What makes you give up on a book?

[jhmcmullen]

I don’t like wordy, moody writing, exemplified by a page-long description of a hallway with a paragraph for wallpaper. If i can’t bring myself to care about any of the characters, I won’t finish the book.

If there’s a logical inconsistency with the world and no hint that either the author will explain it eventually or it’s not the kind of story where you care, I will probably not finish. For example, if the story makes a big deal of being scientifically accurate but ignores conservation of mass, I worry. If the story is in the style of a fairy tale, then I don’t care about conservation of mass—but I’ll care if you claim to have scientifically accurate shape-changers. (This is why a lot of SF dressed as fantasy fails for me: if it looks and feels like fantasy and you pull out the hypersleep at the 90% point, I might suspect you don’t know what you’re doing.)

 

[minta]

I give a book about 100 pages. If it doesn’t grab me, I move on. Reading should be fun, not homework.

 

[Josh2Write]

I used to be a very forgiving reader. Even if a book wasn't good, I'd keep reading for my own sense of closure.

Not so anymore.

Perhaps I've lost patience as I got older or there are too many alternatives to waste my time, but I will drop a book if isn't entertaining me. Books with annoying, stupid, or boring characters get returned to the library or given to Goodwill. Forget closure. I'm not as forgiving anymore.

This makes me wonder why other people give up. Why do you quit reading a book?

One reason for me is when the writer just writes whatever without thinking how it actually sounds to another person. Too many writers use fancy words to sound smart, educated, but don't really think about how those words sound in an actual human sentence, read aloud. And if I have to keep stopping to read the sentence aloud in order to try to figure out what's happening, it ruins the pace of the story. And a lot of newer books are like this. Too many writers write, but don't think, too focused on money and imagined fame to care what the book actually sounds like, then blames the readers and fans for poor sales.

I'm constantly rewording whole scenes just to make them sound more believable, and some scenes are so boring I faze out entirely and take the story down a different path before it gets to the next part just so it makes sense. Some are so bad I just close the book, not wanting to waste any more time with what I know will be a difficult, probably unnecessary, read.

I would like to be an editor. I know I would do very well as an editor.

 

[xena]

I usually give up on a book when I’m just not invested in the characters’ goals or not intrigued to find out what happens next.

 

[The Dark One]

I usually give up on a book when I’m just not invested in the characters’ goals or not intrigued to find out what happens next.

I really needed to get to the dry cleaners, but couldn't decide whether to walk or get the bus.

 

[jhmcmullen]

An example of a detail where I did have confidence in the author — I just read “If Wishes Were Retail” by Auston Habershaw. It’s a fun cozy fantasy set it what is pretty much the real world but like, with genies and gnomes. And even though the mention of gnomes seemed to come out of thin air, something is the way Habershaw wrote made me think, no, he knows what he’s doing. This will pay off. (Now, vampires also get mentioned as part of the justification for why there are genies) but that’s okay: he put a couple of sentences in to say, “Hey, there’s genes and all kinds of magical stuff, so live with it” — but it doesn’t feel like it has the same weight.) Light, yes, because after the last few years I don’t actually want to read deep and depressing, but finish-able.

Anyway, in other hands, that might have been a throwaway detail where I went, “This author doesn’t know what they are doing.” Here, it worked.

On the other hand, I’m reading Jirel of Joiry (C. L. Moore) for the first time too, and it’s a slog. Moody, evocative writing that doesn’t evoke a whole lot from me. I have to face it: I’m a plot whore. Give me events over atmosphere. Both need to be there, but one entertains me more than the other.. For Moore, I don’t ever feel like she doesn’t know what she’s doing, but I do feel like she has different goals in the writing than I do in the reading.

 

[Iridesence22]

As much as I love Game of Thrones, I did struggle while reading the books mostly because I felt as though there were many unnecessary characters and that I was often lost in the details. I will say that I did finish all the books however, I will not force myself to read through another 1000-page book if this is the case again. I love details that make me feel like I'm actually in the scene and that I can picture myself being there, but I personally feel there is a limit.

 

[Amydreams]

I used to be a very forgiving reader. Even if a book wasn't good, I'd keep reading for my own sense of closure.

Not so anymore.

Perhaps I've lost patience as I got older or there are too many alternatives to waste my time, but I will drop a book if isn't entertaining me. Books with annoying, stupid, or boring characters get returned to the library or given to Goodwill. Forget closure. I'm not as forgiving anymore.

This makes me wonder why other people give up. Why do you quit reading a book?

For me personally, there are three things that make me give up a book. The first one is the author kills off too many characters too quickly, especially after introducing them in such a way that makes you think they might stick around. I do not like George RR Martin. The second is long passages that do nothing just taking more than a paragraph to describe a plain wooden door is a bit much for me so I don’t like Robert Jordan either who was paid by the word so some of his books are a little verbose. The last thing that makes me give up on a book is when the author lets the villain win at the end of the book or towards the end of the book I won’t read any more books by that author because I just I can’t handle that. I read a book to immerse myself and enjoy myself and when the villains win, it’s too much for me

 

[ThrillhoBaggins]

Usually the only time I will is if the focus is on the dating life of the characters more than it is the action or anything actually exciting happening.

 

[The Dark One]

I read a book to immerse myself and enjoy myself and when the villains win, it’s too much for me

You must really hate real life...

 

[Amydreams]

You must really hate real life...

Yes. I have a chronic pain condition that is incurable and has no effective treatment. Life sucks and I can die.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Usually the only time I will is if the focus is on the dating life of the characters more than it is the action or anything actually exciting happening.

That's the textbook definition of Romance. Probably good to just avoid if that's not your speed.

 

[ThrillhoBaggins]

Which I do, often.

 

[The Dark One]

Yes. I have a chronic pain condition that is incurable and has no effective treatment. Life sucks and I can die.

But you must especially hate the fact that the villains always win...

 

[Amydreams]

But you must especially hate the fact that the villains always win...

I just don’t want my fantasy to have villains winning. They win enough in real life. Fantasy is supposed to be a fantasy. I want the good guys to win otherwise I might as well just not read it.

 

[The Dark One]

I just don’t want my fantasy to have villains winning. They win enough in real life. Fantasy is supposed to be a fantasy. I want the good guys to win otherwise I might as well just not read it.

Hence my little joke...

 

[WanderingBard]

For me it is hard to say that I can outright give up on a book. I like to see that if the things I have issues with are corrected by the end. If they are fixed, that's great and it was just a rocky start, if they aren't I have the proof that it didn't work for me. It is also a great way to learn what I don't like and not to repeat those mistakes myself. A book series is a different story however. If after the third book I can only see the plot getting more mangled and convoluted, I will likely drop the series.

 

[xena]

I have a 50 pages rule. After 50 pages I start the reevalute whether it's really worth the time...

 

[casval]

I'll read the first page of a book at the bookstore or in the sample pages/'read a preview' bit on their website and if stopping there counts as 'dropping' a book, then I do it all the time. But usually once I have the book in hand, I don't drop anything. When I was younger, I even finished every series I started - which is why I have read all of the Left Behind books, despite being an atheist Marxist - but thankfully I curbed that habit in my mid-20s.