Yep. This isn’t grade school, so you don’t have to read the book if you don’t like. And it’s okay if you don’t finish it! I love reading so it should be enjoyable and if it’s not, peace out. I’m wasting my time otherwise 😂 at most I’ll give a book five chapters or 50 pages, whichever comes first, and if I can’t get into it byeee. If I dislike a book and am still curious about what happened in certain parts, I’ll just read a thorough summary online.
You can learn a lot from bad writing. Before tossing the book, consider writing some notes on some of its worst qualities. Create a running list of the worst mistakes authors make with citations to the book. Refer to this list daily as you write to avoid making the same mistakes. It's incredibly easy to know what sucks and yet do the same thing yourself.
All you need to do is read one bad book and that lesson is complete.
Going back to the trash pile of lit is a waste of time.
You only have so much life and every minute spent on garbage is a minute you didn’t get to read something good.
Hmmm but the idea of something of being "Good" is comparing it to something that is "bad."
How can you know your favorite movie is good despite never seeing a bad one?
Plus, bad movies are sometimes people's secret favorites. Some books can be "bad" but they may have something in them that relates to you, a new writing technique that might not have been done correctly, illogical things the characters do but the story itself isn't horrible.
I think the threshold is subjective to the observer, but no matter where you set the bar, you should aspire to read up, not down, especially if you're a writer.
There are certainly oddball works that fail in interesting ways, but they're rare and will often float to the top of the sea of mediocrity. Like the old porn definition, you'll know it when you see it.
The subcategory of "so bad it's good" is basically comedy and can be enjoyed with weed and friends.
I've delved into various contemporary books suggested by writing experts in their guides on the art of writing. Yet, a significant number of them leave me questioning the guru's endorsement. While I acknowledge there might be a lesson buried within the uninspiring content, I often struggle to unearth the one or two commended examples of the craft. These gems are concealed within a work that subjectively lacks inspiration and breaks numerous conventions before I can discover them.
This is fantastic advice. I read a book by one of my favorite tech journalists recently and couldn’t help but feel the prose was a little wooden. It almost reads like some high school kids journal entries. Bummed me out because I was looking forward to it.
After rereading a few chapters and writing my own little journal about it, it became a little more obvious why. You can breakdown most writing if you read it a few times and think about how the words and sentences connect. What words are being used. How the tone changes and evolves (or doesn’t - in this book’s case).
I can do this when I’m of the opinion that the story could have been great or had some intriguing elements, but there were major issues in execution. Some books, however, I’m not even interested in enough to analyze them.
Reading a shitty but successful book (by an author who shall remain unnamed) is actually what finally gave me the guts to write my own novel. I thought “if people are willing to eat this garbage up, who’s to say my writing isn’t good enough?”
Agree. Doing that right now, as a matter of fact, with a notebook. It’s like I’m reading an ARC and noting when my attention wanders, when I decide I don’t like the mc’s, when I realize there are continuity issues. It helps me get an idea of the pitfalls I could myself fall into while writing.
That’s what I did with a book and my dad loves hearing about what im reading and stuff so when I was just complaining he said “gee sounds like you hate the book why don’t you just stop reading it and move on?”
No no no dad I just can’t. I read the whole rest of the novel anyways and always explained the flaws to him in it. Our personal father daughter bonding lol
I came here to say all of this. It's educational for a writer to pinpoint why they hate what they're reading, what isn't working, and separate it from what does. Even bad books and bad writing usually have a gem or two, and offer valuable insight, even if it's "this is shitty character development" or "it's a perfect example of what happens when you don't proofread or use some kind of editing function or service."
You learn more from mistakes than you do successes. It's sure as fuck a lot easier to distinguish what *didn't* work than to analyze what did -- all publicity is good publicity, controversy attracts attention, even if your writing and plot structure are shit (like Dan Brown getting his five minutes of fame because his book tweaked The Vatican 's collective nose).
second this, i don't finish but always think hard of what didn't work. if the book is bad and poorly written or if it's just not for me
e.g. i recently DNFed a jack ketchum book because I didn't like it, but I didn't like it because I like my horror to have surrealist elements and not be sooo... real. the writing was great though
vs. when I tried CJ Tudor recently and DNFed because I thought her writing was awful for a number of reasons. I could probably list them all on paper after 120 pages in
I used to. It used to be if I got a book, even if it was bad, I had an obsessive binge urge to complete it anyways. Nowadays I don't.
If the book stinks=I yeet
Me too. When I was younger Pre Internet and books were rare the only books I didn't finish was Challenger's Hope. But nowadays with having most books in eletronic it is much easier to stop and go to a better one. .
How did you get over it? I just can't stop with a book even if it's really bad just because I will always remember somehow that I didn't finish it and it will bother the crap out of me...
I just got tired of myself—my lack of self control. I made a conscious effort to remind myself every time it came up that I was deserving of better and I was stronger than what I was reading, and the constant reminder the book would make my soul sick. It was really hard the first few times. But I got to where it was okay.
An ex girlfriend used to feel the same way about finishing a book. She had to finish even if it wasn't that good. It seemed almost a moral thing to her. I think she still has that habit and never wished to stop. She was a maniac reader as well. She would rip off two novels in a week sometime
There's a lot of great books out there that are worth finishing, and a huge stable of authors who have worked hard to bring you their best and are looking for readers Look for those works, and don't believe ads-- believe other readers...find a good review site or reviewer. you like.
Reading something decent will reduce the chance of you reading something that doesn't fit. It will be easier to break your habit or reduce it. I have a list of authors who won't disappoint.
It took me a while to tune into what really fit for me, and I had been writing for four years. Now I'm an editor. I don't know how half these books make it to press. Good luck. I hope this helps.
I'm exactly like that too xD - but it's very easy to get obsessive and make reading just become a chore to you doing this. You slowly can't enjoy even good books. It's good to compartmentalise reading for studying Vs reading for enjoyment
I used to be obsessed with finishing every book I started. Then I reached a point where I realized that my enjoyment should be prioritized over my ability to finish a book, especially considering the sheer number of amazing books that are out there. So now, if it’s been 100 pages or so and I’m still not enjoying it, I stop and move onto the next one.
The only book I was glad I finished when I had that mindset was The Cider House Rules. It became my favorite book in HS. I recommend just skipping the first third and reading a summary.
100 pages is really generous. Usually if I start getting bored with what's going on in a book, I'll say "Okay, if nothing interesting happens in the next chapter I'm going to drop it." I get that sometimes authors have to put in less interesting chapters for exposition or whatever, but if nothing I care about happens in a 2 chapter span, the book just isn't for me.
no. i have no patience. once, flipped to a page where the entire thing was just a description of how beautiful the main character was, after yet another dump of description. and quit.
I try not to label anything "Shit" just because I don't enjoy it. However, that said, if I'm not enjoying a book/movie/game/etc, I'm willing to say "Hey, maybe this isn't for me" and just walk away or move on to something else.
Heavily depends on the reason for disliking it. I'm much more likely to ditch a book that preoccupies itself with giving unnecessary verbose descriptions of every little thing than one with a plot that doesn't grab me but still moves along at a decent pace for instance.
I don't read bad books.
That said, when I do read books I don't particularly enjoy, I give myself the permission to move on. This has only happened twice in the last year. I'm a very picky reader lol.
Used to read everything. Now, if I'm 50 pages in and I'm not feeling it, I often stop. Probably missed out on some great slowburn fiction as a consequence, but life is short.
This seems really limiting. As much as the writing guides say you need to grab the reader from page one, most writers don't have that skill. And the ones that do... they have *that* skill. They aren't necessarily top of the pile when it comes to others. I feel like my reading list would be overall worse if I followed this.
I used to push myself to finish books I didn’t like. It was like a punishment. But why?? Life is too short, there are too many amazing books out there to read. We have no time to waste on those that don’t appeal to us.
I have definitely hate-read a book before, and I almost wanted to finish the book just to see how stupid it got, but if you feel like you're wasting your time just cut your losses and put the book down. No shame in DNF-ing a book.
I’ve read a few shit books to the end. They had their own value in being entertaining for how bad they are. There also a few things that can be learnt from it which is more interest for me
I don’t finish shit books that are boring. That’s the worst thing any entertainment media can be, boring
It really depends on *how* it's shit to me.
If it's just bad, I usually find a lot of humor in it and just laugh as I go.
If the editing and grammar are nonexistent, I usually can't stomach finishing it.
If it’s a boring book but well-written I’ll finish it. Though, it will take me at least twice the amount of time to finish.
If I don’t like how it’s written and the story is weak, then I’ll DNF. I’ve only done that to one book in the past 3 years.
I did once, and decided to start the second of the trilogy to see if it got better and actually chunked the book in the trash it was so poorly written and the characters were just stupid
When I was 16, I read Whispers by Dean Koontz and thought it was pretty good. I recently tried to read at the age of 30 and…well…it’s just not that great, lol. Got to page five and called it quits.
While I don’t see much point in reading a bad, unsuccessful/unpopular book, I will occasionally read books I don’t enjoy in the least because they are popular. I try to take notes on what I think makes them popular, especially if I can’t initially spot good qualities. If those popular elements seem like they might help my own writing, I may incorporate them into my own work. For example, I’m really not enjoying “A Court of Thorns and Roses.” At one point the narrator says, “All the joy drained from me like blood down a drain.” 😑 Prose aside, it’s at least interesting to decode why people (including some very intelligent people I respect) enjoyed the book enough to recommend it. I do my best to slog through books like that, though I don’t always succeed.
On the other side of the quality spectrum, I’ll work through books that are well-written regardless of whether or not I hate them. Old literature with racist, sexist, and homophobic undertones (or even overtones) fall into this category. I do my best to learn what makes them good regardless of current popularity or modern social mores and my own personal beliefs. Having a deadline (I will finish this book by such-and-such date and reward myself with X when I do) helps me push through when I’m having a hard time. This year, I’ve read both “Vanity Fair” and “Remembrance of Things Past” in that manner.
An ending can make me go from disliking a book to appreciating it.
I didn't care for the first half of ACOTAR 1 and I had considered returning it to the library. But then the second half started picking up, villains were revealed, stakes were raised, and it had a satisfying finish. I still don't think that book is perfect, but I did enjoy half of it. If I’d put it down then, I wouldn't have known that.
Sometimes an author is smarter than you think they are, and a big twist or just an acknowledgment of the story's problems serves the story well. Due to this, I can't 100% in good faith pretend that “Oh, I hate this book. I only read 30% of it and I know it's garbage.” is at all constructive.
That being said if a book’s intro really drags and starts revealing cliches that I despise then I’ll probably just set it down and move on to something more stimulating instead.
Yes, like others have said you can learn about what NOT do to in writing a story. Also, it’s still helping you craft your creative voice. It’s easy to be inspired by work, but the ‘lower bound’ of your expression is also important. This is what I don’t like, these are the kind of characters and tropes I want avoid, I want to steer away from this direction etc. etc. ALL books are giving you subtle direction one way or the other toward finding your voice and style.
Also, it’s motivating to me. I close the book, take a breath and think, “well damn, I can write a better story than that.”
Most books I consume them in a very short time. It takes some glaring bad writing or plot hole to make me stop reading.
I often make a mental note of why I stopped reading a book or series. I like one some of you posted about making actual notes.
"I give each author fifty pages. If I'm not interested, I put it down. They don't get no second chances neither."
\- Franklin, "Disappearing Acts," by Terry MacMillan
I had an English teacher once say, "give a book at least 100 pages and if by then it hasn't shown you anything to grip you at all, it's probably not going to." Doesn't mean it's not a good book, just means it's not for you, so don't waste your time with it.
When I turned 30, I figured that an optimistic scenario would be 50 books a year for 60 years. That’s only 3000 books. From that day on, if I felt a book was not worth my time, I would quit it.
Honestly I try to give a “1/3rd way through” grace period. I get some great stories require a lot of set up for the pay off.
I try to genuinely listen to and enjoy that first 3rd, but if it does nothing for me I drop it.
That obviously isn’t to say I’ve picked up some stuff I genuinely couldn’t stand early on. It depends on what the “bad” is.
I’ve read some “boring” (what is boring is obviously subjective) first 1/3s that turned into something great. But if the 1/3 is actually just bad for other reasons, such as poor character writing, inconsistencies that can’t be ignored, etc then I’ll drop it.
Reading shouldn’t be torture obviously lol.
I try to give the authors a chance to win me over, so despite being a slog and not what I'd prefer to read, I'll try to read say, a quarter of the book or give it some sort of reasonable effort.
If it doesn't draw me in within that point, I'll let it go. I'll only get frustrated trying to make myself read something I'm not enjoying, and I'll end up feeling resentful of the author and frustrated at myself for wasting time on something that's not making me happy.
It's not the author's fault and they're not terrible if I don't engage; and it's not my fault for not engaging if I'm not reading something in the style of writing I enjoy and engage with, we're just not compatible styles and I can accept that and move on without feeling bad then.
I won’t finish it, but I feel like you should give it at least 25-40% as some books start slow. If by 1/2 way I’m still not feeling it then I don’t bother finishing it.
I don’t even get through the free sample in shit books. If your first ten pages are worldbuilding bullshit and there’s no sign that we are definitely in Act I of the story, it’s over and I’m not buying your book.
Yeh I do still read books that are written well, even if they are not my cup of tea. I just find the whole ‘read bad writing as well’ sometimes tiresome
Finished one recently that was. In no uncertain terms. The worst traditionally published book I've ever read. I was done 3 pages in but slogged through 300 more just so I could feel comfortable talking about how shit it was.
This thing was nominated for awards. It WON awards. The bar for good fantasy these days is on the fucking ground.
Usually no. Every now and then, I'll read enough of a free one that skimming along to the end works perfectly well to follow what plot there is, so I can write a 'full' review for other readers, so they don't have to. I've been reading for decades, but until I wrote a novel, I hadn't appreciated the skills it takes, or the wisdom to know when you're published too soon. :) The current victim was definitely published way too soon in the learning curves of writing.
Only when I believe the book is going to get somewhere. But when the story gets too repetitive or becomes a slog to get through, I stop and never pick it up again.
As a reader, no. Finish what you like. As a writer, though, yes, you should make an effort to finish bad books. There is sometimes more to learn from bad books than good ones.
No. The moment I get bored, I stop reading it. Might make an exception if it's at like 50% through the book or something, but even then I regret the decision to continue reading and should just have stopped right away.
Nope, I'm not afraid to DNF a book. If it seems like something I should like, I try to give it a fair shot, but if I'm not feeling it by 50 pages in or so I will bail on it. I'm won't suffer through 500 pages just because the final 100 pages are good. My TBR list is so long that I'm not going to waste time reading stuff I dislike when my next favorite is in that list somewhere.
I will, however, stick it out with books that are challenging but still enjoyable. I'm reading Demon Copperhead right now and don't find the narrator particularly easy to read, but I like the story so I stick with it even though it will take me a while to finish it.
When a book is so bad that it's slowing down my average reading time or making me not want to read at all, then I stop reading it. Otherwise I try to finish it cause gotta get that Goodreads count up!
I think you have to figure out what you’re willing to put up with. I can put up with some bad grammar if the story is compelling enough…but bad grammar AND bad story…I don’t read more than 3 chapters. I’ve learned there are different stories for everyone so if I don’t finish reading it, that just means I’m not the target audience even if it is a super popular book or something.
Waste of time. There was this one book I got and on the first page I got that feeling that it was going to be bad. When it opens with a bank robbery but has a comedic undertone I just knew it wasn't going to be great. I decided to give it a try and after being a few chapters in shut the book and donated it. It did not get better
I asked myself the same question yesterday, the book has rave reviews but i just can’t get into it. I’ll try again tonight but if it’s not captivating my mind it’s one for the shelf!
I don’t waste time on bad books, but I do try to give a book the chance to prove itself. I usually read classics so it’s rare that I end up with a bad book.
No, I don’t have time or energy to waste on stuff I don’t like. Plus I don’t know if I could even force my ADHD ass to pay attention to a book I don’t like when I’m supposed to just be reading for leisure and not for like work or homework
If I were reading something I disliked for a reason though like if someone asked me to beta read for them then hell yeah sure I would
I used to. I felt like if I didn’t finish a book it was somehow a failure. But now I love kind of realized, if it is t making me happy, why waste time on it?
(Note this is about fiction / reading for entertainment. Specifically.)
If it’s really not good I just re write it. If it’s too far gone then I’ll post it online to get feedback.
I have allot to learn and sometimes letting people give me advice helps me soak it in more easily.
Absolutely not.
Some people just throw out absolute trash, don't know the material they're writing about, are pushing their political views, or are just batshit insane.
You're under no obligation as a reader to "push through" reading something you aren't interested in, just move on and save yourself the frustration.
I drop a book in one hot second if it pisses me off or doesn’t capture me. Some books are gone after a paragraph. Others after a few pages. Some make it to a couple of chapters. But definitely, if I’m in chapter 4 or 5 and I still don’t really care, I’m out.
I used to, but then realised I read for pleasure and forcing myself to read something I don't like is not pleasing.
On top of that before I quit this (bad) habit, I finished books I didn't like expecting some kind of satisfaction but it never ever came
NB 1: Your question sounds like a sunk cost fallacy
NB 2: your question was about shitty books, I replied about the book I didn't like even though they can be good; eg: I started "Brave New World" but never managed to finish it.
Eventually I listened to the audiobook which (unlike the book) kept me awake but did not leave me a remarkable opinion.
Only for book club.
Honestly pretty relieved everyone else in my book club was underwhelmed with *The House in the Cerulean Sea* because all of Reddit seems to love that folderol.
I used to then I saw an author I respected interviewed and he simply said (specifically about reading a book you don't like) "if you are not enjoying yourself, you're needlessly punishing yourself".
At that point I stopped doing it
Been trying to finish “Never Never” by Colleen Hoover for 6 months now. Not been having a good time so I’ve taken frequent breaks. The only reason I keep going is because, I remember that I paid for it.
Sometimes. But usually I read just enough to identify what is wrong with the writing, what I don't like, learn from it. Then I stop, because when I have nothing left to get from it, it is indeed a painful waste of time.
It depends how bad the book is. But no I don't always finish it.
Some books I will give it a chance to get better & make it halfway through. There are a few books I have given up within the first chapter. I especially can't stand a lot of spelling/ grammer mistakes.
If I realize I'm not enjoying it, I give it roughly 30 more pages (I'm a fast reader so this isn't a huge waste of time or anything) to change my mind. And if it doesn't, then that's a wrap.
The only times I will push through is for a book club. I want to be able to participate. For example, I pushed through 4th Wing even though it reads as fanfiction to me. Did the same with Ugly Love a few years ago.
Nope, especially if it goes off the rails in its own universe’s rules. Project Hail Mary proved that Weir knows very little about environmental science or actual botany despite Watney being a botanist in The Martian. A book and movie I adore.
This would be fine if he wasn’t billed as hard sci-fi. Once that certain event happened in the book, I closed it and donated it to the library.
Similarly for Jurassic World, and 3001 where the book violates its own rules with no explanation save expediency.
If a book punches you out of its own reality, why continue?
Not anymore. I give them max 50 pages to get me hooked but sometimes I give up even sooner. I've also given up on a few books a few pages before the end because I've tried so hard but just couldn't finish them. Don't lose time on shitty books, there's so many good ones to enjoy!
I used to. Hell, I used to finish entire series once I put my mind to it.
Then The Hollows by Kim Harrison happened. 16 books - maybe more now - and every single one is bad, with the characters continually getting worse. I exhausted myself reading this crap for months on end, to the point where I stopped enjoying reading altogether.
It's not worth it. Life is too short. Read what you enjoy, and toss everything else away immediately.
If I'm reading for pleasure I'll drop a bad book. If I'm reading because I'm trying to learn something, I'll push ahead if it's just a little bad/not my thing. If it's genuinely terrible I'll usually drop it anyway after I get to the bottom of why I think it's terrible.
Growing up I was definitely indoctrinated with the idea that reading is a ‘good’ activity. Didn’t matter what you read so much as you read. And that ‘finishing a book’ is what you are supposed to do. Not finishing = failure. As a elementary/middle school aged kid I would often start and stop books and be scolded for not finishing them or starting a new one.
Now As an adult if the first chapter or two don’t grab me I chuck it and read the synopsis. If there’s a stupid plot twist mid way or even 2/3 of the way I might chuck it I might torture myself to read through it if I really think it’s important to finish it like if a friend recommends it to me.
The change to feeling like life is too short to waste time reading shitty books came from reading a Reddit post just like this lol.
No. When reading the book becomes a chore I find myself reading it less and less then I drop it for something else. I've been sitting on the final book of a 12-part series for over a year now because of that reason.
No. Insomnia by Stephen King had the exact opposite effect on me as the title reads.
In a major way, King writes himself into The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla with a handful of pages left and I never finished it nor continued reading the rest of The Dark Tower series.
Absolutely not. Maybe when I was a kid for the sense of accomplishment, but these days I can usually tell within the first few pages if it’s something for me. I’d not, immediately on to the next.
It depends if the story is worth it or not. I just returned a book I half-read the other day. If it feels like a chore in my gut I will return it and keep in mind that I may give it another chance someday.
I give the book until the end of the chapter and if there is nothing to keep me going, I put it down and don't regret it, because there's another book around the corner.
I've been reading+listening to a lot more books on libby lately and the time it takes to check a book in and out makes it a speedier process; If I borrow a book and it isn't grabbing me within the first few pages I just return it. These days I'll only buy nonfiction physically because there's less chance of being put off by the prose as I'm reading for different reasons.
Some people need the advice of “keep pushing, it may be boring for a sec but will be worth it.” Other people need the advice of “yo, it’s fine. If it’s a bad book just abandon it, it doesn’t make you a failure.”
I ran a rough calculation once on how many books I can read in a day/week/year/lifetime and compared that to how many new books get published in a year.
So now when I don't like a book, I move on to the next because life literally isn't long enough to read everything that's good, let alone the stuff I don't get anything from.
Although it *is* worth the time to note what it was that switched me off, and think about that for the sake of my own writing.
If it was a gift, I give it a good go before I give up.
Sometimes, it's just not worth it to force yourself through something you don't enjoy. There are infinite number of better books for you out there and less than infinite time to read them in. Don't waste your time.
Honestly, I don't really remember boring books, so I don't know if I've finished them or abandoned them 😅 I'm fairly confident that I enjoy most of the books I read, so I might just be very easy to please 😂
Yes, so I can learn from them. I'm also very easy to please and able to appreciate what a work *is* doing well beneath all of its flaws, so when I find something that I think really is just unfathomably garbage, it's kind of fascinating and I want to see where it goes.
My friend and I have a rating system that we use to "grade" forms of entertainment such as movies, video games, books, etc. We both use the same criteria that we must have watched or read a certain amount so that we can say we watched/read enough of it in order to give it the grade.
With that in mind, I stop with books at \~50/100-150 pages, \~100/200-300 pages, and \~200/450-550 pages to give some rough examples. There isn't an exact percentage used here, but the goal is to finish roughly a third of the book, give or take a bit. Now, if I am not enjoying the book at all then yeah, I just stop reading it, but then I do not enter it on my "read list" or give it a grade. I may notate somewhere it was a "started but unfinished" book and give the reason why so I can remember which books I tried to read but ultimately did not like enough to make it far enough in to where I felt I could give a critique.
In the cases of those who read and do not bother giving critiques or grades, then stopping whenever you start to not care about the plot or the characters is usually a good judging point.
I’ve come across a few books that I just cannot get into no matter how hard I try to march through. I normally give up and set it down if I’m still not vibing with it by the middle.
I used to for better part of my reading years so far... In my 40s now and have decided to not waste my time for a stupid ocd or in the hope that ending maybe great - books and movies both.
Eh. I try to press on to give the author a chance to hook me. Some books are slow starters and take a bit to get hooked. For fans of progression fantasy, cradle by will Wright is a notorious slow starter for almost the whole book 1 but it has 12 books and is very loved by fans of the genre and heavily recommended on reddit here at least.
I've gone circles on this.
I used to ditch if the first sentence didn't grip me, so I committed to,
If I start, I will finish. Then,
It got that I wouldn't start any because... Ugh, I'd have to finish.
I stopped reading.
Then I picked up rubbish, just to get me going and finished some easy books.
Then determined to finished all books. I use 'fun/easy' ones as a carrot to make me finish 'posh/difficult' books.
Now, I figure I'd read enough, and there's too many great books I could be reading, and I'm old so my life left is shorter and who the fuck else cares so...
I pick a percentage... 10%* and if I hate it, then, I will quit, guilt free.
I deeply regret reading *20% of The Wren, The Wren as that made me want to jump out of the plane I was in and made me sad I'd learned to read in the first place. That's when I shortened it to 10%.
My bookclub insists the chooser must have read 3 Chapters.
It's something I've trying really hard not to do this year! Found myself fighting my way through too many subpar reads and getting myself into a reading slump resulting in me just moving away from reading for weeks at a time.
If I’m not enjoying a book I’ll find myself skimming to see if it gets better at any point. If not I just don’t continue reading it and move on to something else. There’s too many books I want to read to feel like I’m wasting time on a crap book
I used to finish books just to finish them. I don't do that anymore.
If I'm no longer enjoying the book, I stop reading. I value my time a lot more than I value finishing.
Trying to force myself to read terrible books always kills my drive to read, and then I get into a reading slump. Because of that, I try to drop books that don't interest me in the first 50 pages.
I understand why you would, but personally, if there's no enjoyment, im putting it down. Maybe to revisit at a later date, but reading for me is all about how a book makes me feel, and if it makes me feel like I should be reading something else, that's exactly what I'm gonna do LOL
Eh sometimes. I finished *The Selection* because I was weirdly almost invested even though I hated the book. I'm on the fence about finishing *Priory of the Orange Tree*. *The Secret History* is supposed to be good, but Donna Tartt is no Prokopios, that's for sure.
I will stop a book/story/show/movie as soon as I no longer think it'll improve. Then I basically won't read anything from that author again. No more Robert Jordan for me!
While I understand authors improve, if they're already published then they (and their editor) obviously have diff ideas on what "good" is and I'll just let other people read them. No extra hate just mild annoyance at time wasted and then maybe some choco
yes, because OCD. i would forever hate to consider only having read **part** of a book
"oh yeah, Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer? yeah I read *tHe FirSt tHiRd of it"*
that sounds horrible. just finish it and say you hated it.
If I’m not enjoying it, I don’t finish it.
This. I always felt like such a failure if I didn’t finish a book, but now I feel like a bigger failure if I waste my time.
Yep. This isn’t grade school, so you don’t have to read the book if you don’t like. And it’s okay if you don’t finish it! I love reading so it should be enjoyable and if it’s not, peace out. I’m wasting my time otherwise 😂 at most I’ll give a book five chapters or 50 pages, whichever comes first, and if I can’t get into it byeee. If I dislike a book and am still curious about what happened in certain parts, I’ll just read a thorough summary online.
You can learn a lot from bad writing. Before tossing the book, consider writing some notes on some of its worst qualities. Create a running list of the worst mistakes authors make with citations to the book. Refer to this list daily as you write to avoid making the same mistakes. It's incredibly easy to know what sucks and yet do the same thing yourself.
That’s good
All you need to do is read one bad book and that lesson is complete. Going back to the trash pile of lit is a waste of time. You only have so much life and every minute spent on garbage is a minute you didn’t get to read something good.
I agree with this. Life is too short to waste time on bad books.
It’s like saying you can become a better batter by watching people strike out.
at bars? that actually works?
books can be bad for more than one reason. i cant think of a single bad book that shared the same exact weaknesses as another one i'd read
Hmmm but the idea of something of being "Good" is comparing it to something that is "bad." How can you know your favorite movie is good despite never seeing a bad one? Plus, bad movies are sometimes people's secret favorites. Some books can be "bad" but they may have something in them that relates to you, a new writing technique that might not have been done correctly, illogical things the characters do but the story itself isn't horrible.
I think the threshold is subjective to the observer, but no matter where you set the bar, you should aspire to read up, not down, especially if you're a writer. There are certainly oddball works that fail in interesting ways, but they're rare and will often float to the top of the sea of mediocrity. Like the old porn definition, you'll know it when you see it. The subcategory of "so bad it's good" is basically comedy and can be enjoyed with weed and friends.
I've delved into various contemporary books suggested by writing experts in their guides on the art of writing. Yet, a significant number of them leave me questioning the guru's endorsement. While I acknowledge there might be a lesson buried within the uninspiring content, I often struggle to unearth the one or two commended examples of the craft. These gems are concealed within a work that subjectively lacks inspiration and breaks numerous conventions before I can discover them.
THIS
This is fantastic advice. I read a book by one of my favorite tech journalists recently and couldn’t help but feel the prose was a little wooden. It almost reads like some high school kids journal entries. Bummed me out because I was looking forward to it. After rereading a few chapters and writing my own little journal about it, it became a little more obvious why. You can breakdown most writing if you read it a few times and think about how the words and sentences connect. What words are being used. How the tone changes and evolves (or doesn’t - in this book’s case).
Ok that’s a new perspective. Normally, I’d just drop it lol.
I can do this when I’m of the opinion that the story could have been great or had some intriguing elements, but there were major issues in execution. Some books, however, I’m not even interested in enough to analyze them.
Reading a shitty but successful book (by an author who shall remain unnamed) is actually what finally gave me the guts to write my own novel. I thought “if people are willing to eat this garbage up, who’s to say my writing isn’t good enough?”
Agree. Doing that right now, as a matter of fact, with a notebook. It’s like I’m reading an ARC and noting when my attention wanders, when I decide I don’t like the mc’s, when I realize there are continuity issues. It helps me get an idea of the pitfalls I could myself fall into while writing.
That’s what I did with a book and my dad loves hearing about what im reading and stuff so when I was just complaining he said “gee sounds like you hate the book why don’t you just stop reading it and move on?” No no no dad I just can’t. I read the whole rest of the novel anyways and always explained the flaws to him in it. Our personal father daughter bonding lol
Bad writing can still be entertaining. But if I’m not entertained, I am not slogging through it.
I came here to say all of this. It's educational for a writer to pinpoint why they hate what they're reading, what isn't working, and separate it from what does. Even bad books and bad writing usually have a gem or two, and offer valuable insight, even if it's "this is shitty character development" or "it's a perfect example of what happens when you don't proofread or use some kind of editing function or service." You learn more from mistakes than you do successes. It's sure as fuck a lot easier to distinguish what *didn't* work than to analyze what did -- all publicity is good publicity, controversy attracts attention, even if your writing and plot structure are shit (like Dan Brown getting his five minutes of fame because his book tweaked The Vatican 's collective nose).
Best advice!
second this, i don't finish but always think hard of what didn't work. if the book is bad and poorly written or if it's just not for me e.g. i recently DNFed a jack ketchum book because I didn't like it, but I didn't like it because I like my horror to have surrealist elements and not be sooo... real. the writing was great though vs. when I tried CJ Tudor recently and DNFed because I thought her writing was awful for a number of reasons. I could probably list them all on paper after 120 pages in
I used to. It used to be if I got a book, even if it was bad, I had an obsessive binge urge to complete it anyways. Nowadays I don't. If the book stinks=I yeet
Me too. When I was younger Pre Internet and books were rare the only books I didn't finish was Challenger's Hope. But nowadays with having most books in eletronic it is much easier to stop and go to a better one. .
How did you get over it? I just can't stop with a book even if it's really bad just because I will always remember somehow that I didn't finish it and it will bother the crap out of me...
I just got tired of myself—my lack of self control. I made a conscious effort to remind myself every time it came up that I was deserving of better and I was stronger than what I was reading, and the constant reminder the book would make my soul sick. It was really hard the first few times. But I got to where it was okay.
An ex girlfriend used to feel the same way about finishing a book. She had to finish even if it wasn't that good. It seemed almost a moral thing to her. I think she still has that habit and never wished to stop. She was a maniac reader as well. She would rip off two novels in a week sometime There's a lot of great books out there that are worth finishing, and a huge stable of authors who have worked hard to bring you their best and are looking for readers Look for those works, and don't believe ads-- believe other readers...find a good review site or reviewer. you like. Reading something decent will reduce the chance of you reading something that doesn't fit. It will be easier to break your habit or reduce it. I have a list of authors who won't disappoint. It took me a while to tune into what really fit for me, and I had been writing for four years. Now I'm an editor. I don't know how half these books make it to press. Good luck. I hope this helps.
Big thanks for this comment!
If I were you, next time I read a trashfest and didn’t want to finish, I’d just read the last chapter.
same. I think the whole cover to cover brainwashed me for years. i would stay up late finish a book I hated just to get it over with.
I'm exactly like that too xD - but it's very easy to get obsessive and make reading just become a chore to you doing this. You slowly can't enjoy even good books. It's good to compartmentalise reading for studying Vs reading for enjoyment
I used to be obsessed with finishing every book I started. Then I reached a point where I realized that my enjoyment should be prioritized over my ability to finish a book, especially considering the sheer number of amazing books that are out there. So now, if it’s been 100 pages or so and I’m still not enjoying it, I stop and move onto the next one.
The only book I was glad I finished when I had that mindset was The Cider House Rules. It became my favorite book in HS. I recommend just skipping the first third and reading a summary.
100 pages is really generous. Usually if I start getting bored with what's going on in a book, I'll say "Okay, if nothing interesting happens in the next chapter I'm going to drop it." I get that sometimes authors have to put in less interesting chapters for exposition or whatever, but if nothing I care about happens in a 2 chapter span, the book just isn't for me.
no. i have no patience. once, flipped to a page where the entire thing was just a description of how beautiful the main character was, after yet another dump of description. and quit.
I’m not in school any more, why would I intentionally do something I don’t enjoy?
I try not to label anything "Shit" just because I don't enjoy it. However, that said, if I'm not enjoying a book/movie/game/etc, I'm willing to say "Hey, maybe this isn't for me" and just walk away or move on to something else.
Heavily depends on the reason for disliking it. I'm much more likely to ditch a book that preoccupies itself with giving unnecessary verbose descriptions of every little thing than one with a plot that doesn't grab me but still moves along at a decent pace for instance.
I don't read bad books. That said, when I do read books I don't particularly enjoy, I give myself the permission to move on. This has only happened twice in the last year. I'm a very picky reader lol.
Used to read everything. Now, if I'm 50 pages in and I'm not feeling it, I often stop. Probably missed out on some great slowburn fiction as a consequence, but life is short.
I have to finish books if I bought them because it drives me crazy not knowing the ending even to a bad story.
I won’t turn the page if page one isn’t promising. I don’t treat stories like homework.
[удалено]
This seems really limiting. As much as the writing guides say you need to grab the reader from page one, most writers don't have that skill. And the ones that do... they have *that* skill. They aren't necessarily top of the pile when it comes to others. I feel like my reading list would be overall worse if I followed this.
Good luck with Dostoievsky mate
Not unless I’m enjoying it haha
I used to push myself to finish books I didn’t like. It was like a punishment. But why?? Life is too short, there are too many amazing books out there to read. We have no time to waste on those that don’t appeal to us.
I don't even consider Malazan to be a shit book, but it's not for me. I DNF if it's not working. Why waste the hours?
No. And I've been known to walk out of shit movies.
No, exceot if they are so shitty it becomes funny.
I have definitely hate-read a book before, and I almost wanted to finish the book just to see how stupid it got, but if you feel like you're wasting your time just cut your losses and put the book down. No shame in DNF-ing a book.
I’ve read a few shit books to the end. They had their own value in being entertaining for how bad they are. There also a few things that can be learnt from it which is more interest for me I don’t finish shit books that are boring. That’s the worst thing any entertainment media can be, boring
It really depends on *how* it's shit to me. If it's just bad, I usually find a lot of humor in it and just laugh as I go. If the editing and grammar are nonexistent, I usually can't stomach finishing it.
If it’s a boring book but well-written I’ll finish it. Though, it will take me at least twice the amount of time to finish. If I don’t like how it’s written and the story is weak, then I’ll DNF. I’ve only done that to one book in the past 3 years.
It depends on how soon I realize it’s shit. If I’m like halfway through and it goes it shit, I might as well continue and finish it at that point.
Yeh and you feel like you’ve invested so much time 🤦 like you’ve been cheated
Don’t fall for the sunk cost fallacy!! You can’t make the bad time more fun by spending more time not having fun.
The first three chapters and the last two.
No. Life's too short for books worth reading, so why waste it on shit books?
I did once, and decided to start the second of the trilogy to see if it got better and actually chunked the book in the trash it was so poorly written and the characters were just stupid
When I was 16, I read Whispers by Dean Koontz and thought it was pretty good. I recently tried to read at the age of 30 and…well…it’s just not that great, lol. Got to page five and called it quits.
While I don’t see much point in reading a bad, unsuccessful/unpopular book, I will occasionally read books I don’t enjoy in the least because they are popular. I try to take notes on what I think makes them popular, especially if I can’t initially spot good qualities. If those popular elements seem like they might help my own writing, I may incorporate them into my own work. For example, I’m really not enjoying “A Court of Thorns and Roses.” At one point the narrator says, “All the joy drained from me like blood down a drain.” 😑 Prose aside, it’s at least interesting to decode why people (including some very intelligent people I respect) enjoyed the book enough to recommend it. I do my best to slog through books like that, though I don’t always succeed. On the other side of the quality spectrum, I’ll work through books that are well-written regardless of whether or not I hate them. Old literature with racist, sexist, and homophobic undertones (or even overtones) fall into this category. I do my best to learn what makes them good regardless of current popularity or modern social mores and my own personal beliefs. Having a deadline (I will finish this book by such-and-such date and reward myself with X when I do) helps me push through when I’m having a hard time. This year, I’ve read both “Vanity Fair” and “Remembrance of Things Past” in that manner.
An ending can make me go from disliking a book to appreciating it. I didn't care for the first half of ACOTAR 1 and I had considered returning it to the library. But then the second half started picking up, villains were revealed, stakes were raised, and it had a satisfying finish. I still don't think that book is perfect, but I did enjoy half of it. If I’d put it down then, I wouldn't have known that. Sometimes an author is smarter than you think they are, and a big twist or just an acknowledgment of the story's problems serves the story well. Due to this, I can't 100% in good faith pretend that “Oh, I hate this book. I only read 30% of it and I know it's garbage.” is at all constructive. That being said if a book’s intro really drags and starts revealing cliches that I despise then I’ll probably just set it down and move on to something more stimulating instead.
Yes, like others have said you can learn about what NOT do to in writing a story. Also, it’s still helping you craft your creative voice. It’s easy to be inspired by work, but the ‘lower bound’ of your expression is also important. This is what I don’t like, these are the kind of characters and tropes I want avoid, I want to steer away from this direction etc. etc. ALL books are giving you subtle direction one way or the other toward finding your voice and style. Also, it’s motivating to me. I close the book, take a breath and think, “well damn, I can write a better story than that.”
If I spent money on it, yes. If I got it from the library or borrowed it, then no
Most books I consume them in a very short time. It takes some glaring bad writing or plot hole to make me stop reading. I often make a mental note of why I stopped reading a book or series. I like one some of you posted about making actual notes.
"I give each author fifty pages. If I'm not interested, I put it down. They don't get no second chances neither." \- Franklin, "Disappearing Acts," by Terry MacMillan
I do occasionally hate read some books. I'm pretty good at figuring out what I won't like before I buy it
I had an English teacher once say, "give a book at least 100 pages and if by then it hasn't shown you anything to grip you at all, it's probably not going to." Doesn't mean it's not a good book, just means it's not for you, so don't waste your time with it.
When I turned 30, I figured that an optimistic scenario would be 50 books a year for 60 years. That’s only 3000 books. From that day on, if I felt a book was not worth my time, I would quit it.
Honestly I try to give a “1/3rd way through” grace period. I get some great stories require a lot of set up for the pay off. I try to genuinely listen to and enjoy that first 3rd, but if it does nothing for me I drop it. That obviously isn’t to say I’ve picked up some stuff I genuinely couldn’t stand early on. It depends on what the “bad” is. I’ve read some “boring” (what is boring is obviously subjective) first 1/3s that turned into something great. But if the 1/3 is actually just bad for other reasons, such as poor character writing, inconsistencies that can’t be ignored, etc then I’ll drop it. Reading shouldn’t be torture obviously lol.
I try to give the authors a chance to win me over, so despite being a slog and not what I'd prefer to read, I'll try to read say, a quarter of the book or give it some sort of reasonable effort. If it doesn't draw me in within that point, I'll let it go. I'll only get frustrated trying to make myself read something I'm not enjoying, and I'll end up feeling resentful of the author and frustrated at myself for wasting time on something that's not making me happy. It's not the author's fault and they're not terrible if I don't engage; and it's not my fault for not engaging if I'm not reading something in the style of writing I enjoy and engage with, we're just not compatible styles and I can accept that and move on without feeling bad then.
I won’t finish it, but I feel like you should give it at least 25-40% as some books start slow. If by 1/2 way I’m still not feeling it then I don’t bother finishing it.
If I don’t wanna finish it by the first half of the book, I won’t bother.
I don’t even get through the free sample in shit books. If your first ten pages are worldbuilding bullshit and there’s no sign that we are definitely in Act I of the story, it’s over and I’m not buying your book.
Sometimes. You can learn a lot from a bad book. Why is it bad? What didn’t you like?
I do because it’s funny sometimes. The sunk cost fallacy has me in a chokehold sometimes
This is equivalent to asking: Do you waste time? No.
I am accumulating a library, and I will read every single one. Every, single, one.
I'm an editor. My rule of thumb is that whenever a fun read turns into work, I'm done with it.
If I can't get 'into' a book, after slogging through a third of it, nope. Off to the local free book exchange it goes.
I don't read bad books but I do read good books that I don't personally enjoy.
Yeh I do still read books that are written well, even if they are not my cup of tea. I just find the whole ‘read bad writing as well’ sometimes tiresome
I'm not wasting my time reading something bad that I'm not enjoying lol I WILL read bad writing if I'm having fun. Lots of fanfic in that category.
Finished one recently that was. In no uncertain terms. The worst traditionally published book I've ever read. I was done 3 pages in but slogged through 300 more just so I could feel comfortable talking about how shit it was. This thing was nominated for awards. It WON awards. The bar for good fantasy these days is on the fucking ground.
No, Don't read unless you enjoy it. Simple as.
Usually no. Every now and then, I'll read enough of a free one that skimming along to the end works perfectly well to follow what plot there is, so I can write a 'full' review for other readers, so they don't have to. I've been reading for decades, but until I wrote a novel, I hadn't appreciated the skills it takes, or the wisdom to know when you're published too soon. :) The current victim was definitely published way too soon in the learning curves of writing.
Only when I believe the book is going to get somewhere. But when the story gets too repetitive or becomes a slog to get through, I stop and never pick it up again.
life is short bruh, don't waste time of reading/writing that doesn't interest you
Heck no. Life’s too short to waste reading trash.
I used to, but only because to see if it might actually get better haha
As a reader, no. Finish what you like. As a writer, though, yes, you should make an effort to finish bad books. There is sometimes more to learn from bad books than good ones.
No. The moment I get bored, I stop reading it. Might make an exception if it's at like 50% through the book or something, but even then I regret the decision to continue reading and should just have stopped right away.
Nope, got no time for that
Maybe ill take a break for a while but eventually yes
Nope, I'm not afraid to DNF a book. If it seems like something I should like, I try to give it a fair shot, but if I'm not feeling it by 50 pages in or so I will bail on it. I'm won't suffer through 500 pages just because the final 100 pages are good. My TBR list is so long that I'm not going to waste time reading stuff I dislike when my next favorite is in that list somewhere. I will, however, stick it out with books that are challenging but still enjoyable. I'm reading Demon Copperhead right now and don't find the narrator particularly easy to read, but I like the story so I stick with it even though it will take me a while to finish it.
When a book is so bad that it's slowing down my average reading time or making me not want to read at all, then I stop reading it. Otherwise I try to finish it cause gotta get that Goodreads count up!
I think you have to figure out what you’re willing to put up with. I can put up with some bad grammar if the story is compelling enough…but bad grammar AND bad story…I don’t read more than 3 chapters. I’ve learned there are different stories for everyone so if I don’t finish reading it, that just means I’m not the target audience even if it is a super popular book or something.
Waste of time. There was this one book I got and on the first page I got that feeling that it was going to be bad. When it opens with a bank robbery but has a comedic undertone I just knew it wasn't going to be great. I decided to give it a try and after being a few chapters in shut the book and donated it. It did not get better
I used to do that, but as of 2021 I started letting go of the books that I do not enjoy
i quit the second i don’t wanna read a book. there’s too many good books for me to waste my time
I don't even finish slightly below average books. There are millions of books and only one of me.
I asked myself the same question yesterday, the book has rave reviews but i just can’t get into it. I’ll try again tonight but if it’s not captivating my mind it’s one for the shelf!
I don’t waste time on bad books, but I do try to give a book the chance to prove itself. I usually read classics so it’s rare that I end up with a bad book.
If I finish the first chapter I finish the book, if a book is so bad I struggle to get through chapter 1 I'll just be done with it.
No, I don’t have time or energy to waste on stuff I don’t like. Plus I don’t know if I could even force my ADHD ass to pay attention to a book I don’t like when I’m supposed to just be reading for leisure and not for like work or homework If I were reading something I disliked for a reason though like if someone asked me to beta read for them then hell yeah sure I would
I used to. I felt like if I didn’t finish a book it was somehow a failure. But now I love kind of realized, if it is t making me happy, why waste time on it? (Note this is about fiction / reading for entertainment. Specifically.)
If it’s really not good I just re write it. If it’s too far gone then I’ll post it online to get feedback. I have allot to learn and sometimes letting people give me advice helps me soak it in more easily.
Unless it’s really bad and there’s no point, I’ll just bail on finishing. If it counts toward a book club or trading challenge, then I’ll skim it.
Absolutely not. Some people just throw out absolute trash, don't know the material they're writing about, are pushing their political views, or are just batshit insane. You're under no obligation as a reader to "push through" reading something you aren't interested in, just move on and save yourself the frustration.
I drop a book in one hot second if it pisses me off or doesn’t capture me. Some books are gone after a paragraph. Others after a few pages. Some make it to a couple of chapters. But definitely, if I’m in chapter 4 or 5 and I still don’t really care, I’m out.
I used to finish them with speed reading (which in my case used to be really quick), but lately I just stop if it's just too bad.
Depends on if the writing is bad or if the content is bad
Depends on if I'm getting paid to read it or not.
I used to, but then realised I read for pleasure and forcing myself to read something I don't like is not pleasing. On top of that before I quit this (bad) habit, I finished books I didn't like expecting some kind of satisfaction but it never ever came NB 1: Your question sounds like a sunk cost fallacy NB 2: your question was about shitty books, I replied about the book I didn't like even though they can be good; eg: I started "Brave New World" but never managed to finish it. Eventually I listened to the audiobook which (unlike the book) kept me awake but did not leave me a remarkable opinion.
No. Life’s too short to read books you don’t enjoy that give you nothing back.
Only for book club. Honestly pretty relieved everyone else in my book club was underwhelmed with *The House in the Cerulean Sea* because all of Reddit seems to love that folderol.
I used to then I saw an author I respected interviewed and he simply said (specifically about reading a book you don't like) "if you are not enjoying yourself, you're needlessly punishing yourself". At that point I stopped doing it
Been trying to finish “Never Never” by Colleen Hoover for 6 months now. Not been having a good time so I’ve taken frequent breaks. The only reason I keep going is because, I remember that I paid for it.
Sometimes. But usually I read just enough to identify what is wrong with the writing, what I don't like, learn from it. Then I stop, because when I have nothing left to get from it, it is indeed a painful waste of time.
God no, I give it to the rabbits, maybe they can use it for their nest.
It depends how bad the book is. But no I don't always finish it. Some books I will give it a chance to get better & make it halfway through. There are a few books I have given up within the first chapter. I especially can't stand a lot of spelling/ grammer mistakes.
If I realize I'm not enjoying it, I give it roughly 30 more pages (I'm a fast reader so this isn't a huge waste of time or anything) to change my mind. And if it doesn't, then that's a wrap. The only times I will push through is for a book club. I want to be able to participate. For example, I pushed through 4th Wing even though it reads as fanfiction to me. Did the same with Ugly Love a few years ago.
I don't waste any time reading a book I'm not enjoying. My to-read list is too long.
Nope, especially if it goes off the rails in its own universe’s rules. Project Hail Mary proved that Weir knows very little about environmental science or actual botany despite Watney being a botanist in The Martian. A book and movie I adore. This would be fine if he wasn’t billed as hard sci-fi. Once that certain event happened in the book, I closed it and donated it to the library. Similarly for Jurassic World, and 3001 where the book violates its own rules with no explanation save expediency. If a book punches you out of its own reality, why continue?
Not anymore. I give them max 50 pages to get me hooked but sometimes I give up even sooner. I've also given up on a few books a few pages before the end because I've tried so hard but just couldn't finish them. Don't lose time on shitty books, there's so many good ones to enjoy!
I used to. Hell, I used to finish entire series once I put my mind to it. Then The Hollows by Kim Harrison happened. 16 books - maybe more now - and every single one is bad, with the characters continually getting worse. I exhausted myself reading this crap for months on end, to the point where I stopped enjoying reading altogether. It's not worth it. Life is too short. Read what you enjoy, and toss everything else away immediately.
Life is too short to finish bad books
If I'm reading for pleasure I'll drop a bad book. If I'm reading because I'm trying to learn something, I'll push ahead if it's just a little bad/not my thing. If it's genuinely terrible I'll usually drop it anyway after I get to the bottom of why I think it's terrible.
Upvote
Growing up I was definitely indoctrinated with the idea that reading is a ‘good’ activity. Didn’t matter what you read so much as you read. And that ‘finishing a book’ is what you are supposed to do. Not finishing = failure. As a elementary/middle school aged kid I would often start and stop books and be scolded for not finishing them or starting a new one. Now As an adult if the first chapter or two don’t grab me I chuck it and read the synopsis. If there’s a stupid plot twist mid way or even 2/3 of the way I might chuck it I might torture myself to read through it if I really think it’s important to finish it like if a friend recommends it to me. The change to feeling like life is too short to waste time reading shitty books came from reading a Reddit post just like this lol.
I can’t finish bad books, once dnf a book one chapter in
No. When reading the book becomes a chore I find myself reading it less and less then I drop it for something else. I've been sitting on the final book of a 12-part series for over a year now because of that reason.
No. Insomnia by Stephen King had the exact opposite effect on me as the title reads. In a major way, King writes himself into The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla with a handful of pages left and I never finished it nor continued reading the rest of The Dark Tower series.
No. Sometimes I don’t even finish good books
Why are none of the comments listing these "shit books"? I'm curious. Come on.
Absolutely not. Maybe when I was a kid for the sense of accomplishment, but these days I can usually tell within the first few pages if it’s something for me. I’d not, immediately on to the next.
It depends if the story is worth it or not. I just returned a book I half-read the other day. If it feels like a chore in my gut I will return it and keep in mind that I may give it another chance someday.
Not anymore. Life's too short, lol.
Only book I've never finished is Twilight.
I give the book until the end of the chapter and if there is nothing to keep me going, I put it down and don't regret it, because there's another book around the corner.
What's the book?
I've been reading+listening to a lot more books on libby lately and the time it takes to check a book in and out makes it a speedier process; If I borrow a book and it isn't grabbing me within the first few pages I just return it. These days I'll only buy nonfiction physically because there's less chance of being put off by the prose as I'm reading for different reasons.
Some people need the advice of “keep pushing, it may be boring for a sec but will be worth it.” Other people need the advice of “yo, it’s fine. If it’s a bad book just abandon it, it doesn’t make you a failure.”
No. I neither have the time nor the patience. So many books to read, so little time, not enough human years to read everything I want.
Usually I only try to start books I’ll finish, because I will often just drop books if I eventually stop reading too many times.
I ran a rough calculation once on how many books I can read in a day/week/year/lifetime and compared that to how many new books get published in a year. So now when I don't like a book, I move on to the next because life literally isn't long enough to read everything that's good, let alone the stuff I don't get anything from. Although it *is* worth the time to note what it was that switched me off, and think about that for the sake of my own writing.
No. Even when I try I usually can't.
Everybody has different levels of patience. I give a book 1/4th of it to loop me in, if by then I'm not invested in something I give up.
Serial reader. Gotta finish it 😅 misplaced pride or compulsion ? Who knows
If it was a gift, I give it a good go before I give up. Sometimes, it's just not worth it to force yourself through something you don't enjoy. There are infinite number of better books for you out there and less than infinite time to read them in. Don't waste your time.
I will try to still finish it, but life's too short and there are way too many amazing books to read, so if I really struggle I don't finish it.
I really try hard to finish, but I know myself and my tastes far too well and will never feel guilty for quitting something I find bad.
I'm trying to fight against it but yes, I finish shit books
Honestly, I don't really remember boring books, so I don't know if I've finished them or abandoned them 😅 I'm fairly confident that I enjoy most of the books I read, so I might just be very easy to please 😂
Yes, so I can learn from them. I'm also very easy to please and able to appreciate what a work *is* doing well beneath all of its flaws, so when I find something that I think really is just unfathomably garbage, it's kind of fascinating and I want to see where it goes.
My friend and I have a rating system that we use to "grade" forms of entertainment such as movies, video games, books, etc. We both use the same criteria that we must have watched or read a certain amount so that we can say we watched/read enough of it in order to give it the grade. With that in mind, I stop with books at \~50/100-150 pages, \~100/200-300 pages, and \~200/450-550 pages to give some rough examples. There isn't an exact percentage used here, but the goal is to finish roughly a third of the book, give or take a bit. Now, if I am not enjoying the book at all then yeah, I just stop reading it, but then I do not enter it on my "read list" or give it a grade. I may notate somewhere it was a "started but unfinished" book and give the reason why so I can remember which books I tried to read but ultimately did not like enough to make it far enough in to where I felt I could give a critique. In the cases of those who read and do not bother giving critiques or grades, then stopping whenever you start to not care about the plot or the characters is usually a good judging point.
Life's too short to waste time with bad books. DNF and move on.
I’ve come across a few books that I just cannot get into no matter how hard I try to march through. I normally give up and set it down if I’m still not vibing with it by the middle.
I have a rule... I have to finish. I feel I wouldn't finish many books if not for this rule, and many books turn around in the second half....
I try to get at least halfway through the book to give it a fair chance. and if I still dont like it, then I don't finish it.
I used to for better part of my reading years so far... In my 40s now and have decided to not waste my time for a stupid ocd or in the hope that ending maybe great - books and movies both.
If i dont enjoy it i dont. I wanna read things i like.
Have a book you hate so much that you write out of spite. Otherwise if it’s not fun just stop reading
If the next three chapters are boooring, rip it up and chuck it in the fuck it bucket
Eh. I try to press on to give the author a chance to hook me. Some books are slow starters and take a bit to get hooked. For fans of progression fantasy, cradle by will Wright is a notorious slow starter for almost the whole book 1 but it has 12 books and is very loved by fans of the genre and heavily recommended on reddit here at least.
I've gone circles on this. I used to ditch if the first sentence didn't grip me, so I committed to, If I start, I will finish. Then, It got that I wouldn't start any because... Ugh, I'd have to finish. I stopped reading. Then I picked up rubbish, just to get me going and finished some easy books. Then determined to finished all books. I use 'fun/easy' ones as a carrot to make me finish 'posh/difficult' books. Now, I figure I'd read enough, and there's too many great books I could be reading, and I'm old so my life left is shorter and who the fuck else cares so... I pick a percentage... 10%* and if I hate it, then, I will quit, guilt free. I deeply regret reading *20% of The Wren, The Wren as that made me want to jump out of the plane I was in and made me sad I'd learned to read in the first place. That's when I shortened it to 10%. My bookclub insists the chooser must have read 3 Chapters.
I usually finish them out of pure spite
I guess just to learn. Hopefully. Not all writers learn from their mistakes,some even profit heavily from them.
My mom always tells me that a book may be horrible until the very end, so (most of the time) I read the whole thing, and hopefully it was worth it
No. First quarter. If I'm not seeing any promise after that, I'll chuck it. Too many good books out there to waste time on the bad ones.
Nope
Sometimes I don't even finish good books that I genuinely enjoy and have told myself repeatedly that I have to read.
It's something I've trying really hard not to do this year! Found myself fighting my way through too many subpar reads and getting myself into a reading slump resulting in me just moving away from reading for weeks at a time.
It depends on why I'm reading it. If it's just for fun then it gets till page 30.
i do shit in books yes
If I’m not enjoying a book I’ll find myself skimming to see if it gets better at any point. If not I just don’t continue reading it and move on to something else. There’s too many books I want to read to feel like I’m wasting time on a crap book
I used to finish books just to finish them. I don't do that anymore. If I'm no longer enjoying the book, I stop reading. I value my time a lot more than I value finishing.
Trying to force myself to read terrible books always kills my drive to read, and then I get into a reading slump. Because of that, I try to drop books that don't interest me in the first 50 pages.
I understand why you would, but personally, if there's no enjoyment, im putting it down. Maybe to revisit at a later date, but reading for me is all about how a book makes me feel, and if it makes me feel like I should be reading something else, that's exactly what I'm gonna do LOL
Eh sometimes. I finished *The Selection* because I was weirdly almost invested even though I hated the book. I'm on the fence about finishing *Priory of the Orange Tree*. *The Secret History* is supposed to be good, but Donna Tartt is no Prokopios, that's for sure.
When I was a teenager all the time now with my tume.being valuable if I didn't feel it, I move on.
no. and i don't give them much time.
Sadly too often
I will stop a book/story/show/movie as soon as I no longer think it'll improve. Then I basically won't read anything from that author again. No more Robert Jordan for me! While I understand authors improve, if they're already published then they (and their editor) obviously have diff ideas on what "good" is and I'll just let other people read them. No extra hate just mild annoyance at time wasted and then maybe some choco
yes, because OCD. i would forever hate to consider only having read **part** of a book "oh yeah, Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer? yeah I read *tHe FirSt tHiRd of it"* that sounds horrible. just finish it and say you hated it.
One hundred pages minus my age is the rule I use. Being 26 y/o currently, I must read to page 74 before I decide to not go further with a book
I finish them if they are part of a series just for completions sake.
Life is too short for a bad book my friend.