Speaking of bad books: my brother reads a lot of terrible books because he's a prolific reader but is completely incapable of not finishing a book once he starts. Being someone who has no trouble dropping a book if it hasn't grabbed my attention in the first few chapters I find this mind-boggling. (He's also one of those people who appreciates movies that are "so bad they're good" whereas I'm more generally "bad is bad" when it comes to entertainment.) Though he has no problems ditching in the middle of a movie or TV series he doesn't like. It's just books he can't stop.
Is his attitude common? I can't really imagine forcing oneself to finish a book they hate (Though I did force myself to finish the first Sword of Truth book even after it went from mediocre to terrible about 3/4s of the way through.) but I know completionism is a thing for some people.
I find it difficult to not finish a book once I've started and count it as a personal triumph when I do so. I have finished many many terrible books because even though they were terrible I really wanted to find out what happened. I was usually hoping for a reveal or resolution that never came, of course, but there's no way to know that for sure without reading the damn book. This is why I
do
judge books by their covers sometimes.
I used to have to finish. Now I have a 50-page rule. If I don't give a damn what happens by that time I'm going on to the next book on my long list. Too many good books to waste my time.
I feel like I used to be more likely to finish even bad books. These days I’m more likely to leave them half read and let them drop down the list on my kindle or let the library app take it back. But I still probably finish more than I should—bad books I’m often more likely to skim to the end, whereas sometimes it’s the NOT bad books which just don’t grab me that I keep thinking I’ll go back to when I’m in a different mood. Guess it also depends on your definition of bad?
It can be hard to tell if this is a bad book or if this is maybe a pretty good book that I am just not in the mood for right now.
It can be hard to tell if this is a bad book or if this is maybe a pretty good book that I am just not in the mood for right now.
These are the ones I've had to learn to put down. If I'm not in the mood for it now, move on to something else. If I get back to it, fine. If not, there's always more books (and fic).
Yes, that’s reasonable. And I can usually do it, but does increase my TBR
I read Zoe Rosenthal is Not Lawful Good the other day and it's entirely charming: a very strait-laced high school senior with an even more strait-laced boyfriend falls into fandom and cosplay, and ... events transpire. It's pretty solidly YA but I would recommend, esp. if you like Rainbow Rowell. It's kind of like that but with lower stakes: it's unlikely to make you cry.
It can be hard to tell if this is a bad book or if this is maybe a pretty good book that I am just not in the mood for right now.
That's a really good point. It's interesting, I pick what shows and movies to watch and what video games to play based on my mood but I don't really consider it with books. I suppose part of it is that books are a larger time investment where my mood can potentially change throughout the reading whereas visual media is generally consumed in smaller bursts.
Zoe Rosenthal is Not Lawful Good
I already love it for the title alone. Also sounds like something I should recommend to my son to read.
Oh, I bought that after reading a review or something and then got distracted (in part by reading the author's autobiographical webcomic which is pretty interesting) and didn't actually read it...thanks for the reminder, Consuela!
