How much time (or how many pages) do you give a book that you aren’t really enjoying before you’ll set it aside? If you’re reading it for a book group discussion, or for review, will you give it more of a chance then, say, a book you’re reading for your own interest? Why, or why not?
I don’t have a set rule about how many pages I read before giving up on a book. It all depends on the book. If it’s awful I may give up after a few pages, but if it’s so-so I’ll carry on reading for say 50 -100 pages before stopping. There aren’t many books I don’t finish and even if I’m not keen on I’ll skim through it to see if it gets any better. Sometimes my frame of mind and the book don’t meet and if I leave a book for a while then pick it up again I’ll get on better with it. The rest of the book may be much better than the beginning. On the other hand it’s disappointing when the first part of a book is really good and the rest isn’t.
If I’m reading a book that has been sent to me to review then I do finish it, because I don’t think it’s fair to write about a book when I haven’t read all of it. For a book group discussion I may persevere a bit longer than usual, but I wouldn’t feel bad about abandoning the book if I really didn’t like it.
BooksPlease 
So far I’ve just put down one book because I didn’t like it, I had read about 80 pages before decided that the book wasn’t to my liking. I have encountered this problem again now with Daphne du Maurier’s book My cousin Rachel and I’m a bit disappointed in myself for not liking it.
Here my Monday post
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I’ve been meaning to read My Cousin Rachel. I’ve liked all the other Du Maurier books I’ve read, so I hope I like this one – sorry you didn’t!
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I give up after 20 pages. But I think I ought to skim a book before chucking it out!
Monday is here again
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I give most books 100 pages and then decide whether to keep reading. Have a great week of reading!
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I’ve never done the 50-100. I’m considering it. Here is Musing.
I also wanted to invite you to join Cafe Blue which is the new book discussion forum I started on my blog.
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I have a 40/50 rule. Page 40 is the one that I read in the bookshop or library to see whether I like the sound of a book, and 50 is the number of pages I read before deciding whether to give up on a book. It seems to work fairly well – I feel 50 is enough to judge whether the book is going to ‘grab’ me but doesn’t waste too much time if I decide not to read it.
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