Last week my assigned writing course reading was a John Irving interview from 1986. (1986! His work-in-progress was A Prayer for Owen Meany. It was like a time machine.)
I shared one of my favorite quotes from the interview on the MMD facebook page and asked you to share your thoughts.
“Grown-ups shouldn’t finish books they’re not enjoying.” – John Irving
Abandoners and Finishers
The answers fell into two categories:
- Those who abandon books they’re not enjoying.
- Those who wish they could.
The Abandoners said things like this:
Rachel: “I give it 60 pages. I call it The Giver Rule, since the book The Giver was super boring until around page 60. If I’m not enjoying a book after 60 pages, I’m done!”
Krystal: “I used to think I “had” to finish a book once I started. This limited the books I chose to read. Not so anymore. Because I know I don’t have to finish it if I don’t like it, I try a wide variety of books. Books that before I would have felt were too difficult or not my style. Now I’ll try anything!! Almost.”
Walking Through the Valley: “I started doing that a few years ago, and it changed my whole reading style. About 30-60 pages in, if I’m not hooked, it’s gone.”
Celeste: “I implemented the 100-minus current age rule and read that many pages. Sometimes I continued, other times I have given it a good effort.”
The Finishers said things like this:
Amy: “I can’t not finish a book.”
Carrie: “I can’t! Do you know how many books I have “in progress” because I can’t bring myself to give up on them??? Darn fake-OCD.“
I’m a Finisher who would like to be an Abandoner. I know when it’s time to quit a book: it’s that point when I consciously decide to switch to lightning-fast reading mode so I can get the thing over with as soon as possible. I occasionally abandon books altogether, but I don’t do it enough.
My new anti-reading goal
It’s just March; it’s not too late to make new resolutions. I’m belatedly resolving to quit bad (or less-than-stellar) books. Next time I catch myself switching to speed-reading mode, I’m just going to put it down.
I’ve already read plenty of not-so-great books in 2013. I should have abandoned First Light and Looking for Alaska. I strongly suspected Gathering Blue and Messenger wouldn’t be to my taste. These books were all by good authors, but I knew by page 60 I didn’t want to finish them. I did anyway. I shouldn’t have.
My new goal for 2013 is to have a nice long list of books I abandoned to share with you at the end of the year. I’m gunning for a dozen or more.
Wish me luck.
Abandoner or finisher? Share your thoughts in comments.
***** ***** *****
I loved the interview with John Irving, and not just because he prompted an anti-reading goal. Read the whole thing here.
To see conversations like this on Facebook, you can like the MMD facebook page here. If you “like” the page but rarely see updates, here’s what to do: just go to the MMD page, hover over the “Liked” button, and select “show in news feed.”
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Abandoner, for sure. For me, life’s too short to read books you’re not enjoying, when there are a million others out there that you will. Ironically enough, I vividly remember starting John Irving’s book “Until I Find You” and giving up after about 40 pages because it was SO AWFUL! So I feel now like he’s finally forgiven me.
Ha! I love that it was a John Irving book you remember abandoning so well. Yes, I think you’re forgiven.
“I feel now like he’s finally forgiven me.” !!!!!!!! I suppose I am a reluctant abandoner. I’ll do it, but I feel that guilty thing. You gave me quite a chuckle of recognition, Jeannie.
I’m definitely a finisher, but there have been a handful of books that I have abandoned. They’re fairly small in number though: “Crime and Punishment” and “Great Expectations” were two that I do remember abandoning because I just really didn’t like any of the characters. Now I’m regretting that, because my older sister just finished “Crime and Punishment (and told me it was amazing), and I’ve heard good things about “Great Expectations” as well.
The one thing that keeps me reading: I don’t pick up a ton of books, I usually make sure I trust the source before I read the book; and when my little sister was younger, she tried to read Anne of Green Gables and stopped because the first chapter was boring. (She got through it eventually). So most of the books that I start, I make sure I finish.
I use to have a policy of always finishing a book. Whether I enjoyed it or not. Now, with three young kids {ages 5 and under}, I frankly don’t have time to read, let alone read a book I don’t enjoy. So, if I get 50-60 pages into a book and still don’t enjoy it, I stop. I can always come back to it when I feel I have more time. I’d say, for every 10 books I start, I finish about 7.
Good for you, Sarah! I hope to move that direction…
I’ve become an abandoner in the past few years, but I still have trouble deciding a rule. If I really am not into it by 50 pages I generally put it down, but this week for example I’m reading “The Book Thief” and I don’t hate it, I just don’t love it. But it’s supposed to be brilliant and so many people loved it, that I sort of feel I should press on. I’m on page 83 and it’s just all right. Maybe I’ll get into it soon.
Catherine, I’m interested in hearing how it turns out for you–or if you do decide to abandon it.
I encourage you to stick with “The Book Thief.” I started it three times, and I just couldn’t get in the rhythm of the narrator. However, my closest friends kept insisting it was amazing. And it is. Just some encouragement from a fellow struggler.
I finished it today and decided that the theme is unusual and worthwhile, and the story was good, but I ultimately was so disappointed in the way the author chose to frame it with the narrator because it kept me from fully engaging with the characters. The characters should have been excellent, I should really have been able to get into their heads and feel their stories deeply, but I couldn’t because of the distance imposed by the narrative voice. It could have been a much, much better book had the author not tried to turn flips with the narrator. But that’s just my opinion–I know lots of people totally adored the book as it was.
Oh, I totally get where you are coming from, and I COMPLETELY understand why you felt disappointed. I struggled with the narrator throughout the novel. Eventually, the beautiful writing won me over, and I was able to love the characters.
I’m an abandoner, but it’s not necessarily direct. I’ll abandon a book by piling other books on it, so I don’t “see” it anymore, or putting it somewhere and forgetting it, which I can only do with books I’m not enjoying. Another one of my tactics is to put off reading it until it’s due back at the library.
I would like to be more forthright in my abandonment, I think. I’m going to give the 60-page rule a try and see if that helps.
Haha! I get this. I also tend to trail off on some books and never pick them up again. Here’s to more forthright abandonment for both of us in the future!
Oh. Sorry you didn’t like Gathering Blue. I read it 13yrs. ago! The memory was vague. I’ll try to be more careful what I recommend to you next time. The Giver was hard for LL to match.
Your ideal novel may be different than mine, but I LOVED To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, and The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck. Each of these books has enriched my life.
Finisher or Abandoner? Both. It depends on what I’m reading and WHY I’m reading it at the moment. I wanted to abandon Confessions of Augustine, but I didn’t and now I plan to read it again. I’ve tried to read Cutting for Stone by Abraham Vergese twice and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society also twice and for some reason I couldn’t hang. Maybe I’ll revisit them in the future and love them. Who knows? I’ve also been known to toss books over my shoulder without looking back.
Adriana, I didn’t even remember that you had recommended Gathering Blue. I won’t hold it against you.
It’s just my nature (the one that I’m fighting, probably) to finish the quartet if I loved the first book in the series (The Giver, in this case). Oh well. Live and learn–hopefully!
I’ve never read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn but I think it’s one of my mom’s favorites. Haven’t read The Good Earth either. I did love To Kill a Mockingbird.
I’ve checked Guernsey out of the library twice, stared at it for 3 weeks, and then returned it unopened. Maybe someday? Or maybe that’s a sign I should just leave well enough alone…
There are scenes in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn that I think about all the time.
Oh, I loved, loved, loved, loved “The Guernsey Literary and PPP Society”! For several reasons:
Oh, and I hear they’re making it into a movie. I am so there.
- It is very brave & creative to try to write a novel entirely made of letters. There are certainly many things a novel of letters can’t do, so for sure there is something lost — but it gains in being so interesting and immediate.
- The backstory of the writing of this book is fascinating — how the original writer, Mary Anne Shaffer, passed away before the book could be completed, and her niece Annie Barrows finished it.
- I love how it deals with a little-known part of history: what it was like for these tiny Guernsey Islands to be occupied by the Nazis. The novel’s letter format makes this background detail so interesting and personal.
It’s a funny, uplifting, sad, happy book; don’t abandon it!
If you loved it, it must be good. I will certainly give it another try in the future!
I definitely abandon books. No set rule, just i I find them boring – I don’t pick them up again. And then they’re overdue at the library. The Giver Rule!?!??!?! Haha.
” No set rule, just i I find them boring – I don’t pick them up again. And then they’re overdue at the library.”
Hahaha! EXACTLY.
I used to be a Finisher, but I gladly Abandon now! Thanks for the fun, Anne.
-Anne
Finisher who is trying to become an Abandoner, and getting better at it with practice. Last week I returned two to the library unfinished, and made that decision when I realized that I was skimming as quickly as possible just to be done with them. Which sounds awfully like what you said about switching to speed reading mode.
It’s still absurdly hard for me to abandon books at times – I can think of several already this year I wish I had, but I hoped they’d get better, or I seemed to forget that I’m not in school, and don’t *have* to finish books.
“I seemed to forget that I’m not in school, and don’t *have* to finish books.”
Sheila, this sounds so much like what John Irving said in his interview!
“I seemed to forget that I’m not in school, and don’t *have* to finish books.”
That’s probably the main reason I’m a finisher! So many years of reading for school has gotten me in the habit of finishing what I start, so it’s a good reminder that I can throw a book out when it really just isn’t very good. Since I was homeschooled, I subsisted on my curriculum reading and was forced to suffer through a handful of insufferable books. I forget that I don’t have to finish them any more because there isn’t a paper due at the end!
Yes, I think it’s a disadvantage of having been a responsible student who always read the assigned books. I got in the habit of reading things I didn’t want to read and wasn’t enjoying because I had to, and then getting out of that habit has been surprisingly hard!
Whaaaat? You read all the assigned books?? Overachiever.
Interesting. I was definitely a “responsible student,” too. Just saying.
Sheila, that sounds just about right! I have to remind myself that my books aren’t school assignments any more so I don’t *have* to finish them. I’m totally one of those responsible students… it’s all the homeschooler in me.
Forget books- I need to learn how to abandon blogs I don’t enjoy anymore! I sometimes have to force myself to hit “unsubscribe”, even when I have only read the blog out of compulsion (not enjoyment) for several weeks.
I have four books next to my bed that are all semi-abandoned in favor of other books that I’ve enjoyed more and plowed through. I have the distant thought that I’ll pick them back up…but…
ditto on abandoning blogs that I’m not enjoying! For some reason I feel really rude if I start reading a blog and don’t continue…
Katherine, that’s a great point about the blogs. That rings true for me.
After turning 50, and realizing that I had accumlated a library that I might not live long enough to read, I became an Abandoner. It was so freeing! I don’t have a 60 page rule, but I think I will implement one. My mantra has been: “I’m too old to spend time reading stupid stuff.”
BTW, I’m still buying books…good books…for the next generation…That’s responsible, right?
I’m only in my 20s and I feel like I’ve accumulated a library I won’t live long enough to read either! I need to be an abandoner…I have at least 15 books on my shelves with bookmarks about 60 pages in because I can’t bring myself to pull the bookmark out and give it up OR finish the dang thing. I dont know if I have the strength to do either…
I tell myself that buying books for the next generation is responsible.
Jennifer, I know what you mean about not being able to finish a book or firmly commit to abandoning it. I need to find the resolve if I’m going to follow through on my goal of abandoning some books this year!
I’m a finisher, even if it’s better late than never. An example would be the Steve Jobs biography. I got it right when it came out, but only got about 1/4 through it. Then I put it away, and didn’t pull it back out. I kept hearing people say they loved it, but I had other things I was more interested in.
But there is a part of me that will never let me just let that book sit on the shelf unless I have finished it, and know it’s a good book, or get rid of it for never wanting to read it again.
It’s kind of like an experience my wife and I had watching a recent movie we had wanted to see for a while: We got 5-10 minutes in, and it wasn’t what we thought, turned us off a few times, and yet, we HAD to know how it ended before we could draw a proper conclusion. This isn’t always the case, but it happened this time, and I was glad I finished it, even if I wouldn’t fully endorse the movie.
Okay, so of course now I’m wondering:
1. How was the bio??
2. WHAT was the movie???
The bio is starting back up again, and I am enjoying it. I want to finish it to know how it ends.
The movie was Flight with Denzel Washington.
Interesting. I just read the blurb on Rotten Tomatoes (77% approval, if you’re wondering) and it sounds intriguing. I can see how that would be hard to turn off.
It was hard to turn off because we wanted to see how it ended, but it was really not an enjoyable film to watch. I think expectation of what it was had to do with it.
I’m an abandoner and not just for myself either. There have been times when we’ve been slogging through a read-aloud in our homeschool and none of us is liking it and/or all of us are hating it. At that point, I abandon it. Otto of the Silver Hand was our most notable abandon. Some people love that book, but we all just kept wishing he would die in his cold, castle prison and end the story. There are too many books in the world (and on our shelves) that we will love to waste time on those we don’t.
Tiffany, it strikes me as a good thing that you’re modeling setting so-so books aside for your kids.
Also, I’ve never heard of Otto of the Silver Hand. But now I’m curious….
Otto of the Silver Hand was terrible, so bad that I don’t even remember the plot. But somehow I made it through… Our least favorite was some book about William Wilberforce, it was so incredibly dull, but a history read-aloud, so of course my sister and I had no say. I have no idea how my mom made it through.
Oh yes, I remember that William Wilberforce book (from one of the Sonlight cores). We abandoned that one too. To be fair, Sonlight did have many of our all time favorite books. But I have no bones about abandoning those that aren’t working for us, even when it was a history read, like Wilberforce.
We loved Sonlight–I did sonlight all twelve years and you’re absolutely right, most of my favorite books came from those sonlight cores!
Generally I’m an abandoner. I guess my only rule is if it makes me roll my eyes too many times.
The exception to this is “medicine books,” where I know that for one reason or another, the book will be good for me and I just need to force it down. Sometimes I really don’t feel like finishing the latest pop book, but I do because I’m introverted and it makes a good general conversation starter. Other times it’s a major classic that I’m having trouble appreciating, but I persevere because it will round out my classics reading. I had this with Northanger Abbey. I’m glad I stuck with it and got to see Austen’s unhampered wit, but it did have some qualities that made me wimper, “Just end already!”
“I guess my only rule is if it makes me roll my eyes too many times.”
GREAT rule!
I’m a finisher. This sentence perfectly describes it: “I know when it’s time to quit a book: it’s that point when I consciously decide to switch to lightning-fast reading mode so I can get the thing over with as soon as possible.” Except lightning-fast reading mode also involves skipping pages and even chapters, if it’s particularly painful. I’ve set aside less than a handful of books in the last decade. I’m OK with that. I’m fairly good at discerning what I’ll like and what I won’t so it’s usually not an issue.
I read that John Irving interview the other day (maybe you tweeted it? I don’t remember how I came across it.) but didn’t realize it was an old interview until about halfway through. I was a bit confused until that point! But I loved the behind the scenes info on his approach to Owen Meany.
I had the same experience! It said right at the beginning that he was 44, and I knew he wasn’t 44 anymore. But that only narrowed it down to a twenty-year range for me. It was so fun to get to the part where he talked about his current WIP
I will abandon a book when necessary. Sometimes I need to temporarily abandon a book. It isn’t that the book is worthless, it’s often that it’s not the right time or I’m crazy busy. I’m allowing myself the freedom to return a book to the library and check it out again at a later date…without feeling like I’m a failure somehow.
Yes! Love this. Sometimes the problem isn’t the book, but the timing. Great point.
I’m definitely an Abandoner.
Life is too short and time too fragile to waste it on books that are boring, repetitive, or poorly written.
I’m like you. I wish that I abandoned more books. Instead they sit on my shelf with bookmarks in them waiting to be read.
Just a few weeks ago, I finally went through my collection and donated all of those books I knew I would never get to. They are taking up room for books that I would rather be reading.
The hard part is that I am so picky with what I read!
Ack, I’m picky too. I get that.
But good for you for clearing out your bookshelves!
I am total Type A, but have since learned life is to short to waste it on a bad book
I’m a “Learned Abandoner” as well. I have to fight for reading time as it is. I don’t want to dread sitting down to a book. I spent much of my college career reading things I didn’t want to read, so finding the freedom to say, “Life’s too short,” feels naughty and fun all at the same time – like I’m sticking it to the man or something.
I used to be a Finisher, but lately I’ve come to realize that life is too short for books that don’t work for me, so I’m becoming a little more of an Abandoner. I quit on Fireflies in December, and for the first time, I didn’t feel guilty.
I turned in to an abandoner when I started reading most books as library checkouts on my kindle. They go automatically back to the library after two weeks and I’ve almost never been tempted to re-check out a book that expired. Plus, now I”m willing to try a ton of books I never would have read before and had great finds.
Oh, that’s a great point about the borrowed ebooks. Maybe those could be training wheels for wanna-be abandoners like myself?
As a wannabe published author, I try to keep reading. I always think, “What if someone was reading my book and quit mid-sentence because they hated it? What if they quit before the ‘good stuff?!’” Blood, sweat, and tears are poured into an authored title and I try to remember that when I’m reading, I try to remember someone put their heart and soul on the line to get published and they deserve a shot.
Still, some books really don’t deserve a reader’s perseverance. I read http://www.amazon.com/Heart-Freedom-Remarkable-Dissident-Daughters/dp/1414362471 this book recently and honestly, it was generous of me to continue. It was poorly written and while her story was compelling, it needed heavy editing and probably even a ghost writer or a co-author. The poor quality of the book took away from the fascinating events.
Just my two cents…
“The poor quality of the book took away from the fascinating events.”
Ugh, I’ve read too many books like that.
I like your perspective about what the author put into the book. That’s not going to help my resolve to become an abandoner!
Hi Colleen,
As a writing-lover, I hear you about wanting to be read! On the other hand, when I speak publicly, I don’t expect that everyone will love what I said. Some will be inspired, others will feel like I didn’t connect with them at all. Everyone is different.
I think that if someone puts 30 minutes of reading (i.e. as much time as your average speech – giving the author enough time to make a ‘pitch’ toward connection) into a book and it isn’t connecting with them, it is fine to leave it… it will likely connect beautifully with someone else.
Many libraries, including the library in your area, Anne, offer a service from Dear Reader. You can sign up to receive a small snippet from a book in the genre of your choice 5 days a week. They offer categories on business, fiction, non-fiction, pre-published material, and others. I love this service because I can tell if I’m interested enough in a book to check it out from the library or put it on my list after the five days, which usually gets you partway into chapter 2. I send my daily emails to different folders in my Inbox, and when I need a new book, I read the “preview” of one in my queue.
If you want to lean how to abandon a book, this is a great tool. You must abandon the book by Friday, cause there ain’t any more a-coming unless you go get the manuscript yourself.
And, it’s free.
I have found some of the most interesting reads from this little subscription, including A Reliable Wife, which was an amazing book that opens new dialogue for the theme of redemption (not a Christian title) but at the same time has a very dark mood.
Thanks for the tip, Dawn! I’ve never heard of that service before.
I’m an English teacher married to a librarian. We both advocate not finishing books (unless they’re *required* reading). Have you seen Daniel Pennac’s Reader’s Bill of Rights? It’s awesome. Here it is:
1. The right to not read
2. The right to skip pages
3. The right to not finish
4. The right to reread
5. The right to read anything
6. The right to escapism
7. The right to read anywhere
8. The right to browse
9. The right to read out loud
10. The right to not defend your tastes
I love the tenth one. Great post!
LOVE. Love it all.
(Also, I knew you were an English teacher, but I didn’t know you were married to a librarian. How far away is Calgary? We need to have a double date.
)
I LOVE this too!! I am writing those down asap.
I read with abandonment, Anne. No book or article is safe with me, because I’ll leave it stranded on the roadside if it doesn’t hold my attention. I used to feel like I had to finish everything I started. I outgrew that.
One book I recently dropped like a hot potato was The Eyre Affair. It came highly recommended by people whose taste I trust, but its literary allusions and conceit were all too much for me. It’s like the author was being clever for cleverness’s sake.
Another I abandoned before that was House of Cards, telling the story of the Bear Stearns crash and the market meltdown in 2008. It’s not that the book isn’t worthwhile. It is. But it all went over my head, and I kept finding myself not understanding what was going on. I am not much for high finance!
Total abandoner. And I feel no shame or guilt in admitting it (well, maybe a little for giving up on War and Peace, but whatever…it’s War and Peace. Hardly anyone actually makes it through it, right? Right??) Books are for enjoyment and for learning and if neither is happening, I am moving on!
Abandoner. All the way. I have a 50 pg or 1 disc rule, depending on whether it’s a print book or audio book.
Why doesn’t that surprise me? (Good for you! Check up on me, okay?)
I just renamed my “started-but-didn’t-finish” shelf in goodreads to “abandoned”. I only have 3 books in it, because I don’t always bother to put a book in if I return it to the library without reading it.
I’m so glad you said that. I need to make a shelf like that!
I used to finish every book, no matter what. There was just something about starting something and not finishing it that I couldn’t stand. But things have changed…maybe because I don’t have endless reading time so I want to make what I’m reading worth it. But I still do have a hard time abandoning books that I “think” I’m supposed to love, because everyone else does.
Hey Anne!
Sad to hear that you didn’t like Looking for Alaska….. Would love to hear your thoughts on why you didn’t want to finish it.
I’m actually currently re-reading it and still enjoying it knowing what is going to happen.
Jo, I thought the storyline was interesting, but I thought the characterization was lacking. The first John Green book I read was The Fault in Our Stars, and I thought he did such a great job making those characters believable. The dialogue especially was spot-on. I thought he got it wrong too often in Looking for Alaska.
Maybe I would have enjoyed LFA more if I’d started there?
Yeah, that is probably accurate. I think my next favourite after The Fault in Our Stars is Paper Towns (which is his previous book, except for Will Grayson Will Grayson, though that book is not wholly his). I do think that there is an arc of how his characters are throughout his books, so maybe if you did start at Looking For Alaska, you may have not only enjoyed it, but also loved The Fault in Our Stars more!
Well, darn. But I have heard numerous people say they loved Paper Towns. Maybe it’s worth a shot!
Maybe!
I’m a quasi-abandoner. Which is to say that I can skim veryquickly. If I don’t like a book, I skim the rest. It works out great because then I feel like I finished (and skip the “what if it was just about to get good?” question) and yet don’t waste too much more time on the book.
I completely relate to this.
I eventually stopped trying to hold out for the “what if it was just about to get good” possibility. Now I figure that if the good part comes after they’ve bored me to tears, then it’s their loss and not mine! The way I see it now is they lost a reader, I didn’t lose a book.
I abandoned Looking for Alaska! Sometimes a book is good, and enjoyable even…but I just can’t feel connected to the story, or imagine spending more time reading it. I get what you’re saying here and since I had a baby, I have started abandoning books much more often! I find when I read a string of bad books, it gets me out of the reading “groove” too. I love this post because it makes me realize I’m doing the RIGHT thing by not finishing a book that I don’t love.
Well, I wish I had abandoned that one! I have a friend reading An Abundance of Katherines right now (also by John Green) and it has me thinking about picking it up. I’m not sure if that’s a good idea or not.
You’re so right about reading a string of bad books getting you out of the reading groove. I’m considering abandoning TWO books I currently have going, and it’s not a good feeling! Do I like to read or not? (I do, but I wish I’d chosen better books recently!)
So far I’ve read When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead..I liked it and was surprised by the ending (I feel almost embarrassed to admit that!) I tried When Alice Forgot but I got bored….I was about 200 pages in and I just felt like I needed a bit more action!