S. Worthen | Weblog

As I am never going to meet the authors of the books I don't finish I don't see a commintment, it isn't as if they are going to be offended that I didn't like their books and never managed to see them through to the end. I read entirely for pleasure and I don't see that I am honour bound to complete something I don't enjoy when it is something I do purely for fun in the first place.

I don't often give up on a book half way through, I like to give it a good try to make sure that the book really, truly isn't for me. One of my biggest stumbling blocks tend to be series, particularly very long ones. I may have enjoyed something at the start but either I lose interest after reading too much of a very long series or often in a series that was not intended to run for so long the later books become lazier and therefore not as enjoyable. Also there are books in trilogies I don't enjoy but see to the end (to at least give them a chance) and as they continue onto another book I really can't face any more halfway through the second with the prospect of another to face after that.

For me it isn't always about how well written it is, the Ice & Fire books are well written and my husband loves them but I couldn't finish them for example, it's more an emotional response to the book. Like everything creative, fiction isn't always a right or wrong "this book is cleverly done so everyone will like it" thing, it can be very subjective and different books suit different people. Sometimes I will not know absolutely that a book is not the kind of book I like until I have read a fair chunk of it, but by then I know whole heartedly that I will never enjoy it and so it seems pointless to continue.