I give it 50 pages, if it's not grabbing me and WAS NOT recommended by a friend, I give it the "How to read a book in 5 minutes" test. If it doesn't seem as though things are going to improve, I return it. If after 50 pages I don't like it but it's been recommended, I check with the friend again to see why they thought I'd like it. No book EVER gets more than 100 pages to pull me in. There're too many books and too little time as it is.

I don't have a page limit, but when I realize that I couldn't care less about what happens to the characters, that's when I put a book down. Reading is a fun activity for me, so if I dread picking up a book, it's probably a good time to stop reading!

I don't have any set page number for when to stop reading (when it's pleasure reading), but then again I rarely stop. The only times I can recall not finishing a book were for graphic language/images/situations, not because I wasn't pulled in. Now, the books I'm reading for a contest right now are a different story, and boy do I wish I COULD stop reading some of them, and on about page 5!

I always read the first page at the bookstore before shelling out any dough. Because I am usually working on a few books at a time, I will pick up whichever unfinished book grabs my interest. Doing it this way inevitably leaves me with scores of volumesh piling up with bookmarks in varying locations. Twice a year, the unloved and orphaned get shipped off to the Seattle Library Booksale to find adoptive parents who can appreciate that which I neglected.

I don't have a set page limit, but usually I'll read on if doesn't immediately grab me and most of the time I'm rewarded by the story getting better. Although if a book doesn't get better I agree that it should be sent to a library or charity book sale for someone else to find and perhaps love while supporting a good cause.

I finish almost all fiction -- even if I don't like it much, I want to know how the story ends. Nonfiction I have a much easier time putting down -- in fact I often stall even when I'm interested in the topic and read a novel or ten before I get back to it.

Besides feeling guilty over not finishing a book (this only applies to non textbook type non-fiction and fiction), I've just had too many experiences where the book was very slow picking up, but ended fantastically. Not that I would necessarily recommend these books, but personally I'm glad I didn't give up on them. Fifty pages seems like such a small amount, especially if it's a lengthy book (i.e., 300+). I think the given amount has to be relative to the page count.

With fiction, I'll generally give a book 100 pages, unless the writing is truly terrible. Non-fiction I have no set rule about, probably because I tend to be a bit more discriminating about it in the first place.

Hi Bethanne... your Blogs are GREAT! For this one -- I'll stay with a book, particularly a novel, for the first few chapters in part because as a writer of a LOTR-length book, I understand the pains a writer goes through - I want to give the effort a chance. If it hasn't grabbed my interest by then, I'll skip to a place near the climax. I'll go back if I'm hooked, or stop if I'm not. With books, as with music, movies, art, career, etc., I find it best to go with your own flow, even if it means challenging an opposing current to discover better place, or changing course if the effort is getting you nowhere. Read on! Tom, the round-the-world-by-scooter guy.

I force myself to follow through with every book I read, well that's a lie-There is one book to date, which shall remain anonymous, of which I still wonder why I purchased. Often, I find myself thinking back to past reads that didn't reach my innitial expectation, and I am glad I read them- like having a relationship that went sour, but you make yourself believe you learned something from it, so it wasn't a complete waste of time.

It depends on what's making me put the book down. There are some events in the first five to twenty pages that will absolutely make me stop. (Typically rape that seems to be used by the author in an off-hand fashion and really disturbing violence are the two topics that will make me give up immediately.) With some books, I can get past that, particularly if it's been recommended or is nominated for an award. I hesitated with Robert Sawyer's Hominids (due to the rape issue), but was glad that I kept reading, as he deals with it very responsibly and allows the book to be about those emotional struggles as much as it is about science fiction. With Jo Walton's The King's Peace, I hesitated, but ended up putting it down because I was dwelling on that event pages later, and the main character didn't seem to be. Fern Michael's Captive Passions, I didn't even feel guilty about--it got the boot right away, and I'm still appalled that I read as much as I did.

I find this a hard question--especially since I almost gave up on A.S. Byatt's Possession--then, after 200 pages, I was hooked!

If I have a problem with the first 50 pages of a book I jump ahead to the last two chapters .If they don't help , donate the book to aq used book store.

I recently gave up on a science fiction fantasy novel with about 100 characters all much the same. After 200 pages, I realized I didn't know what was happening and didn't care. Daniel Pennac in BETTER THAN LIFE, a book about books and reading, included The Reader's Bill of Rights, which includes the right to not finish among its ten reader's rights.

I follow the Nancy Pearl method. I give every book at least 50 pages, but if it's not grabbing me, if it seems like a chore, or if it's actually annoying me, I have no problem tossing it aside. There are so many books I want to read; why would I waste my time on one I wasn't enjoying? On to the next. I want to enjoy the books I read and look forward to getting back to them at the end of the workday. I never want reading to be a chore or a slog. Of course, when I was younger, I felt guilty if I didn't finish every book I started. Once I hit my 30s I got over that. So many books, so little time!

I usually give a book about 100 pages. If I find that it's just sluggishly moving forward, I might skim ahead to see if the going gets any better. Sometimes, it does. Authors are like racehorses; some are fast out of the gate, some are slower but then gain quickly in the stretch. I think it's common that some books do not find their rhythm until past page 50, so I try to keep moving forward. However, I have a stack of books that I didn't finish because they started well, but then about 50 pages from the end, I just stopped caring, the characters irked me, the author got sloppy, the plot fell apart or similar. Those are the horses who were in the lead until the final furlough, but then let the dark horse win.

Like someone else said, I can tell within the first several paragraphs whether I want to finish a book. Sometimes I give it a few more pages, but no more than 30. I am less inclined to put non-fiction "aside" than fiction, probably because I can read it piecemeal. I also buy more non-fiction. I have almost totally stopped reading memoirs as I think that most of them contain a lot of fabrication. I get a lot of my novels from the library...and it's a good thing, since I probably only finish 40% of them! With novels, there are some really annoying techniques that will turn me off almost immediately, including lots of flashbacks..... I prefer linear stories.

I had a boss once who informed me that if the murder wasn't on the first page, that was it for that mystery!

I remember reading Arudati Roy's novel, God of Small Things, and having a very difficult time. But I knew this was an important book and many of my friends had raved about it. Then, the last 15 pages grabbed me so hard that I was bawling by the end (in the good way that great books can do.) Since then, I rarely stop reading even when I'm having a hard time. Kim Guster Insight Press

i tend to put a book down after about 50 pages or so, however, i still remember years ago when i picked up "...and ladies of the club." i slogged thru the beginning and BOY was i GLAD i did!! that book stays with me to this day!

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