Do you read every book until it's end?

GalwayGuy2

I used to make a point of finishing every book I ever started. Some form of egoism or something.

Now, I think life's too short too waste on things I don't like.

So, AH readers, do you always finish the book?

LostBoy101

Of course then it be a waste of paper

bitemeluis

adhd - lucky to get to the end of a sentence

Sir Arthur Daley

I dont have the time or the patience to be reading books.

Frosty McSnowballs

Only the bible.

Arthur Beesley

I've finished approx 99% of the books I've started.

I've stopped reading 3 books after a single paragraph, then maybe 3 others mid way.

I will revisit the first 3 at some point, not the second 3 though.

GLaDOS

Pretty much always.

I did give up halfway through The Silmarillion though.

Slippin Jimmy

So many books I start I never finish. Find most of the stuff I read boring. Maybe I need to read a new genre or stop reading crap on the net.

Wichita Lineman

I do, even really bad ones in case there is something brilliant right at the end which redeems it. There almost never is. if it's bad it's just going to get really bad.

Manach

Yes for a majority of books but sometimes you really cannot judge a book by its cover - then it goes to the charity shop a little quicker than expected.

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

I nearly always do. Even though I very rarely change my opinion of whether or not I'm going to like something after about 50 pages in, it has happened that I've really disliked something in the early stages and then loved it by the time I'm done. And I usually have two or three books on the go so if something is really boring or annoying me I just switch for a while. But yeah I think it is an ego thing kind of, I don't want to admit defeat!

The only one I've recently given up on that I can think of is A winter's Tale, it was 800 pages or something, I made it about 300 and then thought "yeah I get the gist of this shíte, I've better things to be doing"

smellmepower

Yep,seems like a waste to leave a book unfinished.I research what books I'm going to read before committing and buying them though, so very,very rarely have to struggle through a truly crap one.

The Backwards Man

I've never not stopped reading a book before its end.

Hitchiker was hard going though (sorry fans) and I'm now on Moby Dick And it will probably kill me.

dee_mc

I started reading Trainspotting about a year ago and am still only halfway (about 50 read in the meantime) but I will finish it eventually. Gave up on a 'chick lit' book after a major character changed name halfway through, I figured if they couldn't be bothered to edit it I wouldn't be bothered to read it

HalloweenJack

Nope. There's been plenty of books I've stopped reading 'cause I didn't get into it. I've also been let down by experiences where I didn't like the book but perservered. In the end, my gut instinct was right (Anna Karenina being a big example).

Birneybau

Yeah, til the bitter end, against my better judgement sometimes.

Fat Christy

Generally yes but I have given up on a few books. I got a third of the way through fifty shades of grey and had to call it a day. Christ on a bike, a 5 year old could write better than your wan who wrote that book.

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

The Backwards Man wrote: »

I've never not stopped reading a book before its end.

Hitchiker was hard going though (sorry fans) and I'm now on Moby Dick And it will probably kill me.

I technically finished Moby Dick but I did skip a fair whack in the middle, big huge section of obsolete whale science stuff. Once you get past that it gets good again, don't think my enjoyment or understanding of the book suffered like.

dee_mc

Fat Christy wrote: »

Generally yes but I have given up on a few books. I got a third of the way through fifty shades of grey and had to call it a day. Christ on a bike, a 5 year old could write better than your wan who wrote that book.

I read all three! Awful, awful tripe.
Edit for the disclaimer: only because I bought all three as a set

GalwayGuy2

I actually think it'd be more of a waste if I finished the book. It is a bit of a waste of money, and the paper, but it's more of a waste of time.

I'm in my early twenties and, realisticly, I only have 40-50 years left to live. I will never, ever, be able to read, or even hear of, all the stories in the world.

So, I don't like wasting time on books I don't want to read. Instead, I waste that time on the internet

Also, second hand bookstores and libraries

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

Fat Christy wrote: »

Generally yes but I have given up on a few books. I got a third of the way through fifty shades of grey and had to call it a day. Christ on a bike, a 5 year old could write better than your wan who wrote that book.

I never read that (I'd some paint drying and some teeth to pull out that seemed more appealing) but I did like this chapter by chapter slagging of it, so I kind of feel like I've read it :pac:

thelad95

I have read every single Dan Brown book from start to finish, just sayin.

ch20

Yes I have to finish any book I start reading,but I find some hard to finish like misery by Stephen king.

Capt'n Midnight

I got about 90% through Cogen's translation of Don Quixote


other than that I'll get through most books that aren't drivel , but a lot of skim reading of "bestsellers"

Some stuff like Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars books I'll read like I watch some films , for the background, couldn't care about the characters , couldn't even name one. But it's great terraforming SciFi

I've even read Battlefield Earth and oh my lord it was bad

dee_mc

Alani Raspy Peacock wrote: »

I never read that (I'd some paint drying and some teeth to pull out that seemed more appealing) but I did like this chapter by chapter slagging of it, so I kind of feel like I've read it :pac:

Laughing out loud after only reading the first 2 volumes - now this I will finish!

ToddyDoody

I used to read them to the end too... now I really just dip in here and there

kenmc

ScienceNerd wrote: »

Pretty much always.

I did give up halfway through The Silmarillion though.

that's the only book I never finished too!

Capt'n Midnight

GalwayGuy2 wrote: »

I'm in my early twenties and, realisticly, I only have 40-50 years left to live. I will never, ever, be able to read, or even hear of, all the stories in the world.

But there are only seven stories.

And most of them are Save The Cat

Print out this and fill in the boxes, apart from remakes or films following books to the letter it's how Hollywood have made most films for years.

and of course the odd book or two

http://www.savethecat.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Tom-Gowen-STC-onesheet.jpg

Also, second hand bookstores and libraries

\o/

Awkward Badger

Yeah I usually stick it out regardless of whether I think its any good or not. And once I start a series I'll usually finish that too. One I can recall is when reading the Wheel of Time fantasy series. I was about halfway through book 5 or 6 (which was halfway through the series) and I just gave up.

The only other one I can think of giving up on was Lolita. It was so underwhelming I lost all interest in it and just started reading something else.

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

Awkward Badger wrote: »

The only other one I can think of giving up on was Lolita. It was so underwhelming I lost all interest in it and just started reading something else.

Blasphemy! How very dare you :mad::pac:

Awkward Badger

Alani Raspy Peacock wrote: »

Blasphemy! How very dare you :mad::pac:

I guess I'll have to try read it again. I've heard so much about how its a masterpiece and love letter to the English language etc etc. Yet at the time I read it I thought it was boring rubbish.

SouthTippBass

I gave up half way through Moby Dick, Jaaaaaysus that book is as drawn out. I don't feel bad though, apparently its in the top 5 of books that people quit.

EoghanIRL

I couldn't finish the last hitch hikers guide to the galaxy book . I was reading them all in one go because I have the triology in four parts book with them all.
Some of it is long winded and not so great .
Some of the classics are hard to finish aswell .

Capt'n Midnight

EoghanIRL wrote: »

I couldn't finish the last hitch hikers guide to the galaxy book . I was reading them all in one go because I have the triology in four parts book with them all.
Some of it is long winded and not so great .
Some of the classics are hard to finish aswell .

a - it's much better as a radio series, get the audio sometime

b - there's more than 4 books in the trilogy

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

Awkward Badger wrote: »

I guess I'll have to try read it again. I've heard so much about how its a masterpiece and love letter to the English language etc etc. Yet at the time I read it I thought it was boring rubbish.

Ah I'm only messing sure horses for courses, reading something just because you're "supposed" to think it's great is a fool's game. Personally I don't care for Dickens and stopped reading the LOTR trilogy halfway through the second one so I can't really give any lectures

Hotfail.com

I finish them all eventually. Sometimes I'm just not in a mood for a book and put it down after 50 or so pages for, say, six months. Pick it up again then and if I'm still not into it I try again in another six months or so, eventually I get into if and finish it.

I've never read a book I'd say I disliked. Except 1984, that was a pile of ****.

Awkward Badger

Alani Raspy Peacock wrote: »

Ah I'm only messing sure horses for courses, reading something just because you're "supposed" to think it's great is a fool's game. Personally I don't care for Dickens and stopped reading the LOTR trilogy halfway through the second one so I can't really give any lectures

All right, no need to get nasty :mad::pac:

You're right though, each to their own. If you don't get anything out of it other than being able to say ya read it you may as well not have bothered.

Hotfail.com

Awkward Badger wrote: »

Yeah I usually stick it out regardless of whether I think its any good or not. And once I start a series I'll usually finish that too. One I can recall is when reading the Wheel of Time fantasy series. I was about halfway through book 5 or 6 (which was halfway through the series) and I just gave up.

The only other one I can think of giving up on was Lolita. It was so underwhelming I lost all interest in it and just started reading something else.

Does it get better? Currently ~100 pages into book one and it seems like dry enough stuff, is it worth persevering with or will I just put it down for a while?

Awkward Badger

Hotfail.com wrote: »

Does it get better? Currently ~100 pages into book one and it seems like dry enough stuff, is it worth persevering with or will I just put it down for a while?

The first 3/4 books I thought were good, then from what I have heard a lot of people struggle with the next few and I gave up on it round book 5 or 6. But 100 pages into book one I'd say it'll get better for a book or two before it gets an awful lot worse

Irish Guitarist

The last novel I started reading was a Stephen King book called The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. It was terrible. I read about 120 pages and couldn't take any more. That was about fifteen years ago and I haven't felt like reading a novel since. I had loads of novels that I bought around the same time period and had never read. A couple of years ago I decided to accept the fact that I was never going to read them and gave them to a charity shop.

_Redzer_

Technically since sometimes I get bored and read the last few pages

Spunge

If i get bored of a book i do get a bit dissappointed but ill drop it if i feel its a waste of time.

bnt

It has to be a pretty poor book for me to lose interest and stop. I read for pleasure: if I was in academia, studying the "humanities", then it would be my job. I already have a job that takes all my patience and energy, thanks.

I was told that A Confederacy of Dunces was a great book, but by 1/3 of the way though I just thought "these characters don't deserve to live" and it got no more of my precious reading time.

Pixelbastardo

If its a good book ill finish it, if its garbage ill stop, pretty simple really.

Fat Christy

Alani Raspy Peacock wrote: »

Ah I'm only messing sure horses for courses, reading something just because you're "supposed" to think it's great is a fool's game. Personally I don't care for Dickens and stopped reading the LOTR trilogy halfway through the second one so I can't really give any lectures

I finished the LOTR trilogy but I really didn't want to. Could not have taken a taxi or something? All that fecking walking! :mad:

GalwayGuy2

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

But there are only seven stories.

And most of them are Save The Cat

Print out this and fill in the boxes, apart from remakes or films following books to the letter it's how Hollywood have made most films for years.

and of course the odd book or two

http://www.savethecat.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Tom-Gowen-STC-onesheet.jpg



\o/

Eh, they're basic story structures from a western perspective. Your right on one level, but wrong on another.

Once you put in characters, setting, and themes, it becomes a new story.

Pumpkinseeds

I read a lot and I mostly finish all of them, except the ones that are just so bad I can't force myself to read more than a couple of chapters. I find a lot of the ones I can't finish tend to be 'cult' books or ones that have been short-listed for some award.

--LOS--

No I'm terrible for finishing books, if it's not brilliant then I just lose interest, I would just be reading it and find that my mind is wandering and I'm not actually taking in anything I'm reading, so it's near impossible to read if it's not good. Don't really have the patience or the concentration or them like other people.

Fox_In_Socks

I often read the last page or check it out half way through on wikipedia...even if it's a book I'm enjoying

If it hasn't grabbed me by 100 pages in, then it's not going to and has to be abandoned..