Wednesday, February 4, 2009

To finish or not to finish?

What do you do if you're reading a book and you just can't stand it?

Do you keep going until you reach the end? Hide it under your bed? Give it away?

If I'm reading a classic and it seems like everyone else in the world has read it except for me, I keep going. Some books like Moby Dick and Catch 22 started out good, but I lost interest in the middle. Fortunately these two got interesting again.

But lately I've been reading books that I have lost interest in for different reasons. (I will refrain from listing the authors names because honestly, I don't want them to hate me if I am ever a blip on their radar. But if you're dying to know, I will be happy to tell you privately.)

One of them had so many characters to keep track of I just stopped caring. Another one, and it pains me to say this because it is one of my favorite authors, wrote the most boring book ever. I read about a quarter of it and just couldn't go on any longer.

One could also say, reading a "bad" book teaches you what not to do as a writer. Sometimes I entertain thoughts of picking them up again in the hopes that they get better, but there are so many books out there to read...why torture myself?

What do you think?

1 comment:

  1. I feel the same way. I almost did it with a great author's audio. Since it was my first time listening to this author, I felt compelled to finish.

    Will I read anything else by this author? Unlikely.

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