# Do you feel obligate to suffer through a book you don't enjoy?



## Sylie (Apr 4, 2011)

I know I have. For a while I was interested in Hot, flat and crowded, but it was just so much wanking, that I got sick and had to stop.And I did stop reading. But there is some built in mechanism that kicks in to prevent me from putting down the most mundane of books? I actually bought One Fifth Avenue and read the entire piece of crap, just because. What a bloody waste of time. Is there some kind of unwritten law that says, just because you paid twelve dollars for a worthless piece of crap...you should blunder through it?

What do you do when you buy a book or kindle book and realize that it is a piece of garbage that did not deserve to be published? I'm just curious.


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## Madeleinesmommy (Nov 30, 2012)

I usually just reading the ending if it's a fiction book just so I feel like I got my money's worth. If I really don't like it I'll either donate it or give it to a friend.


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## babycake7 (Jan 30, 2012)

I love to read and I usually make myself suffer through. I usually buy books based on reviews or recommendations from friends who have similar taste in books.


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## Zoe's Mom88 (Apr 25, 2011)

I could not sit and read a book I didn't enjoy reading....how do you do it? If something doesn't capture my attention shortly after starting I cannot read it. I have quite a few books I started and didn't finish.


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## dntdelay (May 27, 2011)

If i can't get into a good book I either give it back or put it away to be sold later. I do try though to read it, but sometimes I just can't get into the book!!! :blush:


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## Sylie (Apr 4, 2011)

Madeleinesmommy said:


> I usually just reading the ending if it's a fiction book just so I feel like I got my money's worth. If I really don't like it I'll either donate it or give it to a friend.


ha ha...you hated the book so you give it to a friend? Well, maybe they might like it, but at least it is free. Now, I seriously think that giving a book you really love to a friend is way more than the gift of the book. But, then, maybe they won't be overwhelmed. This is uncharted territory. What dreams may come when we have shuffled of this mortal coil, must give us pause. There is the calamity that....oh, crap, there I go quoting Shakespear again. 

Back to subject at hand...aren't Maltese dogs the sweetest creatures ever?


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## Daisy's Mommie (Sep 24, 2012)

I only read works by 2 authors--John Grisham and Nicholas Sparks. I think I have everything Grisham ever wrote and have just recently started reading Sparks. I keep my books for ever because I am always going back and re-reading them!!


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## Snowball Pie's Mommi (Oct 16, 2008)

Sylie said:


> ha ha...you hated the book so you give it to a friend? Well, maybe they might like it, but at least it is free. Now, I seriously think that giving a book you really love to a friend is way more than the gift of the book. But, then, maybe they won't be overwhelmed. This is uncharted territory. What dreams may come when we have shuffled of this mortal coil, must give us pause. There is the calamity that....oh, crap, there I go quoting Shakespear again.
> 
> Back to subject at hand...aren't Maltese dogs the sweetest creatures ever?


Perhaps one should remember what one wrote about poor Ru ... poor baby.:innocent:

I say take a shovel and bury the book instead.


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## Sylie (Apr 4, 2011)

Snowball Pie's Mommi said:


> Perhaps one should remember what one wrote about poor Ru ... poor baby.:innocent:
> 
> I say take a shovel and bury the book instead.


Oh my goodness Marie, you read that weak moment and you are going to hold me to it....forever?

Dear little Ru is lapping up water beside me right now. It seems she has been ancient forever. Honestly, I do love her. I do take really good care of her...there are just those moments. I joke about it. Alan and I joke about it...but our baby Ru is our baby Ru. Kidding aside, I love the sweet old gal.


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## Snowball Pie's Mommi (Oct 16, 2008)

Sylie said:


> Oh my goodness Marie, you read that weak moment and you are going to hold me to it....forever?
> 
> Dear little Ru is lapping up water beside me right now. It seems she has been ancient forever. Honestly, I do love her. I do take really good care of her...there are just those moments. I joke about it. Alan and I joke about it...but our baby Ru is our baby Ru. Kidding aside, I love the sweet old gal.


Nah ... I know you love Ru. So, I won't hold you to it forever. The hold has passed. We all have our weak moments. I seem to have a lot of them lately. Well, not in regard to my Snowball though ... he can do no wrong. :HistericalSmiley: Felix gets to experience most of my weak moments. :HistericalSmiley:

I love you, Sylvia. But, hey ... don't waste your time reading books you hate. Really. You can read all the interesting threads on SM! 

I doubt you read books on Kindle. Otherwise, I would tell you just to delete the ones you don't like! Life is way too short to waste time feeling as though you need to finish a book you hate.

If you bought a hardback book ... well, maybe if you bury it ... it will grow back into a tree one day! LOL


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## Furbabies mom (Jul 25, 2011)

I am like you Sylvia. I suffer through to the very end. The WORST book that I ever suffered through was. "The Time Traverler's Wife" I hated it , but read every word!


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## Maidto2Maltese (Oct 19, 2004)

Oh yes, I have done that...keep thinking it's going to get better!..it doesn't! LOL 
What really gets me though.. is reading a book I'm really enjoying then hating the ending! LOL ... like the ending is anti-climatic. I'm trying to think of one but it' isn't coming to me that I read sometime last year... Near the end and there was quite a twist ( but several pages to go...) then at the actual ending it was '''blah"!


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## LuvMyBoys (Jan 2, 2012)

I am signed up for a 'service' that sends me emails daily telling me about free books offered on Kindle. I get A LOT of them. Some of them are good, most of them suck. Since they were free, if I am not getting in to it, I delete the book and go to the next one. I have found some great books and new authors this way (some will offer their books for free to introduce themselves, then you go buy the rest cuz they are so good), and I have had to shake my head at others (why would anyone want someone to read this crap and associate their name with it??).

I always hesitate before pulling the plug though. I think back to some Anne Rice books that I have loved. Mayfair Witches started off so S. L. O. W. L. Y. I thought I would die of boredom before I could turn the page, but I stuck with it (because it was a hard back and I paid $30 for it-too cheap to 'waste') and all of the sudden it turned into a book that I couldn't put down. A couple of her books were like that for me, and I own every single one of her books, and not on the Kindle, in real live paper!

So, in short, if it's free, and it sux, I move on. If I paid for it, I muddle thru (except for Watership Down...didn't get it!)


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## nwyant1946 (Jan 2, 2013)

*I don't finish a book if I don't like it. There are too many good ones out there. I'm reading John Edward's "Fallen Masters" right now. Its really good.*


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## Sylie (Apr 4, 2011)

LuvMyBoys said:


> I am signed up for a 'service' that sends me emails daily telling me about free books offered on Kindle. I get A LOT of them. Some of them are good, most of them suck. Since they were free, if I am not getting in to it, I delete the book and go to the next one. I have found some great books and new authors this way (some will offer their books for free to introduce themselves, then you go buy the rest cuz they are so good), and I have had to shake my head at others (why would anyone want someone to read this crap and associate their name with it??).
> 
> I always hesitate before pulling the plug though. I think back to some Anne Rice books that I have loved. Mayfair Witches started off so S. L. O. W. L. Y. I thought I would die of boredom before I could turn the page, but I stuck with it (because it was a hard back and I paid $30 for it-too cheap to 'waste') and all of the sudden it turned into a book that I couldn't put down. A couple of her books were like that for me, and I own every single one of her books, and not on the Kindle, in real live paper!
> 
> So, in short, if it's free, and it sux, I move on. If I paid for it, I muddle thru (except for Watership Down...didn't get it!)


Lol....I loved Watership Down, but that was like 40 years ago.

I'm curious, Laura, did you read all of Ann Rice's "Beauty" books? Right now I have #2 on my kindle, but I haven't looked at it for months.

Lightbulb moment!!!! When we were in school, we often *had* to read a particular book even if we hated it. That may be why we often feel obligated to finish a book we don't enjoy now.


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## LuvMyBoys (Jan 2, 2012)

Sylie said:


> Lol....I loved Watership Down, but that was like 40 years ago.
> 
> I'm curious, Laura, did you read all of Ann Rice's "Beauty" books? Right now I have #2 on my kindle, but I haven't looked at it for months.
> 
> Lightbulb moment!!!! When we were in school, we often *had* to read a particular book even if we hated it. That may be why we often feel obligated to finish a book we don't enjoy now.


Yep, I have read all of the Beauty books...:w00t: Read them a long time ago and thinking about them can still make me blush!


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## Sylie (Apr 4, 2011)

LuvMyBoys said:


> Yep, I have read all of the Beauty books...:w00t: Read them a long time ago and thinking about them can still make me blush!


:aktion033::aktion033:Oh my...:HistericalSmiley::HistericalSmiley:

For those of you who have no idea what we are talking about :smtease:


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## eiksaa (Jun 8, 2012)

I read a lot of books at the same time, so often the bad ones don't get finished. I need to read many at once depending on what's going on around me. If I am alone and can concentrate, I read stuff that I am trying to learn (for example, finance currently), if husband is watching TV, I read serious fiction. If husband is watching TV and Gustave is trying to make me play with him, I read light fiction as I play fetch with him.


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## CorkieYorkie (Apr 10, 2012)

As a professional librarian, I am here to tell you all: YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO PUT DOWN A BOOK YOU DO NOT LIKE!!! hehe, hope that makes you all feel better  

I sometimes feel the need to finish a book I'm not into, but that is rare, usually I just lost interest and put it down...sometimes I finish it later, other times I don't!


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## Lacie's Mom (Oct 11, 2006)

I have a rule that if I can't get "into" a book by the third chapter, I just move on to another book. And, if it's a book for one of my Book Clubs, I just skip that month's meeting.

I read so many books and so quickly. I probably finish a book every 1-2 days.


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## MaryH (Mar 7, 2006)

I'm way late on this thread but had to comment. Sylvia, I cracked up about your light bulb moment ... I'm exactly opposite. If I hated a book that we had to read for school I either skimmed it or bought the Cliff Notes. As a mature adult (NOT), now I will force myself to read at least 100 pages of a book. If at 100 pages I still hate it then it gets donated. Two of my all time favorite books were books that I hated through the first hundred pages, tolerated through the next hundred pages, and then had the *light bulb moment* when I discovered that I was loving those books ... _The Mists of Avalon_ by Marion Zimmer Bradley and _Les Miserables_ by Victor Hugo.


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## MalteseJane (Nov 21, 2004)

I am late here too. Has any one tried to read "Cloud Atlas" ? I bought it because normally a book is better than the movie. But this one ? I CANNOT FINISH !!! I tried and tried skipping some chapters and frankly I don't understand what it is all about. I hope the movie will enlighten me.:smilie_tischkante:


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## Snowbody (Jan 3, 2009)

MalteseJane said:


> I am late here too. Has any one tried to read "Cloud Atlas" ? I bought it because normally a book is better than the movie. But this one ? I CANNOT FINISH !!! I tried and tried skipping some chapters and frankly I don't understand what it is all about. I hope the movie will enlighten me.:smilie_tischkante:


My husband is in the same boat as you. He read it a while ago and just couldn't/didn't get it and said he saw the movie twice on the plane and has no idea what it was about. He felt vindicated when I read him your post. :HistericalSmiley::HistericalSmiley:


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## casa verde maltese (Apr 7, 2007)

I have books that I have tried and tried.. then given up. I have made myself suffer thru some books in the past.. because I hoped they would get better..then to be so disappointed.. I hate giving up..


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## nwyant1946 (Jan 2, 2013)

Zoe's Mom88 said:


> I could not sit and read a book I didn't enjoy reading....how do you do it? If something doesn't capture my attention shortly after starting I cannot read it. I have quite a few books I started and didn't finish.


*I agree..if it doesn't grab me from the start, I won't be able to get through it. I don't feel obligated....if I can't get into I just don't read it. I read all of the Jean Auell books..Clan of the Cave Bear, Etc. Etc. All of them were wonderful UNTIL the last one "Land of the Painted Caves"....I have not been able to get through that book to save my life. We even tried to listen to it on audiobooks while traveling with my husband on the truck, but the reader was faking this ridiculous accent (I guess to give Ayla a unique voice), but it was driving me and my husband nuts and we just gave up. But, yet, I've read the others a few times over. It was a thirty year journey waiting for each book to come out and I was so disappointed by the last one.*


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## littlefluffbabies (Apr 17, 2013)

I definitely can't read a book that i don't enjoy. I usually give it two or three chapters and if i find my mind wandering, or find myself reading the same paragraph again and again then its time to put it down and move on to the next one. I find it funny that I can read, or follow each word on a page and my mind can be somewhere else entirely. Sort of like reading, but not paying attention. I don't notice myself doing it at first... and then i get to the end of the page and I'll be like "ok, wait...back up..... what the heck is going on??"


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## mdbflorida (Feb 28, 2013)

I can't do it -toss it aside!


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## Tanner's Mom (May 27, 2005)

Zoe's Mom88 said:


> I could not sit and read a book I didn't enjoy reading....how do you do it? If something doesn't capture my attention shortly after starting I cannot read it. I have quite a few books I started and didn't finish.


I'm with you. If a book is boring or not moving fast enuf for me, I read the end and put it down.


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## zooeysmom (Aug 1, 2011)

I never suffer through a book I don't enjoy. If I can't get through the first three chapters, it goes straight to Goodwill.


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## yukki (Aug 22, 2007)

It took me literally 3 months to finish the third book in a series I started. I was so bored with it and just wanted to just stop reading it but was stupidly determined to finish it. In the past, when I end up not liking a book, have stopped reading it but it has to be pretty bad for me to do that. Yes, I guess I feel the need to finish a book once started and it drives me nuts sometimes! Lol


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## luvmybabe (Dec 30, 2012)

If i don't like it then i stop reading but i am not a big reader anyways and get bored easily with it


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## Aleksandra (May 16, 2013)

I have an MA degree in literature, so I had to read A LOT of books, most of them really boring, and I advise everyone (who cares to take my advice  ) not to suffer through any book you don't like. Books can truly enrich your life, but their magic is lost if you can't connect to them. There is infinite number of books and limited lifetime, don't waste it in any way. I'm sure our fluffs would agree.


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


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## Katkoota (Feb 18, 2006)

zooeysmom said:


> I never suffer through a book I don't enjoy. If I can't get through the first three chapters, it goes straight to Goodwill.


Same here. 

Now, with a kindle, I see this less happening because: 
A. I have the option to borrow the book for free (I have a Prime account with Amazon); or
B. Get / read the first chapter of a book for free (then decide if I like it - to buy it & read the rest - or not); or
C. Return the book after buying it, and they refund the payment for it. I am still not sure about the full policy on this one, but I did return a book one day after buying it (I read 50 pages of it) the day before & they refunded me


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## CloudClan (Jan 31, 2007)

I have always had the habit of reading the end first. It is rare I pick up a book and do not at least skim the last few paragraphs. I HATE bad endings. I feel cheated by them. 

If the end is satisfying I will go back to the start. If I get bored. I start skimming and skipping and if it doesn't get better doing that I quit. I long ago liberated myself from the idea that books had to be read in order. 

I used to read constantly. Other hobbies have taken over my life, but I have been picking up some of my old favorites this summer.


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