Too much or not too much…??
13 March 2016 
This is a question that’s been going through my mind recently and it’s become a little more prominent because at the moment I have two books that I’m currently working my way through – and I would say that so far I’m finding them hard work. And, yet, I still want to press on and give them a little more time to wow me.
Basically, and I would say this was probably true up until only a couple of years ago, I felt compelled to finish a book if I picked it up. It was almost like I was determined not to be beaten, ‘I will not be beaten by this book syndrome‘ is what I’m naming it. Nowadays, and it is fairly recent, I try to have a more balanced approach in that I’ve decided life is too short. If I’m not enjoying the book I’m not going to finish it. At the end of the day I wouldn’t carry on with other things in life if I wasn’t enjoying them would I? If I go to a restaurant and order something that I don’t like the taste of – I won’t eat it. If I start watching a series and it peters out – I won’t continue to watch it. If I start painting my walls pink only to discover that I hate pink – I won’t paint the full room pink and live with it out of foolish stubbornness, I’m sure you get the picture. So why the strange compulsion to finish a book once I’ve started? The thing is I do love books and I’m always so hopeful when I pick one up. When I start reading a book I would say I generally start with a really optimistic feel. There are a few occasions where I feel a bit on thin ice – like at the end of a series, or when a book was so good that I’m almost scared to pick up the next book by the same author – because how could it possibly compete? And possibly that author is going to get knocked off the pedestal that I’ve put them on! But, even so, mostly, I’m ever the optimist.
So, how much is too much? At what point do you decide enough is enough? This question is all that much harder if the book I’m reading is a review book – which I feel compelled to finish and review! Which of course leads to other questions? This is on a need to know basis – enquiring minds, etc, etc:
How long do you give a book before it becomes a DNF?
How long do you give a book before it reaches a point that you will finish come what may because you’ve already invested so much time?
Do you review your DNFs?
Assuming you have ‘I will not be beaten by this book syndrome’ at what point does a book become irredeemable for you? So, if you read 70%, as an example, and you’re really struggling but then the author pulls the rabbit out of the hat in the last 30% is that going to redeem it for you or is it still going to only be an average book?
I realise that nobody expects The Spanish Inquisition but even so….
To read or not to read – that really is the question??
Just how much will you take when reading a book. How long will you continue to read even if you’re not enjoying it when will you eventually just flip and say ‘why don’t you smegging well smeg off, you annoying little smeggy smegging smegger??’
Basically, will you stay the course, even if you’re not enjoying the book?? I admit that I’ve reached a point where I think life is just too short and books far too plentiful to read the ones that just aren’t doing it for me. But, every now and again I will be grimly determined to finish a book even though I’m not enjoying it – this is usually because the general feeling ‘out there’ is it’s a must read book so I continue to the bitter end because I keep think something will suddenly change and a light bulb will go on for me.
One of the problems with DNFs is if they’re review books – I won’t write a review for a book I’ve not finished. That’s just a personal whim of mine and not something I sit in judgement over others on. Plus, I make it fairly clear on my ‘about me’ that if I don’t finish I don’t review. Simples. Yet, I do appreciate knowing when others didn’t finish a book and understanding why that was the case!
Here’s the conundrum – if you don’t review the books that you don’t finish then your blog seems to be full of glowing reviews of books you love. This is a good thing in itself but does also have the tendency to make you look like a pushover or as though you’re just prepared to enjoy everything that’s put in front of you – which in turn makes you look a little undiscerning! This makes me feel like I should press on and finish all the books I start so that I can review them – which in turn will lead to negative reviews, which I really hate doing!! Catch 22.
So, when is enough enough? Do you read on to the end or not?
In honesty, I’ve just read a book that clearly wasn’t for me and yet I pursued it to the end! But, in doing so, it took me a lot longer than it normally would to finish the book as I kept putting it down and I didn’t really have any enthusiasm to pick it back up again! Not only did I not really enjoy the reading of the book but I also won’t enjoy writing the review – why, oh why, did I do this to myself!! Well, I think I was trying to prove something to myself really. I haven’t quite put my finger on what that was yet. And, was the exercise successful? Well, that depends on how I measure success. It certainly confirmed for me that I won’t be reading to the end in future if the book isn’t grabbing me. And, yes, we can’t all like all the same books all the time. Something about being human…
So, when is the cake all gone for you? Do you read everything you pick up even if you’re not loving it?? I personally feel like I’ve lost so much time when I read a book that I didn’t enjoy.
Thoughts welcome please.
Books and travelling with Lynn 