I usually read the first two chapters. And --- I must confess I am one who will go to the last couple of pages to take a peek.

Life is too short to stay with any boring book, in my opinion. I try not to rush to judgement, but I admit to wanting to be captivated by at least chapter 2 or 3.

I generally give a book a couple of chapters' trial, but sometimes books drive me away faster. If a friend whose taste I share recommends that I give the book a longer trial, usually I will. Sometimes I am pleasantly surprised. There are good books that reward persistence. And there are others that never do.

I probably abandon more books than most readers, maybe something like a quarter of the ones I pick up. So many books, as they say.

Like most of you I'll give a book at least a couple of chapters and if it's written in 'standard English' maybe a little longer.

Sometimes a small unimportant thing gets my goat, as the saying goes here, and I cannot bother to read further. eg I was sent a book by a US cousin in which the writer describes buying a bunch of real estate. I know that 'bunch' is used lightly in American English but I didn't think real estate could be so described, nor was it a 'laugh a minute' as described on the cover so I tossed it aside. I think in general the blurb on the covers has a lot to answer for.

And I never read the last pages until I get to them . . .

Vee.....using the word "bunch" in that context is sloppy. I just sold a book on Amazon and since it takes longer for media mail ( why , I do not know) the buyer got concerned. She sent me a message asking " where's my stuff??" This is another example of a sloppy choice of words. There is that teacher in me that assumes you aren't very bright if that is the best word you can think to describe something. You buy a bunch of grapes and stuff a turkey. * sigh*

I get such satisfaction from slamming a book shut that fails to ask me in! i usually try about thirty pages to test the waters. I just read The Good Girl by Mary Kubica, even though it was written in present tense, which I dislike. I thought it as OK, until I read the epilogue. THEN I slammed it on the floor!

I mostly finish what I start, but once in a while I don't. I started reading Beloved by Toni Morrison, that got rave reviews far and wide, once at my mother's and fussed about how much I disliked it all weekend until finally my sister asked me why I was continuing to read it. I told her I just had to find out how all those miserable people turned out. I am probably a minority of one, but I never liked anything about that book.

Carolyn, I abandoned Beloved about halfway through. I wanted to like it, but I couldn't stand any of the characters.

Like Vee, I get put off by a book where the language is what I call "clunky"! Wrong choice of words mainly or badly constructed sentences come under this definition. Sometimes I can't get through the first page. I don't like too many characters either if they make the story confusing. A key to characters at the beginning of the book is a red flag!

Yes, I do read the end pages of some mysteries I am about to reject but I make sure it isn't a teaser first chapter from the next book, as happened once. "Who are these people?"!

I agree.....a key to characters, especially those that take up both pages, is a red flag for sure. If I have to study before beginning a novel I know I am not going to enjoy it.

Has anyone ever read Umberto Eco ? His writing always puts me off.

I think I read Eco's "Name of the Rose" years ago. It was good, but not great. Then I tried to read another of his and never liked it enough to finish it. It was all over the map.

Oh, Yoyo, I so agree about the Oprah books. They usually are about dysfunctional people.

Oprah books = misery and dysfunction IMHO. I just won't read them. I'll give most books at least three chapters unless they've been recommended by someone whose opinion I trust, in which case I'll give them a few more before throwing in the towel. I need at least one sympathetic character I can relate to. I just tossed a romance novel in which the heroine was a fragile doormat and the hero was an aggressive a**hat. Life is definitely too short for bad books.

I am another one who disliked Beloved, though I did finish it. I've never tried any of her other books, though. Another one I really disliked was Cold Mountain. I finished that one, too.

I tried Humberto Eco once but gave up early on. :)

A good friend says Atlas Shrugged is her favorite book ever. I've tried three times and just can't get into it. IIRC it's full of unlikeable characters.

On the other hand, at the recommendation of several folks here I kept going with A Gentleman in Moscow and I'm really glad I did!

Donna

So my minority of one for Beloved is now up to three. I knew I respected RP readers more than most. I didn't like Cold Mountain either but did read it. I read The Name of the Rose, too, but no more of his.

Carolyn - You can count me as number four.

I'm afraid that I wouldn't finish very many books if I wanted and expected [to] watch the words explode like fireworks off the page, - Kim Lehrman, as quoted in Yoyobon's OP.

Perhaps I am too jaded. A Gentleman in Moscow has been frequently mentioned. I wound up liking it quite well, but I never saw any words exploding off its pages. :-)

I do know I want to give precocious female characters, ages from about nine to twelve, a rest for a good long while. I've tried to read several novels lately with these super-clever young female characters in otherwise adult stories. Is this a fad?

I have to admit I read based on my moods. I might give one book short shrift for nothing more than a lack of patience and other times I can willingly wade through sludge. Variety is probably what I crave most.

Frieda, is Flavia whoever one of your PFCs? I could only handle one of those books, but they seem to be quite popular.

The first Flavia book was most enjoyable for me. I was able to ignore the fact that a 70 year old man writing about an 11 year old precocious girl often didn't create a plausible character.

I am one who did like "Cold Mountain" but I tried to read more by the same author and did not like those.

I am getting quite picky about spelling and grammar errors in books. In line with the original posting here, if I find in the first couple of chapters, a goodly number of either spelling or grammatical errata, I will discard the book at once. Life is hard enough without having to translate bad English....

Me, too, Woodnymph! In the Dan Brown book I just finished, they “orientated” something, then a few chapters later someone was “disorientated”.

Donna

Donna, I actually think that is an accepted variation of oriented.

Donna, in the UK orientated/disorientated are the 'normal' forms of the words.

I would treat anything Dan Brown writes with caution unless you are suffering from a nasty attack of the 'flu when you are past caring. One of his early 'works' set in London has an English professor ie a professor who IS English, wearing a tweed vest. Over here a vest is an undergarment and I wondered if he didn't find it very hot and itchy. We call that piece of clothing a waistcoat.

LOL, Vee! I hope I didn't offend. Orientated just sounds wrong to me. Like preventative.

I believe that was the same book where the hero was in a helicopter that was going to crash and saved himself by using the windshield cover as a parachute. Yeah, right.

Donna

Donna, I don't offend easily; probably because I'm too old and any attention is better than none at all. ;-)

I agree with Donna that "orientated" still sounds very strange to me, as if it has an extra syllable. Dan Brown's books get "old" fairly quickly....

I prefer oriented, but I understand that orientated is acceptable ( thought it does sound odd to me.....as though the person is trying to say "oriented" )

Sort of like "supposably".

:-)

When I realize the story is not going the way I expected it was . It can happens after having read 20 pages or , no more than 3 chapters

Notes to self :

1. Don't be seduced by a lovely cover. 2. Don't believe the "rave" reveiws.

Well, I'm another one who DID like "Cold Mountain." Granted, I found it a bit hard to get into, but eventually was very glad I stayed with it.

I've been reading this forum off & on for quite a long time now. Have only posted a very few times, though. My tastes in reading are obviously waa-a-a-a-a-y different than the majority here. And often, the cover is the first thing that draws my attention to a book. Next I read the inside front jacket flap, or the outside back jacket, which ever has the synopsis of the book. There have been a few books over the years that I started and gave up on after a few pages. And a few that I put down after a chapter or two. But mostly I finish any book I start. I don't make a habit of reading the last page before I get to it, but I have, on occasion when I'm wondering if I want to finish a book or not, gone to about the middle of the last chapter to see if anything there suggests it might get better. I have a very dear friend that always reads the last page of a book to decide whether she wants to read the book or not.

Rusty

Rusty, I've often been known to read the last page of a book, also! Welcome to our forum.

Hi Rusty - I think I may remember your name from a long time past.

I have occasionally read the last few pages of a book I am considering abandoning. Sometimes I want to know if the author kills off someone I have grown attached to, or if they will survive. Sometimes I know I'm going to stop because the book annoys or bores me, but I still have a lingering curiosity as to how it will turn out.

My sister says you should read as many pages as 100 - your age to give it a go. So the older you get, the fewer pages you read before deciding to keep going :)

I use 'orientated' but dislike alphabetise, and other nouns made into verbs (and no, I am not going to use a z [pronounced zed] in that word because the spell checker tells me to LOL), ad phrases like 'moving forward' instead of 'in the future'.

Kath, that sounds sensible. I have lost patience as I got older, also need naps more often so really am reverting to toddler stage! Tantrums next?

My Spellcheck is fussy about my spelling with a Z too. I am told I could change it to English/English but can't be bothered to work it out.

Kath, here in the US the food company Kraft is using the tag line "Family Greatly" - apparently they think family is a verb. So you can add that to your list with alphabetize. :)

Donna

Donna Family Greatly ? I don't even know what that is meant to mean!

Annpan there is no point trying to change your Spellcheck to English/English as it only does the 'American' kind.

I agree, Vee! I even Googled it and found the comment about using family as a verb on an advertising website.

The world , as we knew it, is in the trashcan when we start letting advertisers decide how we use our language and how we spell words !

Family greatly? Oh dear. It makes alphabetise look appealing!

Family as a verb? I feel a little ill

I have just returned a book of short stories which I stopped reading after one of the stories was about the accidental killing of an animal. I can happily read cosy murder mysteries where people are dispatched in fairly tidy ways, however any author who harms an animal or puts one in peril gets struck off my reading list. Even though the animal is fictional. that is too much for me!

"When I realize the story is not going the way I expected it was ." Really? Wow. You only read formulaic books?

I don't give up easily on books. These days I have usually done some research about a book before I pick it up. I do occasionally grab one from the library just because the title caught my attention. If I discover that I've picked one up that is what is termed "chick lit" I will abandon it quickly. Otherwise I'll give it a 100 or so page chance to grab my attention.

Anna.......I absolutely agree about animals, and I'd add children to that as well.

A couple of days ago, I returned from a short vacation trip during which I did not check what was happening on the Internet. Upon my return, it was fun to catch up on what was being discussed here on Reader's Paradise. I had a sense of sitting around a comfy living room listening to the pleasant chatter of friends. Thanks to all of you for being here!

Kathy, I agree and think that every morning when I do a quick check-in.

Me, too! Kathy, isn't it nice to unplug for a while?

Donna

Me, too! It feels like coming home.

Me too ! This forum feels like kindred spirits.

I love to hear someone ask " Have you read THIS book yet !? " ( with an enthusiasm which suggests that I MUST read it ) Endorsements from women who enjoy good books is a strong motivation to pick it up and see what I see.