My New Reading Rules

Sadly, I didn’t do as much reading as I thought I would do on my trips to Scotland and France. I spent most of my plane ride either sleeping or greedily watching movies of my own choosing. However, I did do a lot of reading — just not a lot of finishing. Unbeknownst to me, I had finally drawn a long overdue line in the sand. If a book doesn’t capture me within the first 100 pages, or by Location 500 on my Kindle, then I have to put it down.

It’s funny, because I tend to be afraid that I’m going to miss out on something great if I don’t keep reading, and in a few cases that has been true. I loved Orson Scott Card’s Pastwatch (this was before I found out he was a raging homophobe), adored Eugenie’s Middlesex, and thoroughly enjoyed King’s and Straub’s, Talisman, even though all of these stories took a while to really get pumping. I actually put King’s Bag of Bones (yes, he definitely has a problem with long, labored beginnings) and Gaiman’s American Gods down only to pick them up again due to the raves of multiple friends.

However, for every bad start book that’s worked out, there’s at least two or three that haven’t. I won’t go into the list, but yes, King is on this one, too. So what changed over the course of my multiple plane rides? Well, I guess I realized that my physical reading time is very limited. It’s fine if audiobooks disappoint me, because I would have been taking my daily walk or driving to wherever I’m driving anyway. But I rarely have a chance to just sit down with a book, so when I do, whatever I’m reading needs to come correct and be worth my precious physical-reading time. So on my flight back to America, I switched out of my hard going novel, and switched over to another one that wasn’t popping, so then I switch to another one. This one I liked and I should be finished with it in time for next week’s book review.

But this all got me to wondering, what are your rules for reading? Do you attempt to power through any book that has been labeled “good” like I used to, or do you also have a rule about putting books down if you’re not enjoying them by a certain page? Let me know in the comments!

Share and Enjoy:

jillM

Do you read the last page if you give up? I rarely give up. If I can slog through Foucault’s Pendulum, I can get through anything. But, I recently abandoned a book and I didn’t think to read the last pages. Someone suggested that after I had already returned it to the library.
jillM

Do you read the last page if you give up? I rarely give up. If I can slog through Foucault’s Pendulum, I can get through anything. But, I recently abandoned a book and I didn’t think to read the last pages. Someone suggested that after I had already returned it to the library.
http://fierceandnerdy.com Ernessa

@jillM, no I don’t, b/c I’m always afraid that I’m going to want to come back to the novel I’m putting down. It’s like those guys that dump a girl, but keep her number in their phones…
http://fierceandnerdy.com Ernessa

@jillM, no I don’t, b/c I’m always afraid that I’m going to want to come back to the novel I’m putting down. It’s like those guys that dump a girl, but keep her number in their phones…
http://fierceandnerdy.com Ernessa

@jillM, no I don’t, b/c I’m always afraid that I’m going to want to come back to the novel I’m putting down. It’s like those guys that dump a girl, but keep her number in their phones…
Kim

I used to feel like even if a book was a total piece of crap I needed to challenge myself and finish it (it took me five years to finish 100 Years of Solitude). Of course this rule has resulted in a lot of frustration and damaged books from me throwing them down. After I read the first 10 pages of “The Shack” I said to hell with the rule.
Kim

I used to feel like even if a book was a total piece of crap I needed to challenge myself and finish it (it took me five years to finish 100 Years of Solitude). Of course this rule has resulted in a lot of frustration and damaged books from me throwing them down. After I read the first 10 pages of “The Shack” I said to hell with the rule.
Kim

I used to feel like even if a book was a total piece of crap I needed to challenge myself and finish it (it took me five years to finish 100 Years of Solitude). Of course this rule has resulted in a lot of frustration and damaged books from me throwing them down. After I read the first 10 pages of “The Shack” I said to hell with the rule.
http://fierceandnerdy.com Ernessa

Kim, yeah, I have 10-pagers that I just threw across the room. I actually appreciate those. It’s the “maybe this is going to get better” books that really frustrate me.
http://fierceandnerdy.com Ernessa

Kim, yeah, I have 10-pagers that I just threw across the room. I actually appreciate those. It’s the “maybe this is going to get better” books that really frustrate me.
Kim

especially when you get to the end and realize it never did get better and you totally wasted your time.
Kim

especially when you get to the end and realize it never did get better and you totally wasted your time.
Kim

especially when you get to the end and realize it never did get better and you totally wasted your time.
http://fierceandnerdy.com Ernessa

Wait, are we talking about books or men? B/c seriously if we replaced the word “books” with “men” and the word “pages” with “days”…
http://fierceandnerdy.com Ernessa

Wait, are we talking about books or men? B/c seriously if we replaced the word “books” with “men” and the word “pages” with “days”…
http://fierceandnerdy.com Ernessa

Wait, are we talking about books or men? B/c seriously if we replaced the word “books” with “men” and the word “pages” with “days”…
Beverly

I do stopping reading a book, if I am not enjoying the story. I do not have an exact page where I stop but it is somewhere between p. 50 – 100 – usually somewhere between Chapters 2 – 3.
Yesm there have been times I have gone back and read the book and loved it. I guess was not in the mood for the book the first time I picked it up.
I do not think that I have finally given up on a book that I was reading on my Kindle – but I am sure there will come a time.
Beverly

I do stopping reading a book, if I am not enjoying the story. I do not have an exact page where I stop but it is somewhere between p. 50 – 100 – usually somewhere between Chapters 2 – 3.
Yesm there have been times I have gone back and read the book and loved it. I guess was not in the mood for the book the first time I picked it up.
I do not think that I have finally given up on a book that I was reading on my Kindle – but I am sure there will come a time.
Beverly

I do stopping reading a book, if I am not enjoying the story. I do not have an exact page where I stop but it is somewhere between p. 50 – 100 – usually somewhere between Chapters 2 – 3.
Yesm there have been times I have gone back and read the book and loved it. I guess was not in the mood for the book the first time I picked it up.
I do not think that I have finally given up on a book that I was reading on my Kindle – but I am sure there will come a time.
http://fierceandnerdy.com Ernessa

@Beverly, I think that’s the problem w/ Kindle. The books are always there, so unlike a book you have to return to the library, there’s always a chance you’ll be returning to your downloaded novel.
http://fierceandnerdy.com Ernessa

@Beverly, I think that’s the problem w/ Kindle. The books are always there, so unlike a book you have to return to the library, there’s always a chance you’ll be returning to your downloaded novel.