TXMary
Pearl Clutcher
And so many nights I just dream of the ocean. God, I wish I was sailin' again.
Posts: 2,796
Jun 26, 2014 17:25:06 GMT
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Post by TXMary on Jul 19, 2023 4:38:11 GMT
I used to feel like I had to finish every book I started. The older I get though, I now find it much easier to walk away. I put mostly because I don’t have very many that are DNF. Sometimes it’s a timing issue and my mood. A couple of years ago I started The Guncle and just wasn’t getting into it at all which surprised me because I was really looking forward to it. I put it down for awhile. I picked it up again several months later and it grabbed me from the start and I loved it.
The last one I didn’t finish was Happy Place. There wasn’t one character I gave a flip about. Too many good books to read.
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Post by dewryce on Jul 19, 2023 4:52:17 GMT
Occasionally I will give up on a book, but I mostly finish them. No guilt when I stop reading it though.
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hannahruth
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,612
Location: Adelaide, Australia
Aug 29, 2014 18:57:20 GMT
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Post by hannahruth on Jul 19, 2023 5:24:05 GMT
Mostly but if I don’t like something I dont read it. There have been only several times that this has happened to me but I know within a very short time if it is not a good read for me .
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Post by lisacharlotte on Jul 19, 2023 13:08:07 GMT
I will abandon books I don’t enjoy. If I’ve read enough to want/need to know how it ends, I’ll read the last chapter. I try to give a book at least the first three chapters. After that I can decide if it’s going to work for me or not.
I did read one long series that I struggled with the first book and dropped the author. Turns out it was their first published book and they got much better! I ended up reading a later series by them, which I loved. So, I went back, struggled through that first book in the series, and by book 3 was hooked.
For those interested, the first book struggle was the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews. The gateway back book was the first Innkeeper book.
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Post by mollycoddle on Jul 19, 2023 13:10:50 GMT
I give a book about 50 pages to engage me. After that, I’m done. This rarely happens, though.
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Post by katiekaty on Jul 19, 2023 13:57:50 GMT
I gave up on Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar in high school. And then again for a book club. Then I gave up on reading Reanest J. Gaines book The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman-thank goodness I didn’t need the extr credit in Engels 102 because I couldn’t get it. Watched the movie years later and it was different than what I had tried to read so I went back and tried again. The story was there but the writing of it wasn’t. Since, I realized that I like books that bring pleasure and try to stick to those! Most recently I have been trying to get into new one The First Ladies because I really admire Eleanor Roosevelt but I dont think I can get into it or it’s just going to be one of those read a few chapters and read something else and try again and again.
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Post by padresfan619 on Jul 19, 2023 15:35:15 GMT
I get the majority of my books from the library so I do try to finish them in the allotted lending time so I don’t have to check them out again. So far this year I’ve only had to return one book without finishing it because I had two long books come off hold at the same time and I had to stop reading one to finish the other. I’ll get it back again later this year! Most of the books I check out have a waiting list so I can’t renew them and have to return them and get back on the wait list.
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hutchfan
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,092
Jul 6, 2016 16:42:12 GMT
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Post by hutchfan on Jul 19, 2023 17:05:12 GMT
I think I have finished every book I have started. I need to make myself feel comfortable just giving up on a book I don't like. Especially if I bought it or won it in a giveaway.
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lesley
Drama Llama
My best friend Turriff, desperately missed.
Posts: 7,171
Location: Scotland, Scotland, Scotland
Jul 6, 2014 21:50:44 GMT
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Post by lesley on Jul 19, 2023 17:14:51 GMT
I have a friend who buys a couple of dozen books a month, and she always emails me a copy. We have very similar tastes in books, although she reads far more than I do. Because I’m not paying for them, I have no guilt if I give up after a few chapters. However, I do buy an occasional hardback and I always finish those, usually because they tend to be by my favourite authors so I know in advance I will like them.
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Post by lesserknownpea on Jul 19, 2023 17:45:35 GMT
Books don’t have to have a happy ending for me, some of my favorite books end very sadly, but leave me with a lot to think about, or characters I’ll never forget.
But if I get the picture that unpleasant people will be doing unpleasant things throughout the book, with no redeeming factors, I’m out. There’s too many good books waiting their turn on my Kindle app, and I’m not getting any younger.
Also, I’ll DNF a book for the sin of poor writing in a heartbeat. Learn your craft, people! Buy a thesaurus. Figure out how to use adjectives. Get a handle on similes and metaphors. Make your people come to life. And for heavens sake: SHOW don’t TELL!
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Post by gryroagain on Jul 19, 2023 18:04:37 GMT
I am compulsively unable to not finish a book 😳 I do t know why, I never have.
I read really fast though, typically 4-5 books a week. I need to get better about remembering the authors that suck though, Kindle unlimited seems to be full of hacks who write prolifically so their sucky books are all over and I may grab another before realizing.
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Post by Basket1lady on Jul 19, 2023 18:32:58 GMT
I chose “yes”. There are 3 books that I’ve abandoned partway through. One was recently and it was a random book that I chose from the library. It was so poorly written that I gave it up. Another was a Kindle $.99 book that had so many spelling and grammar errors that I couldn’t focus on the story. The third is the stuff of Basketlady family legend—Ulysses by Joyce. Not a Capitol letter or period to be found. I was reading it for a college literature class and ended up buying the Cliff’s notes. My DH (then boyfriend) was horrified and brings it up every now and then, 35 years later. But I have no regrets!
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