Abandoning Books

I used to think that it’s unacceptable to abandon a book before you reach the end. If you started it, you must finish it. How can you call yourself a reader if you just give up when times are tough? Et cetera, et cetera.

I realize now how crazy the idea is, though. Of course it’s okay to abandon books partway through! Why wouldn’t it be?

To me, reading serves two purposes: Entertainment and/or Education. That said, though, since this blog is focused on fiction (in other words, mostly on Entertainment), I’m only going to discuss that side of things.

So then.

If I’m reading a book at all, it’s because, before going in to it, something about it seems like it’s going to interest me. Sure, you can’t really know until you start reading it. But I’m certainly not going to start reading a book that seems like it’s going to be boring, right? Who would do that?

And since reading is for Entertainment, why would I read a book that doesn’t entertain me? It’s not like I simply MUST finish this or that book, right?

Of course that’s all very simple to say. I may be making this sound easy. But for me personally, it can sometimes be a rather difficult decision to make. There are a lot of questions to consider:

• What about the book do I not like? Is it boring, poorly-written, unbelievable, offensive?
• Could there be something about the book that I’m just not understanding properly?
• If a lot of other people like the book, what do they see in it that I don’t?
• Why did I pick up the book in the first place? Was it on a whim? Is it an author I usually like? Was it given to me as a gift, recommended to me by a friend, etc.?
• How much of the book have I already read? Is it really worth throwing away all the time I’ve already put into it? Is there a threshold (say, by page count) that, if I pass, I can’t bring myself to give up on the book?

I haven’t given up on too many books along the way – maybe 50 or so (out of the hundreds I’ve actually finished reading). I’m certainly not quick to toss books aside. But sometimes, it’s just got to be done. And, as you might suspect, there are many times when I should have given up on a book, but saw it through to the end against my better judgment. (I’m looking at you, This Is All: The Pillow Book of Cordelia Kent by Aidan Chambers – worst book I’ve ever finished. Seriously. Please never ever ever go near it.)

If you’d like a few examples of some of the more prominent books I’ve given up on:

• This Book Will Save Your Life by A.M. Homes (read about 100 out of 370 pages). Ridiculously absurd, even beyond the levels of Existential Absurdism. (Oh, and I literally only just now decided to abandon it – hence what inspired this post.)
• Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood (read about 1/3^rd of it). Great form. Boring as heck content. Usually great form is enough for me to keep reading anyway, but this was really boring.
• Shogun by James Clavell (read about 100/800). Way too unnecessarily sexual – which is too bad, because I was liking it otherwise.
• Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan (read about 1/4^th of it). Only tried it because it’s John Green, but it’s much more Levithan than Green.
• The Gunslinger by Stephen King (read about 1/5^th of it). Sorry, but it was just too weird for me.
• The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffeneger (only read about 30 pages). Way too sexual.
• The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (read about 2/3^rds of it). Didn’t like the main character at all. Why is this book so legendary?
• 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami (read about 700 out of 1300 pages – yeah, this one stung A LOT to finally set aside). Among other things, it was far too sexual – again, this is unfortunate, because there were some really great things about it.

Friends: How do you feel about abandoning books? What are some books that you’ve ultimately given up on (and why)?