Do you give up on a book early?

[HokieGeek]

So, in the last few years, I've found myself giving up on books if they don't wow me halfway through, or in any way lose my attention. I find that as I have less and less time, and my list of "must reads" grows, I have little patience for a book that isn't consistently interesting.

Recent examples include:
Contact ~ Carl Sagan - reading it right now, but I can't get past the religious fighting. It started well but now it's boring. Thinking of moving on to the next book.
To Reign In Hell ~ Steven Brust - It's a fun enough story, but the main characters are being such childish idiots that I can't stand them.
A Fire Upon The Deep ~ Vernor Vinge - I found it way too similar to A Deepness in the Sky.
Empire ~ Orson Scott Card - Preachy and boring.

Do any of you gents do this?

 

[DE Shaver]

So, in the last few years, I've found myself giving up on books if they don't wow me halfway through, or in any way lose my attention. I find that as I have less and less time, and my list of "must reads" grows, I have little patience for a book that isn't consistently interesting.

Recent examples include:
Contact ~ Carl Sagan - reading it right now, but I can't get past the religious fighting. It started well but now it's boring. Thinking of moving on to the next book.
To Reign In Hell ~ Steven Brust - It's a fun enough story, but the main characters are being such childish idiots that I can't stand them.
A Fire Upon The Deep ~ Vernor Vinge - I found it way too similar to A Deepness in the Sky.
Empire ~ Orson Scott Card - Preachy and boring.

Do any of you gents do this?

I used to be quite the stickler for completing books, even when I hated them. The same goes for movies. However, I decided some years back that if something isn't enjoyable, it's best to cut your losses and move something that is more fulfilling. Life is too short to waste it on doing things you don't like doing.

 

[HokieGeek]

I used to be quite the stickler for completing books, even when I hated them. The same goes for movies. However, I decided some years back that if something isn't enjoyable, it's best to cut your losses and move something that is more fulfilling. Life is too short to waste it on doing things you don't like doing.

A couple of years ago I read Consider Phlebas by Iain Banks. The first 250 or so pages were really good and fun and then - I guess the author sort of lost his momentum. He clearly didn't know where this story should go. Spent the next 300 pages writing filler. I actually plowed on because the first part of the book was so much fun, but I sort of regret wasting my time.

 

[Big Kev]

If I am not hooked with in the first 100 pages I will most likely put it down. There are some Chuck Palahniuk books that I found difficult to get into at first but they have always come together in the middle then I can't put it down. So they are the exception. I think the last book I was trying to read was Angles and Demons. I kept looking at the cover thinking I had accidentally picked up the Da Vinci Code, I only did about 100 pages and quit.

I need to read more.

 

[HokieGeek]

I think the last book I was trying to read was Angles and Demons. I kept looking at the cover thinking I had accidentally picked up the Da Vinci Code

And this is why I don't plan on reading his other ones. Neither DVC or A&D really did it for me anyway.

I need to read more.

 

[ackvil]

I used to be quite the stickler for completing books, even when I hated them. The same goes for movies. However, I decided some years back that if something isn't enjoyable, it's best to cut your losses and move something that is more fulfilling. Life is too short to waste it on doing things you don't like doing.

+1. Life is too short, Amen.

 

[DE Shaver]

A couple of years ago I read Consider Phlebas by Iain Banks. The first 250 or so pages were really good and fun and then - I guess the author sort of lost his momentum. He clearly didn't know where this story should go. Spent the next 300 pages writing filler. I actually plowed on because the first part of the book was so much fun, but I sort of regret wasting my time.

Funny that you mention this book as I found it floundering mid-way through as well. I do respect Iain Banks as an author but this work wasn't his best effort.

 

[HokieGeek]

Funny that you mention this book as I found it floundering mid-way through as well. I do respect Iain Banks as an author but this work wasn't his best effort.

The book showed that Banks has heaps of potential, and I plan on eventually picking up another of his books - maybe farther along in his career - but considering my current rate of reading, it'll be many moons before I go through even the books I currently have in my "to read" pile!

 

[mdevine]

I have passed the point where I'll continue to read something just to finish it. There are enough good books that it's just not worth it to me. If you want an Iain Banks book that is great all the way through (the second half is actually stronger than the first), try "Player of Games".

 

[Amer]

I'm not afraid to put down a book I don't like for good without finishing it.

My recent issue is with books that are entirely too long.

I've been trying to read the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin.

After getting halfway through the first book I put it down for a month and then picked it up later and finished it.

I started the 2nd book and got about to page 738 or so and I've not picked it back up in a couple of weeks. I love the books and when you're reading it's hard to put down. It's just that every chapter is from a different POV and usually a different storyline, so when you put it down you're kind of content, and after 700+ pages I'm kind of ready for the story to end for a while. I think I might read another book or two and come back to it.

 

[SpyvSpy]

I have given up on a few books. Yesterday I returned the book The day of the jackal. (print too small to be an nice read) and picked up Daniel Silvas book Deceptor. (good assassin type thrillers) I have read 3 of his books already and by far he's my favorite author.

 

[HokieGeek]

I have passed the point where I'll continue to read something just to finish it. There are enough good books that it's just not worth it to me. If you want an Iain Banks book that is great all the way through (the second half is actually stronger than the first), try "Player of Games".

That's the one on my wishlist, in fact!

 

[SalvadorMontenegro]

Very, very, very rarely. Generally, only if I find the book stupid. I was reading a sort of self help book and its theory was, in my opinion, totally horse feces and so it returned to my shelf.

I've been reading Honore de Balzac's Lost Illusions since Christmas. It's not even that long.

 

[SiBurning]

Why wait? I've given up in the first few pages or even paragraphs. Some that I've finished, should have been tossed earlier. A lot of them would be better without the last chapter. There's plenty of half read books around here. More of a short story guy, though.

 

[Ruck]

I think there's more unfinished than finished books in my house. The problem is, I'm from a family of readers. They like to give me books for gift-giving occasions. I've probably got 10 books that my sister has given me over the last 4-5 years that I'd honestly be interested in giving a shot, but I never get around to it.

Since getting a laptop, I find myself reading even less because I prefer to follow the traffic of various forums. I don't see this changing without considerable effort.

the last book I've finished lately:

He's only 4 weeks old, but I think he likes it. "Beep beep, here comes a jeep! Up a hill, very steep!" What a page turner

 

[pz93c]

Nope. If I start it, I finish it.

 

[global_dev]

i used to never not finish a book. Lately, i have been given 2 or 3 Oprah list books, i don't even remember the last one i finished.

I just bought a kindle to reignite my reading hobby, but i don't even know what i did with it... maybe my wife has it....

I am currently reading Accelerando by Charles? Stross? a free ebook that got great reviews. I am not sure how I feel about it halfway into it. it started out interesting as it was novel for me with all the sciences/networking lingo, but the technical "jargon" is quickly becoming boring...

 

[Robxcarlson]

I'm a hundred and fifty pages shy of finishing Gravity's Rainbow and can't make myself finish it.

 

[patrisVII]

I usually muscle my way through the whole thing and then complain about the waste of my time afterword.

There are exceptions though -

I just threw away Fragment by Warren Fahy for being insipid.

I stopped halfway through Richard Yancey's The Highly Effective Detective Goes to the Dogs because it took the worse aspects of the first book (which was a good read overall), amplified them and combined them with a stupid, plodding plot.

I really enjoyed David Baldacci's Camel Club series, but I've not liked anything else of his I've encountered. I don't think I will pick up any more of his books.

 

[DE Shaver]

I have passed the point where I'll continue to read something just to finish it. There are enough good books that it's just not worth it to me. If you want an Iain Banks book that is great all the way through (the second half is actually stronger than the first), try "Player of Games".

I quite agree. This book is definitely better than Consider Phlebas. I found that the main character in Consider Phlebas, Hoza, was morally absent at best and unsympathetic as a result. This contributed to the book being plodding in later chapters. Jernau, in the Player of Games, was a character that people can identify more readily with.