I'm currently reading a book, which shall remain nameless, that I just can't get into. I'm on page 32 and finding it a complete chore to read. This isn't the first time this has happened to me. I have failed to connect to other books for various reasons: characters I don't care about, not enough at stake for me, or a foreign dialect or setting that the writer fails to overcome--among others. However, this is the first. time. ever. that I've actually considered not reading the rest of the book. I usually painstakingly read the entire book if I chose to take it off the bookstore or library shelf in the first place, just to see where it goes or if it gets better. The books I have had to say this to myself with in order to keep reading--don't. Get any better. But I tell myself that anyway. Otherwise, I feel a sense of failure at having given up on the book. But for the first time, I may move on to another book that should make better use of my time.
How do you feel? Can you stop reading as soon as your connection is lost with the book? Or do you keep reading? When do you stop reading--if ever?
There are too many good books waiting out there. So, no sense in spending time with a book that you don't like.
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