[Rainbow Stalin]

I stop but feel bitter about wasted time

[Peachtwist]

(Original post by SunderX)
Yes, all the time. It might take a while (and sit on the shelf while I read other stuff), but there's very few books I haven't eventually finished. It's like I feel an obligation to at least finish the story, no matter how crap it is.

Yep, me too.

[Zilver Fox]

To tell you the truth, yes i do, i try finding that interesting and good part which then makes it eventually better and more intriguing, in some books its worked where its been boring at the start but gradually gets better, but in some it doesnt, ive read many where the beginning is great but then turns extremely boring and wrecks the whole story


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[medbh4805]

I nearly always force myself to finish it. Books that are part of the 'literary canon' are often boring, but there is a sense of satisfaction when you finish them (it felt like an achievement when I finally finished Anna Karenina ). I find it highly satisfying looking at the spine of a paperback and seeing it all creased after it's been read that said once I get past the stuffy style, archaic language, etc sometimes I even find myself enjoying these books

However when reading 'lighter' material or erotica...if I don't like it, I just abandon it completely.

[PlunderingDesire]

(Original post by 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?

I'm a bit like this- it's almost like I worry the book will feel abandoned if I don't finish it. Crazy, eh?

[Ice Constricter]

(Original post by PlunderingDesire)
I'm a bit like this- it's almost like I worry the book will feel abandoned if I don't finish it. Crazy, eh?

Crazy?

But for me it was more about myself. Like I felt like a lazy idiot with the attention span of a goldish swimming in circles in an empty fish tank all day if I didn't finish a book.

[Butterfly9595]

I persevere until I realise I don't care what happens in which case I decide to stop... it always annoys me though that I couldn't find the reason that so many other people loved it...

[ladymarshmallow]

(Original post by Ice Constricter)
Crazy?

But for me it was more about myself. Like I felt like a lazy idiot with the attention span of a goldish swimming in circles in an empty fish tank all day if I didn't finish a book.

When I'm reading a book I don't like, I always feel compelled to take a break every five minutes to relieve the boredom. But then I get cross at myself, and worry that my attention span is abnormally short.

[Primo]

(Original post by ladymarshmallow)
When I'm reading a book I don't like, I always feel compelled to take a break every five minutes to relieve the boredom. But then I get cross at myself, and worry that my attention span is abnormally short.

I have suffered something similar to this during exam time. I'd be sitting there reading for a few minutes and then would have to get up and walk around the room for a bit or watch tv. I realised a good psychological trick is to tell myself that I was only going to read a few pages, and so the guilt from this would keep me reading and allow more work to get done.

My own nomination is Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene. It was well written but the story and the characters didn't really grab me.

[Battenberg]

Only if the book is REALLY uninteresting to me. To date there's only one book I have done this with- Emma by Jane Austen. Unfortunate as it was a key part of my English AS level but I just could not get past chapter 3.

[Dougieowner]

I try to finish a book if I don't enjoy it loads, even if I have to skim a bit. I usually find it interesting to find out what happens, and I never feel good putting a book down and leaving it as a 'reject'.

But if it's really boring/annoying me after trying to finish, I'll put it down and move onto another book that I know will be so much better. There's not always time to drag out a boring book that you're not enjoying...

[eskamulia]

I think I've reached the age where I don't want to waste my time reading a book I don't enjoy. Time is too precious for that.

[*Waldpoesie*]

Yes, I do. It's happened most with certain Russian classics. Sometimes it's very difficult to keep up with the plot and a great number of characters in a book, or it's just plain boring. I still force myself to finish it rather than to leave it.

[LETSJaM]

Skip to end; read that; complain about flaws of book.

<3 x

[emthedrummer]

I rarely finish books lately, I just lose the will to concentrate, which is weird because I used to read everything.

[Gemma345]

I usually sit myself down and force myself to finish it in an evening, as money is tight and I feel too guilty for not finishing it as it's a waste/someone put a lot of effort into writing it. - and yes, I have a huge guilty conscience!

[FuzzySheep]

(Original post by emthedrummer)
I rarely finish books lately, I just lose the will to concentrate, which is weird because I used to read everything.

I've been doing the same thing lately

[heymoriarty]

I just give up. I mean, there's no point in reading something which I have zero interest in, unless it's going to benefit me in some way (i.e. because I have to read it for my exams). I tried reading 'The Plague' by Albert Camus because I thought that the general gist of the story was excellent, but somehow it just didn't draw me in.

[bobbieare]

All the time, it'll be like a failure in life for me if I don't finish it, plus there's always a chance the book could get better. I've read books where I was almost dying through the first half of the book then I fell in love with the second half which led me to fall in love with the entire book!

[AliCMBM]

Sometimes I feel as if i need to because I'll feel sorry for the book incase the rest of it is pretty good. But if it is still severely dull *cough cough* Twilight *cough cough* by 2/3 into it then i will just give up. I can't read something that makes me miserable