# How long do you stay with a book?



## bhazelgrove (Jul 16, 2013)

I will go to half but after that I am done if it doesn't hold me. I used to trudge to the end but not anymore. Anybody else like this or do you always finish


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## lmroth12 (Nov 15, 2012)

I used to try to read every book I started, believing that I owed it to the author to try to at least finish their story. In the past few years, however, I have become so busy that I give it to about a third of the book, and by that time if the story hasn't picked up in tempo or the characters haven't "grabbed" me to the point that I actually care about what happens to them I bail out. These days I am more likely to read the first few chapters through the Look Inside feature on Amazon before buying a book or sitting down at the library to read the first few chapters before checking it out. And only then do I consider that I have actually started reading the book. To me the sample chapters are only testers before deciding to read it.


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

I have less tolerance - I try to give it 25-33%. I think that's giving it a fair chance to develop so if it hasn't grabbed me by then, it probably won't. But I've quit sooner than that at times, when there's something that really, really bugged me rather than it simply not grabbing me.

By the time I get half way, I actually start thinking "well, I'm half done, I'm over the hump, I might as well finish it."


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

It depends on the book.   Though I do finish most that I start.   
Book 1 I didn't even get through chapter 1 because I could not get into the author's style of writing.
Book 2 I got about 2/3rds finished and was wishing I had been warned about the content. (knew the genre but not where it was going)(On erotica I wish all authors had to say (m/m m/f m/f/m/ rape, incest, etc.  so the reader won't get into the book and be shocked, horrified or totally turned off)
Book 3 I actually finished but only because I wanted to give the author a review.  Had I not been wanting to be fair to the author I would have quit reading on page 3 because I could not stand the main character.   (glad it was a short book)
Book 4 I got 3 chapters in thinking ok even though the back cover was totally wrong (paperback), maybe this book will get better.  No it kept getting worse.

I tried Oliver Twist but it was just too depressing and could not get into it.

And you have just inspired me to read at least one chapter in Atlas Shrugged today.


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## D/W (Dec 29, 2010)

I don't like to give up on reading a story, but if it's not holding my interest about a quarter of the way through, I'll abandon it. I have thousands of books to read on my Kindle, and life is too short to waste time on a book I'm not enjoying.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

It depends.

I gave up on _Under the Dome_ at something around 20% -- it wasn't even holding my interest a little bit. I sort of wanted to know what caused the dome, but had no interest in what happened to the people in it. They were not very likable and I rather thought they deserved to be stuck in a cage.  So I stopped reading the book and looked up the synopsis on google. 

Gave up on _Bring Up the Bodies_ at about 50%. I'd liked the first and kept hoping it would get better -- but then realized it wasn't going to. It just moved way too slow for me. . . . much more 'rumination' by Cromwell than I recall from _Wolf Hall_. It's supposed to be a time in history with a lot going on and much in the way of palace intrigue but it just felt boring and dull. Plus it was hard to keep track of where they were and who was who -- a difficulty I don't usually have with historicals and that I'd not had with _Wolf Hall_.


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## Hilary Thomson (Nov 20, 2011)

About three-fourths of the time I quit after the first few pages, either because of bad style or poor conceptualization.  If I get past those pages, I'll usually finish the book.  Bad writing tends to show itself immediately, and I'm one of those readers who relies heavily on the sample.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

because i am working my way through my TBR list, i've gotten pretty ruthless in stopping.  I stopped the GunPowder Gardens at around 15%, and only made it 5% into Heart in the Right Place.  I made it a bit farther into Frozen H*ll, I think I gave up around 1/3 in.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

It depends. I do a lot of vetting before I read, so even if something isn't the best thing since sliced bread, it will still be entertaining enough for me to finish. Sometimes books drag in spots and then pick up again. 

One book I just couldn't take anymore was "Pillars of the Earth". I was so stubborn with it as it should be something I like. I think about half way of wading through the bla bla bla I kept feeling and hearing in my head, I just gave up. 
Others are the last in the Twilight series that I just don't even have words for and the first in the 50 shades series. That one I just gave up at like 33%. 

So I think for me I have to at least give a book about a 1/3. I don't mind when something starts a bit slow. For many Outlander is a book that starts slow. 

I do not decide anything on like the first page or even first chapter like I see sometimes people do. I don't have to have a book start with explosions left and right. 

But thankfully so far, my DNF shelf is small. Compared to what I do finish. So my vetting system seems to work very well for me. And oddly, samples are not a part of that vetting system.


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

Atunah said:


> It depends. I do a lot of vetting before I read, so even if something isn't the best thing since sliced bread, it will still be entertaining enough for me to finish. Sometimes books drag in spots and then pick up again.
> 
> One book I just couldn't take anymore was "Pillars of the Earth". I was so stubborn with it as it should be something I like. I think about half way of wading through the bla bla bla I kept feeling and hearing in my head, I just gave up.
> Others are the last in the Twilight series that I just don't even have words for and the first in the 50 shades series. That one I just gave up at like 33%.
> ...


I was shocked when I once saw someone say they won't read a book if they don't like the first sentence. Not even the first page or chapter! I actually hate books that attempt to have a great hook in the first sentence - it feels gimmicky to me. I'd rather see a story and the characters build.



> But thankfully so far, my DNF shelf is small. Compared to what I do finish. So my vetting system seems to work very well for me. And oddly, samples are not a part of that vetting system.


Yeah, according to Goodreads, I have abandoned less than 10% of what I've read so obviously my vetting is pretty good.


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## 1131 (Dec 18, 2008)

I don't abandon many books but some become skimable. 

I fully intended to read Twilight and Fifty Shades of Gray but stopped after 3 pages of each. According to Goodreads, I've only abandoned 6 other books. I only read one of them past 25%. I guess I do better vetting than I thought I did.


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## Teri Hall (Feb 10, 2013)

I want to give them all a chance, but sometimes I just quit. Usually it's because the story isn't engaging me. There have been so many times though, that I've been glad I kept up. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, is a great exmple of this. Could not STAND it at first, but it was SO worth it.


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## Clark Magnan (May 23, 2013)

I used to finish everything, figuring that even bad books had something to teach me about what makes a book bad. My wife, however, has convinced me that there are too many good books out there to waste time on the drivel. I have a train commute and I will generally give a book one round trip to catch hold on me.

That said, I just finished a book that wasn't terribly good but wasn't bad enough to drop either. Completely forgettable. Maybe the wife hasn't changed me as much as I think.


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## Debbie Bennett (Mar 25, 2011)

Generally a few chapters, because if it's an ebook I'll probably have read the sample so know it starts off well. For a paperback it might be less. But I no longer make myself finish. Life's too short for bad books!


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## Anne Berkeley (Jul 12, 2013)

I always finish.  I can't help it.  It's compulsion.  That's why I hate reading series unless they're done. I need to know the ending.


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## Mark Young (Dec 13, 2010)

The first three or four chapters had been capture my interest or I'm history. Less if the writing is poor. There are too many TBR books in my pile to stay with a novel that fails to interest me.


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## DooneyKat (Jul 24, 2012)

My fourth grade teacher told me to give a book 100 pages or four chapters. That has been my rule ever since. Like someone else said... life is too short...

I've also heard 100- your age=  page to stop reading.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

I have no rule of thumb: I've given up after 10 pages and after over 300 pages. Poor writing can turn me off after a few pages, whereas good writing with characters that don't interest me may hold me for quite a while before I realize I don't give a [insert expletive of your choice] about what's going on and decide to move on. Thankfully, I can now sample things on my Kindle before buying, saving me from buying a book I'd either put down after 10 pages or maybe try to slog through since I'd paid for it.


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## Gone To Croatan (Jun 24, 2011)

Hilary Thomson said:


> About three-fourths of the time I quit after the first few pages, either because of bad style or poor conceptualization. If I get past those pages, I'll usually finish the book.


Same here. If the beginning is good enough to make me buy it, I'll almost certainly finish it.

But it may take some time: I started Pynchon's 'Against The Day' about five years ago and I'm still only about half-way through.


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## Debbie Bennett (Mar 25, 2011)

DooneyKat said:


> I've also heard 100- your age= page to stop reading.


I've seen that somewhere too. Meaning we get less tolerant as we get older, which is definitely true for me!


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## bhazelgrove (Jul 16, 2013)

My problem is I still feel guilty and always promse myself I will go back and finish the book one day...it is quite a pile.


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

Now there is one book that since I am about 500 pages into, I will finish reading it though it may take me another year as I can only read one chapter of it at a time.  I still have 500+ pages to go.


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## kisala9906 (Sep 4, 2011)

For me it depends on the book but I try really hard to at least read 50-100 pages more or less depending on the size of the book.


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## Tony Richards (Jul 6, 2011)

I'll stay with a book for as long as I'm convinced that it's well written ... I'll stick with Catherine Fisher from cover to cover every single time, for instance. But if I think a book is very badly written (e.g.: Leon Uris' _QBVII_) I've been known to put it down within 2 pages.

I simply don't understand readers who claim they're only interested in the story and don't care about the quality of the writing ... would they enjoy watching a movie that was badly filmed and out-of-focus? It's pretty much the same thing, so far as I'm concerned.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

Tony Richards said:


> I simply don't understand readers who claim they're only interested in the story and don't care about the quality of the writing ... would they enjoy watching a movie that was badly filmed and out-of-focus? It's pretty much the same thing, so far as I'm concerned.


I don't think anyone here said that don't care about the quality of the writing. I would think most care about that. But quality can also be very subjective. 
Many of us do some serious vetting of books, so we aren't having to deal with a lot of "low quality" stuff. 
I wan't both, story and quality. But again, it can be a very personal thing what is considered quality.


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## Nancy Beck (Jul 1, 2011)

It all depends. I used to finish a book I started no matter what.

But life's too short to put up with crap.  

What makes me give up on a book is if I'm unbelivably bored, a character or characters start to irritate me (thru what they say or any tics they may have that are written about again and again), too many typos and/or formatting problems, and the subplot or other story arc takes precedence over the story arc I'm really interested in.

So I've given up after a couple of chapters, halfway thru the story, etc. I don't read on hoping it will get better, because I figure the problems I had will continue thru the rest of the book.

Fortunately, I've gotten better at discerning which books will hold my interest and which will want to make me (virtually) throw the book against the nearest wall.


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## bhazelgrove (Jul 16, 2013)

I think the Kindle is particularly nefarious in this. Every time I turn it on I stare at the books I have not finished. Its a bit like having pictures on your hard drive you never look at ...at least a book was out of mind. Yeah. I do put them in archive but somehow they swim back up and then I just say well one day I'll finish them...one day.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

bhazelgrove said:


> I think the Kindle is particularly nefarious in this. Every time I turn it on I stare at the books I have not finished. Its a bit like having pictures on your hard drive you never look at ...at least a book was out of mind. Yeah. I do put them in archive but somehow they swim back up and then I just say well one day I'll finish them...one day.


delete 'em out of your account. that way they can never surface again.


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

Tony Richards said:


> I'll stay with a book for as long as I'm convinced that it's well written ... I'll stick with Catherine Fisher from cover to cover every single time, for instance. But if I think a book is very badly written (e.g.: Leon Uris' _QBVII_) I've been known to put it down within 2 pages.
> 
> I simply don't understand readers who claim they're only interested in the story and don't care about the quality of the writing ... would they enjoy watching a movie that was badly filmed and out-of-focus? It's pretty much the same thing, so far as I'm concerned.


Most likely, what people mean when they say this is that an author doesn't have to be a mind-blowingly excellent writer if the story is superb. It doesn't mean that don't still expect the writing quality to be at least reasonable or average. Probably, a lot of these people mainly only read books from major publishers who, frankly, are pretty good at weeding out the really horrible writing. Honestly, reading self published works has opened my eyes to a whole new level of bad writing so people who have never read self published books have probably never encountered this and it doesn't factor into their consideration anyway.


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## lilywakefield (Aug 5, 2013)

My rules depend on WHY I'm reading it.  If it's a gift from a special friend, a book club assignment or a request for a review, I'll struggle through to the end no matter what.  On the other hand, when I pick up a shopping bag full of novels for $5 at our local library's used book sale, I'll often skim the first 10 pages of 25 books in an evening, pick out those that seem promising and donate the rest back.  I've found giving lots of books a chance is the best way to find the hidden gems.


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## Ben Finn (Mar 4, 2013)

Life is to short to waste it on a book that don't grip me. And don't get me wrong its got nothing to do with how its written ect. I need to be entertained from the word go. So to answer the question 1st 3 chapters.


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## Sapphire (Apr 24, 2012)

I don't think I've ever not finished a book. It just goes against my grain. I do confess to skimming through some lengthy prose here and there, but I read enough to get the gist of every chapter. I have a couple of non-fiction books which are currently at the half-way point. I will finish them one of these days, but I needed a break. They are both very philosophical and a body can only tolerate so much of that at a time.


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## a_g (Aug 9, 2013)

Atunah said:


> It depends. I do a lot of vetting before I read, so even if something isn't the best thing since sliced bread, it will still be entertaining enough for me to finish. Sometimes books drag in spots and then pick up again.


Same here. I do because I don't like surprises, so I will seek spoilers. I do pay attention to what is said about the book in the reviews. Some books do start out slow but according to the reading will pick up later in, I'll consider it depending on the reviews.



Atunah said:


> But thankfully so far, my DNF shelf is small. Compared to what I do finish. So my vetting system seems to work very well for me. And oddly, samples are not a part of that vetting system.


I think at the moment I have less than a handful of DNF, so my vetting works for me, too. But samples do play a huge role in my vetting process. I can tell by the first couple of pages if I can tolerate the writing style long enough to hang with that part of it.

Other than that, a book has about 50 pages or about 15-20% to keep my attention before I will put it down.


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## cshoughton (Jul 10, 2013)

Has everyone seen this infographic on book abandonment? It takes on the why and when and what:

http://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/424-what-makes-you-put-down-a-book

Craig


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## Heffnerh (Feb 1, 2013)

A lot of books seem to start out really strong, and then the plot loses steam in the middle...that's when I find myself drifting to the last pages. I have no qualms whatsoever about skipping to the end, just to find out what happens and if it's worth trudging through the middle.

@Craig: love the image! That sums a lot up perfectly.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I just gave up on one this evening.  The genre/setting really interested me, and the writing was fine, but at 20% -- of a fairly LONG book -- nothing at all was happening.  Maybe it was just really really slow to start. But I decided that I didn't really need to waste any more time just now, when I have so many more books waiting to read.


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## AuthorChristopherLong (Jun 20, 2011)

I've discovered many "book grenades" over the years -- slow-starters that ultimately pay off. Hence, I try to always hang on through to the (occasional) bitter end. But given the limited time that I have to invest in a book experience, I do significant leg work on the front end -- what's the "buzz," am I familiar with the author, do I connect with the subject, etc. However, the primary deal breaker for me is typically bad editing. And when I do bail out early, I try to hang on through at least the first fifty pages.


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## Thomas Watson (Mar 8, 2012)

I generally stay with a book to the end, having the habit of finishing what I start.

Of course, if at the end I'm sorry I did so, that's the last work by that author that will even find a place in the TBR pile.


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## bhazelgrove (Jul 16, 2013)

Just went back to reading Fitzgerald short stories. That is a problem when I have a kindle full of unfinished books. Why is it the old stuff is so damn good.


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## journeymama (May 30, 2011)

I hate stopping before I'm finished. It feels wrong to quit and leave it unread, hanging there by a thread. But lately I'm more careful with my time.


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## KC Estime (Aug 25, 2013)

I used to feel bad about abandoning a bad book, but now I just drop it the moment it gets to be too much. Really, a bad book can put me in a really horrible book slump, so by trudging through it, I actually treat the next book in a similar fashion even if it's good.


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## allysonjo (Aug 25, 2013)

Now that I have hundreds and hundreds of books to choose from on my kindle, if a book doesn't catch my interest in the first few pages, I move on.  I know it's harsh, but, as authors, that's why we need to focus on a good beginning.


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## Thomas Watson (Mar 8, 2012)

allysonjo said:


> Now that I have hundreds and hundreds of books to choose from on my kindle, if a book doesn't catch my interest in the first few pages, I move on. I know it's harsh, but, as authors, that's why we need to focus on a good beginning.


Yep. It's our job to catch 'em, and not their responsibility to BE caught.


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## senserial (Jan 29, 2013)

I usually quit reading a certain book if it didn't catch me with the first 50-100 pages. And one of the reasons I give up on reading is when the story is overwhelmed with non-sense explanations or descriptions.
There are also books that catch my interest with the beginning, but then disappoint me after a while(if the story doesn't evolve for example), so it happens to me to quit reading in the middle of a book.


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## Daniel Harvell (Jun 21, 2013)

If sample pages from the Amazon preview hold my interest, then I'll almost always finish any book that I download. It's rare for me not to finish one, usually because I've made certain it will hold my interest beforehand.


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## Thomas Watson (Mar 8, 2012)

Daniel Harvell said:


> If sample pages from the Amazon preview hold my interest, then I'll almost always finish any book that I download. It's rare for me not to finish one, usually because I've made certain it will hold my interest beforehand.


When you read enough books you eventually develop a talent, of sorts, for picking books that'll suit you from samples on Amazon, or by reading a few pages in a bookstore.


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## Gone 9/21/18 (Dec 11, 2008)

When I was younger I prided myself on always finishing any book I started. I abandoned that years ago. Life's too short. And I'll abandon a book anywhere from the first page to the last if it bores me enough or annoys me enough. Some people say you can tell from the sample, and of course with the ones that are no-go early on, I do get to tell that from the sample. However, IMO the sample usually only gives an indication of quality of writing and for me most books fail in plot, sometimes characterization.


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## C.F. (Jan 6, 2011)

I used to finish every book I started. Just recently I've begun to abandon books. My TBR list is too long. Sometimes if I'm losing interest, I'll go read the reviews to try to determine if it's worth continuing. There's no point in reading a book that I'm not enjoying when there are so many out there that I will.


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## Emily Hill (Aug 28, 2013)

I'll stay with a book until boredom sets in -- three pages, 30 pages, 300 pages (in the case of Kingsolver, LOL)  The only exception was 'Flight Behavior' I slogged it out out of loyalty to La Cunta.


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## bhazelgrove (Jul 16, 2013)

I have to say that now that I am not reading near as much as I should I am a lot closer to the first chapter test because I just don't have time. If it doesn't hold me then I will move on


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