| Author | Comment | ||
|---|---|---|---|
Lyrap |
What Does One Do When the Book Doesn't Live Up to Expectations |
Lead | |
|
Reading this book that I grabbed off the shelf called "Vamped." It's about the world after everyone's been turned into vampires (of the neo
type, no super powers or anything of the sort) and, lo and behold, it's pretty much exactly the same as it is now. Big business, monopolies, office jobs,
etc. Sound interesting? Not very much so. I'll probably finish it before I get back to see advice, but I'm wondering for future reference whether
everyone else can simply let a book go if it's not good enough, if you all can just sit through it and fill your mind with garbage.
|
|||
saundrakane |
|||
|
I used to have a philosophy about finishing every book I start. But life is too short and there are so many books out there that I would love..that unless I am
sick and can't get to the library or bookstore..I usually just put it down
|
|||
sublimosa |
|||
|
I suffer from the same affliction!
I am getting better, though. I stopped reading three books in the past couple months. (They were soooo bad.) On a side note, tell me about these neo vampires. Can they be killed? Do they drink blood? No super human strength? (Trying to think of typical vampire attributes.) So, if all of the vampire qualities are gone, what significance does being a vampire have? |
|||
AirPrang |
|||
|
I used to finish each book too, giving the author a chance and very, very rarely discovering it to be almost worthwhile. But, with the growing realisation that
there's little time to read all the good stuff already out there and coming in the future, I'm better now at putting things aside. I will confess to a
compromise though: I do flick through to the final pages to make sure I'm not missing out on anything. Mind you, if the book's that bad I won't
care enough to even do that.
It's still hard, and I'm light years away from what some mates of mine can do: if the book doesn't grip them within the first 20 odd pages, and they don't have to read it all for work / study, then they put it down. |
|||
Ian Rudd |
|||
|
I stop reading. Life is too short.
For example a couple of years back I picked up a book by an author in the horror genre who was supposed to be very funny. I read the first few pages and then sold it on Ebay. The humour was very obvious and I wasn't impressed with the quality of the writing. The author was tyring hard to be funny like a stand up comic who was not succeeding. Another example "Labyrinth" by Kate Mosse. On the first page the main character is excavating with a a trowel. She cuts her elbow and we are told "Then a drop of blood splashes onto her bare leg, exploding like a firework in the sky on Guy Fawkes night." I sold it on Ebay and got quite a good price for it.
"Poetry is thoughts that breathe, and words that burn." -- Thomas Gray |
|||
Violanthe |
|||
|
This is why I live by the library. If I don't like a book, it simply gets returned unfinished
|
|||
Lyrap |
|||
|
Yes, I've decided not to finish it. Not as bad as True Blood (probably the worst book that I've ever tried to read), but not worth it. Heh. Glad I can
feel comfortable with just letting it go. The vampires in this book have no super powers, no mental telepathy or super strength...nothing super great. The only
general vampire stereotypes that I've found are cold skin and the most basic diet of blood. Gotta love the vampires...
I've always wanted to read The Labyrinth...it rather upsets me that it's no good. I'll probably try it anyway ^^ Maybe I'll find it at the library sale this weekend that my roomie and I are going to. I love how far 20 dollars will take me at library sales... |
|||
Ian Rudd |
|||
|
Don't let me put you off. One man's meat is another man's poison.
"Punish an audience -- they love it." -- Ian Hunter |
|||
Lyrap |
|||
|
Oh, don't worry about that
|
|||
katshakespeare |
|||
|
I was scared to open this, in case you meant my book *laughing*!
I put them down - I used to also think I had to finish every book - but there are just too many of them. I do, however, try to give them 100 pages if I can - because sometimes books do the slow burn thing (mine starts slow, some have said), and sometimes I have to get into the rhythm of the writer, etc...but, there are some instances where I don't make it to 100, and there are some where I get there and give up and then turn to the back to see how it ended *laugh*
Kat
Kat's website by Kickers! tender graces TG trailer "O, what men dare do! What men may do! What men daily do, not knowing what they do!" -Shakespeare |
|||
Yadi |
|||
|
I keep on reading often. And sometimes I just misjudged the book. Like with "Since I Was a Princess: The Fourteen-Year Fight to Find My Children" by
Jacqueline Pascarl. I kept on reading, but it made quite a impression... as one could have noticed....
|
|||
mauraid |
|||
|
If they annoy me enough, I throw them. lol
|
|||
saundrakane |
|||
well that is one solution
|
|||
Rockthief |
|||
|
there are 20,000 books in the library just half a block away. Yes, time is too short to read stuff I dislike or that insults me somehow.
|
|||
AirPrang |
|||
|
While I think some books I've read - or have tried to read - really do belong in the paper recycling bin, it's been great getting a few dollars back by
flogging them on eBay. Alas, for there is no good local library or I'd be like Flynn.
|
|||