I wrote last year about how the library in Troy Michigan was closing due to a no vote on a library millage. Well, this week the voters of Troy (population 80,000) came out and reversed that decision and the library is safe for five years. Sanity reigns.**************************
Jeff Meyerson and I have been discussing how long we stick with a book before throwing in the towel. He mentioned a fifty-page rule; I wish I was that generous.
If a book has very good reviews, or word of mouth, or I have liked other books by that author, I might stick with it that long even if it wasn't interesting me.
But I have closed books after 5 pages, 20 pages, 200 pages. And once or twice within ten pages of finishing.
I have a friend who has finished every book she started except one. I can't imagine this because I am a very careless chooser. Especially with library books. I have a table full of them now, all due in two weeks. Like the cover: pick it up, Like the title: pick it up. Read a good review, pick it up. See where I am going. Incidentally THE SISTER BROTHERS was a sure pick-up for me. Terrific title, terrific cover. But will I like what's inside?
What about you? How long do you give a book?
32 comments:
I used to finish but these days my tolerance is not as high. I'd say I do not finish 1 out of 10 books I buy these days. And if you count every book I pick up in the store and stat reading prior to purchase the number is probably 80% or higher.
Mine is less than 50% because I am so promiscuous in my picks.
On rare occasions I'll abandon a book in the first few pages. Usually I'll give it 30 or 40 pages. Once I make it past halfway I always finish.
It's 40 for me, unless I know sooner there is absolutely no way.
That's 40 pages, not 40 percent.
As I said, it used to be 50 pages. However, more and more I find that if I don't feel engaged in the first chapter I might get discouraged. If it's an author I've read and liked before I'm much more likely to stick with it.
I also have found lately that the longer the book is the shorter leeway I will give the author to catch my attention. If I'm going to invest the time to read a 500 page book with (as Patti said) a shelf full of library books (not to mention hundreds of my own books) waiting to be read next it sure better be good.
In the past I was like James but now I've gotten well past 50 pages, even past the halfway mark before realizing, "you know, I'm not really enjoying this so why am I still reading it?"
I quit a highly-touted Bestseller List thriller this week at 140 pages and I'm fine with that.
Jeff M.
I'd say 30-50 pages, Patti.
And good news on the library!
When I get to 50 pages, I feel I've made an investment, so sometimes I'll slog through even though I'm disliking some element. Usually I can tell if it's totally not going to work for me after 10 pages. What really annoys me is when the opening voice is engaging and interesting, but the POV changes after about 30 pages and you're with somebody boring or there's head-hopping. Then I'm mad. I'd say I don't finish about 30% of the books I start. Some of them I intend to get back to, but somebody brings me something and says "you have to read this right way!" and there goes my other book, for no good reason at all. (Except that I'm easily bullied.)
Like David, I feel that if I've read 30-50 pages, I've given the writer every chance to capture my attention. If he/she hasn't by then, I'm done. Too many good books to read to waste time on one you don't enjoy.
And that is awesome news about the Troy Library. I was certain the citizens of Troy had lost their damn minds, but the last-minute reprieve is a good sign.
Yeah, sometimes I can tell on the first page.
Good news is hard to come by in Michigan so yay!
I'm hyper-sensitive about poor or weak writing. Two pages of that is my limit. If a writer holds me for 25 pages, I'll generally stick with them to the end.
I read reviews, overwhelm myself with library books, then decide within a few pages if I want to continue or not. So much to choose from!
Michel
I almost always finish a book. Must be my rosy, optimistic personality.
Pretty much always finish them. I'm pretty choosy with what I read, and the ones I haven't liked I've felt obligated to read because they were either a) written by a friend or b) I hold out hope they get better.
I've only read a couple books in the last couple years I honestly didn't like.
The first chapter. If you haven't "captured" me in the first chapter...
There are exceptions... I will certainly "cut a little slack" with a new writer, but if you've got a couple titles under your belt, you better deliver.
I too have "abandoned" a book once I have gotten into it... 50, 100, 200 pages... just because the author got me that far, if the story "dies", well... I'll say a few words, but I'm not going to go in to mourning and finish it just because I have invested a fair amount of time already. I wouldn't throw good money after bad; why should I throw good time after bad?
I have also come across a few books that were so bad... two paragraphs in I could tell that we weren't going to be finishing that "dance".
Have I given up on a book too soon, because I wasn't patient enough? Probably... I guess that is my loss.
That is WONDERFUL news about the library! Probably some of the best news I have heard all week!
YAY, Troy, Michigan!
I think the 50-page rule is a pretty good one. After all, that's generally about one-fourth or one-fifth of the book. If you haven't captured my interest by then...
On the other hadn, I recently had to give up on a very well-received and well-reviewed murder-mystery before page 50. It was full of telling rather than showing and had the most passive heroine I've encountered in a long time. I tried to give it 50 pages, but by page 35, I was done.
The inability to relate to the protagonist is a big problem for me. I don't need to like them but I do need to be interested in them, to find them credible.
Good news about the library, Patti.
Sometimes I read something that I think is just poorly written and/or edited (once and for all, you cannot "hiss" a word without an "s" in it!) that it just pulls me out of the story. After two or three times in DA VINCI CODE I'd had enough and just gave up.
Another peeve - characters whose name suddenly changes halfway through the book for a page or two and then changes back. What's up with that?
Jeff M.
Generally I'll decide whether to read a book based on a skim of the first couple of pages of whatever is near the top of the TBR pile. Usually the choice is made on mood. Do I fancy hardboiled, noir, police procedural, etc right now? Then I'll give it 10-30 pages. If it doesn't fit my mood I'll put it down and come back to it when it's likely to. 95% of the time I finish what I start. I'm a pretty discriminate chooser, so the pile should mostly consist of things I want to read.
I never thought about hiss before, Jeff.
If I bought all the books I read, I would probably be more discriminating.
I typically give a book about twenty to twenty-five pages. If I make it past that I will finish it.
Like Jeff Meyerson, I usually give a book 50 pages to win me over. I try to be careful and only start reading books with good reviews or recommendations (like on your blog, Patti). I'm not likely to pick up a random book to read because I've been burned too many times.
Yes, should have said, I buy nearly every book I read. I tend to do a little work before parting with my cash. That doesn't mean I don't try new authors, just that I tend to have a bit of browse first and I know which reviewers my tastes coincide with.
I've been known to give a book one page. But generally I try to give it maybe as much as five pages. Occasionally I'll check in the middle and even the ending.
I'm a fast rejecter. If a book is written in the present tense, I reject it out of hand after the first couple of sentences.
Jeff's comment reminds me of another book I recently gave up on(it was after page 50...but not too far after): a character named "Frances" was referred to as "Fiona" for several pages, and then it was back to "Frances." Definitely a "Hello, Editor!" moment.
Yikes. I guess many publishers do not have editors anymore. Probably can't afford them.
A pretty long time (up to 50 pages) and I'll often go back and give a book up to 3 tries. I did that with the pulitzer winner this year and although I eventually finished it, it just didn't do it for me. To be fair, the chapter done in PowerPoint was a pain in the ass on kindle. I found it more annoying than entertaining. I loved the first chapter and then was pretty much lost. Might've had to do with my lack of popular music through the decades she dealt with but in the end, my opinion didn't change (and it has with other books I've given second or third tries to in the past).
The only books I try a second time are classics I know I should have read. Like Magic Mountain, Moby Dick and Middlemarch. Maybe it's something about Ms.
Patti, me too! Like George, I've tried to read Proust several times but so far just haven't succeeded. MIDDLEMARCH is another in that same category, while MAGIC MOUNTAIN is in the "I really need to read that someday" category.
Jeff M.
Guess it's not going to happen because I have become a less ambitious reader over time.
Was that the Goon Squad book, Charlie?
You can hiss "th" sounds (the "soft" ones). "Halt," he hissed, however, doesn't fly. Dave Langford, and, less assiduously (great word for hissing), Bill Crider love to cite these.
Name changes in mid text is bad copy-editing (which is disappearing, after all, and often has been observed in the breach).
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