[Ian80]

Yes, even if the book is reallllly bad, I have to finish it! And I don't read more than one book at a time so I need to finish it before I start a new one.

[SunderX]

(Original post by carnationlilyrose)
I'm afraid I no longer feel obliged to read anything through to the end if I don't like it. I realised some time ago that life is simply too short to punish yourself. There are many books you HAVE to read but the ones you choose should not be a chore. I feel a bit guilty about it as an English teacher, but I don't feel I have to pretend that every single book in the world is equally deserving of my increasingly limited time (I'm getting on a bit!) and I don't have to justify my abandoning of it because I'm an adult and can do what I want. Very liberating!

As an English teacher, I think you're more entitled to ignore books. One of the only ones I never managed to finish (and intend never to) was Tess of the D'Urbavilles .

My god does nothing happen in that book.

[ForgettingWhatsername]

I always finish books even when I hate them. It's compulsive

[roarosaurus]

I used to make myself finish books when I was a kid, but that was when the most boring book I'd ever forced myself through was "How I Learned to Fly" from the Goosebumps series, which wasn't exactly taxing either way. Now, if a book is 300+ pages and I'm not interested by page 150 or so, I'll read something else.

[EarthGirl]

(Original post by AquilaXenon)
I'm definitely with you on Harry Potter! Good old JK as the Doctor would say. They are very depressing, and while I'm all up for a bit of tragedy/heartbreak/apocalypse in a book, there has to be light-hearted moments or a sense that there is actually a point in it. With the Twilight series I felt that Stephenie Meyer often took the easy road with the plot (There comes a time when you have to choose between what is right and what is easy as Dumbledore would say) and the characters were all two-dimensional, you barely got to know anything about them at all.

What's worse than thinking a book is bad when you haven't read it is thinking a book is bad based on the film...

Ooh, a Harry Potter aand Doctor Who fan! We should be friends.

I totally agree. I found Bella irritating and a complete moaner, and then you had the creepy glittery Edward. My only motivation for finishing the series was because I was having a competition with my friend...

Oh good lord. It's really silly, but I tend to get worked up over that.
I know it's not realistic, but it also annoys me when films don't follow the books they were based on. Like in HP when they didn't show Luna's bedroom-I was really looking forward to seeing her ceiling with 'friends' written all over it.

[carnationlilyrose]

(Original post by SunderX)
As an English teacher, I think you're more entitled to ignore books. One of the only ones I never managed to finish (and intend never to) was Tess of the D'Urbavilles .

My god does nothing happen in that book.

Well, I have read Tess a couple of times, but I don't actively seek out Hardy for fun, certainly. I won't get the time I spent reading Jude The Obscure back any time soon.

[AquilaXenon]

(Original post by EarthGirl)
Ooh, a Harry Potter aand Doctor Who fan! We should be friends.

I totally agree. I found Bella irritating and a complete moaner, and then you had the creepy glittery Edward. My only motivation for finishing the series was because I was having a competition with my friend...

Oh good lord. It's really silly, but I tend to get worked up over that.
I know it's not realistic, but it also annoys me when films don't follow the books they were based on. Like in HP when they didn't show Luna's bedroom-I was really looking forward to seeing her ceiling with 'friends' written all over it.

Harry Potter and Doctor Who all the way they're the best!

I often felt that you got to know the other characters better than the main characters. You seemed to be given more insight into the other vampires during the books than Bella and Edward and so you didn't get chance to make any connections.

Yes, don't worry it annoys me as well. I have to completely disconnect the book and the movie when I watch one because otherwise I just sit there criticising it. For example, with the last Harry Potter films, there are so many things that they missed out that make me angry, for example, Lupin and Tonks' story and Lupin falling out with Harry, also with the fight at the end - why was no one around?! And where was the bit where he explained all about Snape? So I have to try and watch them as a film on their own and then I can enjoy it more.

[nulli tertius]

(Original post by carnationlilyrose)
I won't get the time I spent reading Jude The Obscure back any time soon.

A novel about Oxbridge admissions. Something of a busman's holiday then.

[carnationlilyrose]

(Original post by nulli tertius)
A novel about Oxbridge admissions. Something of a busman's holiday then.

Indeed, although it was a VERY long time before I had anything to do with sixth formers. I tend to think about it as 'the book with the pig's pizzle'....

[Big Ern McCracken]

I don't have a problem with it. On holiday I bought that new James Patterson one on a whim (the one about the Olympics or whatever) just because I had nothing else to read and it was pretty slim pickings in the supermarket I was in. Anyway, it was the most cliched, poorly written piece of **** I've ever read. I got up to about 50 pages and then gave up. How that guy has a career I'll never know.

[Ambry]

Usually I'll finish a book I've started reading, even if it sucks XD

[EarthGirl]

(Original post by AquilaXenon)
Harry Potter and Doctor Who all the way they're the best!

I often felt that you got to know the other characters better than the main characters. You seemed to be given more insight into the other vampires during the books than Bella and Edward and so you didn't get chance to make any connections.

Yes, don't worry it annoys me as well. I have to completely disconnect the book and the movie when I watch one because otherwise I just sit there criticising it. For example, with the last Harry Potter films, there are so many things that they missed out that make me angry, for example, Lupin and Tonks' story and Lupin falling out with Harry, also with the fight at the end - why was no one around?! And where was the bit where he explained all about Snape? So I have to try and watch them as a film on their own and then I can enjoy it more.

True, and Bella and Edward are just really bland characters.

Hm, yes. Although I try and separate the books and films as much as possible, there are certain scenes that I would have loved to have seen on the big screen. Although saying that, the films probably wouldn't have been able to have done justice to some of my favourite book scenes.

I KNOW. Although I loved the last film, I did think that compared to the book, the Battle of Hogwarts was a bit weak. In the book there's so much action and activity, whereas in the film Voldermort's death wasn't exactly celebrated. ALSO, The Prince's Tale was one of my favourite parts in the books. It wasn't awful in the film, but it could have been so much better-and longer! "look...at... me..." </3

[amyshamblesxx]

(Original post by LucyInTheSkyWithD)
Or do you just stop reading it and save yourself the struggle?


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

Are you named after the Paige Toon book?

[LucyInTheSkyWithD]

(Original post by amyshamblesxx)
Are you named after the Paige Toon book?

No, the Beatles song but I ran out of characters


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[Ice Constricter]

I used to be like that, cause I felt bad if I didn't finish a book I started.

But now I just shut the book if I'm not interested. I mean why should I endure the annoyance and pain of reading a book I don't enjoy?

[Accalia]

If I'm not enjoying the book, I always end up with an internal struggle, weighing up the pros and cons. If it's a 'classic' I feel like I have to read, then I have to finish it. If it's a more modern book and not big in the public eye then I won't bother.

Even if I've decided I have to finish it though, it can stretch to a few months whilst I read more interesting things on the side (been reading Heart of Darkness for almost a year now, writing style is fine I'm just not interested).

[AquilaXenon]

(Original post by EarthGirl)
True, and Bella and Edward are just really bland characters.

Hm, yes. Although I try and separate the books and films as much as possible, there are certain scenes that I would have loved to have seen on the big screen. Although saying that, the films probably wouldn't have been able to have done justice to some of my favourite book scenes.

I KNOW. Although I loved the last film, I did think that compared to the book, the Battle of Hogwarts was a bit weak. In the book there's so much action and activity, whereas in the film Voldermort's death wasn't exactly celebrated. ALSO, The Prince's Tale was one of my favourite parts in the books. It wasn't awful in the film, but it could have been so much better-and longer! "look...at... me..." </3

Yes, sometimes when I read the books and get to favourite scenes that were missed out I'm sort of glad that they didn't make it into the films as I know how I would want it to go and I probably wouldn't have liked it if it was different.

I did feel that the Battle was done very badly. I loved the whole bit with Harry and Neville and that arriving in the Room of Requirements and they used the original music again and all that, but after that I felt that it went down hill. I'm not someone who enjoys reading battle scenes in books but I absolutely loved it in Deathly Hallows. So much went on and there was so much passion in everything and yet when I watched the film there was very little anticipation (even though I knew what was going to happen anyway). So many things are left loose if you haven't read the books. Snape's memories was one of my favourite parts of the film, however that was because I felt a lot of the other parts were weak, but even this wasn't perfect. Though I will never discredit Alan Rickman's acting - it was perfect.

[Daydreamer18]

Always. I can't leave a book unread. I don't know why I do it though - just to torture myself? I've had to make my way through some very boring books..

[KingMessi]

(Original post by AquilaXenon)
Yes I quite agree with that book! Though I felt that the first book did have potential, I read all four books and if there is any book that I wished I hadn't wasted my time reading it was Breaking Dawn. By far the worst book I have ever read.

But still, I feel if it's been recommended then I have a duty to finish it so that you can actually discuss it and even more so if you aren't enjoying it because then you can say exactly why you didn't like it.

On my sister's recommendation I read Twilight and she also bought the other three books. After reading Twilight I was pretty unimpressed so I fought my way through the other three just to see if anything would happen that would make the struggle worthwhile.

Alas, nothing did.

However, after investing a substantial amount of time in any book, it is good to see your commitment through until the end.

[FuzzySheep]

I used to try and power through, but because some books were just taking up so much of my time and I felt that it became a chore to read them, I decided to read half of any novel I start at least before deciding to stop reading. I think the most important thing is to just remember that reading should be something enjoyable.