how long do you give a book?

[Honey693]

How long do you give a book before you decide it's not for you?  I always feel guilty when I start reading a book and don't finish it, even if I hate it.  I usually try to give the book 50 pages before I make myself put it away, but I've found myself finishing a book I hated just b/c I felt like I had it so I should read it.

[Agatha_Ann]

I'm having this issue right now. I have a book that I was really excited about, and the subject matter is really interesting to me. The problem is that I cannot stand the main character. Like I seriously want to slap her.

I am about 100 pages in and I was about to give up, when I happened to catch the "about the author" and she is a Mormon grandmother of 15...now I feel guilty that I am being rude to a grandma if I don't finish the book.

I hear you though. It is really hard for me to quit reading a book, especially if I purchased it.

[kathymuggle]

Look at the readers bill of rights.  It is very cool.

http://kh052.k12.sd.us/reader.htm

I quit reading a book the moment I feel like it - life is too short to waste on bad books, lol.

[samstress]

Originally Posted by kathymuggle 

I quit reading a book the moment I feel like it - life is too short to waste on bad books, lol.

[Arduinna]

It depends, if it's just slow or I'm just having a hard time getting into it I will give it longer than if I just hate it. I couldn't get past the first couple chapters of Harry Potter and the Dark Materials series, but I've had books I've put down before I finished the first chapter. I really can't force myself to continue reading because I am always reading multiple books at once so I just read the one that I'm more interested in anyway.

[nathansmum]

I stop whenever I feel the need to. I don't like doing it, but yeah, too many other books I do want to be reading and spending my time on.

[goinggreengirl]

I will try to get through the first chapter if I'm just having a hard time getting into it, but I if I hate the writing style or characters, then I don't even bother!

[Viola]

I just paid $7.99 for a Kindle book that I have disliked from the very beginning, but I'm going to read the whole thing so I can give it a bad rating.  I once stopped reading a John Grisham novel 23 pages from the end, because I had been hating it for chapters and chapters, and I finally realized I just didn't care how it ended.

[~Charlie's~Angel~]

OT, but did you know you can get samples of any book your intersted in on Kindle for free?  Some of them are like the first two chapters, other are less.  But atleast you would be able to get a feel for the book BEFORE you paid 8 bucks for it.  I do it CONSTANTLY.  And am so glad I do.  I would be throwing money away left and right, since half the samples i have downloaded are crap.  LOL

GIANT LOL to the bolded. 

 

Originally Posted by Viola 

I just paid $7.99 for a Kindle book that I have disliked from the very beginning, but I'm going to read the whole thing so I can give it a bad rating.  I once stopped reading a John Grisham novel 23 pages from the end, because I had been hating it for chapters and chapters, and I finally realized I just didn't care how it ended.

[TEAK's Mom]

Originally Posted by Viola 

I just paid $7.99 for a Kindle book that I have disliked from the very beginning, but I'm going to read the whole thing so I can give it a bad rating.  I once stopped reading a John Grisham novel 23 pages from the end, because I had been hating it for chapters and chapters, and I finally realized I just didn't care how it ended.

LOL. It may be sacrilege, but that was my response to the one and only Grisham I ever attempted. I just couldn't stand that book: boring, predictable, flat. I kept reading almost to the end because the world told me it would improve, but I finally just couldn't care anymore. 

[Alyantavid]

Some books I'll keep going until the end, some I'll quit a chapter in.  There's no real reasoning behind how I do it though.

I just finished the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.  Took me 3 weeks.  I don't remember that a book has ever in my life taken me 3 weeks to read.  It was so slow and blah but I kept with it because I'd heard such great things.  It did finally pick up towards the end and I'm reading the next one now (which is going much better).  I'm glad I kept with that one, but wow. 

I keep downloading free kindle books.  I just hate to pay for a book that I may hate.

[raksmama]

I am like you! I feel bad when I don't finish, but would not stop until I'd at least read 3 chapters. Just curious, what books have you all not finished? For me some of the books I did not finish:

Salman Rushdie Midnight's Children

The Black Jewel Trilogy

Not many actaully.....