Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Discussion: Finishing Books, and the Importance of First Pages

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The other day, fellow bloggers Jamie, Jess Lawlor, and I met up to hang out at a nearby Barnes & Noble. As we were browsing the shelves, we pointed out or mentioned books that I had to admit I couldn't finish. I say "I," because it turns out that Jamie and Jess are total book finishers: when they start a book, they have to finish it, even if the book turns out to be only so-so. Whereas I declared that I usually knew whether or not I want to finish a book by the end of its first chapter. I also do not have qualms about not finishing a book even if I am, say, three-fourths of the way through the book.

I can understand both reading habits. Reading a less-than-impressive book is a learning experience, too. If you're a writer, it helps you figure out what elements of a story work or don't work for you, in order to decide what you'll want to incorporate into your own writing. If you're not a writer, you can still figure out what things you like or dislike as a reader, which will help you in future reading selections as well as when you give book recommendations to a variety of readers.

Generally, I'll read the first chapter or two of a book to see if I'm interested in reading the rest of it. If I'm in a particularly unforgiving mood, or if I reach that oft-reached point of being overwhelmed by the sheer number of books I own that I have yet to read, I might read only the first page or two in order to sort the book into "keep" or "don't keep." I do this several times a year, and unfortunately, because I acquire soooo many books all the time, I also have to give many away, often without being able to read them first.

shopsavannahs.wordpress.com
There are problems with my method, I know, but let's be honest: as much as we'd like to say that writing is an art, the fact of the matter is that it is also a business. With the sheer volume of books out there that are available for us to read, one can't afford to have a crappy opening. Gone are the old days when writing was a specialized profession that only a small number of people would do. Today almost anyone can write a book. Seriously. Even if you suck at writing. Even if you don't realize that you suck at writing. You can still write a book that can be read by people.

I realized the other day that no matter how little we understand about ourselves or our identities--for instance, no matter how many journal entries I write about the fact that, at almost 22 years old, I still don't think I know enough about myself, how I work, what I want, how my experiences have shaped me, etc.--no matter how little we think we know about ourselves, we are still a solid entity to people who know us. Everybody has their individual quirks or philosophical outlooks or manners of speech that will make others say, "Yup, that's him/her. That's something he/she would say."

library.thinkquest.org
Applying this concept to reading, we avid readers have a fairly strong grasp of what we enjoy reading. We have a pretty solid conception of the field--if not specific knowledge on every single title out there, then at least an understanding of overarching trends and tropes. So, for me, the first page of a book already tells me so much about what I can expect from the rest of the book, and whether or not this book is for me. Writing style, characterization, and setting in particular are recognizable from the first page, and very rarely does the rest of the book deviate from that. Because as complex as a book can be, it is also one entity, and (generally) a randomly chosen one-page excerpt from any part of the book (yes, even the beginning) is a legitimate sample of what a reader might be able to expect from the rest of the book. (Or it should be. I see no reason why certain sections of a book should be allowed to be weaker than others.) And thus, I should be able to figure out whether or not a book is for me from its first pages.

So that's why I'm comfortable with not finishing a book. Along the way, I also ended up talking about why I think the first page of a book is so essential and representative. I'm curious now as to your policies when it comes to finishing a book. Do you make it a point to finish every book you start? At which point will you stop reading a book? And how important are a book's first couple of pages to you? A ready, set, aaand...answer!

34 comments:

  1. I used to be a serious book finisher, though there were many books I put down after the first chapter. Now I am serious about my 50 page rule. If it isn't doing it for me by then, 99% of the time, it's not going to do it for me later either. Why torture myself when there are plenty of other books out there I am dying to read?

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  2. I try to finish what I start. But if I keep putting it off, eventually I give up -- I may never say I gave up, I could always come back to it of course -- but essentially it's dead in the water.

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  4. great post, steph! i used to finish every book with the thought that as a writer i needed to know what worked, what didn't...but i don't think i have the time now to expend that much time & energy on something that doesn't do me much good.

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  5. I'm definitely a chronic book finisher. I don't like to count things out! I'm totally regretting it on Ulysses, but I wouldn't have finished Of Mice and Men (which I love) otherwise because I found the first chapter to be super boring.

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  6. I definitely used to be a finisher, but I think over the years I have gotten a better sense of what I like. As you said, I can usually tell within the first couple chapters if the style and voice are going to keep me engaged. If not, I move on to one of the other bajillion books in my TBR pile. There are rare exceptions when I feel like I've really committed to somebody and I need to finish, but for the most part I'm not going to spend the little time I have on a book I don't enjoy.

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  7. My free time is too limited to spend reading a book that fails to capture my interest. Like Lenore, I have a 50 page rule. That being said, I won't review a book I don't finish. I may mark as failed-to-finish on GoodReads, but that's as far as I'll go. I don't think it's fair of me to review a 250-plus page book that I didn't read past page 50.

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  8. Linds makes a good point. I won't review unfinished books either. I am sometimes curious about why somebody didn't finish a book, and I've considered posting explanations. I have seen some other bloggers doing this lately, too, with brief comments on their DNF books. However, I think that is very different from reviewing them.

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  9. Last year was very stressful for me and reading would have been great to relax but I ended up starting lots of books and not finish them. I tend to notice early on if I am rereading the same paragraph over and over that it's not doing anything for me. I don't like to torture myself with a book I'm not liking so I just stop. I remember a book by Stephen King Gerald's Game it started with a woman tied up to a bed her and her husband were having some fun well one dies and this was the beginning of the book I only remember being bored out of my mind and angry that a start like that where you should be interested just bored me to tears. I still haven't read it or even tried to since. That one stands out most in my mind.

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  10. I finish books, no matter how much I may dislike a book. Once I've started a book, I need to know how it ends so I end up reading all of it. However (and this is something I need to improve on) I may not read it carefully, I'll read it quickly and then move on to another book. I'm not a good enough reader or writer yet to be able to decide whether I like a book from the first chapter yet.

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  11. I give up books the moment they lose my interest. Life is just too short - and my reading time and energy are both too limited - to waste on books that I don't like, when there are so many wonderful books out there waiting to be read instead.

    That being said, I don't have to love every second of a book - some of my very favorite books have had slow beginnings that didn't really grab me, but all of them had something, at least, that gave me the patience to hang on a little longer and hope they would improve.

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  12. Great post! Because I'm in a writing program and have to read so many books per month, I don't always completely finish the books that lose my interest. Instead, for some I might skim to the end to see if I can get a general idea of where the story was going.

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  13. I'm a chronic book NON-finisher (on a generous estimate, I finish maybe 1/5th of all books I begin), so it's brilliant to read this post, because you've hit on exactly why I don't -- or do -- finish a book.

    I am not nearly as self-aware about my reading preferences, but it's true that I know when I'm bored with a book and have no hope that it'll get better.There are too many books out there for me to finish a book I can't get into, even in the name of learning what NOT to do.

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  14. Oh Steph. What a lovely post. I love being inside your head.

    I guess I don't have to state my opinion..well because I already told you :P

    I think this year I'm going to try work on not having to finish EVERY book that comes my way. With all the books that remain on my shelf..I really should be more selective. It's hard for me though. I don't know WHY I can't. Maybe I don't really know what I like yet as I am still exploring new genres that I never read before? Maybe I am always hoping to be surprised about a book? I don't know...you pose some good questions and some thoughts for me to mull over.

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  15. I am a book finisher too. I don't know why, but I feel guilty if I don't. Like I didn't give it the proper chance or something. I might get bored and set it down for a while, but then I will always go back to it eventually to finish it off. I always tell myself that if I read a few more pages something good might happen and I'll miss it! Sometimes I wish I wasn't quite so obsessive about it and would just move on!

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  16. I am a book finisher, I think just because I'm anal. However, if I really, really am not feeling it by a certain point, I will put it down.

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  17. Great post! I wish I could be a book finisher. I really, really do. But once my brain realizes that it is bored, it shuts down. If I'm not interested in a book, ten pages can go by, and I have no clue what I just read.

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  18. I have given up on the method of finishing every book that I pick up. And I don't feel bad about it either. There are just too many others out there that I'd rather be reading & I don't have the time to read everything, whether I like it or not.

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  19. I'm an unfinisher - if I get bored or am just not excited about reading it anymore, I have no qualms putting it down. Unfortunately this leads to a ton of half-finished books lying around, which is really annoying.

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  20. Maybe part of it may have to do with your personality. Personally, once I start something I have to see it through to completion. So, as you probably could've guessed I always finish every book I start. I feel committed to each and every one, no matter how bad/good they happen to be.

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  21. Interesting post.

    Usually, if I start a book, I HAVE to finish it, because otherwise I feel like I've wasted my reading the beginning (even if it isn't all that interesting). But just this week I gave up on the Iron Queen, which is doubly unlike me, because I'm the same way (if not more) with series. I just couldn't get into it at ALL, and stopped before page fifty.

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  22. I'd say that I used to finish all the books I bought... but then I started buying way too many for me to have the time. When I start a book, and I'm not as interested as I hoped, I sometimes skip ahead to see if there are some cool plot twists or if I predicted what's going to happen. If I can't predict the ending correctly, I decide to give the book a second chance and usually make sure to finish it even if my first impression hadn't been all that great.

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  23. Girrrrl. I'm so not a finisher. And this isn't just for books. I do the same for movies. I'm so fickle, really. Let's not even get started on videos that are on YouTube that are ~4 minutes long. If Hubs has a video to show me something that's ~4 minutes, he knows I'm going to like it, or he's gonna get griped at.

    While I don't have a first chapter or 50-page or 100-page rule, I agree with some of the other commenters, it depends on how engaged I am with the story. But there are some novels where I was told that I'd have to get past "so and so page" (HELLO JELLICOE ROAD) in order to truly be immersed. It's nice to have those kinds of heads-up, you know?

    There are also moments in a book where I react so violently against a character's motives that I have to stop and seriously reconsider whether I want to continue. Perhaps the MC has completely did a 180 for some ridiculous reason that I don't understand -- and I might be hard-pressed to continue reading.

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  24. I'm with the HAVE TO finishers. Once I start, I feel invested and I want to know how it ends. Although, I will admit there are a few classics I haven't finished, most recently War and Peace, although I'm determined that I will one day finish it. Maybe it's stubbornness that keeps me reading?? Like, "I will do this, damnit!"

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  25. I TRY to finish all of the books that I read because most of the time, I buy those books with my own money. I feel bad if I don't get a finish a book because it sort of feels like I wasted my money? Although I don't mind giving away the books that I've already read if I have no plans of rereading them in the future. There are times though when I pause while reading to think to myself, "I am not enjoying this, grrr. I hope it gets better." Also, my reading choices depend on my moods so if I feel like I'm not in the mood for something, I'm okay with putting a book on hold even if I've started reading it already.

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  26. I usually finish a book if I'm at least halfway involved. Last month(?), there was a book that I almost didn't finish because the storyline became something unexpected several chapters in, but I liked the author's style, so I continued. I felt betrayed, though. Within the last year or so, I picked up an award-winning, beloved novel and couldn't get through it. I read the beginning, flipped to the end (which I never do), and since we were still in the same place, I decided not to finish.

    That was the first time I did that. Just this past week, I did it again. This time, I was 300 pages into the book. I've never put something down that far into it. The new character relationship really repelled me, though, and I didn't think I could stomach another 300 pages. Plus, this was the first in a series and I didn't know enough after 300 pages of where we were headed, so I decided not to invest the time.

    Normally, however, I DO try to finish what I start!

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  27. I don't go by reading the first chapter. I did that with a book; I loved the first chapter. I ordered it, and then...boom. Hated it. I was forcing myself to read. Maybe it was the author, maybe it was me. But all I know, when I see that book, I shudder. I didn't get to the 100 pages.

    I just go with it now. If I see good reviews on it. I take the chance. But I do my "research".
    I don't read the first chapter.
    Summaries, reviews and popularity.
    But that's another thing...

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  28. I'm a book finisher, but I'm not afraid to put a book down if I'm just not feeling it. If I stop reading, I'll usually do so in the first 50-or-so pages. I have pretty good luck (skill?) with picking books that I'll enjoy though.

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  29. I usually finish books, but I'm not afraid to put them down. Sometimes I put them down only to pick them up later. I did that with Jellicoe Road and Nightshade and I'm very happy I did. The books were slow going, but I'd heard so many good things that I was willing to give them a chance. What other people think of the book can influence whether I finish it or not.

    Sometimes I don't finish a book because it's boring. Other times a character annoys me so much that I put it aside. Recently, I started reading a well-written, interesting ARC, but I was so furious that the protag thoughtlessly dropped a really sweet guy that it soured my entire view of the book. I just couldn't read any more.

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  30. I just started reading this book and I made it half way through, but I don't think I can finish it. There isn't enough urgency in the writing that makes me want to finish it. I rarely give up in the middle of a book, unless I have to read it for school. But this book is just so boring, even though it's well-written, but it's failing to hold my interest. I might just have to read the summary online somewhere.

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  31. I am a book finisher. I have to know how it ends, even if it is boring me to death. Plus, as a writer, I like to see what works and what doesn't.

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  32. I've developed a bad habit - when I'm pretty certain I want to stop reading a book before the end, I skip to the end to find out what happens. If I'm still interesting, I'll keep reading. Otherwise, I'll stop but at least now I know how it ends. (I told you it was a bad habit!)

    Nancy Pearl (the librarian who was the model for the librarian action figure) has what she calls the "rule of 50" - give a book at least 50 pages. If you still don't like it after that, you can stop.

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/nancy-pearls-rule-of-50-for-dropping-a-bad-book/article1894727/

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  33. Ahhh! *love* this post.

    I used to trawl my library and come home with armloads of random books and sift through them to see if they were as promising/awesome as the blurbs. Usually I'd have a 50% success rate ~ and easily ditch the half that didn;t end up being my thing.

    NOW i am a much more informed book selector ~ haha ~ since goodreads and the bloggy world.

    BUT b/c of my history of being able to dump books easily, I'm still able to not finish books. Thank GOD as I really want to read for intrinsic enjoyment and not b/c of some weird sense of obligation to finish a book for whatever reason.

    I don't have a rule. Sometimes I'll make it half way in and just lose interest.

    Occasionally I'm not in the right mood for a particular book and I may come back to it.

    I also can ditch a book 2/3's of the way in :D

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  34. Have just linked this post to my own at What to read next

    I totally agree with you. As a reader, I too know what I like and I no longer spend time trying to plough through something that I am just not enjoying.Life is too short.

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