My mother had a formula for deciding whether or not to finish a book. She’d take her age and subtract it by 100. If the book had not capture her by that number, she’d stop reading. As she got older, the number got less and less. For example if you’re 35, you’d have to read 65 pages before stopping. But if you’re 75, you’d only read 25 pages. That means that the older you get, the better the book has to be at hooking you. My mother’s philosophy was and I quote, “As I get older, I don’t have time to waste on bad reading.”
Ha! Of course, that meant my mom missed some mighty good books. I’d often tell her she had to read to page 70 or more before the book took off. But, she wouldn’t do it. At the same time, you’d never catch her falling asleep while reading.
What about you, how do you determine whether or not to keep reading? Some of my friends tell me they’ve never stopped reading a book once they start. There’s some sort of rule they’re following. I used to feel that way. I used to think, surely this book will improve. Now I’m much more discerning and much more likely to stop reading and give up on a book if it continues to disappoint. Right now I’m about 40 percent through a mediocre book. It does make me sleepy, but I’m still reading. It’s not bad enough to stop reading but not good enough to keep my full attention. Those are the ones I find the most frustrating.
How about you?
I usually try to read three chapters. If I’m not engaged by then I put the book down. I like to give it a fair chance before I give up.
Thank you Kristina for stopping by! Yes, it is important to give a book a fair chance. My mom didn’t do that as she got older and as I said, she missed some wonderful books. It’s interesting how many people will read an entire book and then wish they hadn’t done so. I’ve become less patient as the years go by.
If it’s a book I’m considering buying, I read the Kindle sample. If I get to the end of the Kindle sample and want to know what happens next, I buy it and read it all. I do the same if someone has asked me to review a book. If I can get to the end of the Kindle sample, I’ll offer to review it.
If it’s a book I already own … well, it depends. Sometimes I get as far as halfway before deciding I don’t care enough about any of the characters to finish. That’s always a hard decision. If I’ve bought a book, I want to finish it. If it’s from the library, it usually gets about three chapters. Any good book will have hooked me by then.
Hey Christian, You have quite a process! I, too, get the Kindle sample, but sometimes it’s not enough for me to make an intelligent judgment about the book. I like that at the end of the sample, you know if you want to review the book. That’s great. So many readers do not write reviews. As an author, I want to thank you for doing that. Thanks for stopping by and for letting me and my other readers know how you decided when to stop reading.