I'm not sure if it's guilt or something else that I feel, but it's nagging at me. I read a quarter or a half of a book, and it just doesn't sit well with me, and I tell myself that I should abandon it. So, I set it aside for a while, but then it haunts me, as if saying, "You read 100 pages of me, and you're leaving. You could have read 100 pages of something else. Now you're not finishing anything!" I don't know why it gets to me so much. Half the books I pick up feel like a waste of time because I DNF them. Another redditor pointed out that we're living on borrowed time and that we shouldn't feel guilty, but if that's the case, shouldn't we do something about the 100 pages we just wasted our time on? It's hard to give up. Suggestions?
by ectoplasm777
5 Comments
If the book isn’t good, don’t finish it. Move on to something else. Finishing a book isn’t a virtue.
Life is too short to stress about one book over another. You cannot read every book you hope to read. Quitting the ones you realize aren’t for you increases the amount of good books and quality time reading you get.
You know what’s worse than reading 100 pages you don’t enjoy? Reading 400 pages you don’t enjoy. The world is full of books that will be a much better match for you, by reading something you don’t like you’re just putting off discovering your next favourite book.
I go to restaurants I like, and sometimes I try something new, and its fine but not as good as my favorite thing, and I probably won’t get it again, but it’s fine. Some people just like mushrooms more than I do so its for them but not me and that’s all good. I had heard good things and tried it, but it just wasn’t my bag and now I know.
My mantra is that nothing gets better after 25-33%, its going to be the same thing throughout, if it ‘s not grabbing you, move on, life is short, there’s no twist or happy ending that makes the slog worth it.
Focus on the positive. Quitting a book you don’t like means you can get to one you do like sooner.