We stated chatting about quitting books in the classics thread, and it made me curious. Have you quit a book before? I quit The Happiness Project. I felt like it started out so condescending, I couldn't get into it. I also quit 'The Rosie Effect'. I really loved The Rosie Project, but I just didn't like the sequel. I think I could see where it was going, and it didn't feel fresh the second time.
Hmmm... I'm sure there are some books I didn't finish, but I guess I put them out of my mind completely because no titles come to mind. Oh! Wait. I just remembered I gave up on a book last month called _How To Tell Toledo From The Night Sky_ (if I remember correctly). It wasn't awful but it was slow-going and there were other books I wanted to read more and it was due at the library. Another thing... I am more likely to give up on non-fiction than novels. I also own a few books about history and science that I'd like to finish but haven't gotten around to it in years.
I refuse to let a book "win" and quit it. But I have been known to speed read through them. Winter's Tale was one of those.
I too hate quitting books and usually will go back to try again eventually. I just could not get into Ready Player One though and haven't tried again in a while. I feel bad about that lol I still have it so I will try again soon! lol! I confess that I quit most classics cause I think they are so boring and I am lame. I like to read for entertainment usually and if it takes a long time...or I feel like it is work to make it through the book, I will quit and try again some other time.
I hate quitting books and used to power through. But since checking out ebooks from the library I have quit an embarrassingly large number of books... some not on purpose though. I have to learn to manage ebooks better. I get on some wild kick and will request a bunch that all seem to come in at once and then I only have 21 days to finish them all. I start them and then have to weigh whether or not I think I can finish before they're due. Some that I'm not 100% sold on, I quit so they don't expire before I'm done. The others I've quit, have been randoms that I've picked out just to have something to read. I have also quit a decent amount of classics.
I quit book 5 (I think it was 5) of The Outlander series. I loved the books but I just got so tired of the story going on and on and on. I tried watching the TV series too but a little too R rated for me so I quit that as well.
In the previous thread, I mentioned how I quit Gone Girl. I've quit others, as well. Off the top of my head: Enter the Saint, The Godforsaken Daughter, Two Guys Detective Agency, The Hangman's Daughter, quite a few classics, and some books I got for free from Amazon. I can't even remember their names anymore, so I guess I shouldn't feel bad about not reading them. @mrs2a50 Julie, I LOLed at how you don't want the book to "win" cuz that's how I used to view it.
I can't think of a fiction book that I've given up on, but definitely non-fiction. Most non-fiction I get interested from listening to interviews with the author on the local public radio station. Then when I get the book, it might not be what I thought it was, or goes into way more detail than I wanted, or I basically heard all the best parts on the radio already. The last two this happened with were: http://www.amazon.com/Too-Much-Good...6207&sr=1-1&keywords=too+much+of+a+good+thing http://www.amazon.com/Where-Right-W...82&sr=1-2&keywords=where+the+right+went+wrong
I don't remember anything sticking out right now as far as titles, but I have quit quite a few. I used to slog through them, but no more! LOL I got 75% of the way through The Fountainhead and finally THREW THE BOOK on the floor in disgust as I couldn't handle it anymore. I don't care what happens with the characters. I was so over it. Then the very next day I started I Capture The Castle and all was right with the world.
Probably more than I'd like to say. I don't remember the names of them if that means anything. Lol I don't have a problem with quitting something I'm not into. Rather spend my time finding a book I will like to read then worry over quitting something I wasn't liking at all.
Lolita. This was one I started and didn't finish. I don't do it often, but it was slow. LOL. ^^^ This. I put a bunch of books on hold and they all seem to come in at once. It is crazy. I have to pick and choose or sometimes renew (if I can) and then keep an ongoing list of those I checked out but couldn't get to.
I try to give books at least 100 pages because sometimes a good book just needs a while to get going. Other times it doesn't matter how many pages, if I don't like it, I'm quitting. Within the last year or so, I've stopped reading both Gone Girl (after several attempts) and The Girl on the Train. I love suspense books but what I really didn't like about these books was not having a single likable character in the books. If I can't make a connection to a character, what's the point in reading the book?
If a book hasn't grabbed me in the first 75 pages, I toss it! That being said, I haven't quit reading all that many - The Inheritance of Loss, Armada (I loved Ready, Player One but not the sequel), Wolf Hall, Wicked, The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of The West, Calico Joe (I usually like John Grisham but not this one), The Winter Vault and The Left Hand of Darkness.
i think i perservere most of the time in the hopes it will get better (and i always think 'what if the next chapter is where it picks up and i didn't get there?' ) so i usually end up just totally disappointed in a book rather than not finishing. But i will cop to giving up on The Book Thief (the movie was tolerable and i'd go so far as to say nice, i can't bring myself to say i liked something just because others or majority of people like something) but i'm glad i saved myself the time.
I am totally like Julie (@mrs2a50) I am way too stubborn to give up on most books. I will admit that I tried reading the Hobbit too and couldn't get into it. Then about 3 years ago I started a "shelf" on Goodreads called "did not finish" just so I could add The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet to it. I also added The Unbearable Lightness of Being to that list. I remember starting that one, but I can't remember why I quit except that it was depressing.
By the way.. I'm seriously considering giving up on the Lake House. I still haven't gotten into that one...
