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Booking through Thursday

Written by Kirsten on May 6th, 2010

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So … you’re halfway through a book and you’re hating it. It’s boring. It’s trite. It’s badly written. But … you’ve invested all this time to reading the first half.

What do you do? Read the second half? Just to finish out the story? Find out what happens?

Or, cut your losses and dump the second half?

I used to have such a hard time leaving a book unfinished, but in recent years, I have forced myself to abandon a book if I’m just not feeling it. There are far too many books I know I will actively enjoy, even love, and my reading time is precious. Why spend it trudging through something I’m not getting any pleasure out of reading?

This comes at an apropos time, as I’ve been struggling with my guilt around having only read part of The Mayor of Castro Street. It’s not Harvey, it’s the author. I’m just not into his journalistic style, and the attempts at making it sound more like a biography than a news article fall short of the mark; they’re clearly not his natural voice, and thus they stick out like sore thumbs. I needed a reminder that it’s okay to leave the book unfinished, and this served the purpose. Thanks, Deb!

 

2 Comments so far ↓

  1. Melody says:

    I agree with not wasting precious reading time on books you are just not enjoying. I would only finish a (for lack of a better term at 330 in the morning) “bad” book if there is a charater that I really care about so I can see what happens to him/her. Other than that I would say forget about the book if it isn’t grabbing your attention!
    .-= Melody´s last blog ..Welcome =-.

  2. Kirsten says:

    Welcome, Melody! I think that tracking my reading, which I started in 2008, made me feel like the “wasted” time needed to be accounted for somehow; completed books may carry with them a certain sense of accomplishment, but it’s really not what reading for pleasure is supposed to be about, is it?

Reply to Kirsten