According to my reading history, I realized that I rarely do not finish books. There are a few books that I remember not finishing and I can count them on one hand. Right now I don’t have any standards on when I decide not to finish reading a book, because I feel like I should always finish reading one. I don’t know why, but I just feel like I owe the book that much to finish it up to the last page even if I was already having a hard time reading it.
Image from Pittsburg Photographer Blog
Of course that means that it would take me time to finish reading a book. Perhaps I may even take a break from reading it and resume it at some point, but I still try to finish before passing judgment. I think I started doing that after I finished reading How to be Single by Liz Tuccillo. Halfway through the book and I hated all the characters. I was more than ready to give up reading it, but I pushed myself to read up until the end. While I still didn’t end up liking the book overall, I thought the last two pages kind of saved it.
I guess what I really want to say is there are some books that take the first page to be really interesting while others get better as you move on. Some have a shaky start but then become deliciously amazing at the end. Of course, the reverse can be true, too. I know some people who have mountains and mountains of TBR books who can decide not to finish reading the book because it’s a waste of their time, and that’s pretty understandable. My TBR is still pretty manageable, so right now I’m willing to give all the books I’m reading a chance and read up until the end because I hope the book can still prove my initial impressions wrong.
So my question is: when do you decide when it’s over? When do you decide that you don’t want to finish the book anymore because it’s not worth it? How many chapters or pages do you allow the book to woo you and reel you in? First 100, 150? First 5? Does it depend on the thickness of the book? Or are you like me who give the book up until the end to prove itself?