You read a book and it stinks. What do you do?

TadW · 06-25-2007, 10:12 AM

I am sure everyone knows the feeling. You start reading a book, only to notice after a couple of pages (sometimes it takes a couple of hundred pages), that it does not meet your expectations and that to continue reading it is most likely an utterly waste of time.

So what do you do?

Personally I just throw the book away and start a new one, because I think life is too short to read bad books. But I know of others who just finish every book they've started (may it because they paid for it or because they want to give it a second or even third chance).

ashkulz · 06-25-2007, 10:18 AM

Mostly, if I find that the book has a hackneyed plot or I find that the riding quality is too poor, I will ditch it immediately.

If the pace is slow, then I keep going (or read ahead a bit). Some of the better books I have read had a slow start but were worth reading till the end.

rlauzon · 06-25-2007, 10:52 AM

Life is too short to spend reading bad books.

If the book isn't that great, but shows promise in the first couple of chapters, I'll stick with it for a while. But if I'm completely lost by the end of Chapter 1, it's gone.

Liviu_5 · 06-25-2007, 11:28 AM

Too many interesting books around to stick with books you do not like for whatever reason.

For me it does not matter if a book is bad or it just does not resonate however famous the book or writer is, or how much I liked other books by him/her. If a book does not engage me, I do not read it, period.

There are books that require a (relatively) long time for me to read since they are dense and I want to appreciate their flavor, and books that I read in several sittings depending on available time, but in either case the book engaged me enough.

If somehow a book engages me, but then it becomes boring or predictable (it happens once in a while), I just fast read through it to see if it gets interesting again and continue to read it from there or just get to the end and see what happens.

UncleDuke · 06-25-2007, 11:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rlauzon

Life is too short to spend reading bad books.

If the book isn't that great, but shows promise in the first couple of chapters, I'll stick with it for a while. But if I'm completely lost by the end of Chapter 1, it's gone.

well said

JSWolf · 06-25-2007, 12:25 PM

I think the worst book I ever plodded through was The Silmarillian by J.R.R. Tolkien pubish by his son after he died. It was so dull and long. I read it because of who the author was.

Another book I hated was [batlefield Earth[/i] by L. Ron Hubbard. But by the time I got to hate it, I was too far in to stop.

Generally, I do try to finish a book once I start it. Not always do I manage.

Alexander Turcic · 06-25-2007, 12:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I think the worst book I ever plodded through was The Silmarillian by J.R.R. Tolkien pubish by his son after he died. It was so dull and long. I read it because of who the author was.

Did you try The Tale of the Children of Hurin? I've heard it's good and actually very readable also for non Tolkien-fanatics.

I was very close to ditch Next from Michael Crichton, which was definitely not as good as most of his previous works.

JSWolf · 06-25-2007, 12:29 PM

I have not yet. I have a small backlog of books to finish first. But I definately want to read The Tale of the Children of Hurin. What I might do is reserve it from the library and get it when I get it.

NatCh · 06-25-2007, 01:40 PM

I generally try to finish the books I start, but the older I get the less I concern myself with whether I finish a book that I find boring or otherwise annoying.

yvanleterrible · 06-25-2007, 02:06 PM

If that book was written by an artist in the field, I will read all of it wether I like it, agree with it or not. It is a way of learning to better oneself to see through someone else's eyes. Of course the violent types throw me off but I still want to see why would a human want to be so unless I've already seen it elsewhere. Déjà vu throws me off also.
There is always a pearl to be found in everything. A new word, way of expressing an idea, a sentence or artistic view to revisit a subject are always worthwhile.

NatCh · 06-25-2007, 02:10 PM

I see your point, yvanleterrible, and I don't speak against it, but I personally would prefer to move on to something that has a higher percentage of worthwhile content, than to dig through a proverbial pig sty to find only a single small pearl -- it'd have to be a pretty nice pearl to justify the muck.

Besides, I, at least, don't mean that I toss a book if I don't find it absolutely riveting from the first word, it has to be pretty bad for me to give up on it.

Roy White · 06-25-2007, 10:10 PM

I read Children Of Hurin... And yes I did finish the Silmillarillionalonahsilmill.. I'vr read LOTR and the hobbit 16 million times and I tolerated the Sil.. Children of Hurin was a bummer. I finished it becasue I bought it new from Borders but I was glad it was over. I dump a book right away if the writing is cheesey. I can put up with a lame plot if the writing is beautiful. Pat Conroy is a great example of that. I read Prince of Tides because of the beautiful prose even though dumb old Barbara Streisand kept trying to be lowenthal (Or whatever her name was) and Nolte kept trying to be the hero of the book) He really is a great writer. As for Tolkien.... Well.... His writing.... Yet I keep coming back to the LOTR! Hurin... Don't bother unless liked Silmill.. And even then its kind of drudgery.

I wish there was a delete button on my reader becasue sometimes I forget which book i started and wanted to dump from the memory when i finally hook up to my computer.

Steven Lyle Jordan · 06-26-2007, 08:44 AM

I'm so picky about the books I buy, that I haven't come across a book I couldn't finish in decades! There have been a few that felt like a looooong way to go for a pretty tired punch line (McDewitt's Chindi comes to mind), but the last book I started and couldn't finish was The Hobbit, and that was more to do with the fact that it was just plain boring, coupled with the fact that I'm just not a fantasy book fan.

JSWolf · 06-26-2007, 09:50 AM

I guess there's a reason why these posthumous Tolkien books were not published while he was alive. His son Christopher is really doing him a disservice by not letting go of his work.

rlauzon · 06-26-2007, 01:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I guess there's a reason why these posthumous Tolkien books were not published while he was alive. His son Christopher is really doing him a disservice by not letting go of his work.

The reason that many of these Tolkien works came out posthumously is because Tolkien simply didn't finish them. He was a very meticulous (sp?) writer - which tended to give his books "depth" (that there was a story under the story).

The Silmarillion is really a work by one of his sons, using JRR's notes as a basis. The Book of Lost Tales series is the unfinished, unvarnished, version of JRR's notes. But that set is mainly for those of us who like to read history - in this case, the history of a fantasy world.

Christopher is doing JRR a great service by publishing out all these stories and notes. We would not be able to read them otherwise.

Of course, my stand is that JRR's works shouldn't be under Copyright anymore since he's dead.

View Poll Results: What do you do with a book that stinks?
I ditch it.	75	75.00%
I still read it.	25	25.00%
Voters: 100. You may not vote on this poll

06-25-2007, 10:12 AM	#1
TadW Uebermensch Posts: 2,583 Karma: 1094606 Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Italy Device: Kindle	You read a book and it stinks. What do you do? I am sure everyone knows the feeling. You start reading a book, only to notice after a couple of pages (sometimes it takes a couple of hundred pages), that it does not meet your expectations and that to continue reading it is most likely an utterly waste of time. So what do you do? Personally I just throw the book away and start a new one, because I think life is too short to read bad books. But I know of others who just finish every book they've started (may it because they paid for it or because they want to give it a second or even third chance).

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06-25-2007, 10:18 AM	#2
ashkulz Addict Posts: 350 Karma: 705 Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Kindle 1/REB 1200	Mostly, if I find that the book has a hackneyed plot or I find that the riding quality is too poor, I will ditch it immediately. If the pace is slow, then I keep going (or read ahead a bit). Some of the better books I have read had a slow start but were worth reading till the end.

06-25-2007, 10:52 AM	#3
rlauzon Wizard Posts: 1,018 Karma: 67827 Join Date: Jan 2005 Device: PocketBook Era	Life is too short to spend reading bad books. If the book isn't that great, but shows promise in the first couple of chapters, I'll stick with it for a while. But if I'm completely lost by the end of Chapter 1, it's gone.

06-25-2007, 11:28 AM	#4
Liviu_5 Books and more books Posts: 917 Karma: 69499 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: White Plains, NY, USA Device: Nook Color, Itouch, Nokia770, Sony 650, Sony 700(dead), Ebk(given)	Too many interesting books around to stick with books you do not like for whatever reason. For me it does not matter if a book is bad or it just does not resonate however famous the book or writer is, or how much I liked other books by him/her. If a book does not engage me, I do not read it, period. There are books that require a (relatively) long time for me to read since they are dense and I want to appreciate their flavor, and books that I read in several sittings depending on available time, but in either case the book engaged me enough. If somehow a book engages me, but then it becomes boring or predictable (it happens once in a while), I just fast read through it to see if it gets interesting again and continue to read it from there or just get to the end and see what happens.

06-25-2007, 12:25 PM	#6
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 76,474 Karma: 136564766 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	I think the worst book I ever plodded through was The Silmarillian by J.R.R. Tolkien pubish by his son after he died. It was so dull and long. I read it because of who the author was. Another book I hated was [batlefield Earth[/i] by L. Ron Hubbard. But by the time I got to hate it, I was too far in to stop. Generally, I do try to finish a book once I start it. Not always do I manage.

06-25-2007, 12:29 PM	#8
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 76,474 Karma: 136564766 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	I have not yet. I have a small backlog of books to finish first. But I definately want to read The Tale of the Children of Hurin. What I might do is reserve it from the library and get it when I get it.

06-25-2007, 01:40 PM	#9
NatCh Gizmologist Posts: 11,615 Karma: 929550 Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Republic of Texas Embassy at Jackson, TN Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3	I generally try to finish the books I start, but the older I get the less I concern myself with whether I finish a book that I find boring or otherwise annoying.

06-25-2007, 02:06 PM	#10
yvanleterrible Reborn Paper User Posts: 8,616 Karma: 15446734 Join Date: May 2006 Location: Que Nada Device: iPhone8, iPad Air	If that book was written by an artist in the field, I will read all of it wether I like it, agree with it or not. It is a way of learning to better oneself to see through someone else's eyes. Of course the violent types throw me off but I still want to see why would a human want to be so unless I've already seen it elsewhere. Déjà vu throws me off also. There is always a pearl to be found in everything. A new word, way of expressing an idea, a sentence or artistic view to revisit a subject are always worthwhile.

06-25-2007, 02:10 PM	#11
NatCh Gizmologist Posts: 11,615 Karma: 929550 Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Republic of Texas Embassy at Jackson, TN Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3	I see your point, yvanleterrible, and I don't speak against it, but I personally would prefer to move on to something that has a higher percentage of worthwhile content, than to dig through a proverbial pig sty to find only a single small pearl -- it'd have to be a pretty nice pearl to justify the muck. Besides, I, at least, don't mean that I toss a book if I don't find it absolutely riveting from the first word, it has to be pretty bad for me to give up on it.

06-25-2007, 10:10 PM	#12
Roy White Evangelist Posts: 482 Karma: 7696 Join Date: May 2007 Location: Turner, Oregon Device: Sony Reader	I read Children Of Hurin... And yes I did finish the Silmillarillionalonahsilmill.. I'vr read LOTR and the hobbit 16 million times and I tolerated the Sil.. Children of Hurin was a bummer. I finished it becasue I bought it new from Borders but I was glad it was over. I dump a book right away if the writing is cheesey. I can put up with a lame plot if the writing is beautiful. Pat Conroy is a great example of that. I read Prince of Tides because of the beautiful prose even though dumb old Barbara Streisand kept trying to be lowenthal (Or whatever her name was) and Nolte kept trying to be the hero of the book) He really is a great writer. As for Tolkien.... Well.... His writing.... Yet I keep coming back to the LOTR! Hurin... Don't bother unless liked Silmill.. And even then its kind of drudgery. I wish there was a delete button on my reader becasue sometimes I forget which book i started and wanted to dump from the memory when i finally hook up to my computer.

06-26-2007, 08:44 AM	#13
Steven Lyle Jordan Grand Sorcerer Posts: 8,478 Karma: 5171130 Join Date: Jan 2006 Device: none	I'm so picky about the books I buy, that I haven't come across a book I couldn't finish in decades! There have been a few that felt like a looooong way to go for a pretty tired punch line (McDewitt's Chindi comes to mind), but the last book I started and couldn't finish was The Hobbit, and that was more to do with the fact that it was just plain boring, coupled with the fact that I'm just not a fantasy book fan.

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06-26-2007, 09:50 AM	#14
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 76,474 Karma: 136564766 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	I guess there's a reason why these posthumous Tolkien books were not published while he was alive. His son Christopher is really doing him a disservice by not letting go of his work.