You're reading a book and you're not enjoying it... what do you do?

Do you keep going, in the hope that it will get better? Or because you're the kind of person who doesn't like to give up on a book.

Or do you give it up and start something else? After all, life's too short to read a rubbish book, right?

I fall very firmly into the first camp and to be honest, I wish I didn't. There are thousands of fantastic books published, every single year. I aim to read about 50 per year (and usually manage about 45). Even if every single one of those 45 is great, I'm still not reading 900+ great ones, just because life really is too short.

So why oh why, when I'm not enjoying a book, do I struggle on to the bitter end, almost every single time? It's beyond me! I certainly can't recall ever reading a book that only turned into a brilliant piece of work when it was halfway through, yet that seems to be what I'm hoping for, in my dogged determination to read the book, the whole book and nothing but the book (so help me God, sometimes!).


I think I've abandoned three books in my adult life before getting to the end, but there are at least another twenty or more that I wish I had abandoned. Instead, I carried on reading, wishing it would get better and annoyed that I was wasting good reading time on dross. Maybe one of my New Year's Resolutions should be to give a book 50 pages and then if I'm not gripped, give up and start another.

What do others do? Keep going, for better or worse? Or throw it aside and start something new?
There's a poll in the side-bar - let me know which camp you're in?

Just a reminder... if you haven't already, you can sign up for my mailing list just by filling in your email address in the box in the sidebar. No spam, just an email when I post anything new or have some exciting news for you.

Comments