crotalus_p Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 I have to say I never give up on a book , I may leave it on my shelf with a marker in it and pick up where I left off a few weeks later (it's rare that i do that ), Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppy Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 I never used to give up on books, felt like I was giving in, but now I do it quite regularly. I think I'm getting less self-disciplined in my old age This year I gave up on :- Lady Chatterley's Lover ...may give this another go sometime if I can get over all the pompous rot at the beginning. Wild Mary: A Life of Mary Wesley ....I read most of this. Mary Wesley(author) lead a very interesting unconventional life, but if got terribly depressing at the end. Sexing the Cherry by Jeanette Winterson ....this just got a little too weird although I think she is a very gifted writer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Dawkins Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 I dont give up on books anymore,I used to but I've reread a lot of them now anyway. I'm reading Oliver Twist at the moment and its the closest I've been to giving up for a long time but I've stuck with it and now I'm actually enjoying it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Jacobs Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 I never give up on a book! Even if I am not enjoying it, I just can't give up - I wouldn't advise this course of action to anybody else though! I often wish I could give up, but once I've started investing time in a book, I have to see it through. i think you are right you just have to keep reading, sometimes it can get better but if not you still have had that experience. A book is a book and should be read, thats what we do. If I have had a bad days birdwatching I think Oh well another day and it will be better, Just like books I dont just remember the bad days or in thos case the bad books gotta stop now as GF has placed a ramble alert on the Pc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crotalus_p Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 i think you are right you just have to keep reading, sometimes it can get better but if not you still have had that experience. A book is a book and should be read, thats what we do. It's is the life that whe have chosen I think I am pretty lucky in the way I can read just about anything and still enjoy it , I think some times I enjoy the act of reading as apposed to enjoying the book it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Jacobs Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 Yes I agree. It is for me a way to shut off from the world. I read more books since I was diagnosed with my illness than I did when I was normal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crotalus_p Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 than I did when I was normal. Colin did no one tell you , ?? There is no such thing as normal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Jacobs Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 Never a truer word spoken:blush: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 I don't give up on books unless I really really have too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crotalus_p Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 I don't give up on books unless I really really have too. What do you mean when you say " I really really have too." ??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Jacobs Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 Good question, I usually give it a hundred words then put it way and try again another day. Books I discarded like that as a teenager 25 years ago later I picked up and read it again to the end. Christine by Stephen King was one of those. Funnily enough I read IT when I was 13 and did not get past the first or second chapter but when I was 22 I re read it and it ranks one of my top ten best reads Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted January 24, 2009 Share Posted January 24, 2009 What do you mean when you say " I really really have too." ??? Like If I'm nearly falling asleep because the plot/characters are that boring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ahsilet Posted January 24, 2009 Share Posted January 24, 2009 If a book hasn't caught my attention 3-6 pages in, I give up. If I go further than that, I don't give up on it no matter how horrible the book is. I finished Marley & Me and I thought that was one of the worst books I ever read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Echo Posted January 24, 2009 Share Posted January 24, 2009 I give up on books all the time. I figure, there are a ton of books to be read and I don't want to waste my time reading something I don't enjoy. I always have a couple books going at once, so it's easy to turn to something else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitegold Posted January 24, 2009 Share Posted January 24, 2009 I keep going as long as I can, but when reading it becomes a chore I have no hesitation in abandoning it, no matter how far (or not) I`ve got with it. same here! Well..I sometimes hate doing it. What if the ending makes the book worth it? but I have no motivation to see if thats true. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 24, 2009 Share Posted January 24, 2009 I give up on books all the time. I figure, there are a ton of books to be read and I don't want to waste my time reading something I don't enjoy. I totally agree i've struggled through so many books in the past that didn't get any better and found myself wasting a few days. I can understand those of you who have to finish a book no matter what, i was exactly the same but as i said in my intial post reading is something we all do for enjoyment where's the enjoyment in reading a book and getting nothing from it. I'm not getting any younger, so many good books out there are waitng to be read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted January 24, 2009 Share Posted January 24, 2009 Yes I agree. It is for me a way to shut off from the world. I read more books since I was diagnosed with my illness than I did when I was normal. I've also read more books since I had a major illness, but it's also when I started being able to stop reading a book I wasn't enjoying. I still try and read until at least a third of the way through, but if authors (and editors, who are just as guilty as the author sometimes) are not entertaining me or just plain annoying me, then I don't want to finish their books, even if there is a possibility they get better towards the end. If I'm not enjoying a book, then I take longer to read it, which means it is the double edged sword of not liking the book I'm reading, and stopping me reading two or three other books I might enjoy more in the time it takes me to finish that one awful book. Life's too short! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimera Posted January 24, 2009 Share Posted January 24, 2009 I'm one of the "Giving up on a book haters" So I'll always try to keep going, thinking it might get better or it's just me not getting it. Which is a shame as if it's really not grabbing my attention I'll slowly stop reading it anyway and only truly give up when I find I havent picked it up in more than a week... Which means I've lost all that reading time for nothing! I did that just recently with Far from the Madding Crowd... I need to work on my book dropping hability *laughs* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anisia Posted January 24, 2009 Share Posted January 24, 2009 I do give up on books at times if they really don't hold my interest at all and I notice I'm not enjoying them at all after going through quite a few pages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen1 Posted January 24, 2009 Share Posted January 24, 2009 Once I start a book I like to try and finish it even if it's one that I'm not particularly enjoying that much. However if it's really, really bad and is beginning to put me off reading then I'll stop reading it as there is so many other books out there that I want to read, it seems a bit of a waste to read one that I'm struggling with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Andrea~ Posted January 24, 2009 Share Posted January 24, 2009 I used to give up on books regularly when I was younger, just out of laziness really. I am a lot more perservering now, but have no problem giving up on a book I really am not enjoying. Time is precious, and I have little spare time as it is. It's a no-brainer for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loopyloo100 Posted January 24, 2009 Share Posted January 24, 2009 I don't feel that I give up on too many books as generally I seem to have been lucky enough to read books that I do actually enjoy. the last 2 that I remember giving up on are: Monster by Johnathan Kellerman - Just could gain any interest in this one! and Northern Lights by Nora Roberts - This was the first and last book of hers that I tried. I really hated reading the third of it that I did. I found that the characters really got on my nerves and I just couldn't persevere. it really did put me off trying anything else of hers. I don't believe I gave up on any last year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissy Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 Eyeless In Gaza by Aldous Huxley. I tried three times, and finally admitted defeat about six years ago. You never know, maybe one day I'll be alone with time to kill and no current book, and there it will be........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andaira Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 I really try not to give up on books. But if one of those comes along, I'd rather put it aside after a week or two of attempting to have my attention held, rather than being a month without reading anything because I have hopes for the current book to keep my attention (I like to read only one book at a time). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fruska Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 I normally give it 100 pages. I tend to find myself skim reading, and I reach a point where I haven't got a clue what's going on I've skimmed that much. It's then that I decide 'life's too short'! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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