Do you feel guilty if you don't finish reading a book?

Shil · Post by **Shil** » 03 Dec 2013, 14:50

I can never start a book and leave it alone even if I don't like it. It's more of a nagging...I don't know if it's guilt or plain curiosity. Sometimes I need to take a break may be but I eventually have to pick it up and finish it.

lcbauer · Post by **lcbauer** » 03 Dec 2013, 16:28

I used to feel guilty about not finishing a book. I thought that as an adult I should be able to power through a book just because it was supposed to be good or a classic. Then I saw an interview with Maurice Sendak and he said that children don't feel obligated to finish a book and if it doesn't grab them they have no problem throwing it across the room. I decided that there are so many books in the world I should only make time for the good ones. If a book doesn't grab me after a chapter or two I don't finish it.

dawestermann · Post by **dawestermann** » 03 Dec 2013, 18:33

Sometimes I just can't get past the feeling I get when I finish a book that I didn't necessarily enjoy for most of the read. I am normally glad that I kept reading even if it took me a hundred or two pages to get into it. I think mostly this comes from having really loved a couple of books that I would describe that way. Normally if it takes me that long to get into it, though, I am reluctant to recommend it to others.

lemming · Post by **lemming** » 03 Dec 2013, 18:55

Not guilty - embarassed sometimes. In my mind there's an implication of being a quitter when you don't finish a book which makes it different than walking out of a movie or changing the channel if a TV show is boring - maybe cuz reading takes more effort than watching TV. I remember once a friend visited my home and found a self-help book on my bookshelf with a bookmark at the start of a chapter about never giving up, and he joked that it was ironic that I had quit at that point.

jjones · Post by **jjones** » 04 Dec 2013, 00:21

I do feel guilt if I don't finish a book. Most of the time I will finish it even if it takes me forever. The one book I couldn't finish was The girl with the dragon tattoos. I read the first few chapters and just couldn't do it. Others say it is a good books so I feel like I didn't give it a chance. Maybe I will in the future.

The Bookaholic · Post by **The Bookaholic** » 04 Dec 2013, 10:14

I try to make a commitment to finishing a book because I figure that if somebody spend enough time and effort to write it, I should at least finish it. I also hate not knowing an ending. However, if the book is terrible, I will make an exception.

whero · Post by **whero** » 05 Dec 2013, 02:20

I feel bad if it's a classic or a book that I, for some reason, feel like I have an obligation to read it(christmas presents etc), but otherwise I don't really have a problem putting it down if it's boring me. Most of the time, I'll come back to it at some point, months or years later.

jmalone1994 · Post by **jmalone1994** » 05 Dec 2013, 15:01

The only books I've ever not finished are those assigned to me at school. I don't really feel bad about not finishing them because I didn't pick them out myself to read. But if its a book that I've picked out I'm probably going to finish it no matter how bad it is because I have to know what happens. So yeah.

gtcongo123 · Post by **gtcongo123** » 06 Dec 2013, 14:14

Absolutely not! If I am reading something that has no value to me, or could put images or thoughts in my head that I really don't want to carry around the rest of my life, I exercise my good judgement and toss it aside. Life is to short to invest in something that we find of no value or that could possibly be a snare to us later in life. I am thoughtful as I read and try to give the Author the benefit of the doubt, but when I have read enough to garner a good opinion of the value of the piece, then I reserve the right to make a decision as to whether I am going to invest my time and thought in reading the rest of it. I was reading a book once and it was a novel. However, the subject that was being addressed was very real and was in my opinion not being presented fairly. I was so outraged, I chucked it in the trash.

Wriitten4God · Post by **Wriitten4God** » 07 Dec 2013, 00:22

I do feel guilty when I don't finish a book because as a writer myself I know what it is like to put a lot of effort into a book and I want to be fair to the author by finishing the book.

ajpjanette · Post by **ajpjanette** » 07 Dec 2013, 13:51

Oh yes! I do feel guilty if I don't finish a book and I don't ever really consider it a waste of time to finish a book because it actually takes me little time to do so. As a result I pretty much finish every book I start.
A matter of fact I have only ever not finished a book once. It was Left Behind by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. I just could not get into it. I really do seem to struggle with heavily religious books so I tend to avoid them.

AJ

Ja5mne · Post by **Ja5mne** » 07 Dec 2013, 19:48

Sometimes I feel bad not completing a book especially if its a self published one. I've brought books from amazon and have hated them whether it be because of grammar, editing or lack of character development. Although if I think the book is terrible I try to muster through it even if its two pages at a time so that I can give an honest opinion on it.

dhomespot · Post by **dhomespot** » 08 Dec 2013, 22:08

It is very rare that I do not finish a book. It may take me awhile, but eventually I will finish it.

15foleyr · Post by **15foleyr** » 08 Dec 2013, 22:24

I used to always finish every book I ever read, when I read a book a month or so. As I've gotten older I spend more and more time reading (like an unhealthy amount... whoops) and my TBR list gets longer and longer, so I don't spend the time or give the effort to finish a book I don't like within the first 15-30 percent of it. (I use a percentage because longer books, in general, take longer to really gain momentum so I try to give them a chance as well.) Sometimes I feel guilty, and trying a second time in the future sometimes works

So I guess it depends...

Oh, and on The Host. I really enjoyed it! It's lengthy, so maybe give it more time to pick up speed??? It's sci-fi, so not for everyone. Don't beat yourself up over it.

Jenniferpotucek · Post by **Jenniferpotucek** » 28 Dec 2013, 01:13

Occasionally I do. I always try my best to finish a book, because I never know if there's going to be a change in the plot or something that will intrigue me, but if I'm really just not liking a book at all, the. Sometimes I will just put it down.