If you’re not enjoying a book, will you stop mid-way? Or do you push through to the end? What makes you decide to stop?
Some years ago, if I started a book, I plodded through it no matter what. There were exceptions though. I could never read Ulysses by James Joyce beyond a few pages.
Now, if a book doesn't work for me, I stop and move to the next one. I might come back to it later on. Sometimes certain books need a certain sort of mood. However, if a book does nothing to my mind and doesn't touch my mind, I don't pick it up again.
I tried reading The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai and Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. I will not pick up the former but will definitely finish the latter one of these days.
Frankly, why do I need to finish a book which does nothing for me? There are lot more to choose from....
Posts
19 comments:
Well Gautami, having written my 100th post on my love and friendship for books, I find them like people only. Discomfort, move away.. no point in carrying on.. comfort.. go again and again.. well..I am sure you are looking at Inspirations by Paolo Koehlo.. if not try it.. you will get a relevant extract from Ulysses too alongwith Prince, Ugly Duckling, Bhagvad Gita etc.
Thanks for introducing me to this blog of yours..
I feel that there are too many good books out there to push through one that I know is not going to get better.
CMash
My time is to precious to waste on reading something that is boring to me. So I do abandon books that are boring to me.
Rameshji, I find Paulo Coelho completely unreadable. His philosophy is too simplistic. The Alchemist was one of the worst books I read.
If you explore my blog, you will see that I am very evolved in my reading.
Couldn't agree more! Too many good books out there waiting to be read.
I had to read Ulysses for an English class in college, and did manage to finish it. Can't imagine reading that one today!
I agree with you - here's my BTT post.
I would push through, unless it was horrendous!
I pushed through on Burning Silk and it was soo good. My review is at The Crowded Leaf.
Good for you! I'm still a plodder.
I think it is so hard to abandon a partially read book because it seems to scream my name. Perhaps as I age and lose some hearing I can more easily abandon them for books more to my liking. Read my post here:
http://headfullofbooks.blogspot.com/
-Anne
* New Follower
Exactly! I believe that there is a book for every reader but that not every book is for every reader.
I fully understand what you are saying! I just feel guilty if I don't finish :( And I always hope that there is something better coming!
Most of the time, I read so quickly that giving up doesn't really come into play. But, as I said, there are some I just can't finish.
I agree with you about Coelho, by the way...unreadable is right.
Overall I agree...too many books, too little time. But I do have this work ethic that was pumped into me by my parents that says "finish what you start" (which, to me, applies to everything in life, even though I'm quite sure they didn't really mean that for books to be read).
Absolutely! I think reading should be fun, not work!
Thanks for the post on my blog!
I definitely have to agree with you. I think there are so many other wonderful novels to be read, so why waste my time. My TBR list grows by a few books a week! So I'm in no short supply on other great reads :)
Such a great way to look at things :)
"Frankly, why do I need to finish a book which does nothing for me? There are lot more to choose from...."
I agree completely, though it's frustrating to me sometimes to put down a book when I've started it; I feel like I *should* finish it, even though I'm not enjoying it. But there really are way more books out there that I would love, so I get over the guilt pretty easily. :)
I agree that there are too many good books out there to waste time with those that don't work for me.
I took a small break when I was reading Shantaram, but it is definitely worth finishing!
Post a Comment