January 6 question – Being a writer, when you’re reading someone else’s work, what stops you from finishing a book/throws you out of the story/frustrates you the most about other people’s books?
The awesome co-hosts for the January 6 posting of the IWSG are Ronel Janse van Vuuren , J Lenni Dorner, Gwen Gardner Sandra Cox, and Louise – Fundy Blue!
Once upon a time, I prided myself in finishing every book I ever started. That included classics that everyone ‘had’ to read, but I thought were poor writing. Or stories we were assigned in class that didn’t make the grade in my point of view. I can’t tell you when it happened, but at some time I reached a point where I decided to put my limited time for reading to only books I want to read, not ones I struggle to finish.
There’s no longer any guilt in closing a book full of grammatical errors and bad writing. Plot holes, especially, drive me up a wall. The main character had brown hair in one chapter and is blonde in another? She better be wearing a wig. The sheriff of a large county is making traffic stops? Not likely. That sort of bad writing makes me cringe.I can forgive one misplaced their instead of they’re. But if an author gets them consistently wrong? That’s a book-closer. If the characters are flat and never make mistakes? Sorry, that doesn’t work for me. I’m not perfect, but I’m always trying to make my writing better.
Here’s the truth. I want to like the books. All the books. I really do. But I no longer have the desire to waste my time on bad books. So, I have given myself permission to close a book. I won’t give a bad review. I just won’t leave any review at all.
How about you? Tell me about it in the comments. Don’t forget to check out other authors in this hop by clicking the links below.
Until next time, please stay safe.
Your approach sounds identical to mine. There are so many good books on my TBR pile–well, I assume they’re good based on reviews & blurb–that I won’t waste time reading one that’s poorly written by my lights. There is an exception, though. If an author in my genre is very successful, I’ll sometimes read to the end just to see what she’s doing that readers enjoy. Happy 2021! Here’s to better times.
I am currently stuck half the way through a Jack Reacher book. I just can’t get into it. But it sits in my TBR stack, making me feel guilty about not finishing it.
The only book I didn’t finish in school (excluding grad school) was A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain. Blegh.
I believe I enjoyed that one. But I can’t be sure because that was YEARS ago!
I don’t finish a lot of books. If I’m not hooked by the first chapter, then I put it down. I read for pleasure and if I’m not engrossed…But like you, I want to like the book. There’s nothing better than a good book!
Happy New Year!
I don’t either! All it took was for me to slog through Dan Brown’s The Terror ten years ago and eight hundred pages later I made the decision never to do that again.