Booking Through Thursday is hosted by Deb:Suggested by JM:
“Life is too short to read bad books.” I’d always heard that, but I still read books through until the end no matter how bad they were because I had this sense of obligation.
That is, until this week when I tried (really tried) to read a book that is utterly boring and unrealistic. I had to stop reading.
Do you read everything all the way through or do you feel life really is too short to read bad books?
I try very very hard to finish a book. There is one book that I did not finish this year, and I really tried. I wanted to like "The Wish Maker" by Ali Sethi, and it had a lot of promise. But I just could not fathom spending any more time on it as it was completely dull and I knew I would not get a thing out of it except disappointment and mild disgust.
As suggested, it is through this sense of obligation that we have as a reviewer that prods me to follow through. Luckily I have not read a bad book since, I have learned to not accept review books that have not already garnered attention, or I make sure it is of a subject I am very interested in, such as the Tudor era. Out of 58 books reviewed this year, I had that one "did-not-finish" book. Which seems like a great record to me.
Have you had to "put down books" before? Does your reading habit change due to expectations for reviews? I am not referring to the topic of writing an honest, and even a negative review, I believe mostly every one writes honest reviews; I am wondering if you had not had a certain DULL book for review, if it was just a random read, would you be more or less hesitant to put it down? I know if it was a read-for-leisure book, I would be more likely to give it up quicker. I read somewhere that is was suggested that you take your age, multiply by 3, and read that many pages of a book before you put it down.
I also would agree pretty much with the “Life is too short to read bad books", but if you did read a bad book it makes the next one SO MUCH BETTER!!!
.JPG)