What do you do if a book isn't interesting?

Boo · Post by **Boo** » 10 Sep 2012, 10:00

When I was younger, I would give an absolute stinker a 100 pages. Now that my time is growing shorter, a book had better grab me right out of the gate or I'm moving on!

MysFan · Post by **MysFan** » 10 Sep 2012, 17:53

Boo, I totally hear you. I used to read everything all the way through no matter how bad it was. Just thought since I had the time..... Now, I recognize that our time here is short. And the list of books I want to read is very, very long. Don't see it getting any shorter. And then there are the books I would like to re-read!!!!

Good thing I am retired. When I was working I barely had time to read at all. I think that the freedom to really concentrate on reading, and to join forums like this, is one of the best things about retirement.

And it is also great to get all the ideas from members.

Ayla · Post by **Ayla** » 12 Sep 2012, 23:06

Honestly, I am quite a picky person when it comes to books anyway. However, if I do happen across a book that I don't think is interesting, catches my attention ect; I STOP reading. I literally close the book and walk away, never to open it again (unless I have to).

DivineIntervention · Post by **DivineIntervention** » 13 Sep 2012, 16:59

I try to read it on a morning when I'm awake or during the day, never on a night time because I end up skimming because I'm tired. Then, I read for at least an hour to allow myself to get into it, and if still isn't working I'll put it down and maybe try once more and if I still can't get into it I give up and move on ha!

primrose777 · Post by **primrose777** » 14 Sep 2012, 05:33

DATo wrote:
Fran wrote:@DATo
I was wondering how you were going to connect the much maligned Brussels sprout with reading but you did it!
Glad to see you are back to full health & have returned to us better than ever
Oh, didn't I tell you ? ... I am the master of analogy. Given a chance I can connect lima beans with politics, broccoli with space exploration and cauliflower with the miracle of birth.

Many thanks for your "welcome back" Fran. Sorry it took so long to respond to your post.

DATo, I really, really want to hear your analogy linking broccoli with space Travel. Sounds a bit Hitch Hikers guide to the galaxyish.

I have to many books waiting to be read to waste my time on something I am just not into. I give it 1 chapter if I havent been hooked it's bye bye.

Hoilett · Post by **Hoilett** » 16 Sep 2012, 19:41

I go to sleep. Then the next day I give it another shot...if that doesn't work then it becomes a beautiful accent piece to my library. Makes my wall look like I am studious. LOL

Sonia Galloway · Post by **Sonia Galloway** » 19 Sep 2012, 14:40

I try hard to keep going, but if it becomes unbearable I skip ahead a few pages to see if a change is on the horizon. If that proves disappointing-- after three or four repeated skips-- I give up and close the book for good.

SocialGirl · Post by **SocialGirl** » 20 Sep 2012, 11:10

I an never leave a book mid-stream so I will wade through it in the hope the story I,proves which it seldom does lol

MysFan · Post by **MysFan** » 20 Sep 2012, 21:34

SocialGirl wrote:I an never leave a book mid-stream so I will wade through it in the hope the story I,proves which it seldom does lol

I totally understand as I used to do that as well. Some of my friends have been astounded over some of the books I have tried to get through once I started. But now somehow it just seems there are so many good books to read and so little time, so I have adopted the same strategy as some others on the forum. I read a bit of the book and if it does not grab me, then I stop and move on.

It is always hard to do. One forum member indicated that he had to go more than 200 pages in to get interested!!! I just can't do that anymore.

min · Post by **min** » 20 Sep 2012, 21:44

it depends on why im reading it. something for book club, i will push through and see it to the end. if i have a reason for finishing it, i will read it even if i don't want to. but i have about a thousand books that i started and never finished. I'll either never finish them, or finish them when I feel like trying again. If I don't like a book- I go with general consensus here- I stop after I give it a shot.

MysFan · Post by **MysFan** » 20 Sep 2012, 22:00

min, yes I am going to try to read the forum selections. If I can't get through the current choices, I am sure that some I will enjoy will come around eventually. I just joined recently and one forum member wrote that a couple of books I really enjoyed were in previous discussions!!! Just missed them!!!

tlallport · Post by **tlallport** » 21 Sep 2012, 14:32

In general my motto is that life is definitely too short to read bad books, and time is precious, so I usually give it about two or three chapters before I abandon it. Sometimes I know virtually after the first paragraph. However, at university, where the reading list is set in concrete, I did learn to read and finish books that wouldn't normally have interested me, and found that there is merit in most reading. If there is the time to analyse the book, or maybe hear how other people found reading it ( which also happens at bookclub)then sometimes surprising things happen. I guess it also goes back to the debate about anyoment of the reading of a book vs it's literary merit, and that both those things are not always concurrent in a novel!

min · Post by **min** » 21 Sep 2012, 18:53

mysfan- yeah, I'm part of a few online book club type sites, and I usually try to read the books they're doing, but majority of the time, I'm not interested or my choices aren't the popular ones that everyone else wants to do :\ I do try to read them though, just haven't had my attention snared by any of them yet.

tlallport- Some of the best book conversations I've had is on a book I liked and someone else didn't or the other way around. Makes it worth it to read a book you may not like right at first if you know you'll be able to vent about it later

vijaykumarA · Post by **vijaykumarA** » 24 Sep 2012, 09:15

I just close the book and make fun with others to make my mind refresh.
Otherwise I start to shade the letter "o" in the particular book .

jennyc1023 · Post by **jennyc1023** » 24 Sep 2012, 12:44

Unless its very long, I finish it. I have had many experiences when I hated yhe book at first and then ened up really enjoying it. A good example is Fortunes Rocks. It drags at the begining like nobodies business, but I stuck with it and its now in my top 10.