Do you finish all the books you start?
My rule for reading a book is, if after 100 pages more or less, I’m bored/irked/appalled, I quit. This, however, is just me. (For TV shows, it’s watch at least three episodes.) My best friend believes if she starts a book, she has to stick with it to the end. And while I support her in this (fruitless) endeavor, I struggle to see why we should give our time to words that, after a good effort, don’t work for us.
What do you think? Do you finish every book you start? If not, how much of yourself to give to the story before you bail? Are you more likely to finish some genres than others? Do you feel badly if you quit?
If I start a book, I finish it. No exceptions.
Though, if the book is a drag, I will feel free to read very quickly and might even skip over entire paragraphs.
Before ebooks, I learned that reading the opening for a few pages and then randomly reading part of the middle of the book gave me a feel for whether I would want to read the entire thing. Ebooks have been more problematic because I rely so much on reviews.
I mostly finish books I have bought new or on my Nook. If I am not enjoying a book, often I will skip to the last two or three chapters, read them, then decide whether I am going to read the three chapters before the final three, and I may complete the book that way, reading forward and then jumping farther back. Otherwise, I may skim the center of the book. I am a little compulsive about wanting to know how the plot plays out, so that affects my ability to just dump the book without finishing it.
I am less careful about screening used paperback fiction. Sometimes I buy things that sit in my TBR pile so long that I just get rid of them. Changing my mind and deciding not to read a book I have hanging around happens more often than not finishing a book.
I only purchase books from authors I like, so I seldom DNF any purchases although I admit some take a while to finish if the story is slow. If the author is new to me or I am trying a new genre, I will check these out on Libby or Hoopla and read at no cost. I DNF quite a few of these, particularly contemporary romances that I find silly (think Penny Reid). I have not finished a few audio books that I tried in the free Plus Club offerings at Audible. I am liking that aspect of my subscription because I would have returned them if I had purchased. No harm to the author this way. One DNF was for bad narration and others were just not worth wasting several hours of my life. Of my Audible purchases, one I have started but can’t seem to finish is You Had Me At Hola, fortunately a low cost Daily Deal. My low rate of DNF on purchases is probably due to me reading reviews and sampling to check the narrator before I commit a credit or purchase. I have very long TBR list on my Kindle app (many picked up free) or cheap/free paperbacks and several TBL Daily Deal audios so there may be more DNF in my future.
I made a decision this year not to waste a minute on a book that I’m not enjoying. Year to date I’ve finished 51 books with 33 DNFs.
Some of those I abandoned at the 70 or 85 per cent mark because the characters were already together and happy and I didn’t see why the book wasn’t over yet, or they weren’t already together but I’d lost interest and didn’t care what happened to them. Some books I bailed on after a couple of pages because I could already tell the author can’t write and dialogue/prose that bad was never going be worth persevering with.
New to me authors, writers I’ve enjoyed before, books with great reviews – they’re all fair game to be ditched for something more promising. I’ve had a very cheap KU deal all this year so most of the non-library books haven’t cost me anything but my time is too precious to keep reading in the hope of some improvement that will make my investment worthwhile.It’s like continuing to gamble in the hope of winning your money back: it rarely works…..
In 2019 I’ve made the decision to start DNFing but to be honest, since then, that only happened four times. I try to pick things I believe I’ll enjoy, so those chances decrease.
I also bring things from the library and read reviews where sometimes a word or a sentence intrigue me enough to try. Most times, it’ works, but I’ve had less than good experiences.
Even though I do tell myself I should DNF more, part of me still rebels and tries to stick with it, at least so that I will be able to rant afterwards!
Lynda X said: “If you are reading for pleasure, and you are not receiving that–for whatever reason–give it 50 pages and if you’re not converted, read the end.” I agree with that sentiment 110%!!!
I also go along with Shirley Conran who said that “Life is too short to stuff a mushroom”. I ALWAYS have things to do. My life is busy – far busier than I expected in retirement but even in lockdown, I have found my available time to read has shortened and so I need to be sure that what I read is going to work for me and if it’s not, well then, move on to the next thing. Just another reason for reading reviews carefully here and elsewhere. Invaluable AAR: very many thanks for 20+ years of assistance!
Lynda X has articulated my philosophy perfectly. We have had discussions here in the past at AAR about whether we peek at the end of books. You betcha! I am an inveterate reader of the last page first, even on a kindle, and often I will let that denoument guide me through something that I am not, at first, happy with. Purely by accident, a book I read recently was so awful that for the first time I selected “remove permanently” from my kindle and promptly had a message from Amazon that I was therefore eligible for a refund. That was nice! Until then, I’d just off loaded the offending books to the cloud and forgot about them but getting that refund perhaps send a message to an author that a reader found their book intolerable. It is a feature I will use with the greatest of care and consider carefully before using it.
“We have had discussions here in the past at AAR about whether we peek at the end of books. You betcha!”
Oh, yes. I’m a believer in checking the end of the book first before reading it fully. This has saved me quite a few times from books that end with cliffhangers (ugh, I despise those!). Or books with awful endings (there’s one Sherry Thomas book that I would never read because of this. I could tell it was her typical angsty book through the very end with only 1 page of dissatisfying resolution. No, thanks!).
I rarely DNF a book. I mostly read books that I have purchased and I’m pretty careful only to buy those that I feel confident I will enjoy. If the author is new to me, I have read multiple reviews first. Sometimes I get to the end of the book and don’t feel inclined to buy other books by that author but the book wouldn’t usually be bad enough that I wouldn’t finish it. For authors I already like, I will read their latest release even if the storyline isn’t that appealing but if I feel “meh” about 2 books in a row from a favorite author, I might stop buying their books.
For books from the library, sometimes the loan expires before I read the book because I have such a large TBR pile and may not be in the mood for the library book. However, if I actually start a book from the library, I usually finish it.
For a TV series that is new to me, I will give it 2 episodes but if it doesn’t capture my attention by then, I stop watching. That happened to me recently with The White Lotus. I thought I would like it but it was too slow for my taste.
It’s pretty uncommon for me to DNF a movie for the same reason as books – I screen pretty carefully before deciding to watch it.
If I paid for the book, I would skim to finish it. However, if it’s an Overdrive checkout or Kindle Unlimited loan, I will bail by chapter 4. Usually, I’m more patient with an author that I’ve read before and will read a bit longer to give benefit of the doubt. If I’m trying a new to me author–DNF according to purchase/loan details.
My DNF rate is fewer than one per thousand books I read. My reading log since 1975 has 5 DNF entries out of over 8,600 (with rereadings removed) in my two main genres (F&SF & romance), though it is quite possible I didn’t log some DNF books years ago. Having greatly enjoyed some books that took quite a few pages to start getting good, a story has to be really failing me for me to give up on it.
As a former English teacher, I joined the opposition (people who don’t like schools) and told my students: “If you are reading for pleasure, and you are not receiving that–for whatever reason–give it 50 pages and if you’re not converted, read the end.”
I have learned how wrong I have been when I kept saying, “It’ll get better.” It never does.
In my pleasure reading, I am quick to bail if I’m not enjoying a book. However, I feel obligated to read my book club’s picks, and sometimes those can be really depressing. This year the ladies picked some super sad ones, like The Nickel Boys and the Chanel Miller memoir about being raped at Stanford. I used to make myself read every word of every book, but now I will skim the ones I’m not enjoying, and I allow myself one free DNF a year. I would love any other tips for coping with downer book club picks.
Your experience is exactly why I don’t join book clubs anymore. The first one I was in chose a horribly depressing book (maybe Message in a Bottle?) and that was it for me.
I have stopped reading books at various points and for various reasons. Usually it’s because the book is not holding my interest or I’m finding the premise too silly or something. There may be some underlying reason on my part that a book can’t hold my attention, like stress, too busy, or not in the mood. Sometimes I go back to a book that I was having trouble finishing and find that the book is actually a gem. Joanna Bourne’s The Black Hawk is a good example. It was the first book of hers that I tried to read and I was in the middle of a huge software conversion at work with lots of overtime. So I started the book, but couldn’t get past the first chapter or two. I was too tired to concentrate on the story and I just wasn’t getting into it, so I put the book down not intending to pick it back up. I don’t remember what prompted me to pick it back up a few months later, but I am so glad I did. I proceeded to glom all of her books and she became a favorite author.
That’s a really good point. For some reason, for the past five years, I haven’t been able to read hardly any lit fiction. Suddenly, a month ago, I can and am now reading–and loving–Pachinko, a book I started years ago and put down.
I loved Pachinko too! Glad you’re enjoying it. :-)
I have no qualms about not finishing a book. I have a huge TBR list, so if one gets eliminated, it’s no big deal. I don’t have a set amount I read before stopping. Sometimes I stop when I realize I put the book down and don’t comeback to it for a day or so. Other times I run into content I don’t enjoy, like super high angst, or lots of family drama (lots of anger and manipulation going on). The book might be well written, but it’s simply not something I enjoy, so I usually opt out.
Every once in a while I read or listen to a book that I’m only so-so enjoying, but I’ll go ahead and finish it. They are usually books that others have really liked and I’m trying to figure out why they don’t work for me.
I used to try to finish any book I started but, as I get older, I find that I’m more willing to give up on a book if it’s just not working for me. Some because I found it boring, some because some element irritated or outright offended me. Life is too short to read books I don’t enjoy … there are so many out there that I do enjoy.
100% co-sign. I used to obsessively finish any book I started when I was younger. As you say life is too short. I gave myself permission a while ago to close the book at any point from page one on if it wasn’t working for me.
Heck, no! In fact, a lot of my “reading” these days falls into the DNS category as in “did not start.” I figure I’m not doing graded school assignments anymore, so if I don’t like something, I put it down and find something else I like better.
These days, I often read just the first page or two of a book to decide whether or not I like the author’s style. Because that’s something I can’t overlook. You can have a great product description, awesome premise, and cool-sounding characters, but if your style grates on me, you’re not getting a fair chance. A few months ago, I had to give up on a book after two chapters because the author used way too many parentheses and flashbacks. Stuff like that combined with mediocre prose is a “no” for me.
Lately, I’ve found that I’ll slog my way through comparatively lackluster Harlequin Love Inspired Suspense titles just to find out how the hero and heroine overcome the bad guys. The titles are only about 55,000 words, so it’s not like trying to plow my way through an epic. Don’t get me wrong. I like a number of titles I have read in the series so far, but the need to “find out what happens” keeps me reading the ones that aren’t so hot.
For movies, I have a twenty-minute rule, as in “You have twenty minutes to impress me, thirty if I’m feeling generous.” Just based on lots of film watching over the years, I’ve found that films with a slow start lasting up to half an hour can turn out somewhere between good and great. But if we’re a half hour into the thing and it hasn’t gone anywhere interesting yet, chances are, it isn’t going to.
Back in my “corporate job” days (“hair, heels, hose, and makeup” as I like to describe them), I was a technical writer. We were told that studies showed even when the information you are communicating is life-saving, you only have three minutes to grab the reader’s attention and keep them reading. For instance, all of the information that was necessary to prevent the disasters at Three Mile Island, Bhopal, or Chernobyl was readily available in their technical documentation, but no one gave it more than three minutes—because the documentation wasn’t clear, concise, or we’ll-organized. Fortunately for me, nothing I wrote ever had that sort of life-or-death consequence, but keeping eyeballs on the page is always an issue.
And sadly, attention spans have gotten even shorter over the years.
I am even impatient with YouTube reviews. If I click on a review or something and the person just gabs about other random stuff for a long time I move it ahead or give up on it. I hate bait and switch.
I’m the same way, I won’t buy a book without looking at the first page or two. If the style is insufferable or poorly written I can’t do it. I’m old enough now I know what works for me and what doesn’t.
With the library or KU I have a little more leeway to give a book a chance but realistically I know if someone’s way of writing just grates on me right off the bat.
I once read somewhere that you should subtract your age from 100 and that is how many pages you need to read before you put the book down! At my age the page number is getting smaller and smaller.
I guess that’s why I’m putting down more and more books these days! And that, in turn, is why more and more of my reading is coming from the library. The only books I buy are new ones from authors I already like (and all of those are authors I first encountered via the library). But I’m not finding many new authors whose next book I await eagerly.
No—life’s too short. That being said, there are two types of DNFs: one is where you know a book isn’t doing it for you or you encounter a character, plot element, or authorial voice that is so off-putting you simply stop. The other is when you struggle to get into a book and try reading it by stops and starts—reading other books in between attempts—and eventually the book drifts further and further away as new books pile up and, essentially, you just give up on the book rather than making a conscious decision to not finish it. Having books on an e-reader (as opposed to a physical copy) makes the latter type of DNF so much easier—especially books that were free or very inexpensive. I do try to finish any book I paid full price for—but library books, books borrowed from KU, free/sale-price books, I don’t always feel committed to finishing. The last book I gave up on referred to THE GREAT GATSBY as “a famous play.” Call me a snob, but I didn’t feel the author would have much to offer after that.
DDD, pretty much what you said! I will add the following:
If a book really isn’t working for me, I’ll skip to the end and see how it turned out. In romances, I’ll often start searching for kiss scenes to see if the relationship actually interestingly progresses.
Because so many of the books I read are for review, I pretty much finish everything I start and very rarely DNF – in fact, I think it’s been a few years since the last time I didn’t finish a book. Fortunately, I’ve been fairly lucky with my choices when it comes to books I’m not reviewing, so I haven’t had to give up on anything, although I have no qualms about doing that if need be. Life’s too short to read a book you’re not enjoying! I can’t say I enjoy doing it though, probably because I hate to have wasted my money on something I didn’t like.
I’ve DNF’d a couple of audiobooks in the last year though – both because I didn’t like the story. In the past, I’ve DNF’d because of horrible narration, although when I’m listening to audios I’ve bought rather than review copies, chances are I bought it because I already know and like the narrator, so a “personal copy DNF” is almost always because I didn’t like the story.