If you are reading a #book and find it really heavy going do you just give up and change #book or do you continue until the end? #books #bookstodon @bookstodon
@agasramirez I do not give up however that might be to my detriment.
@bibliolater @bookstodon
For me, it depends how long. For example, I read Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delaney and found it very dense and hard to follow. But I kept going and ended up really enjoying it a lot.
On the other hand, I started with the Hobbit, then I got half way through The Two Towers and couldn't keep going. I put it down and couldn't pick it back up again. It wasn't a difficult read, but it was a lot to read.
@bibliolater
That's a good point. I'm not going to start a full, rich, thought-provoking journey of a read if all I want is a simple fun romp through space.
@bibliolater @bookstodon It happens very rarely that I give up reading a book. If I am struggling with a novel, I just set myself goals of reading a certain amount of pages/chapters per day.
@literaryatlas I try and do that as well but invariably fail as there are too many distractions in life.
@bibliolater @bookstodon
I'll admit I'm not always following my own advice, but if you're reading for pleasure... Then you should not waste time with books that just feel heavy and not worth your time.
@bibliolater
Just finished the "Cyclops" chapter of Ulysses. It is a ponderous read.
@bookstodon
@Enema_Cowboy i do want someone like Madeline Miller to give it the Circe treatment.
give it up -
there are so many #books to read
(and so little time)
@wigbert Sometimes I really do feel like that.
@bibliolater @bookstodon It depends on the book! For me, there are lots of factors that go into this decision. However, if I just plain don't care for/about the protagonist(s), I'll usually walk away.
@bibliolater @bookstodon I find I just stop reading for a while and don’t notice for a while. This happened to me recently with “A History of Seven Killings”. Nothing wrong with the book, I just noticed once day I had stopped. Picked something else up when I realised and I hope that clears the block. Not sure I’ll be going back just yet. I need to keep the reading moving and will read something else.
@bibliolater @bookstodon i have a "50 pages rule" – if i don't find the book interesting, engaging or enjoyable during the first 50 pages, i usually drop it without second thought :) there are millions of books and only one me, why should i waste my time on something i don't like? #books #bookstodon
@tishkova I've reached page 940 and still struggling. I suppose I passed the 50 page mark a while back. The only silver lining in the cloud at this point is that there is just another 400 pages to go.
@bibliolater ouch! are you reading an encyclopaedia? 😁
at 940/1340 i'd continue just to toot later "i'm done with this blue whale of a book!", driven mostly by pure stubbornness
@tishkova I am not reading an encyclopaedia, but it sure does not feel far from a very repetitive, boring and long lexicon.
I don't want to name the book as the author has obviously spent a great deal of time and effort to produce it. Does he really need some person on the internet rubbishing his hard work?
@bibliolater negative review is not necessarily rubbishing, i find it totally fair to write honestly about things you didn't like. when i moved to mastodon and subscribed to the hashtags about books, i was a bit surprised to see only positive reviews, like there are only recommendations and not reviews.
@bibliolater i recall posting smth about In Cold Blood by Capote being a bit boring and not exactly true crime, while i was still at ~25% of the audiobook, and people started explaining it to me as if i'm not allowed to not liking a book 😬
it turned out to be okay, and it's a classic and bla bla and i don't regret reading it, but i still didn't like it so much, i've read better books 🤷♀️
@tishkova I see no problem in giving heartfelt constructive criticism if one is writing a review; however, trolling with the aim of causing offence is another matter.
@bibliolater @bookstodon Love this question and the replies. I guess one blessing of a long life is that we can return to a book much, much later—like decades later. I recently finished War and Peace, but as an audio book (55 hours). It defeated me when I was younger. I am glad I came back to it.
@coastalhistory @bookstodon I would like to congratulate you for having the patient to concentrate for fifty hours.
I have also used #audiobooks in the past. The problem I find with them and this very well may be particular to me, is that I cannot retain the information as easily as I can with #reading physical #books.
@bibliolater @bookstodon Even with the audio book version of War and Peace, I varied in my interest level and motivation to continue. It took about a year. I did have a hard copy on hand, and a few times I looked up an interesting passage in it so I could go over the wording again. It’s true that it’s a different experience than reading from a page.
@bibliolater @bookstodon I I shift books for a bit until I'm in the mood for the heavier book. I always try a couple of times before giving up!