In my youth I was a voracious reader. The problem then was always a shortage of books. Now there’s a shortage of time – and yes, I know I’m self under-employed right now, but there’s still far too much to do and not enough time. And there’s the internet. So I don’t read nearly as much these days. But I still love it, even if I lose my reading mojo from time to time.
I’m not always choosy in my reading choices. Occasionally I just need something light that I can race through, even if at times I do cringe at exactly what I am reading. (I do have some standards though – there are some books/genres I don’t touch). A quick easy read often allows me to renew my enthusiasm for what I like to call Real Books. It is rare for me to find a book I can’t finish.
But there are some books that are harder to get through than others. I persevere with them, getting through them a few pages at a time. Others languish on my “currently reading” list on Goodreads for months. I like them, but not enough to devote a lot of time or energy to them. Some of these books get a second chance, and I find if I read them at a different time, with a different mindset, I can get something from them, and often finish them easily.
But inevitably there are books I just do not enjoy. I feel as if I need to persevere, that I’m missing something if I don’t finish them, that I’m admitting to a character flaw if I stop half-way through. It’s worse if they’re books I’ve bought – then I feel as if I’m wasting money if I don’t finish, and so they might get shifted to what turns out to be my perennially-reading list. As long as I think I might finish them, then I haven’t wasted* my money.
In recent years, I have conceded and begun abandoning books if I just can’t get through them. I’ve abandoned two Booker prize winners – Anne Enright’s The Gathering (all I remember of it is “whine, whine, whine”) and John Banville’s The Sea (unrelenting and ultimately uninteresting gloom and doom) – and two of the popular Kate Atkinson’s books. I couldn’t get past the first chapter of Behind the Scenes at the Museum. Dealing with a character’s conception, the first words were “I exist!” The ridiculousness of this (not to mention the biological inaccuracies of the timing of conception – I know too much for my own good) insulted me. I pushed past those first paragraphs, but I couldn’t continue. Equally I found her Life after Life book – much lauded, including by members of my own bookclub – so gimmicky and so pointless (less Sliding Doors than a very tedious A Thousand Ways to Die), that, despite going into it with an open mind and forcing myself through several chapters, I eventually threw it aside in disgust. I’m officially giving up on her as an author. I feel liberated by the decision.
I’ve decided I need to embrace the idea of abandoning books I dislike. Life is too short to read bad books, when there are so many wonderful stories and authors out there. What about you? Do you feel the same guilt at not finishing a book? Or do you abandon with … well … abandon?
* That’s my logic, and I’m sticking to it.
I have been a terrible book worm lately (in that I haven’t been reading at all) but I normally love to read. I’m like you, a lot of times I will force myself to read something just to finish it. Right now I am having indecision anxiety and can’t pick a book off my goodreads list. Nothing is catching my interest…
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Nancy Pearl, a celebrity librarian in the United States, says: “People frequently ask me how many pages they should give a book before they give up on it. In response to that question, I came up with my “rule of fifty,” which is based on the shortness of time and the immensity of the world of books. If you’re fifty years of age or younger, give a book fifty pages before you decide to commit to reading it or give it up. If you’re over fifty, which is when time gets even shorter, subtract your age from 100—the result is the number of pages you should read before making your decision to stay with it or quit. Since that number gets smaller and smaller as we get older and older, our big reward is that when we turn 100, we can judge a book by its cover!”
I subscribe to this, in general. It’s hard for me to completely give up on a book – I tend to hold on to them in case I will like them some other time. But now that I’m in my 60s, I’m trying to give myself the gift of abandoning the book — and getting it out of the house sooner. (BTW, I couldn’t finish The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao either.)
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Jan, I love the rule of 50!
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I abandon when I need to abandon. I find that books affect my mood, and I cannot keep reading a book that is affecting my mood and affecting life in general in a negative way. I can only give my time and attention to things that help me run smoothly.
What I do often is check 5 books out of the library and read a chapter of each, returning the ones that just aren’t working for me in the moment. It doesn’t mean it won’t work ever. But it’s not working right now.
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This is exactly my philosophy: Life is too short to read bad books.
I usually borrow books, not buy them, so it is easier just to stop reading, return them and forget about them.
I love reading, there is always book I am reading, if not more, at least few pages per day. I wish I had more time for reading!
(but I also wish I had more time for long walks).
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I used to labor through and finish no matter what. One summer, I did that with James Joyce’s Ulysses. I think that’s the last book I will force myself to finish. I have abandoned many since then…1 just this past week! In fact, I created a shelf on Goodreads called “Gave Up.” A lot of times, I will get bored, and then skim a bit to the end. If it looks like I missed something interesting, I will go back and press on.
I did like Life After Life, though. But I don’t usually read time traveler stuff, so I’m not put off by the gimmick. I enjoyed it, but not enough to seek out her other stuff.
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I feel like I could have written most of this post. I keep meaning to write about the stack by my bed. Perhaps I will. I have a horrible time abandoning books, but that doesn’t mean it’s never happened. My problem now is starting. For many of the same reasons you’ve stated.
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I guess I must feel some guilt about deliberately abandoning a book, because there are very few that I have actually said, “That’s it, I’m not reading any more.” (One being “And Ladies of the Club” by Helen Hooven Santmeyer… it was a huge thick novel out in the late 1980s/early 1990s… I tried & tried to get into it and finally gave up.)
Mostly I set books aside after something more interesting catches my attention, with the intention that I will return to it,,, later. And of course, I seldom do. I have a whole little pile of “finish someday” books, which includes Barack Obama’s “Dreams From My Father” (beautifully written — just haven’t gotten through it all), “Jarhead” by Anthony Swofford, Rosemary Clooney’s memoir, and “The Happiness Project” by Gretchen Rubin.
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I’ll give a book two chapters, that’s it.
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As someone whose work had to do with literature, I spent my professional life reading books from start to finish, regardless of how I felt about them. It took me a long time to learn to let go of the compulsion to finish what I started, but I’ve gotten really good at it. (It helps that Kindle lets me sample a book–sometimes a whole chapter or two–before I buy it.)
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While I adored “Behind the Scenes at the Museum” I am skeptical about “Life After Life”. I want to keep reading Kate Atkinson mostly because she writes about my beloved Yorkshire.
I do understand your post though and I am with you on most points. I used to try to finish all books (eons ago) but in the past 15 years or so have let many go. I often plan on getting back to many, but I am pretty sure I won’t.
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I didn’t like The Sea and The Gathering either but I think I managed to finish them as they are both quite short. I liked Life After Life though which I preferred to her Jackson Brodie books.
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This fits me to a tee:
“But inevitably there are books I just do not enjoy. I feel as if I need to persevere, that I’m missing something if I don’t finish them, that I’m admitting to a character flaw if I stop half-way through.”
I admire you ability to learn to quit a book you aren’t enjoying… I still seem to force my way through! Although, I have learned to skim more to get through it faster. The most disappointing this is when you get to the end and you realize you read a book you didn’t enjoy AND you wouldn’t have missed anything by quitting.
I too hope to read more next year (I feel I say that every year) and maybe I will start learning to abandon them when they are a waste of my time.
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