On Quitting a Lot of Books
Mar 21st, 2008 by Nut
Recently I’ve been quitting a lot of books and it’s made me think about the value of reading a “bad” book vs. just putting it away and picking up one you potentially might like.
I used to read through any book no matter what, but I think since I realized that books are infinite and you can always find a book you like, I figured “What’s the point of torturing myself reading something that isn’t entertaining me?”
It’s the same reason why I dislike reading the fiction pieces in the New Yorker so much—they are boring.
But this last book I was reading really surprised me because of the universal good things people had to say about it. Khaled Hosseini, the guy behind The Kite Runner, also wrote A Thousand Splendid Suns. No one has said anything but good things about both books. So I picked up Splendid Suns and I just couldn’t get through it. I got to around page 100 and it hit me: I’m torturing myself every time I sit down to read. It sucked so I stopped and picked up a different one.
But M made a good point when she told me terrible I’ve been recently at not finishing books. I have even touted the benefits of reading bad books—something I picked up from Stephen King’s On Writing. The gist is that reading things you don’t like will give you a better understanding of how to write “good” stuff. It will also be easier for you to see when you’re veering in that direction. So it can be a good thing—look at what Kiyosaki has done with his “bad” book.
But as a reader it’s tough. I want to be entertained. I want to look forward to sitting down and reading my book. What’s everyone’s take out there on quitting a book because it’s just making you miserable?
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The Wire, Season 4
Life is too short to waste on a bad book. I read hundreds of books each year, and if a book is either poorly written or just fails to keep my interest, I move on.
I used to be exactly the same way (with books AND movies). It just seemed wrong to not read through the whole thing…hoping that the ending would redeem it in some way. Not anymore though. There are so many books I’d like to eventually read, it just doesn’t make sense to torture myself.
I’ve read books that were very slow at the beginning and ALMOST tossed them aside…but I kept reading and they turned out to be very good. I think its important to make that distinction. I’m not talking about slow books…I’m talking about a book that I DREAD picking back up again. If I catch myself feeling like that I’m going to move on to the next one!
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