# Do you ever give up on a book? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 24, 2018, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-give-up-on-a-book/820206 "2018-08-24T18:57:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2018, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-give-up-on-a-book/820206/21 "2018-08-24T20:02:48Z")
I usually try to finish books that I start. But I didn’t finish “The Cooter Farm.” I found the writing style annoying. Similes can make writing more interesting, but in this book, at least one simile was crammed into almost every paragraph. I didn’t like the plot much either. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2018, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-give-up-on-a-book/820206/22 "2018-08-24T20:04:19Z")
I find myself stopping much more with the Kindle and cheap books. As far as real dead tree books that I purchased, the only one I remember dropping was “Palace Walk” by Naghib Mahfouz. I tried several times, and never made it past about a third. Oh, and Gravity’s Rainbow. Ugh. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2018, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-give-up-on-a-book/820206/23 "2018-08-24T20:08:00Z")
Yep, sure I do. But also, I’ll occasionally _temporarily_ give up on a book, come back to it later, and end up rather liking it. And then there are the books that aren’t quite bad enough to give up on, but I read them thinking, “I’ll be glad when I finish this so I can go on to something else.” ---
**Author:** ![Dante](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dante/32/9673_2.png) [@Dante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2018, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-give-up-on-a-book/820206/24 "2018-08-24T20:08:28Z")
All the time. Gave up on **Lord of the Rings** a number of times before finally powering through. Most recently, _Dan Simmons_’ **Hyperion** and _Greg Bear_’s **Eon**. I’ve enjoyed other novels by Simmons and Bear. I’m starting to wonder if I’m losing my taste for hard SF. I’m finding more enjoyment in mysteries and thrillers lately. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2018, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-give-up-on-a-book/820206/25 "2018-08-24T20:24:43Z")
> [@Dante](#): > > All the time. Gave up on **Lord of the Rings** a number of times before finally powering through. Most recently, _Dan Simmons_’ **Hyperion** and _Greg Bear_’s **Eon**. > > I’ve enjoyed other novels by Simmons and Bear. I’m starting to wonder if I’m losing my taste for hard SF. I’m finding more enjoyment in mysteries and thrillers lately. I don’t know what it is about Greg Bear. I’ve read some of his books and really enjoyed them, and others I just couldn’t make it through. “Eon” was one (although I read it again a few years later and finished it) and I think another one was “City of Angels”. A friend of mine keeps trying to get me to read some Dan Brown, but I have a feeling that if I started, the book would be in the trash before I was 50 pages into it. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2018, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-give-up-on-a-book/820206/26 "2018-08-24T20:56:15Z")
There are books I find interesting while I read, but I have no desire to reread, and there are books I know I will reread, so I buy them. I stumbled across Scott Lynch’s **Gentlemen Bastard** series this way and not only did I buy them for the Kindle I got Ivylad to buy the paperbacks (that genre is right up his alley.) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2018, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-give-up-on-a-book/820206/27 "2018-08-24T21:01:33Z")
[Moderating] **Stranger on a Train** , I’ve never read the Game of Thrones books myself, but I’ll accept that “almost everyone dies” isn’t any great spoiler (as long as you don’t say who the exceptions are to the “almost”). But a bet that you ate well on surely was. I’ve added spoiler tags accordingly. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2018, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-give-up-on-a-book/820206/28 "2018-08-24T21:54:15Z")
Halfway through, “Under The Dome,” I just gave up; the characters just weren’t doing it for me. Only King book I haven’t finished. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2018, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-give-up-on-a-book/820206/29 "2018-08-24T22:06:59Z")
Oh, My God! I found a copy of _Mein Kampf_ in a thrift store for a dollar. I figured, what the hell? Let’s see what the hub-bub was all about. What utter Crap! Completely unreadable dreck! How this guy rose to any position higher than Dog Catcher after people got a butt-load of that nonsense is well beyond me. Wish I had that dollar back. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2018, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-give-up-on-a-book/820206/30 "2018-08-24T22:11:07Z")
I loved _Midnight’s Children_, but I gave up on \*The Satanic Verses. \* Just didn’t grab me. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2018, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-give-up-on-a-book/820206/31 "2018-08-24T22:13:12Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Oh, My God! I found a copy of … in a thrift store for a dollar. I figured, what the hell? Let’s see what the hub-bub was all about. What utter Crap! Completely unreadable dreck! How this guy rose to any position higher than Dog Catcher after people got a butt-load of that nonsense is well beyond me.[/spoiler] > > Wish I had that dollar back. I have been told it is better in the original German. But not a lot better. ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2018, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-give-up-on-a-book/820206/32 "2018-08-24T22:14:32Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Halfway through, “Under The Dome,” I just gave up; the characters just weren’t doing it for me. Only King book I haven’t finished. I’ve finished every King book I’ve read (the Bachman books, not so much) I liked “Under the Dome”, but I know how you feel. Stephen still hasn’t got that ending the story thing down. As others have mentioned, there are too many good books to punish myself reading dreck, something I reminded myself about just recently when I thought about giving “The Sword of Truth” another try. I got as far as Richard noticing Kahlan’s “intelligent eyes” before I said F-this! ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2018, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-give-up-on-a-book/820206/33 "2018-08-24T22:20:52Z")
_Atlas Shrugged_; what a serious pile of self-indulgent crap. I can’t believe that Rand found a publisher. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2018, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-give-up-on-a-book/820206/34 "2018-08-24T22:37:20Z")
I find with some books there is a threshold that you just have to power into before you get going. I must have started _War and Peace_ a dozen times over two decades before I got things flowing, then just breezed through the next half million pages. Same thing with _Guns, Germs, and Steel_ - took multiple starts before I got going, then wham - I was rereading it to pick up what I missed the first time. I really, really wanted to read a Salman Rushdie book. I’ve always liked seeing him on Bill Maher and other shows. I picked up a copy of _Shalimar the Clown_. I just can’t get more than a couple of chapters in. I’ve tried several times, but I just can’t get started. Can’t get to that threshold… ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2018, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-give-up-on-a-book/820206/35 "2018-08-24T22:41:26Z")
Years ago I got through maybe half of the _Kent Family Chronicles_ books. Started getting annoyed when the characters interacted with more and more famous historical figures. I think one character found himself in a log cabin in Kentucky with an infant Abraham Lincoln - I put the book down and never picked it up again. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2018, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-give-up-on-a-book/820206/36 "2018-08-24T22:43:45Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Halfway through, “Under The Dome,” I just gave up; the characters just weren’t doing it for me. Only King book I haven’t finished. I bailed halfway through on “Sleeping Beauty”, the one King wrote with his son. First time I ever bailed on a book with SK’s name on it as author. I also bailed halfway thru on “Dhalgren” by Delaney, “Satanic Verses” by Rushdie, “The Plague Dogs” by Richard Adams (author of Shardik, Watership Down, and Maia, all of which I loved), and “The Ringworld Throne” by Niven. But 99% of the time, I will slog through to the end, for most fiction reading I do. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2018, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-give-up-on-a-book/820206/37 "2018-08-24T22:52:28Z")
I think Dhalgren needs to be read when you’re 15. It parallels Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. I got an English paper out of noticing that. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2018, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-give-up-on-a-book/820206/38 "2018-08-24T23:16:07Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > _Atlas Shrugged_; what a serious pile of self-indulgent crap. I can’t believe that Rand found a publisher. I completely lost interest when I figured out who John Galt was, about 80% of the way through it. Although it was totally unrealistic and I knew it, I had previously liked it. Do I “give up” on a book? Oh, heck, yeah, all the time. The most recent one went back to the library today; it was a new book about Chang and Eng Bunker that wasn’t proving as interesting as the author’s C-SPAN Q&A interview made it out to be. In recent months, I have purchased “Mein Kampf” and “The Anarchist’s Cookbook” but haven’t read either yet. MK came from the library bookstore, and in the meantime, I watched the documentary about TAC’s now-late author that I’d had in my Netflix queue for a while, and let’s just say that he wished he’d never written it, but then again, he was 19 at the time. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2018, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-give-up-on-a-book/820206/39 "2018-08-24T23:26:44Z")
Yes. However, I am more likely to do so with a book acquired cheaply than one for which I paid full price. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2018, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-give-up-on-a-book/820206/40 "2018-08-24T23:35:50Z")
No. I pretty much know going in if I’m going to like a book, as I will already know something about it. Maybe I won’t like it as much as I thought I would, but that’s usually as far as it goes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-give-up-on-a-book/820206.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-give-up-on-a-book/820206.md?page=3)