Finishing books

I have always finished books that I’ve started. It’s an innate sense of obligation that I have to. I have no idea what engendered that need in me, but I wonder if as I’ve become a writer, it’s partly the mentality that I would hate people not to finish my books. Yet I’ve started several books this year that I haven’t finished. The worst part is I actually liked two of them A LOT. The others kind of petered out and bored me. I don’t understand why I haven’t gone back to finish the ones that I like, and I’ve felt only slightly guilty in not picking up the ones I felt meh about. I’m reaching the point where there are too many books and too little time.

The funny thing is that the books aren’t necessarily bad. I have no violent urge to put them through the garbage disposal. Mostly they just don’t have anything going that makes me want to keep reading. This is not necessarily the fault of the book. I’ve become a little bit distractable. Here! Shiny! and off I go. I’d like to change that. I’d like to read more in general. I have tons of books on the TBR mountain, and so I have plenty to choose from.

How about you? Do you ever not finish books? Why? or

6 Comments

  • Bethany C.

    It’s very rare that I don’t finish a book. I know that even if I don’t really like one, if I put it down I’ll just spend a dumb amount of time wondering how it ended. A book has to be super bad or really piss me off for me to not finish it. I’ve been thinking about it for a few minutes and I can only remember 3 I put down.

    • Di Francis

      And that’s exactly how I have been. I haven’t even jumped to the end to see if it finishes out better. That will sometimes make the reading better when I know where it’s going. I did read Cloud Watcher by Lilith Saintcrow and I enjoyed it. Romantic, adventure, and fun. It is fourth in a series. I am going to go back and read the earlier stories.

  • jennifer

    I buy and get for free a lot of books off amazon. I’ve finished some really bad books. Therefore, I’ve decided on the 100 page rule. If it’s boring or lame I just stop reading it at that point. I have so many books on my tbr list that I can move on. But that changes if I paid publishers price on a book….then I finish it

  • Carla L

    Sometimes I don’t finish books. I think I’m doing that more often now. I figure, why waste my time on a book that is not interesting when I have a massive TBR pile that I swear has taken on a life of its own. Just where the hell are all these books coming from???

    • Di Francis

      They multiply like those cane toads in Australia and kill off all the predators. They are taking over! All you can do is read. Read like the Wind!

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