

Spooky

You should think about giving Anne of Green Gables another chance. The first few chapters were extremely boring but the rest of the book is quite good. Although I can't say I'm going to gave Wuthering Heights another chance because it was just boring.

 

[headpodd]

There is one book I really want to finish but I have tried twice now (years apart) to read the damn thing and each time I have given up. The second time I was even over half way through before I gave (as I say I really wanted to finish it). In the end, as the Bunny Wabbit pointed out life is just too short.

The book was Crime and Punishment, by the Russian bloke with the long name.

 

[Halo]

I'm afraid I won't be trying again with Anne of Green Gables because I couldn't stand the character of Anne! I found myself yelling "For God's sake just stop talking!!!" before throwing the book down in disgust. She drove me mad with her incessant wittering.

 

[Øystein]

As a teenager I had an unwritten rule* about never giving up on a book I'd started. I suspect it was an inner wish to not feel like I'd wasted having read half a book. Some silly pride thing, no doubt.
Well, if there's one thing I can thank Stephen King for, it's that he cured me.
I think I struggled to about halfway through The Tommyknockers when I had some very thorough and shallow inner searching, and very quickly came to realize that the time had come.
I put down the book.
Went to sleep.
Got a new book in the morning.

Still, it did take a while longer until I really felt comfortable with such decisions, and I'll agree that sometimes it's worth struggling through, as some novels will pick up, or you'll fall into the right slot to activate the mind in a way that makes it interesting.
A bonus to getting more comfortable with this is that it's easier for me to put down a book that I actually like, to go back to it at a later date, because I feel I'm not in the right mood at the moment. People speak of enjoying different things at different seasons, so I suspect it might have something to do with that, or just the current mental state in general.

It's not like putting down a book because you don't like it is a big deal. If nothing else, you might always go back to give it another chance a few years down the road, to see if it sits better then. But I'm done with forcing myself through tripe.

*While I was a geek, I thankfully didn't go as far as writing down such rules. Phew!

 

[Drizzt Do'Urden]

I'm afraid I won't be trying again with Anne of Green Gables because I couldn't stand the character of Anne! I found myself yelling "For God's sake just stop talking!!!" before throwing the book down in disgust. She drove me mad with her incessant wittering.

The people on Charlettetown, PEI would pretty much be mobbing you. The only reason anybody comes to Charlettetown is to see all the Anne of Green Gables Stuff. I was there a few summer's ago, and yah it was quite annoying...

 

[direstraits]

I'm afraid I won't be trying again with Anne of Green Gables because I couldn't stand the character of Anne! I found myself yelling "For God's sake just stop talking!!!" before throwing the book down in disgust. She drove me mad with her incessant wittering.

Halo... I've not read Anne of Green Gables, but I've seen the TV series shown a long time ago starring Megan Follows. It was my first exposure to Anne, and it's a very charming story. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

I've since got the book sequel called Anne's House of Dreams, and found that Montgomerie's writing is quite irritating.

ds