"Why do you force yourself to finish garbage books?" Topic

I don't anymore. Read a couple before I realized they weren't history, but historical fiction. Accidently purchased another of the idiots books, but I will not read it. (Not a big loss as I pretty much only buy used books anymore so all I lost was $1 USD or 2.)

The library is my friend.If it stinks,the book drop makes it somebody else's problem. Now with the Kindle, a simple delete will do the trick,and not a tree harmed.Better yet,borrow the ebook from the library.

I get a fair number of review books, which I finish more out of a sense of duty than anything else. For example, I know before I open it that anything coming from Pelican Press is going to suck but I'll usually plow through.

Having learned that recommendations from others tend not to work (anything by Turtledove, the original edition of The Incredible War of 1812, and Ghost Army of World War II being prime examples), when buying books in person I do the crack-open-at-random test, where I choose a book that looks interesting, open it somewhere in the middle, start reading, and buy it if I'm not moved to put it back on the shelf after a couple of sentences. It's not infallible, although it certainly saved me from investing any money in the adventures of Honor Harrington. If the test fails and I'm stuck with a real groaner, I have no qualms about tossing it in the "To Be Donated" bin unfinished.

LT

I used to but don't anymore.

Shannara…read it through. Did not like it.

When I used to read TSR (WOTR) ADnD books I picked some novels I hated but had to finish.

Nowdays I lament not using that time to read some more classical literature.

I don't

I did, however, read a fair deal of this thread… :)

If I've spent a lot of cash on a book I might force myself to read it if I hate it, otherwise its in the charity shop bag.

I'm like that with Clancy. I find it a chore to read his work, but everytime i'm at the store and I see a new book he's written I pick it up…

I don't. It's the writer's job to entertain me.

I did give Anne Rice's "Interview with a Vampire" 62 pages last month, but that was because it was for my SF/Fantasy/Horror book club, and I felt I had made a commitment. But the book was too dreadful and I tossed it aside.

Most of the other members had, as well.

If I flipped to a page describing a female anti aircraft gun crew on the east bank of the Volga stripped to the waist in a sweaty hot day in September working the gun hard, while troops crossed under fire, I'm buying the book. Commissars leave them alone because this particular 37mm gun crew has knocked down six Ju87 Stuka's in two days. Only the goggle-eyed ammo truck drivers offloading boxes of 37mm shells witness this struggling for reasons to hang around. Have not found this book yet, because I have not written it yet.

books like that end used to end up unfinished and tossed in our bodega. eventually, they get sold or thrown out with the trash. more recently, i've started selling them on local sites like sulit.com. one set that i havent been able to sell off was the 3 book hardcover set of Eragon. seems like nobody wants to buy them…

The ONLY book I stopped reading because it was terrible was ACW General and US President J. Garfield's Wild Life of the Army. At first I thought this might be good, I mean… he was a big time General and President. The title I think suckered me in. "Wild Life…" how bad can it be?! I was half expecting juicy stories of Rosecrans, battles, Army HQ and who knows what-not. "Wild Life"…. sounds like it might be wild or at least partly wild. The book is nothing but letters from Garfield to his wife and I'm thinkin' they could contain gossip and stuff he might not say in public, right? Well… nope. It was so boring I wanted to pluck my eyes out after 25 pages or so. I would have preferred to clean out the garage 50 times in a year and clean up my dog's poop in the backyard (which I do anyway but hate it) than finish that book.

Don

actionfront.blogspot.com

"Who ever saw a dead cavalryman?"

I trade them to the used book shop.

I don't. I started reading "A Game of Thrones" at the recommendation of one friend and "Consider Phlebus" (by Ian Banks) at the recommendation of another. Got halfway through each when I realized I hated them. Tossed them into a corner where they sit moldering to this day. No time to waste on crap anymore.

I review Civil War books for Civil War News. While there are some very good books out there, I have read a few which are very poorly researched and filled with errors. I give those away or chuck them. Most of the Civil War novels I have read are very bad – contrived and ridiculous. I try to avoid reviewing them.

If I don't like a book I stop reading it and either throw it away or sell it… there are too many books for me to read to waste my time on a book I don't like.

Me too,
My time is valuable to read a crap book.

Why would I force myself to finish something I do not enjoy and that I am not otherwise being coerced to read?

The Dune prequels. I read one, then stopped halfway through the second. It was like a car-crash – where you hoped it would get better – but never did. So I decided to spare my brain cells and quit whilst I was behind.

I flick through books before I read them now – and best of all, a mate gets to review new fantasy and SF releases (and a lot of Military non-fiction, too) so I get his ideas on stuff that I might like as well.

I'm reading a stinker right now – "The Myth of the Napoleonic Wars", about how Napoleon was a nice guy who was picked on the evil European monarchies. The translation from the original French is spotty, they make major assertions without any evidence to back them up, assume the reader knows lots of details of French society, etc.

Unfortunately, it has me in one of those "can't stop watching the train wreck" positions. I have no hope of the book getting better, or even more unintentionally humorous, but I just can't put it down. I'm fascinated by how bad it is, compared to other history books I've read recently.

Or maybe I'm just trying to justify the purchase price of $30. USD

I guess nobody ever does that, actually -unless writing a review. You carry on reading for a good reason: because you enjoyed the first pages and were hoping it will turn out better at the end, because you took it as a personal challenge to find any fault, because it's so bad it's good (though it's more common with B – Z movies than with printed material), or because you are cornered in a train or plane and have nothing better to do.
Very few, if any, of us are masochistic enough to carry on reading without a motivation.