Can I PLEASE have permission to...

[Heather in Neverland]

NOT finish this book I am reading?

 

Do you always finish the books you start? I do. Always. It is compulsive. Even if it is not a good book I still finish it because the "unfinished" aspect of it drives me crazy if I don't (yes I am a little OCD).

 

But I started "Wolf Hall" and it is killing me. First, the book is huge and the print is tiny and normally that wouldn't bother me (I devoured Pillars of the Earth in no time) but this book D R A G S.......

 

I am only 1/4 of the way through it and it just stares at me from my nightstand...taunting me with its unfinished-ness. But it is so boring. Really.

 

So please, someone tell me this book is going to suddenly become amazing.

 

Is there some kind of 12-step program I can join that will help me learn to not finish a book and that is OK?

[ChristusG]

Yes LOL! Life is short, time is precious....you don't have to waste it doing something you don't enjoy. I am SO picky about my books. If it doesn't pull me in, I stop reading.

[Aubrey]

When I was 16, I used to fill my gas tank & then round to the nearest dollar. I'd stand there jerking the handle over & over, whether I wanted a half a tank or a full one, to get it to an even dollar amt.

 

Then one day, my mom told me she pumped gas & when she was done, she. just. stopped.

 

I tried it. It was amazing. Revolutionary. I still think about it every time I pump gas. It takes concious effort, but it's my way of snubbing the world, of expressing rebellion, of being free.

 

Stop pumping gas at 24.63 if you want to. (Even if you don't want to, it's good for the soul sometimes.)

 

Stop reading your book. Remember that to be a reader is a powerful thing. Set boundaries. Remember that art is not just artists determining the universe. It is also we who perceive the art.

 

Be FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEe.

 

 

 

Heh. Y'all had no idea how nutty I was.

[TN Mama]

Sorry, I'm unfamiliar with the book so I cannot convince you to continue, but I'm here to give you permission to put it down & walk away! I decided within the past couple of years that I am "allowed" to stop reading books that do not hold my interest. If I am reading for pleasure and if I'm not enjoying the book, what is the point? There are SO many books on my TBR list that I'd rather try another book than spend time plodding through something that was just ehh.

 

Of course, that's just me. And it only applies to books I'm reading for enjoyment. I do usually give a book a good chance, but then I don't feel guilty for putting aside.

[LauraGB]

It took me until well into my adult years and my dd laid the "50 Page Rule" on me before I could quit a book without finishing; if nothing good is going on by page 50, it's a dud and move on. It's been liberating, to say the least.

 

Then one day, my mom told me she pumped gas & when she was done, she. just. stopped.

 

I tried it. It was amazing. Revolutionary. I still think about it every time I pump gas. It takes concious effort, but it's my way of snubbing the world, of expressing rebellion, of being free.

 

Stop pumping gas at 24.63 if you want to. (Even if you don't want to, it's good for the soul sometimes.)

 

 

 

:001_huh:

 

Really? It's okay to just stop at a not-so-round number? I can honestly say I've never done this - nor have I questioned ever not doing it! It's always been a round dollar amt, and if I go over, well, I just go to the next dollar. Bonus if I get a multiple of 5. Huh.

 

I'm going to be daring. I need to fill up tomorrow. I'm just going to let it go until it stops...and I'm NOT going to pump it til it gets to an round dollar amt.

 

I think.

[ChristusG]

When I was 16, I used to fill my gas tank & then round to the nearest dollar. I'd stand there jerking the handle over & over, whether I wanted a half a tank or a full one, to get it to an even dollar amt.

 

Then one day, my mom told me she pumped gas & when she was done, she. just. stopped.

 

I tried it. It was amazing. Revolutionary. I still think about it every time I pump gas. It takes concious effort, but it's my way of snubbing the world, of expressing rebellion, of being free.

 

Stop pumping gas at 24.63 if you want to. (Even if you don't want to, it's good for the soul sometimes.)

 

LOL, sounds just like my husband! He's an accountant and works with numbers all day long. When he pumps gas he has to get it to an even amount. Me, I just stop whenever LOL! Shoot, half the time I don't even know how much the gas is that I just pumped into the car!

[Aubrey]

:001_huh:

 

Really? It's okay to just stop at a not-so-round number? I can honestly say I've never done this - nor have I questioned ever not doing it! It's always been a round dollar amt, and if I go over, well, I just go to the next dollar. Bonus if I get a multiple of 5. Huh.

 

I'm going to be daring. I need to fill up tomorrow. I'm just going to let it go until it stops...and I'm NOT going to pump it til it gets to an round dollar amt.

 

I think.

 

Now you have to. And report back tomorrow. It's exhilirating. Like stealing the gas. (Not that I'd know.)

[StephanieZ]

Permission granted. ;)

[prairiegirl]

Yes, you have my permission to ditch it. You also have my admiration as I wasn't even able to get 1/4 of the way through it.

[Mrs Mungo]

I haven't read that one. I have to tell you, I'm pretty obsessive about finishing books. If I start a *series*, I often have to finish the whole thing, even if I'm not really enjoying it. The book that changed it? Good in Bed. I got it with some of my used book store credit. It was the WORST book with the WORST story and the WORST characters that I have ever read. I didn't finish it. It was my first time not finishing a book, but I'm sure it won't be the last.

[nukeswife]

Go Ahead, stop reading that boring book!

 

I have done that many times, when it comes down to it, if a book stinks there's no way around that.

[jonnia]

I'm pretty hung up on finishing every book I begin, like it or not. More than once, I've been so frustrated at a particularly bad novel that I've chunked it - hard - directly into the trash can after finishing the last page! Lately, I've found a way to cheat by telling myself I'll just take it up again later, then tucking the book out of sight for a while. Then later, I can be a bit absent-minded and put it in a box for the Goodwill, thinking to myself, "Didn't I read this already?" Because I am such a gifted procrastinator, this has worked like a charm! :lol:

[Forget-Me-Not]

Oh yes. Daniel Deronda is sitting on my mantle (and in my Kindle) unfinished. It's my second attempt to finish it.

[Heather in Neverland]

Wow, so I am not the only one who pumps gas to the the nearest whole dollar? I thought that was my sick little secret.

 

50 page rule...interesting. I am way past page 50 so maybe I will just donate to the library and forget it ever happened.

 

As for series...I totally get it. I have read all of the Sookie Stackhouse series except the last one because I just can't take it any more. I don't care who she ends up with and I kind of wish they would just kill off her character and be done with it. I also read the first two Outlander books and by the end of the second one I could hardly hold my head up.

 

Ok...this is it people...I am getting rid of the book. I will never know how it ends...oh wait, yes I do, Anne Boleyn loses her HEAD! :)

[Food4Thought]

See now, if you gave up after 2 books of Outlander, you can certainly stop reading the book you're reading. I'm forcing myself to suffer through Echo in the Bone right now and it. is. killing. me.

 

I think I'll stop now. There's enough permission going around in this thread for all of us, right?

[dangermom]

Life is too short to read books you don't like. When I went to library school, it had the bonus of curing me of that little niggling belief that you have to finish books. Now I skim, skip, and drop them with abandon.

[orangearrow]

I've always been the sort who finishes everything she begins (well, with reading, anyway).

 

But, now that I pre-read so many things for dd#1, so many things for schooling purposes, and so much non-fiction... I don't have the "leisure" reading time that I used to.

 

Plus, I have come across a lot of duds lately. :glare: I trudged through the first few, but have officially given myself permission to toss it if it doesn't grab me by the first couple of chapters. There just aren't enough "fun" reading hours to trudge through something unless I'm loving it.

 

 

(on the gas thing - I always went to whole/even numbers back when I would pay with cash for gas. Now that I pay at the pump with a CC - I just stop when it clicks and go along on my merry way. :)

[m0mmaBuck]

Stop. Reading. It. Seriously. There are far to many fabulous books out there to waste your time on one you are not enjoying.

[E_Edgerton]

I didn't even finish reading your thread beyond the tag line...if that shows you anything!!!! Life is too short to continue reading something that isn't giving you pleasure! Just start reading something new...there is SO much! I give every book 50 pages, if I'm not hooked, it's someone else's favorite book. I donate it right away to our library book sale. Books will find you...I truly believe that!

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I have been keeping a running tally on my blog of the books that I've finished reading this year. I hit a couple that were such drags that I started a second list of books that I refused to finish.

Edited June 16, 2010 by Sebastian (a lady)

[Susan in TN]

When I was 16, I used to fill my gas tank & then round to the nearest dollar. I'd stand there jerking the handle over & over, whether I wanted a half a tank or a full one, to get it to an even dollar amt.

 

Then one day, my mom told me she pumped gas & when she was done, she. just. stopped.

 

I tried it. It was amazing. Revolutionary. I still think about it every time I pump gas. It takes concious effort, but it's my way of snubbing the world, of expressing rebellion, of being free.

 

Stop pumping gas at 24.63 if you want to. (Even if you don't want to, it's good for the soul sometimes.)

 

Stop reading your book. Remember that to be a reader is a powerful thing. Set boundaries. Remember that art is not just artists determining the universe. It is also we who perceive the art.

 

Be FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEe.

 

 

 

Heh. Y'all had no idea how nutty I was.

 

Here's nutty - dh always stops the gas ending in a 7. OCD a little?

 

I have the same book finishing problem. See Anna Karenina staring at me over Pride and Prejudice and Zombies AND the Orson Wells Collection of Short Stories. Now, almost all of these are worth finishing, but it may take me all year and a bit of skimming. How about you just skim through the rest of the pages, read the last chapter, and viola! Finished book. Speed reading for dummies. ;)

[Violet Crown]

I just finished Scott's Waverley. I had to keep flipping it over to read the back cover blurb about how it was a sensation when published, one of the world's classics, very readable, sparked a wave of Scottish romanticism ... just to convince myself to keep going. No sign of a plot for the first 200 pages; one-dimensional stereotyped characters speaking over-the-top Scots dialect requiring constant flipping to the appendix for a translation ... and a hero I wanted to kick throughout. I can't believe they named the central Edinburgh train station after this book. It should have been a warning when dh told me he'd read it wasn't as good as Heart of Midlothian. :ack2:

 

Anyone want a used copy of Waverley? I'll leave it in the Edinburgh airport on the way out.

[BikeBookBread]

If it's lousy, don't finish it. I recently didn't finish two of my book club books. (only had six assigned this year for book club, so those are pretty bad odds.)

 

I'm pretty good about finishing books even if I don't like them, but I usually just skim. But if it's lousy, just close it and walk away.

[Heather in Neverland]

I have been keeping a running tally on my blog of the books that I've finished reading this year. I hit a couple that were such drags that I started a second list of books that I refused to finish.

 

 

Now this is a good idea! I can add a third list of "books I finished but wished I hadn't"....

[Mommy22alyns]

We can do it. Breathe, breathe..... *sigh*

 

Okay, so I can ditch Uncle Tom's Cabin and Atlas Shrugged? Free them from the tottering pile of books on my nightstand? WHeeeeeee! Free! Free!

 

*gallops off into the distance*

 

 

Sorry, it's the insomnia typing. :001_huh:

[unsinkable]

I stopped reading the "sequel" to Dracula.

 

It was so bad. Revoltingly bad.

 

I also just skimmed Julie & Julia. I couldn't stand it. I think I hate everything about that book.

 

As to gas...I never stop at a round number. I try to do a significant, noticable number though because it is easier to track in my bank acct & distinguish from my DH's purchases.

 

23.24, 22.22, 34.35, etc...

[Ester Maria]

I don't finish at least a third of the things I start reading. No pangs of remorse or anything, just a healthy dose of arrogance - not every paper and not every book is worthy of my full, undivided attention. Some things are worth a sacrifice, but you usually know that already as you read. Some just aren't. Stop reading it and don't feel guilty. You don't "owe" anything to the book or the author. It's your time, YOU get the ownership over it.

[Laura Corin]

I'm reading Wolf Hall. I don't think it's nearly as good as the prizes it received would suggest. I will finish it (compulsive reader) but I won't denigrate you if you don't.

 

If you want some more fun reads from that period, check out the books by CJ Sansome - the first one is Dissolution. Shorter, lighter, easier.

 

Regards

 

Laura

[Rhonda in TX]

Life is too short to waste reading a bad book. Put it down and move on.

[Baseball mom]

Find something new. Too many good books out there waiting to be read. :D

Edited June 16, 2010 by Baseball mom

[LuvToRead]

I used to finish every book I started. But, in reality, most books don't get better. If you don't like the first several chapters, then chances are, you won't like the ending, either. So, a few months ago I gave myself permission to not finish every book I start. It really is very liberating.

[KrissiK]

I do. All the time. And you know what else I do? I skip chapters. I skipped huge chapters in "The Lord of the Rings" (who cares about the history for 300 years of some stupid little town they pass through), I skipped over tons of dialogue in "Emma" (please don't shoot me) because I hate dialogue. Just do it. It feels so good!

[KidsHappen]

Yes, absolutely. I quit reading The Shack about halfway through. I thought it was boring and in no way applicable to my life. I just struggled to finish Twilight and will try to finish the rest of the series but not because I am the slightest bit interested in it. I am actually more interested in the sociological aspect of it. I am desperately trying to figure out what everyone else loves about the series. I give most books a couple of chapters though and if they haven't hooked me by then it's Hasta la Vista baby. Life is too short and there are too many good books to waste time on a book you don't like.

[Claire in NM]

if this is a book you have been wanting to read and you are just not getting it, then maybe you should come back to it later.

 

I started a book (written by my favorite author) and I was unable to understand the story. I kept pushing on through the book, and I still wasn't getting into the story. So I put it back on the shelf and it sat there for several years. I came across the book last winter and decided to try reading it again. This time I thoroughly enjoyed the book and was glad that I did not give up on it.

 

Claire in NM

[Spy Car]

Have you ever read Moby Dick? :D

 

Bill (call me Ishmael)

[Heather in Neverland]

Have you ever read Moby Dick? :D

 

Bill (call me Ishmael)

 

Heavens no. I am not a masochist! :D

[happygrrl]

I don't finish at least a third of the things I start reading. No pangs of remorse or anything, just a healthy dose of arrogance - not every paper and not every book is worthy of my full, undivided attention. Some things are worth a sacrifice, but you usually know that already as you read. Some just aren't. Stop reading it and don't feel guilty. You don't "owe" anything to the book or the author. It's your time, YOU get the ownership over it.

 

OH! Right! Thank you!

[iona]

permission granted :D