Unfinished books.. will you pick them up again?

[Cookie]

I really hate to put a book down unfinished...it feels like I've failed. Saying that though I have done it - Stephen Kings Insomnia bored me so badly I gave the book to my sister who said she liked it. I also gave up on a book about Elizabeth the First because it went into far too much detail, I really didn't need to know how much linen she bought in a year!

[jankensan]

haha insomnia is the only one of Stephen King's I've ever given up on, really dull start...

[Jue xxx]

Perhaps the title is ironic? Like the book was actually written as a cure for insomnia?!

[NiceguyEddie]

I definitely won't be picking up my copy of The Last Chronicle of Barset. Just before Christmas my dog had a bad stomach and **** all over it and the rest of the room. It went in the bin half read. I must buy another as I was only half way through it and was enjoying it a great deal.

[Capture]

I really hate to put a book down unfinished...it feels like I've failed.

 

Yeah, I usually feel the same. I feel guilty for not finishing it, but then I realize that maybe the book is just not for me. If I'm not connecting with it, then I won't finish it. I'd rather read when I can be fully engaged in the story from beginning to end.

Edited January 21, 2010 by Capture

[jankensan]

Perhaps the title is ironic? Like the book was actually written as a cure for insomnia?!

 

that's exactly what i thought when i put it in the bag to go to the charity shop! i thought if i had insomnia it would probably me cure me too!

[Cookie]

that's exactly what i thought when i put it in the bag to go to the charity shop! i thought if i had insomnia it would probably me cure me too!

 

Absolutely agree!

[Anika]

I put books down after the half-way point all the time, and usually finish them eventually. Sometimes I just get 'out-of-the-mood' for certain types of books even while I'm reading them, or I might buy something I want to jump into right away.

[gt]

I have only not finished 1 book - I think it was called The Librarian and I just couldn't get into it and after several tries I gave up.

 

I always try to finish them because I know the author has put a lot of time and effort into it so I kinda feel bad if I don't see them out till the end.

[runner]

I actually hate to start reading a book and not to finish... no matter how bad I want to see it through to the end. I recently order and started reading Blindness by Jose Saramago

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Blindness-Jose-Saramago/dp/1860466850/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1266758230&sr=1-1

 

after 50 pages I was bored...after 100...I was asleep...and after 150 I tore it up and threw in a waste bin....yes a brand new book and I was mad with myself for not finishing....so do you always finish even though the book is driving you insane:motz:

[Lisa-Marie]

I really hate not finishing a book

 

I've given up a few before, most recently I gave up on The Little Stranger. I just felt like I was getting nowhere with it and it just wasn't holding my attention. I know others really enjoyed it, but I hated it

 

I've also had Breaking Dawn sitting on my shelf half read for the past year. I will finish it though as it's part of a saga. It just got a bit stupid for me in the end and Bella drives me up the wall

[Johnny Carson Whit]

so do you always finish even though the book is driving you insane:motz:

 

That used to be the plan, but after struggling through a few books for the sake of it when I wasnt enjoying any of it whatsoever, my philosophy now is if I am not enjoying it, it's got to go; after all I wouldn't sit through a movie I wasnt enjoying.

 

That means I will never find out what happened at the end of the millennium trilogy after throwing the 3rd book under a car, but hey ho; there are far to many enjoyable books on the planet to waste your time reading ones you cant get into.

[ned]

 

That means I will never find out what happened at the end of the millennium trilogy after throwing the 3rd book under a car

 

that's excellent

[Nicola]

 

That means I will never find out what happened at the end of the millennium trilogy after throwing the 3rd book under a car

 

 

Life's too short! I used to feel guilty for not finishing a book but these days, if I'm not enjoying it I'll put it down and not feel guilty

[ethan]

I finish everything although I doubt it has anything to do with guilt. More likely getting my money's worth, or just plain curiousness. I confess I sometimes resort to skimming. I once read The DaVinci Code in a little over an hour and I don't think I missed anything!

[BigWords]

I once read The DaVinci Code in a little over an hour and I don't think I missed anything!

 

You probably managed to pick up the main points through skimming. And you managed to do it in less time than it takes to watch the film. I'm impressed.

[Ilona]

I plan on finishing many books that I started but never finished. However, I didn't leave them unfinished because I didn't enjoy them - I've just been too easily distracted. I usually won't finish a book if I think it's bad/don't enjoy reading it.

[:HerculeHastings:]

I seldom throw books aside midway, and they've got to be extremely dull if I do. Right now I'm debating about whether I should continue "The Elfstones Of Shannara" by Terry Brooks. It's a pity to ditch it, but I'm seriously reading it so slowly.

[nicx27]

I often abandon books if I'm not in the mood for them, or I'm not liking them. Usually I then get rid of the books by selling them on. Recently though I have been giving a lot of books a second go, usually ones that everybody seems to have loved, and by and large I've found that I have enjoyed them all the second time round.

 

Examples are: The Time Traveler's Wife, Small Island, Julie and Julia, The Lovely Bones, The Woman in Black, Raven Black - I could go on.

 

I think it's simply a case of changing tastes.

[Ruth]

I can never abandon a book, however much I might not be enjoying it. I wish I could, because I have spent time on some really dire books!! However, I can usually tell whether I will enjoy a book or not before I pick it up.

[Wyrdskein]

I read half of To Kill a Mockingbird about ten years ago, and have been meaning to finish it ever since; but will I ever do it?

[Kylie]

I had to put down The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath recently. It's very unlike me to do that, but it was too much for me at the time. I loved what I had read though, so I'll probably continue to read a few pages here and there.

[Cookie]

I think I'm going to put The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe away for a while, I really liked his spookier stuff and his poetry but some of the stories...I'm just not getting them. And I've been trying on and off to read this for ages now. I think it's time to move on.

[Lynn]

I'm really struggling with Never Let me go. I'm feeling a little down at the moment and I think I've just chosen the wrong time to read it. I don't really want to give up on it, but I feel I should be enjoying it and I'm not, so I think I'm going to stop and come back to it at a later date.

[arewenearlythere]

wikipedia is my friend when I lose track of the story, I had to put Ishmael down for a couple months and completely lost the plot. Still, books aren't supposed to be put down and left alone too long.