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Do you read every book until it's end?

  • 16-07-2014 11:22PM
    #1
    GalwayGuy2
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,269 ✭✭✭


    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?


«1

Comments

  • #2
    LostBoy101
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,369 ✭✭✭LostBoy101


    Of course then it be a waste of paper ;)


  • #3
    bitemeluis
    Closed Accounts Posts: 241 ✭✭bitemeluis


    adhd - lucky to get to the end of a sentence


  • #4
    Sir Arthur Daley
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,720 ✭✭✭Sir Arthur Daley


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


  • #5
    Frosty McSnowballs
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,396 ✭✭✭Frosty McSnowballs


    Only the bible.


  • #6
    Arthur Beesley
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,537 ✭✭✭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.


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  • #7
    GLaDOS
    Moderators, Regional East Moderators Posts: 23,257 Mod ✭✭✭✭GLaDOS


    Pretty much always.

    I did give up halfway through The Silmarillion though.

    Cake, and grief counseling, will be available at the conclusion of the test



  • #8
    Slippin Jimmy
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,030 ✭✭✭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.


  • #9
    Wichita Lineman
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 48,742 ✭✭✭✭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.


  • #10
    Manach
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 9,904 Mod ✭✭✭✭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.


  • #11
    pq0n1ct4ve8zf5
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,070 ✭✭✭✭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"


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  • #12
    smellmepower
    Closed Accounts Posts: 829 ✭✭✭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.


  • #13
    The Backwards Man
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,299 ✭✭✭✭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. :(


  • #14
    dee_mc
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,246 ✭✭✭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 :)


  • #15
    HalloweenJack
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,574 ✭✭✭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).


  • #16
    Birneybau
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,450 ✭✭✭✭Birneybau


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


  • #17
    Fat Christy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,866 ✭✭✭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.


  • #18
    pq0n1ct4ve8zf5
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,070 ✭✭✭✭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.


  • #19
    dee_mc
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,246 ✭✭✭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 ;)


  • #20
    GalwayGuy2
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,269 ✭✭✭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 :D


  • #21
    pq0n1ct4ve8zf5
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,070 ✭✭✭✭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:


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  • #22
    thelad95
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,812 ✭✭✭thelad95


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


  • #23
    ch20
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 171 ✭✭ch20


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


  • #24
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 99,585 Mod ✭✭✭✭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 :o


  • #25
    dee_mc
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,246 ✭✭✭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!


  • #26
    ToddyDoody
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,419 ✭✭✭ToddyDoody


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


  • #27
    kenmc
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,305 ✭✭✭kenmc


    ScienceNerd wrote: »
    Pretty much always.

    I did give up halfway through The Silmarillion though.

    that's the only book I never finished too!


  • #28
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 99,585 Mod ✭✭✭✭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 :D
    \o/


  • #29
    Awkward Badger
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,414 ✭✭✭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.


  • #30
    pq0n1ct4ve8zf5
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,070 ✭✭✭✭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:


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  • #31
    Awkward Badger
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,414 ✭✭✭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.


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