I usually try and follow the "50-page" rule from Nancy Pearl (she who wrote the Book Lust books)... I have, on occasion, given the author much more than that, but I have reached that point in life when I can stop reading a book before the end if it doesn't interest me.

I used to feel an obligation to read every page because I thought of how much effort the author had put into it etc. etc. But now, I don't seem to have that attitude.

Life is too short for bad books. You don't have to throw it out of your life - it might just not be the right time for it at the mo.

liz

There have been times when I just stopped reading a book if it seemed just trite and repetitive of so many others. Once, after hearing all the hooha about Diana Gibaldon's Highlander series, I tried the first one and ended up skimming (reading the first line of each paragraph) just to say I had tried it. I have never read another in that series and have no plans to in the future. Maybe I'm missing something but will take my chances with that.

I just switched to a new book, just for this reason. If it don't hold my interest, and is not a required read. I bounce it.

I am getting more ruthless about this as the years go by. I used to feel I had to finish every book. Now--25 pages, sometimes less.

I just decided not to finish Kate Morton's The Distant Hours. I must be missing something because many people loved it. For me it was just murky and frustrating, murky like bog water, not murky like deliciously mysterious. I gave it well over a hundred pages and just was never engaged.

There are a lot of books out there, folks. Too many to read in one lifetime. Too many to waste on reading a book you don't at least like.

Rosefolly

I have sometimes stopped reading after a page or two if the writing style grates on me. As I generally read mysteries, if the plot has gripped me enough, I struggle to the end or, on occasion, skip to the last chapter to find the solution. I read for pleasure, not to be annoyed!

It varies. I try to give it a good shot, but if it's not working for me I move on. Sometimes I go back to a book that didn't engage me initailly and end up really liking it. Examples: The Hobbit, Hawaii and A Prayer for Owen Meany.

I used to go by the "50 pages or 2 chapters" rule, but then I realised that this rule doesn't work for long books. For example, it took the main story of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo about 150 pages to take off.

Now I look at the page count and adjust accordingly. If a book hasn't become interesting or appealing after I have read 25% of it, I give up.

I also have another rule, which is that if I own the book I just gave up on, it gets a second chance. After all, sometimes books don't appeal to us because of how we are feeling when we attempt to read them.

Netla, I agree with you about not being in the mood for a book. I used to feel amused when I worked in a well-stocked library and people would walk past the checkout desk saying that they could not find anything to read!

With age, I've grown more and more impatient, as I am aware of the Tempus Fugit aspect. Last night, I tried to get into no less than 4 works of fiction. I read about 3 pages of each and ended by tossing them on the floor. I decided to pick up a NF work about 2 women exploring the South Pole and settled down, with considerable satisfaction. I wonder how much of my impatience came from having just finished that marvel of a novel, "A Discovery of Witches"?

I firmly agree with those who say that they have to be in the right mood for a specific book. I have indeed gone back to books that previously did not appeal to me and find I liked them on the second attempt. Usually, though, I did not make it very far into the book on the first attempt. I cannot recall a book I've read 25% into and then gave up on that I later enjoyed reading.

Rosefolly

I too find if I don't 'get into' a book within a couple of chapters I give up on it, whatever the state of my bladder.
This doesn't just go for heavy learned tomes but light stuff. I did force myself to finish the first 'Agatha Raisin' which I found feeble in the extreme, only because the 'lender' will ask me if I enjoyed it/what did I think of the plot etc. I will have to lie, but not sure how to get the other SIX volumes back to her unread. ;-)

Haha-I even have a "shelf" over at Goodreads called "gave up life's too short" so it amused me to see several posters using similiar phrases.
When I read to be entertained, it better be entertaining, or it is toast. I also use the 25%ish benchmark most of the time-but I admit I am really picky about historic fiction when I know the period well....and if I come across several mistakes early on-I stop reading rather than give myself a headache gritting my teeth.
Vee-I was in a similiar situation with Phillipa Gregory books-I decided I just had to be honest or my friend would keep giving me the next one "because I know you love English history." So I had to explain that was exactly why I had thrown The Other Boleyn Girl over the porch railing.

Cece, I continue to be amazed by people who post on another forum I read about how much they like The Other Boleyn Girl.

mudlady,

If you just key in the following -
-closing the book on a bad read- it will open up a wonderfully long article just about this subject. I have printed this out and passed in on to some special friends.

I am sure that it came from this forum originally for me.

Vee, I agree with cc. that it would be best to be honest that you did not like Agatha Raisin. She, along with her author, can be very irritating!
In all three of the M.C. Beaton series the main characters have continual on-again off-again romances. BORING!!!
Why do I read them? Because I like mysteries, so put up with these dithery people!

My sister gave me the following formula for deciding how much of a book to read before giving up:
100 - your age

So if you are 99 and the first page is a dud, move on!

I quite often give up on books - I have just so many available to me that I think it is bad form to waste time on something that is giving me no pleasure.

Vee, I hope that I didn't sound like a goody-goody when advising you to be honest but in a way you are doing a favour to the person who is pressing you to read something you don't want to bother with.
My daughter was mortified when she found that for years she had been giving a friend a perfume she disliked and could have given her more acceptable gifts if she had been told!

re the Agatha Raisin books. All seven copies arrived with a 'friend-of-a-friend' . . .plus the Original Friend. OF and I often share/lend/borrow books and I think she felt she was doing me a favour bringing lots of reading matter and her new buddy. We only see each other two or three times a year and when she arrives next time possibly without OF, it will be easier to hand the books back unread. ;-)

Veer, about the Agatha Raisin books - I gave up on the two I tried to read after one chapter each. Hated the style. I have such a strange relationship with this author: I can't read Agatha Raisin but I really like her other mystery series, Hamish Macbeth, and I have hated every one of her Edwardian romances I have tried to read but liked the Regency ones.

Nothing beats a new book that I fall in love with. Even better is a new author with lots of books to explore.

Having said that, I would far rather re-read an old favorite than trudge my way through a new but unenjoyable book. Such a waste of my precious time! One life is not long enough to have all the experiences I want, or read all the books I long to read.

Rosefolly

Life is too short to read books which are not engaging right out of the gate.
If I have to yawn through the first 100 pages until the plot "kicks in" then it isn't worth my time.

A recent book which I gave up on was A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES.
I began to realize as I read this bland little thing that I really, really do not like stories involving vampires.

I should have seen this pattern after tossing THE HISTORIAN for the same reason.

I laughed when I read your post, yoyobon, as I have been wondering about A Discovery of Witches. I am on the library wait list and probably won't get it anytime soon, but I also disliked The Historian. I know it is a favorite of many people here, of course we have widely varying tastes and thank goodness for that. But I have some feelings of trepidation about Witches. I don't necessarily mind vampire stories, but we shall see, we shall see!

Just because it got published does not mean it deserves to be read.

Carolynky-I think part of it is knowing the history too well to be able to just read it as a story. I have a friend who is a Biblical scholar-she disliked The Red Tent for the same reason, while I enjoyed it because I don't know enough to see the mistakes.

Siobhan, I didn't get into The Historian - it seemed a bit slow, IIRC. But I loved The Discovery of Witches. Not great literature, but a very enjoyable read, I thought.