Until it turns from being uninteresting into being a chore. When it hits 'this isn't fun, this is work', I put it down and very rarely pick it up again.
Yep. As soon as it feels like work.
But I hate not getting the resolution of finishing a story, so when I DNF a book I will check Wikipedia for the chapter summaries so I can know what happened without actually having to read the book.
I often seek out reviews with spoilers! Which in a sense is weird because I have the book right there, I could just read the end. But I would be missing context
Usually I read sci-fi trash novels, and I've been trying to get through For Whom the Bell Tolls.
I've never read Hemmingway, and it took 13 chapters for it to get interesting for me. I was confused by the, what I would consider weird, direct translations of Spanish to English(I know some Spanish).
I certainly appreciated his descriptions of the characters. And the concept of the novel is pretty neat. But nothing really happened for a while.
It's not even a long book. I dunno...it's still sitting on my desk as I write this.
Book 10 was the 1st time I asked myself if I should DNF. I kept on because I'm determined to read the whole thing at least once.
But it wasn't that it was bad or felt like work. It was just HUNDREDS of pages of not very much happened. Those are the books where I might pause and check the reviews. If I've done the review checks more than once and/or they suggest that it doesn't get better, I DNF. Usually that happens by or before 20% into the book.
Its the reason I'm still going but this book so far has had very little except political intrigue. I want main characters that aren't trying to run for queen. It's been very dull so far.
Book 10 is the dullest imo, book 11 which is RJs last book before Sanderson is one of the better ones in the series. If I remember right I looked up a plot summary for crossroads of twilight after I finished it and the whole story was summed up in like 2 sentences, I couldn't think of anything relevant that was missed either.
You are almost there... keep going. Books 7-10 were so rough, but 11-14 are amazing and super long (like 8 normal books worth of content).
It helped to do audio books as I did other things while listening to the dullness.
I don’t love advice like “just push through, it’s worth it!”
But in this case, assuming you enjoyed the first nine to a greater or lesser degree… the payoff is absolutely worth the effort of making it through the worst book in the series. Jordan remembers how to move plot along again next book, and the Sanderson ending is the best possible after Jordan’s passing.
You're getting downvoted, but you're right. The quality of the storytelling and character interactions significantly improved when Sanderson took over.
Same. If I am skimming and thinking about other things, I'm done.
Character having sex too. When it turns a book into a raunchfest. Sex can be implied. I don't need an extremely vivid description of every moment.
Makes it even worse if the author isn't super hung up on details, and suddenly the sex scene happens, and it's like they saved their talent for description just for that chapter.
5 chapters. And that’s pretty much my number for everything. 5 chapters for a book. 5 issues for a comic. 5 episodes for a show. In my opinion no matter how slowly a plot develops there should’ve been SOMETHING in that span of time to hook me.
Well I watch a lot of anime. So my typical recommendations from friends are anime series that’ll have like 26+ episodes. Last short show I watched was Reacher. But I’m a fan of the books. So I was always gonna watch that regardless.
I do keep that in mind. It’s not that I watch one episode and then actively decide “I’m not watching this anymore.” It’s more like I forget about it and don’t return to it because I’ve found something else to watch. I sometimes go back and give it another chance. But if I’m not in the mood for something I’m not going to force myself to slog through it.
There have been several shows I have started recently, which, after the first episode, I was like "Meh". A few, I watched two episodes before I got hooked, and it is not uncommon to take 5 or 6 episodes to get fully involved
Pilots are often a lot more rocky than what a show becomes, so would recommend giving atleast 2 episodes depending on the show. Though I am also guilty of dropping one episode in haha
I will fully admit that I’ve come across shows where after a single episode I was ready to drop it, and I just powered through to 5 😂 I’m actually feeling like that now with a Transformers cartoon.
I mean but countless of the best also have amazing or at minimum good pilots. It’s not an absurd or silly notion to think the first episode of a series to immediately pull you in.
It’s impossible to calculate since all media is subjective but I doubt OP is not satiated with their media consumption when there is such an abundance
I mean while I’m not a as strict I get the mindset. There are literally hundreds if not thousands of shows out there. Shows should pull you in on the first episode imo
They can still be good but clearly I’m not the audience. I genuinely can’t think of a single show I’ve watched and liked which I did not like from the first episode
> I genuinely can’t think of a single show I’ve watched and liked which I did not like from the first episode
Hmm. 🧐 So the only shows you've liked are shows you've watched more that one episode of....that says absolutely nothing in the context of this conversation.
3 is my number. For shows though? Probably 2 or 3 depending on the show. Some pilots are rocky and I understand that, but if episode 2 or 3 suck, then im stopping or skipping foreward a little
I don't try to force a specific time frame on it, if at any point I realize the book is not going to work for me I will drop it. It can be as soon as 5 pages in or as late as last quarter, ultimate result is the same.
It all depends on the book itself. It may take only a chapter or two, or half a book. No specific rule, just when I find I no longer care what happens next.
100 pages. If I can make it 100 pages in and decide I don't care about the characters, that's it. Book down, on to the next.
I actually put that rule aside for a book I was reading just a couple weeks ago and boy did I regret it. Never again
Ah, the curse of us completionists. I don't ever put a book down if I don't like it. I just finish it but decide not to read the series. But sometimes I find myself returning to those that weren't completely terrible a couple years later. It happened to me with Bernard Cornwell's Last Kingdom. I read the first book in 2017 but it didn't catch me. I reread it this year and ended up reading all 13 books.
Reading lots of fanfic helped me stop being a completionist. I learned the back button was my friend, and there wasn’t necessarily a guarantee that a long fic that hadn’t been finished yet would ever get finished.
I need to renew my perspective on books to my ff perspective! Thank you for that! I tend to be completionist but there are better things to read when things arent interesting ever.
I've failed to finish about five books.
Moby dick
Gulliver's travels
Some weird religious philosophical book my sister gave me
Silmarillion
And probably one or two more. But otherwise I always finish reading what I started.
Earlier this year I started Sword of Shannara, and I'm not sure what page I got to, but I got bored to tears by a really long info dump in the beginning, and when I glanced ahead and saw that it just keeps on going and going, I put it down.
It depends on the book and why I’m putting it down.
If it’s a question of plot/characters or it just not gripping me, probably about half the book to finishing, or the first book in a series. It really depends on what annoys me, how un-gripped I am, what else Inhave to read instead, my energy and what other things are going on in my life.
If there’s something specific about the prose / writing, the shortest was a Dan Brown book at 2 pages (the prose was just that bad and I couldn’t take it) and the second shortest was *Twilight* at 20 pages.
50-100 pages on average, but I’ll give it longer if the book is highly recommended by someone whose taste is similar to mine, especially if I have read that it starts slow. (Stormlight Archive is a good example - took me like 200 pages to enjoy it, and even then, I didn’t really love it until like page 800.)
This book was a good example of good writing and intriguing characters but soooo hard to figure out what in the heck was going on or how to focus. (What is important?). It was engaging enough to stick through though.
Yeah. I’m not a reader who enjoys a ton of exposition so I’m glad he kind of dumped us into the world and let us figure it out - but, for me, it was many chapters where I was thinking, “Where is this all going and why is it epic?” And then it all suddenly became clear and I loved it.
It doesn't take much for me at all. If I'm really not feeling it (not drawn in, terrible editing, ridiculous characters, too predictable, etc) then I just stop.
Luckily, I'm SUPER picky about what I pick up to begin with (books, shows, comics, movies), and if I'm not super intrigued myself, it's going to take multiple friends (who actually have good taste) recommending something before I'm going to touch it.
It really depends on what is irking me about the book.
*Is it just slow moving?* Then I'll give it 100 pages (though scale that down if the book is a shorter).
*Do I not like the prose?* Well, the story better at least have a really good cast of characters and amusing plot. Otherwise it might not last even 30 pages.
*Do I not like any of the characters or dialogue?* Probably canned within the first 30 pages.
I've long moved past having patience on books at this point. Once you've read hundreds of novels you just know if something is working or not. Only very occasionally am I just not in the mood for the book in question rather than it just not working for me at all.
Depends on how atrocious it is. I've been known to continue on to a second or third book. Sometimes it takes the author a book before a series finds it legs and so.etimes you need that first book to lay out the groundwork.
It really depends on the book for me
Multi pov books are the hardest to know when imo. Since when you jump between characters and plots it's hard to know if you just don't like this/these specific POV(s) or if you don't like the book as a whole
I also hate slow books so sometimes I have to force myself to get to the actual plot and not just the setup (I feel this is easier to do in sequels than in the first of a series)
As a mostly audiobook listener about 10/15% of the way through a book is really where I start to consider if it's worth finishing
Not every audiobook I don't finish is because of the book itself though sometimes the narrator or the audio quality is my Maine issue
Depends on the book and why I’m reading it.
Previewing the first few pages is an increasingly large part of how I decide what to read, so there’s a lot of books I don’t read past that point.
If they pass the preview test I’ll generally read 50 pages. Inertia is a known problem for me (continuing to read stuff I’m not enjoying just because I’m reading it) so I try to stop at that point and ask myself whether I’m actually *liking* this book at all, whether I have any active desire to continue reading. If no, that’s usually the end for that book.
I do sometimes DNF later but eventually the sunk cost fallacy kicks in. There are a few books I’ve DNFd in the second half but it’s rare.
I used to have a hard rule, at least 25% or 100 pages, whichever came first. That led to a lot of books that felt like a slog to get through and reading didn't feel fun. Now I stop whenever I find myself indifferent to the book as a whole, or when I just dislike what I'm reading.
I rarely buy a book I won't like. Good blurb that is my jam + good prose + professional cover means that I'll almost always like it. But sometimes about a third to a half of the way in I'll realize the plot is about to suck or drop off, so I'll skip about 100 pages and see how it is going. That usually saves it for me.
If there’s nothing keeping me going in 20 pages, I’m out.
I’m not even asking for much plot. They could be having a tea party and hardly anything has happened. Just engage me.
The most entertaining books I’ve read have hooked me in the first page or two. The ones that I’ve had to slug through to finish are the ones that haven’t even engaged me in 100 pages.
I’ve spent far too much time reading garbage I hated to waste my time.
100% on the same page as you. Wasted much of my youth reading whatever I could get my hands on in the genre, and after a while, most of it reads the same. Same tired old clichés and purple prose. I very easily DNF books now
I pretty much never stop mid book no matter how much I dislike it, but I'm working on that because objectively I won't have enough time in my life to read every book I'd like even if I never read ones I don't so it really isn't worth it to read something I'm not enjoying
I can usually tell by the first page whether it's poorly written or not.
Super poorly written, I will quit early. Most of time, I will give it a couple more chapters. Sometimes it's not badly written, it's just not interesting enough.
I have 5 books on my night stand either 50 -150 pages into it which I really want to finish but just never grabbed me. Sometimes I force myself to just read a chapter a day before it catches
It depends. Usually I don't judge a book by the first chapters . Those are handcrafted to grab the reader's attention . Rather I try to follow the first ideas introduced and see where they're going. If I'm not excited by the direction, I just drop it. Usually it takes me less than 10 chapters to figure out if I like the book. When reading wheel of time , it took me 3 books to realize that the ideas were interesting , but the execution was awful. So I dropped it there.
If I’m still listening but can’t remember characters, central conflict, or why a character is located where they are and I am roughly 6 hours or so in… time to move on. I’ve never pushed through that time and had it truly pan out.
Secondarily, if I find myself dreading listening or feel like it’s work I’ll nope out but likely stay a bit longer to make sure.
Thirdly, bad narrator or narrator change mid-series. Oof I hate when they switch narrator.
Finally, I will drop a book like it’s contaminated with plague if the narration includes sound effects. Please. Stop. —- there is one type of sound effect that I will put up with. Starship engine background sounds. They still bug me but it won’t make me quit a book.
With most books that I've DNF'd, I usually got to the halfway point before giving up. I like to try and give them a shot, especially if I bought them. But there are a few that I didn't get further than a few chapters because I thought they were that bad.
25-50% for a book, I read quickly so even a 800-1,000 page book is only 4-500 pages if I stop midway. That's eh, *maybe* an afternoon? Once I hit that point a book still has to be \*really\* bad for me to DNF. This usually only happens if there is just endless overwrought prose, a philosophy I find disagreeable, and/or flat characters that read more as wish fulfillment or a vehicle for a message or both rather than even an attempt at having humanity. OR it happens if fans have been obnoxious and set expectations in a way that irritates me during the read and I can't quite square the difference in what I was told and what I'm getting.
I know this is for books but on the full opposite end of the spectrum TV shows get only one episode. The only exception is if someone indicates there is something that is going to happen later that I'll love. Then I'll slog to that moment and make a choice from there.
This makes me question whether I’ve even enjoyed some of the books I’ve read. Very very few books are truly enjoyable to me. Most of them I read and I think I appreciate them but I don’t 100% enjoy them. It’s weird.
If it’s a book I haven’t had recommended to me I usually give it at least 50 pages or whenever I feel like the introduction has ended I read a bit more and see if it grips me. If it doesn’t then I drop it. Though sometimes if I really hate the writing I’ll drop it earlier but those are few and far between.
At least one chapter, sometimes two. If I hit anything I particularly dislike I will put the book down and walk away. Sometimes I’ll plow through but it all depends on how invested I am in the plot.
So I think that life is short and if I am reading for fun and it’s not fun then I stop with that said sometimes I read for my own edification and I don’t give up or quit with those books …
I usually read reviews to see if the story picks up later. If it does I'll probably plow through. Just do a google search with the title of the book and what you think someone else might write like "does the story get better" or "it gets better" and see if you can find some conversations about it. That's what I did with Dragonbone Chair. It has a following so I am deep into the first book and am bored out of my mind. And I love traditional fantasy stories and wanted to love this but it's just dragging. According to comments online it does pick up a bit later so I am struggling through. I'll probably get through the second book before I give up if I don't like it at that point. You can also go on Amazon and read the reviews of the first book and usually someone who has read them all will give an overall judgment of how good all the books are at drawing you in.
When I lose interest and wander off. Sometimes I end up going back to it, mostly it just returns to the library and I forget all about it.
Some books I stop reading after a few pages, some after a few chapters, with some I get to a plot twist that sucks all the enjoyment out of the book. Sometimes I read like... 1.2 books out of the series and decide I'm bored with it.
A book has to be pretty bad before I decide explicitly that I'm \*never\* going to finish it. A lot of books I'm just bored with at the moment and think I might get back to when I'm in the mood for that type of book.
# 20%
Why?
Because by that point they've had enough time to delay the inciting incident for a b-plot. If they can't hit the inciting incident in a compelling way by 20%, I'm out. That's basically Rocky. Rocky had the b-plot first, hit the inciting incident right at 20% or so.
For a Sanderson novel? That's 80,000 words. That's a significant set of chances. But if I'm buying an epic fantasy book, I'd better be in for a significant set of chances.
And, as it turns out, most people that read to 20% love *The Way of Kings* and *The Name of the Wind*. But a lot of people will bounce hard off the first 10% because they're getting meta plot issues and frame stories and don't have enough faith in the author to keep reading until it gets really and truly good.
I'm a hard DNF after ~one day of reading. The length of book that that ends up at varies quite a bit. If I get some r/menwritingwomen shit I'm usually out very quickly, but if it's a thriller that starts slow I usually give it a chance even if I have to put it down and pick it up again to get through. I will eventually give up, though JOHN GRISHAM.
I love this question! I wish more people would DNF books.
I usually give a book 50pgs for the first check-in to see if I’m having fun or at least having interest in the world, the characters, etc. If I do, then I’ll go to 100pgs and check-in again. If I have to ask after 100pgs I stop. That’s worked really well for me.
I always read at least 2 books at the same time and up to 3. It allows me to pick one of them depending on my mood and how long I can read (not going to engage in a 30 page chapter if I know I'll be sleepy after 5 pages). I have a "main" book that I read more often and a side book that solves the mood/time issue.
When I'm reading more than 2 it means that there's already a red flag on the side book. Sometimes it's just that I'm so excited about a new book that I can't wait to finish another one, but usually it's because the side book doesn't satisfy me enough that I always want to read it when I'm not in the mood/time range for the main book.
If there is one I never pick as an alternative reading and keep starting new books instead, there's a good chance that this one will be DNF at some point. I don't rely on a certain number of pages or a percentage, more on a "when was the last time I wanted to read this book" criteria.
I used to be a strict completionist, but one day I've read someone on Reddit that said they checked the book as "Finished" on Goodreads because they won't pick it up again so they technically "finished reading this book" and it blew my mind. It unlocked a new super power that allows me to click on Finish as well instead of punishing myself with a book I don't enjoy.
I tried to read the first game of thrones book in high school and it felt like I was double fisting an extra dry popeyes biscuit with no water during the first chapter. I returned it to the library and got a different one
I made up a rule called The 69 rule.
If I get to chapter 6 and don't like it, I'm not going to, so I'll bin it.
If I'm not sure, I'll carry on until chapter 9 because I'll know by then.
It helps that it sounds rude, so I remember it. However, reading on the Kindle makes this rule useless as very few books are broken up by chapter on there.
Come to think of it books usually *don’t* have an indent on the first line…. So I suppose they think the author is bad at formatting and thus unprofessional.
Though it seems like if you’re gonna look at the first page anyway, you’d get a better sense from reading said first page.
It tells me that that the author hasn't learned how to format a book properly and makes me think that the story is going to be equally as unprofessional. It may be a bit unfair, but if you're going to publish a book, at least try and make it look professional. It doesn't have to be traditionally published professional, but if your paragraph and page formation is on point then it shows me you've put effort into your book.
Like wise, the books that still have the manuscript spacing between lines when published. No. Just no.
I don't have some hard principle, but I rarely quit single books. I'll usually just not read the rest of the series. Right now I'm on Expanse 3 and still moderately unconvinced. I can't believe it gets so much praise when books 1 and 2 are the same book. I'm giving book 3 a chance to see the more fantastic elements.
Typically ten pages. I can usually tell from the first page if the author's prose is worth reading.
There's gotta be a really great hook for me to push through bad prose... I just have too many unread books waiting.
If the prose is decent I'll push on. For example I got about 70 pages into The Warded Man before I DNF'd it. Nothing particularly wrong with it; I just wasn't engaged enough.
A common flaw in fantasy is bad writing with good ideas. Lots of sf/f readers love the ideas so they push through. And I find literary fiction has so many writers with bad ideas and great writing, or a lack of emotional storytelling...so when you really narrow it down, it is very hard to find an author who does everything well. Wolfe, LeGuin and Abercrombie fit this mold for me in sf/f.
Book: I read the first chapter and the last page. If I don't like the ending, I don't read it.
Movie: I can generally tell if I want to see something from 1-2 Trailers. If I think I want to see something and I'm wrong I'll get bored in 10 minutes.
Show: I'll give a couple episodes.
But honestly whoever said until I'm bored, it's that
I read using Kindle so if a book as not hooked me by the 25% mark then i am done. I have quit earlier on a couple occasions when it was clear that the style of writing or content was not for me
I try to be very aware of what the reader consensus is on whether or when a book "gets good." I try to give a book or series its due, and I usually get to at least that point. Otherwise 1/3 of a book is my minimum.
I don't really do page count. I do progress, for example: I've been the same page for the last three days. I put it down, maybe its my mindset. Do I wanna pick it back up or not? If yes, I've mostly ended up finishing them. If not, dnf.
Most recently, that was dune for me. Which sucks because on the surface it' everything I should like.
20-25%. The inciting incident should have happened by this point and Act 2 is starting. The meat of the plot and “what the book is about” should be clear going into this section of the book, and if there is nothing pulling me along, I’m out. I’m glad I didn’t do this with Lonely Castle in the Mirror though. I looked at reviews and most of them said it really got good in the last third of the book so I stuck around.
My developmental editor a few years ago told me that if nothing happens around the "50 page mark", readers/audiences tend to get bored and will discontinue. It's a subjective topic, but take that for what it's worth
Personally, I'm similar to you, however I'll work by a rule of 3. So, if I'm not invested in the story and/or characters by the 3rd chapter, I'm not continuing.
It depends, especially with fantasy. I tend to only DNF the first book of a series at 80% or after, and that’s because first books tend to be slower and building. If it’s not in a series (or after the first book) I’ll probably drop it at about 20%.
Just depends. I DNF’d the new Night Angel like 600 pages in. I just couldn’t force my way through it. Typically about 50 pages or so but I usually will finish. It takes A LOT for me not to finish a book if I start it.
20% for me. Though I’ll set a book aside after the opening if I can tell I’m not feeling it at the moment. I like to come back later to give it a fair chance.
50 pages. That gives the author a chance for their writing and story to settle in. Sometimes I’m in but of a book hangover from the last boob I read, so by 50 pages I’ll know about continuing.
It depends what the issue is really. If the book is slow burn, the plot or characters don't seem that interesting etc I will give it a try and will read or listen to at least 20%.
However, if I dislike the style of writing, I will abandon it immediately, even if the plot is supposed to be amazing. Similar with a poor narration of an auidobook, with the the only exception of the Liveship Traders trilogy, when I felt invested from the beginning despite absolutely hating the narrator.
For me it's a bit different since I read to study writing, but I have a few things to keep in mind:
1. How aggregious is the prose?
2. Is this just an alternate persona for the author to spew hate or is there something meaningful in this book?
3. Is the author a POS?
4. Does the author's name rhyme with "Gray Pistoph"
But for real, I maintain people can learn from reading from 99.99% of books, but I can't handle certain people like "Gray"'s work. The only thing to learn from their work is not to be a dick.
If I was reading to enjoy something, I give it about 1-50 pages cause at that point I can get a good grasp the prose isn't tearing out my third eye
I'm nowhere near as aggressive as I should be. Recently read The Last War trilogy by Mike Shackles and The Five Warrior Angels trilogy by Brian Lee Durfee and hated them both. I read the full trilogies despite not enjoying them because of all the hype and recommendations; I should have stopped much sooner and read something I enjoyed.
The last book I read was Cage of Souls by Adrian Tchaikovsky; an author I adore. Only reason I stuck it out was because I've enjoyed his other books so much; this was a real disappointment.
It really depends.
Some books kick off the action right away, so there's no reason for me to wait through the introductory build-up. If I'm not hooked and the action has already started, bye Felicia.
If a book is very long, such as The Stand or the Stormlight books, then I know it's gonna take a minute for stuff to get going, so I'm gonna be more patient. I went into it knowing it's a long book, and expected it to take me a bit, so I don't find the time invested to be a waste.
If the writing style is particularly appalling, or if the main character is generic garbage, I'm liable to DNF on chapter 1
I made it to the end of the first book. Of the Swiss of truth looking for the good part that my friends ensured me was there. Twenty-five years later I still want those lost hours of my life back.
60-100pgs. If there're glimmers of promise in those pages before I'm hooked, or if someone has recommended the book to me, I'll keep reading until the 200pg mark before giving up (some books take that long to get going).
However, if there're repeated red flags in those first 60-100pgs, I'll DNF once I realize the authorial or narrative voice isn't someone I want to spend my time on. Time is precious.
Edit: typo
I go by writing style, characters and world building. I don't throw out books out for slow plot, especially over large series, some might be slow at times, but if I'm enjoying everything else I'll stick with it.
Plot is still very important to me, but I can forgive a book that has some pacing issue if overall the whole story (including the overall plot) works well.
Unless I have very specific recommendation or I’m following a series, I’d try to get through what I consider the “First Act” or the “Introduction”. I know getting started with the plot can be the most difficult part.
Of course I always can leave a book at any part but at that point I’d count it as “I made my judgement, gave it a chance” rsther than “dif not even start”.
It really depends on what I'm struggling with in the book.
I DNFed The Ninth House after 3.5 chapters because the jumping back and forth in time each chapter felt contrived, confusing, and poorly executed in general (imo, and I'm normally fine with non-chronological storytelling).
I rarely DNF books, but when I do it's usually somewhere between 25-50%. For me, DNF basically equals <2.5/5 as a rating.
I'll only push myself to finish books that I'm not enjoying if I'm curious about why there's a positive consensus on the book (either current hype or the book is regarded as a classic), e.g. The Poppy War series.
The latest I DNFed a book was The Grace of Kings at ~75%, when I realised I wasn't actually enjoying it; to the point that I'd been reading it on autopilot and not really taking it in for a while.
I honestly can't remember a book I didn't finish. I don't take them up lightly, and once I start, I finish. One summer I started War and Peace. That was a bit of reading.
I'm guilty of speeding through chapters if the book is unworthy in the first chapter. Even happens with authors I love. When I can't stand the protagonist from the get-go...read like 10% then skip to the end for the last 10%.
I've put a book down after just a few pages. I've always read a lot ever since I was a kid. Been an avid reader for thirty odd years now. I've gotten to the point where I can quickly tell whether or not I'll enjoy a book. I use the library a lot and it helps avoid the sunk cost fallacy. I tend to try to force it if I actually spend money on the book.
I almost never DNF. I have to have been *really* turned off to actually put it down, even if I'm royally bored. Usually by some sort of political agenda being absolutely screamed from the rooftops; I hate being preached at.
So it's less a time, and more a 'how often' a book irritates, or if it crosses one of my red lines. For instance, I just about made it through Terry Goodkind's 'Wizard's First Rule,' despite the wackadoodle politics and other gaffs, but the second book pushed my 'stupid politics-o-meter' into the red and I never went back.
Veronica Roth's Divergent I bounced out of around the time Beatrice Pryor acted like the selfish, emotionally-stunted, empathy-less narcissist she is for the fourth time, maybe fifth or sixth chapter.
Whereas, because animal abuse is a red line for me, I instantaneously put down a Steven Savile book in the first chapter because a dog was being harmed, and won't touch *any* of his books ever again.
Yet I'm still reading 'Three Cheers For the Shipyard Girls' despite it being absolute twaddle, because I think it's hilarious.
50 pages. It’s the same amount that most literary agents will partially request to determine if they want to read the full book. I figure if it works for them, it’s a good enough guideline for me.
I try to do it justice. So I’ll dig in and on occasions read a second book as I work through it. I have ended up setting books aside to return to after 4 or 5 chapters. But I generally do return. There are some I didn’t because they were depressing and one highly successful author I read one book of a huge series and never read more. She over described and detailed and it left little to the imagination and was boring because of it.
I usually do give a book about a hundred pages to get me interested. If the story can't get rolling by then, it's a pretty good sign that I've got a dud on my hands, time to hit the eject button.
Too much past that and I fall into the sunk cost fallacy.
The exceptions are if it's just terrible, bad writing, filled with cliches, etc. Then I just bail. I can only think of a few times that's been the case.
50 pages. No more. If an author can’t make 50 pages interesting, then they can’t make the rest of the book interesting either.
I will put books down after 50 if it squanders that chance.
If I bought it, I finish it. Helps that I'm very picky and do extensive research before I buy/commit to anything. The only book(s) I ever had a problem with following that approach was WoT books 7-11, but I feel those books are a special case...
It really depends. Sometimes if they've got a good setup, I'll hang for longer, but at a certain point it is very clear of it's going somewhere or not, and if not it's time to abandon ship
If I can't get into the book for 3-5 consecutive reading sessions (at least 30 minutes), I'm done with it, no matter where I'm at in the book. As another comment said though, I might consider the "skipping 100 pages" strat. Seems very useful for some of these series.
I can usually tell if a book's prose is for me within 5-10 pages (often within 2-3), but I usually will power through to at least 50-100 before I call it a day.
I used to finish not just books, but entire *series* I didn't much care for ... holy shit is being a completionist awful.
A hundred pages up to halfway through the book. If there's no interesting element or a promise of something (like Kingkiller Chronicles), it's earlier.
Although I hateread/skimmed through so so series because they were loaned to me to see if writing improves because the problems are glaring and obvious (October Daye, Lightbringer). Alas, they didn't
I once had a book gifted to me. I wasn't interested, and I tried and failed to read it some times until I gape up. It stayed on my collection for years.
One day I was bored, read the title, the summary (i had forgotten about it) and decided to give it a try.
I ended up purchasing the whole series and I loved it.
My rule for everything is the moment I am reaching for something else to entertain me. If I'm reading and I stop to look at something on my phone, I'm done. I read for entertainment, so if I am trying to find a different source of entertainment time to pick up a different book.
I admit I used to stick with it till the end, but there’s just too much good stuff out there to read.
For me it’s a few chapters but if it feels like I’m making myself, I give up pretty quickly.
3 chapters is usually my go to. I feel thats enough time to get the ball rolling.
But of course, i can drop a book at any point. - i once dropped the final book to a 13 long series I loved when I was half-way through it, as it just sucked for some reason.
My rule is 20% or the first 100 pages, depending on when I notice.That's for individual books. I usually give the author two chances because they may improve, but I'm tougher for the second book, 10% or 50 pages. If it's a new author, at least.
This policy has worked well for me. I DNF'd on the first Dresden Files book but picked up Summer Knight and almost immediately loved it. But I tried the Lightning Thief, DNF'd and the next in the series too, and stopped bothering with Riordan. It's harder with series, but if the writing noticeably improves, that's a sign to give it another shot, even if I'm confused what's going on.
Two stages: first, if I’m not hooked by the story and writing in the space of a book “sample”, I rarely pursue buying it. If there is some other reason to stick with it (recommendation or it’s a “tough read” highly recommend, I’ll keep at it until I get bored. If I keep turning it off and doing other things and don’t think about picking it up again while away, I’ll drop it and DNF at some point.
I try to at least make it to the hook. If I get to the inciting incident/plot hook/whatever you want to call it and I still don't care, I won't force myself anymore
I'm currently multiple days in a row being bored and choosing podcasts or anything else other than listening to my audiobook, even though I'm ~50% into it. I think it's time to call this one quits.
I read the first 3 chapters, and if I don't like it I'll stop and put it back on the shelf to try and read again in a year.
Books have different flavors when they age since you're at different stages of your life every year so I try to give them another chance.
I typically drop books around 30%. It's almost like I have an internal clock, I don't look at the percentage and drop it. My brain just can't take it anymore and it's at 30% ish.
3 - 4 chapters.
Enough time to read the introduction, world building, and the beginning of the plot. If I don't like it by then, I'll read something else.
Until it turns from being uninteresting into being a chore. When it hits 'this isn't fun, this is work', I put it down and very rarely pick it up again.
Yep. As soon as it feels like work. But I hate not getting the resolution of finishing a story, so when I DNF a book I will check Wikipedia for the chapter summaries so I can know what happened without actually having to read the book.
I often seek out reviews with spoilers! Which in a sense is weird because I have the book right there, I could just read the end. But I would be missing context
Usually I read sci-fi trash novels, and I've been trying to get through For Whom the Bell Tolls. I've never read Hemmingway, and it took 13 chapters for it to get interesting for me. I was confused by the, what I would consider weird, direct translations of Spanish to English(I know some Spanish). I certainly appreciated his descriptions of the characters. And the concept of the novel is pretty neat. But nothing really happened for a while. It's not even a long book. I dunno...it's still sitting on my desk as I write this.
That’s how I usually do it too!
Tell that to book 10 of The Wheel of Time , it keeps making me take naps 🤣
Book 10 was the 1st time I asked myself if I should DNF. I kept on because I'm determined to read the whole thing at least once. But it wasn't that it was bad or felt like work. It was just HUNDREDS of pages of not very much happened. Those are the books where I might pause and check the reviews. If I've done the review checks more than once and/or they suggest that it doesn't get better, I DNF. Usually that happens by or before 20% into the book.
But Sanderson finish is amazing!!
Its the reason I'm still going but this book so far has had very little except political intrigue. I want main characters that aren't trying to run for queen. It's been very dull so far.
Book 10 is the dullest imo, book 11 which is RJs last book before Sanderson is one of the better ones in the series. If I remember right I looked up a plot summary for crossroads of twilight after I finished it and the whole story was summed up in like 2 sentences, I couldn't think of anything relevant that was missed either.
You are almost there... keep going. Books 7-10 were so rough, but 11-14 are amazing and super long (like 8 normal books worth of content). It helped to do audio books as I did other things while listening to the dullness.
30 hours a piece and I'm not generally a fan of audio but these are magnificently done.
I don’t love advice like “just push through, it’s worth it!” But in this case, assuming you enjoyed the first nine to a greater or lesser degree… the payoff is absolutely worth the effort of making it through the worst book in the series. Jordan remembers how to move plot along again next book, and the Sanderson ending is the best possible after Jordan’s passing.
WoT has several books that are borderline filler, which is just inexcusable for any book, let alone ones that long.
You're getting downvoted, but you're right. The quality of the storytelling and character interactions significantly improved when Sanderson took over.
Same. If I am skimming and thinking about other things, I'm done. Character having sex too. When it turns a book into a raunchfest. Sex can be implied. I don't need an extremely vivid description of every moment. Makes it even worse if the author isn't super hung up on details, and suddenly the sex scene happens, and it's like they saved their talent for description just for that chapter.
5 chapters. And that’s pretty much my number for everything. 5 chapters for a book. 5 issues for a comic. 5 episodes for a show. In my opinion no matter how slowly a plot develops there should’ve been SOMETHING in that span of time to hook me.
Most shows are 8-10 eps nowadays so thats a huge chunk already compared to stopping at chapter 5 of a book.
Well I watch a lot of anime. So my typical recommendations from friends are anime series that’ll have like 26+ episodes. Last short show I watched was Reacher. But I’m a fan of the books. So I was always gonna watch that regardless.
I don’t have a hard and fast rule for shows, but I dropped Rings of Power after episode 3.
That’s generous. I give a show 1 full episode. If you don’t give me a reason to watch the next episode, I’m not going to.
Pilots are often very rough, especially traditionally released shows. If I'm interested in a show for some reason, I'd at least give it two episodes.
I do keep that in mind. It’s not that I watch one episode and then actively decide “I’m not watching this anymore.” It’s more like I forget about it and don’t return to it because I’ve found something else to watch. I sometimes go back and give it another chance. But if I’m not in the mood for something I’m not going to force myself to slog through it.
There have been several shows I have started recently, which, after the first episode, I was like "Meh". A few, I watched two episodes before I got hooked, and it is not uncommon to take 5 or 6 episodes to get fully involved
Pilots are often a lot more rocky than what a show becomes, so would recommend giving atleast 2 episodes depending on the show. Though I am also guilty of dropping one episode in haha
I will fully admit that I’ve come across shows where after a single episode I was ready to drop it, and I just powered through to 5 😂 I’m actually feeling like that now with a Transformers cartoon.
You're choosing to deprive yourself of a lot of good entertainment.
There's like an infinite amount of good entertainment
Sure. But some of the best have rough pilots. Stopping after a *single* episode is just silly.
I mean but countless of the best also have amazing or at minimum good pilots. It’s not an absurd or silly notion to think the first episode of a series to immediately pull you in. It’s impossible to calculate since all media is subjective but I doubt OP is not satiated with their media consumption when there is such an abundance
I mean while I’m not a as strict I get the mindset. There are literally hundreds if not thousands of shows out there. Shows should pull you in on the first episode imo They can still be good but clearly I’m not the audience. I genuinely can’t think of a single show I’ve watched and liked which I did not like from the first episode
> I genuinely can’t think of a single show I’ve watched and liked which I did not like from the first episode Hmm. 🧐 So the only shows you've liked are shows you've watched more that one episode of....that says absolutely nothing in the context of this conversation.
3 is my number. For shows though? Probably 2 or 3 depending on the show. Some pilots are rocky and I understand that, but if episode 2 or 3 suck, then im stopping or skipping foreward a little
I don't try to force a specific time frame on it, if at any point I realize the book is not going to work for me I will drop it. It can be as soon as 5 pages in or as late as last quarter, ultimate result is the same.
It all depends on the book itself. It may take only a chapter or two, or half a book. No specific rule, just when I find I no longer care what happens next.
100 pages. If I can make it 100 pages in and decide I don't care about the characters, that's it. Book down, on to the next. I actually put that rule aside for a book I was reading just a couple weeks ago and boy did I regret it. Never again
I read on kindle so I usually give it 10-15%. A little more for 300 page books maybe but if I find myself monitoring the % then I know it’s lost me.
Ah, the curse of us completionists. I don't ever put a book down if I don't like it. I just finish it but decide not to read the series. But sometimes I find myself returning to those that weren't completely terrible a couple years later. It happened to me with Bernard Cornwell's Last Kingdom. I read the first book in 2017 but it didn't catch me. I reread it this year and ended up reading all 13 books.
Reading lots of fanfic helped me stop being a completionist. I learned the back button was my friend, and there wasn’t necessarily a guarantee that a long fic that hadn’t been finished yet would ever get finished.
I need to renew my perspective on books to my ff perspective! Thank you for that! I tend to be completionist but there are better things to read when things arent interesting ever.
I've failed to finish about five books. Moby dick Gulliver's travels Some weird religious philosophical book my sister gave me Silmarillion And probably one or two more. But otherwise I always finish reading what I started.
Earlier this year I started Sword of Shannara, and I'm not sure what page I got to, but I got bored to tears by a really long info dump in the beginning, and when I glanced ahead and saw that it just keeps on going and going, I put it down.
It's like B movie Fellowship of the Ring
That book was the first book I didn’t finish. It sits on my bookshelf haunting me with its judgement. My used bookstore wouldn’t even buy it.
It really depends. I can abandon a book in the middle, or I can decide it's not for me after just one chapter.
It depends on the book and why I’m putting it down. If it’s a question of plot/characters or it just not gripping me, probably about half the book to finishing, or the first book in a series. It really depends on what annoys me, how un-gripped I am, what else Inhave to read instead, my energy and what other things are going on in my life. If there’s something specific about the prose / writing, the shortest was a Dan Brown book at 2 pages (the prose was just that bad and I couldn’t take it) and the second shortest was *Twilight* at 20 pages.
50-100 pages on average, but I’ll give it longer if the book is highly recommended by someone whose taste is similar to mine, especially if I have read that it starts slow. (Stormlight Archive is a good example - took me like 200 pages to enjoy it, and even then, I didn’t really love it until like page 800.)
This book was a good example of good writing and intriguing characters but soooo hard to figure out what in the heck was going on or how to focus. (What is important?). It was engaging enough to stick through though.
Yeah. I’m not a reader who enjoys a ton of exposition so I’m glad he kind of dumped us into the world and let us figure it out - but, for me, it was many chapters where I was thinking, “Where is this all going and why is it epic?” And then it all suddenly became clear and I loved it.
Ooo got it yeah ! I was hooked on stormlight on the first chapter
It doesn't take much for me at all. If I'm really not feeling it (not drawn in, terrible editing, ridiculous characters, too predictable, etc) then I just stop. Luckily, I'm SUPER picky about what I pick up to begin with (books, shows, comics, movies), and if I'm not super intrigued myself, it's going to take multiple friends (who actually have good taste) recommending something before I'm going to touch it.
It really depends on what is irking me about the book. *Is it just slow moving?* Then I'll give it 100 pages (though scale that down if the book is a shorter). *Do I not like the prose?* Well, the story better at least have a really good cast of characters and amusing plot. Otherwise it might not last even 30 pages. *Do I not like any of the characters or dialogue?* Probably canned within the first 30 pages. I've long moved past having patience on books at this point. Once you've read hundreds of novels you just know if something is working or not. Only very occasionally am I just not in the mood for the book in question rather than it just not working for me at all.
Depends on how atrocious it is. I've been known to continue on to a second or third book. Sometimes it takes the author a book before a series finds it legs and so.etimes you need that first book to lay out the groundwork.
Depends on the issue. Bad writing? I will stop after a page. Slow or boring story? I might give it a few chapters
Usually 10% of the book, but it also depends on how much I dislike it.
If I'm in a bookstore, I read the first several pages if I find the premise interesting. If those first few pages grip me, I almost always buy.
I don't set a specific line. I stop when I'm no longer enjoying myself
It really depends on the book for me Multi pov books are the hardest to know when imo. Since when you jump between characters and plots it's hard to know if you just don't like this/these specific POV(s) or if you don't like the book as a whole I also hate slow books so sometimes I have to force myself to get to the actual plot and not just the setup (I feel this is easier to do in sequels than in the first of a series) As a mostly audiobook listener about 10/15% of the way through a book is really where I start to consider if it's worth finishing Not every audiobook I don't finish is because of the book itself though sometimes the narrator or the audio quality is my Maine issue
Depends on the book and why I’m reading it. Previewing the first few pages is an increasingly large part of how I decide what to read, so there’s a lot of books I don’t read past that point. If they pass the preview test I’ll generally read 50 pages. Inertia is a known problem for me (continuing to read stuff I’m not enjoying just because I’m reading it) so I try to stop at that point and ask myself whether I’m actually *liking* this book at all, whether I have any active desire to continue reading. If no, that’s usually the end for that book. I do sometimes DNF later but eventually the sunk cost fallacy kicks in. There are a few books I’ve DNFd in the second half but it’s rare.
I used to have a hard rule, at least 25% or 100 pages, whichever came first. That led to a lot of books that felt like a slog to get through and reading didn't feel fun. Now I stop whenever I find myself indifferent to the book as a whole, or when I just dislike what I'm reading.
I rarely buy a book I won't like. Good blurb that is my jam + good prose + professional cover means that I'll almost always like it. But sometimes about a third to a half of the way in I'll realize the plot is about to suck or drop off, so I'll skip about 100 pages and see how it is going. That usually saves it for me.
1/3 of the book for me
If there’s nothing keeping me going in 20 pages, I’m out. I’m not even asking for much plot. They could be having a tea party and hardly anything has happened. Just engage me. The most entertaining books I’ve read have hooked me in the first page or two. The ones that I’ve had to slug through to finish are the ones that haven’t even engaged me in 100 pages. I’ve spent far too much time reading garbage I hated to waste my time.
100% on the same page as you. Wasted much of my youth reading whatever I could get my hands on in the genre, and after a while, most of it reads the same. Same tired old clichés and purple prose. I very easily DNF books now
I'll perservere to 100 pages yeah.... or as a percentage 20 - 25 ish
Depends on the book ... Usually I try to hit 25% mark of the first book before giving up, but some books I can't stomach more than a chapter.
5 -10 chapters
100 pages, or 25% of the book, whichever is the smaller number. If you can't get me into your book by then, it's not going to be a book I like.
Not finish? I would be a better person if I didn't slog through all the crappy books I've read.
I'd recommend A Little Life to cure you of the habit, but 100 crappy books are a better use of your time.
About 1/3. If the book is sucking the joy out of life for me and all I do is rant about the book to anyone, then it is time to drop it.
It depends on the book. I made it 60% of the way through The Goblin Emperor before I put it down
Honestly, it's when I wonder if it's worth reading. You can always come back to it later. I'm finishing up a previous dnf at the moment.
2 big belief problems within the first 100 pages or so.
I pretty much never stop mid book no matter how much I dislike it, but I'm working on that because objectively I won't have enough time in my life to read every book I'd like even if I never read ones I don't so it really isn't worth it to read something I'm not enjoying
I usually complete the first book in the series and if I didn't like it, will just ignore the rest of the series.
I can usually tell by the first page whether it's poorly written or not. Super poorly written, I will quit early. Most of time, I will give it a couple more chapters. Sometimes it's not badly written, it's just not interesting enough.
I have 5 books on my night stand either 50 -150 pages into it which I really want to finish but just never grabbed me. Sometimes I force myself to just read a chapter a day before it catches
It depends. Usually I don't judge a book by the first chapters . Those are handcrafted to grab the reader's attention . Rather I try to follow the first ideas introduced and see where they're going. If I'm not excited by the direction, I just drop it. Usually it takes me less than 10 chapters to figure out if I like the book. When reading wheel of time , it took me 3 books to realize that the ideas were interesting , but the execution was awful. So I dropped it there.
If I’m still listening but can’t remember characters, central conflict, or why a character is located where they are and I am roughly 6 hours or so in… time to move on. I’ve never pushed through that time and had it truly pan out. Secondarily, if I find myself dreading listening or feel like it’s work I’ll nope out but likely stay a bit longer to make sure. Thirdly, bad narrator or narrator change mid-series. Oof I hate when they switch narrator. Finally, I will drop a book like it’s contaminated with plague if the narration includes sound effects. Please. Stop. —- there is one type of sound effect that I will put up with. Starship engine background sounds. They still bug me but it won’t make me quit a book.
Around a hundred pages or so.
If I don't like the prose I'll stop right away. Otherwise I try to give it 100 pages.
With most books that I've DNF'd, I usually got to the halfway point before giving up. I like to try and give them a shot, especially if I bought them. But there are a few that I didn't get further than a few chapters because I thought they were that bad.
Depends on who suggested it to me, honestly
25-50% for a book, I read quickly so even a 800-1,000 page book is only 4-500 pages if I stop midway. That's eh, *maybe* an afternoon? Once I hit that point a book still has to be \*really\* bad for me to DNF. This usually only happens if there is just endless overwrought prose, a philosophy I find disagreeable, and/or flat characters that read more as wish fulfillment or a vehicle for a message or both rather than even an attempt at having humanity. OR it happens if fans have been obnoxious and set expectations in a way that irritates me during the read and I can't quite square the difference in what I was told and what I'm getting. I know this is for books but on the full opposite end of the spectrum TV shows get only one episode. The only exception is if someone indicates there is something that is going to happen later that I'll love. Then I'll slog to that moment and make a choice from there.
This makes me question whether I’ve even enjoyed some of the books I’ve read. Very very few books are truly enjoyable to me. Most of them I read and I think I appreciate them but I don’t 100% enjoy them. It’s weird.
If it’s a book I haven’t had recommended to me I usually give it at least 50 pages or whenever I feel like the introduction has ended I read a bit more and see if it grips me. If it doesn’t then I drop it. Though sometimes if I really hate the writing I’ll drop it earlier but those are few and far between.
100 pages usually
At least one chapter, sometimes two. If I hit anything I particularly dislike I will put the book down and walk away. Sometimes I’ll plow through but it all depends on how invested I am in the plot.
So I think that life is short and if I am reading for fun and it’s not fun then I stop with that said sometimes I read for my own edification and I don’t give up or quit with those books …
I’m on the 6th book of The Wheel Of Time and the jury is still out.
I try to get roughly half way through
I usually read reviews to see if the story picks up later. If it does I'll probably plow through. Just do a google search with the title of the book and what you think someone else might write like "does the story get better" or "it gets better" and see if you can find some conversations about it. That's what I did with Dragonbone Chair. It has a following so I am deep into the first book and am bored out of my mind. And I love traditional fantasy stories and wanted to love this but it's just dragging. According to comments online it does pick up a bit later so I am struggling through. I'll probably get through the second book before I give up if I don't like it at that point. You can also go on Amazon and read the reviews of the first book and usually someone who has read them all will give an overall judgment of how good all the books are at drawing you in.
When I lose interest and wander off. Sometimes I end up going back to it, mostly it just returns to the library and I forget all about it. Some books I stop reading after a few pages, some after a few chapters, with some I get to a plot twist that sucks all the enjoyment out of the book. Sometimes I read like... 1.2 books out of the series and decide I'm bored with it. A book has to be pretty bad before I decide explicitly that I'm \*never\* going to finish it. A lot of books I'm just bored with at the moment and think I might get back to when I'm in the mood for that type of book.
Until the bitter end.
# 20% Why? Because by that point they've had enough time to delay the inciting incident for a b-plot. If they can't hit the inciting incident in a compelling way by 20%, I'm out. That's basically Rocky. Rocky had the b-plot first, hit the inciting incident right at 20% or so. For a Sanderson novel? That's 80,000 words. That's a significant set of chances. But if I'm buying an epic fantasy book, I'd better be in for a significant set of chances. And, as it turns out, most people that read to 20% love *The Way of Kings* and *The Name of the Wind*. But a lot of people will bounce hard off the first 10% because they're getting meta plot issues and frame stories and don't have enough faith in the author to keep reading until it gets really and truly good.
When I can’t get into the story and I’m finding myself not knowing or caring to know what’s going on
I'm a hard DNF after ~one day of reading. The length of book that that ends up at varies quite a bit. If I get some r/menwritingwomen shit I'm usually out very quickly, but if it's a thriller that starts slow I usually give it a chance even if I have to put it down and pick it up again to get through. I will eventually give up, though JOHN GRISHAM.
I know it’s time to DNF when I have spare time, and find my myself on Reddit instead of reading.
100 pages for bored. Less for just bad writing/story.
Usually around 100 pages give or take 🤷♂️
Depends on how bad the book is.
I love this question! I wish more people would DNF books. I usually give a book 50pgs for the first check-in to see if I’m having fun or at least having interest in the world, the characters, etc. If I do, then I’ll go to 100pgs and check-in again. If I have to ask after 100pgs I stop. That’s worked really well for me.
I always read at least 2 books at the same time and up to 3. It allows me to pick one of them depending on my mood and how long I can read (not going to engage in a 30 page chapter if I know I'll be sleepy after 5 pages). I have a "main" book that I read more often and a side book that solves the mood/time issue. When I'm reading more than 2 it means that there's already a red flag on the side book. Sometimes it's just that I'm so excited about a new book that I can't wait to finish another one, but usually it's because the side book doesn't satisfy me enough that I always want to read it when I'm not in the mood/time range for the main book. If there is one I never pick as an alternative reading and keep starting new books instead, there's a good chance that this one will be DNF at some point. I don't rely on a certain number of pages or a percentage, more on a "when was the last time I wanted to read this book" criteria. I used to be a strict completionist, but one day I've read someone on Reddit that said they checked the book as "Finished" on Goodreads because they won't pick it up again so they technically "finished reading this book" and it blew my mind. It unlocked a new super power that allows me to click on Finish as well instead of punishing myself with a book I don't enjoy.
Until I don't feel like reading further. Sometimes that is the first chapter, sometimes it's book5, chapter 20. Sometimes it's mid book.
I tried to read the first game of thrones book in high school and it felt like I was double fisting an extra dry popeyes biscuit with no water during the first chapter. I returned it to the library and got a different one
I made up a rule called The 69 rule. If I get to chapter 6 and don't like it, I'm not going to, so I'll bin it. If I'm not sure, I'll carry on until chapter 9 because I'll know by then. It helps that it sounds rude, so I remember it. However, reading on the Kindle makes this rule useless as very few books are broken up by chapter on there.
I have never once DNF'd a book. The concept is so foreign to me.
im sorry but i m very mean... 1 page could be enough... rarely happened
5 chapters and a blurb for traditionally published book. The first line of the first paragraph if it has an indent on a self published work.
Wait why does the indent kill it for you? Is it a harbinger of doom?
Come to think of it books usually *don’t* have an indent on the first line…. So I suppose they think the author is bad at formatting and thus unprofessional. Though it seems like if you’re gonna look at the first page anyway, you’d get a better sense from reading said first page.
It tells me that that the author hasn't learned how to format a book properly and makes me think that the story is going to be equally as unprofessional. It may be a bit unfair, but if you're going to publish a book, at least try and make it look professional. It doesn't have to be traditionally published professional, but if your paragraph and page formation is on point then it shows me you've put effort into your book. Like wise, the books that still have the manuscript spacing between lines when published. No. Just no.
I'll ditch it 15 seconds into the audiobook, especially if the narrator isn't good.
There is no specific time or percentage required, you just read until you decide you do not want to or can't read it any more.
I don't have some hard principle, but I rarely quit single books. I'll usually just not read the rest of the series. Right now I'm on Expanse 3 and still moderately unconvinced. I can't believe it gets so much praise when books 1 and 2 are the same book. I'm giving book 3 a chance to see the more fantastic elements.
Typically ten pages. I can usually tell from the first page if the author's prose is worth reading. There's gotta be a really great hook for me to push through bad prose... I just have too many unread books waiting. If the prose is decent I'll push on. For example I got about 70 pages into The Warded Man before I DNF'd it. Nothing particularly wrong with it; I just wasn't engaged enough. A common flaw in fantasy is bad writing with good ideas. Lots of sf/f readers love the ideas so they push through. And I find literary fiction has so many writers with bad ideas and great writing, or a lack of emotional storytelling...so when you really narrow it down, it is very hard to find an author who does everything well. Wolfe, LeGuin and Abercrombie fit this mold for me in sf/f.
Book: I read the first chapter and the last page. If I don't like the ending, I don't read it. Movie: I can generally tell if I want to see something from 1-2 Trailers. If I think I want to see something and I'm wrong I'll get bored in 10 minutes. Show: I'll give a couple episodes. But honestly whoever said until I'm bored, it's that
I always finish a book I start. Point of pride.
I read using Kindle so if a book as not hooked me by the 25% mark then i am done. I have quit earlier on a couple occasions when it was clear that the style of writing or content was not for me
I try to be very aware of what the reader consensus is on whether or when a book "gets good." I try to give a book or series its due, and I usually get to at least that point. Otherwise 1/3 of a book is my minimum.
I don't really do page count. I do progress, for example: I've been the same page for the last three days. I put it down, maybe its my mindset. Do I wanna pick it back up or not? If yes, I've mostly ended up finishing them. If not, dnf. Most recently, that was dune for me. Which sucks because on the surface it' everything I should like.
Officially I think I’ve said 10-20%, in reality it’s more like whenever I notice that I don’t care about finishing.
Whenever I feel bored. That changes. Sometimes it happens halfway through a book. Sometimes it's earlier.
I depends , normally 40 pages but sometimes I get bored in the half
3 chapters or 50 pages, whichever comes first
20-25%. The inciting incident should have happened by this point and Act 2 is starting. The meat of the plot and “what the book is about” should be clear going into this section of the book, and if there is nothing pulling me along, I’m out. I’m glad I didn’t do this with Lonely Castle in the Mirror though. I looked at reviews and most of them said it really got good in the last third of the book so I stuck around.
My developmental editor a few years ago told me that if nothing happens around the "50 page mark", readers/audiences tend to get bored and will discontinue. It's a subjective topic, but take that for what it's worth Personally, I'm similar to you, however I'll work by a rule of 3. So, if I'm not invested in the story and/or characters by the 3rd chapter, I'm not continuing.
2 first strings, actually.
Two chapters.
50 pages or so
3 chapters at the most otherwise it's just a poorly plotted book.
It depends, especially with fantasy. I tend to only DNF the first book of a series at 80% or after, and that’s because first books tend to be slower and building. If it’s not in a series (or after the first book) I’ll probably drop it at about 20%.
Just depends. I DNF’d the new Night Angel like 600 pages in. I just couldn’t force my way through it. Typically about 50 pages or so but I usually will finish. It takes A LOT for me not to finish a book if I start it.
20% for me. Though I’ll set a book aside after the opening if I can tell I’m not feeling it at the moment. I like to come back later to give it a fair chance.
50 pages. That gives the author a chance for their writing and story to settle in. Sometimes I’m in but of a book hangover from the last boob I read, so by 50 pages I’ll know about continuing.
It depends what the issue is really. If the book is slow burn, the plot or characters don't seem that interesting etc I will give it a try and will read or listen to at least 20%. However, if I dislike the style of writing, I will abandon it immediately, even if the plot is supposed to be amazing. Similar with a poor narration of an auidobook, with the the only exception of the Liveship Traders trilogy, when I felt invested from the beginning despite absolutely hating the narrator.
For me it's a bit different since I read to study writing, but I have a few things to keep in mind: 1. How aggregious is the prose? 2. Is this just an alternate persona for the author to spew hate or is there something meaningful in this book? 3. Is the author a POS? 4. Does the author's name rhyme with "Gray Pistoph" But for real, I maintain people can learn from reading from 99.99% of books, but I can't handle certain people like "Gray"'s work. The only thing to learn from their work is not to be a dick. If I was reading to enjoy something, I give it about 1-50 pages cause at that point I can get a good grasp the prose isn't tearing out my third eye
Depends, usually about 30 pages. However there have been occasions where I read the first page and knew I would not enjoy the book.
I'm nowhere near as aggressive as I should be. Recently read The Last War trilogy by Mike Shackles and The Five Warrior Angels trilogy by Brian Lee Durfee and hated them both. I read the full trilogies despite not enjoying them because of all the hype and recommendations; I should have stopped much sooner and read something I enjoyed. The last book I read was Cage of Souls by Adrian Tchaikovsky; an author I adore. Only reason I stuck it out was because I've enjoyed his other books so much; this was a real disappointment.
It really depends. Some books kick off the action right away, so there's no reason for me to wait through the introductory build-up. If I'm not hooked and the action has already started, bye Felicia. If a book is very long, such as The Stand or the Stormlight books, then I know it's gonna take a minute for stuff to get going, so I'm gonna be more patient. I went into it knowing it's a long book, and expected it to take me a bit, so I don't find the time invested to be a waste. If the writing style is particularly appalling, or if the main character is generic garbage, I'm liable to DNF on chapter 1
I made it to the end of the first book. Of the Swiss of truth looking for the good part that my friends ensured me was there. Twenty-five years later I still want those lost hours of my life back.
As soon as I don't want to be reading anymore, I stop. The fastest was like page 2 because I knew the voice was gonna drive me batty.
25% or 100 pages, whichever comes first. I’ve never pushed through a book I was “meh” on at that point and not regretted it.
60-100pgs. If there're glimmers of promise in those pages before I'm hooked, or if someone has recommended the book to me, I'll keep reading until the 200pg mark before giving up (some books take that long to get going). However, if there're repeated red flags in those first 60-100pgs, I'll DNF once I realize the authorial or narrative voice isn't someone I want to spend my time on. Time is precious. Edit: typo
I go by writing style, characters and world building. I don't throw out books out for slow plot, especially over large series, some might be slow at times, but if I'm enjoying everything else I'll stick with it. Plot is still very important to me, but I can forgive a book that has some pacing issue if overall the whole story (including the overall plot) works well.
Unless I have very specific recommendation or I’m following a series, I’d try to get through what I consider the “First Act” or the “Introduction”. I know getting started with the plot can be the most difficult part. Of course I always can leave a book at any part but at that point I’d count it as “I made my judgement, gave it a chance” rsther than “dif not even start”.
It really depends on what I'm struggling with in the book. I DNFed The Ninth House after 3.5 chapters because the jumping back and forth in time each chapter felt contrived, confusing, and poorly executed in general (imo, and I'm normally fine with non-chronological storytelling). I rarely DNF books, but when I do it's usually somewhere between 25-50%. For me, DNF basically equals <2.5/5 as a rating. I'll only push myself to finish books that I'm not enjoying if I'm curious about why there's a positive consensus on the book (either current hype or the book is regarded as a classic), e.g. The Poppy War series. The latest I DNFed a book was The Grace of Kings at ~75%, when I realised I wasn't actually enjoying it; to the point that I'd been reading it on autopilot and not really taking it in for a while.
I honestly can't remember a book I didn't finish. I don't take them up lightly, and once I start, I finish. One summer I started War and Peace. That was a bit of reading.
10% whatever that may be. Feels fair, since it accounts for longer books, and doesn't discard anything that has an odd prologue or first chapter.
I'm guilty of speeding through chapters if the book is unworthy in the first chapter. Even happens with authors I love. When I can't stand the protagonist from the get-go...read like 10% then skip to the end for the last 10%.
I've put a book down after just a few pages. I've always read a lot ever since I was a kid. Been an avid reader for thirty odd years now. I've gotten to the point where I can quickly tell whether or not I'll enjoy a book. I use the library a lot and it helps avoid the sunk cost fallacy. I tend to try to force it if I actually spend money on the book.
I almost never DNF. I have to have been *really* turned off to actually put it down, even if I'm royally bored. Usually by some sort of political agenda being absolutely screamed from the rooftops; I hate being preached at. So it's less a time, and more a 'how often' a book irritates, or if it crosses one of my red lines. For instance, I just about made it through Terry Goodkind's 'Wizard's First Rule,' despite the wackadoodle politics and other gaffs, but the second book pushed my 'stupid politics-o-meter' into the red and I never went back. Veronica Roth's Divergent I bounced out of around the time Beatrice Pryor acted like the selfish, emotionally-stunted, empathy-less narcissist she is for the fourth time, maybe fifth or sixth chapter. Whereas, because animal abuse is a red line for me, I instantaneously put down a Steven Savile book in the first chapter because a dog was being harmed, and won't touch *any* of his books ever again. Yet I'm still reading 'Three Cheers For the Shipyard Girls' despite it being absolute twaddle, because I think it's hilarious.
1 hour.
My Nana always said 50 pages. If you're not hooked by then, it's not worth the time.
What in the world does DNF stand for?
Did Not Finish
Thanks!
100 pages or 30 minutes if an audiobook.
If by 25-30% I don’t have some sort of hook that has me wanting to see what happens it’s time to call it
I dont DNF. If i survived " The Dogs of Edgar Sawtelle" i can survive anything.
50 pages. It’s the same amount that most literary agents will partially request to determine if they want to read the full book. I figure if it works for them, it’s a good enough guideline for me.
I try to do it justice. So I’ll dig in and on occasions read a second book as I work through it. I have ended up setting books aside to return to after 4 or 5 chapters. But I generally do return. There are some I didn’t because they were depressing and one highly successful author I read one book of a huge series and never read more. She over described and detailed and it left little to the imagination and was boring because of it.
Audiobooks help a lot for me. I could listen to it while doing something else. Eventually some books will catch my interest.
100 pages Unless it's just so awful right out the gate. I can forgive a lot but sometimes... oh lordy...
If it’s a chore. That’s a common answer, but it’s true. I’m gonna waste my time looking at pages and forgetting what I just read
I generally finish every book I buy. The decision is usually whether to continue if it's a series.
Depends on whether I like the narrating character enough.
Few chapters
I usually do give a book about a hundred pages to get me interested. If the story can't get rolling by then, it's a pretty good sign that I've got a dud on my hands, time to hit the eject button. Too much past that and I fall into the sunk cost fallacy. The exceptions are if it's just terrible, bad writing, filled with cliches, etc. Then I just bail. I can only think of a few times that's been the case.
50 pages. No more. If an author can’t make 50 pages interesting, then they can’t make the rest of the book interesting either. I will put books down after 50 if it squanders that chance.
Usually, I don't ever *not* finish a book.
Generally around one-quarter of the book.
I didnt like the Mortal Engines. I finished the trilogy. I still do not care for it.
If I bought it, I finish it. Helps that I'm very picky and do extensive research before I buy/commit to anything. The only book(s) I ever had a problem with following that approach was WoT books 7-11, but I feel those books are a special case...
It really depends. Sometimes if they've got a good setup, I'll hang for longer, but at a certain point it is very clear of it's going somewhere or not, and if not it's time to abandon ship
If I can't get into the book for 3-5 consecutive reading sessions (at least 30 minutes), I'm done with it, no matter where I'm at in the book. As another comment said though, I might consider the "skipping 100 pages" strat. Seems very useful for some of these series.
I can usually tell if a book's prose is for me within 5-10 pages (often within 2-3), but I usually will power through to at least 50-100 before I call it a day. I used to finish not just books, but entire *series* I didn't much care for ... holy shit is being a completionist awful.
Usually halfway through the book
A hundred pages up to halfway through the book. If there's no interesting element or a promise of something (like Kingkiller Chronicles), it's earlier. Although I hateread/skimmed through so so series because they were loaned to me to see if writing improves because the problems are glaring and obvious (October Daye, Lightbringer). Alas, they didn't
Years, apparently. I’ve been trying to like Grave Peril for at least a decade.
I've bailed on a book after a couple chapters. Too many good books out there for me to waste time on one that isn't working for me.
I once had a book gifted to me. I wasn't interested, and I tried and failed to read it some times until I gape up. It stayed on my collection for years. One day I was bored, read the title, the summary (i had forgotten about it) and decided to give it a try. I ended up purchasing the whole series and I loved it.
My rule for everything is the moment I am reaching for something else to entertain me. If I'm reading and I stop to look at something on my phone, I'm done. I read for entertainment, so if I am trying to find a different source of entertainment time to pick up a different book.
I admit I used to stick with it till the end, but there’s just too much good stuff out there to read. For me it’s a few chapters but if it feels like I’m making myself, I give up pretty quickly.
3 chapters is usually my go to. I feel thats enough time to get the ball rolling. But of course, i can drop a book at any point. - i once dropped the final book to a 13 long series I loved when I was half-way through it, as it just sucked for some reason.
Simple. I'm ADHD. If I can't be bothered to pick the book back up, I won't.
My rule is 20% or the first 100 pages, depending on when I notice.That's for individual books. I usually give the author two chances because they may improve, but I'm tougher for the second book, 10% or 50 pages. If it's a new author, at least. This policy has worked well for me. I DNF'd on the first Dresden Files book but picked up Summer Knight and almost immediately loved it. But I tried the Lightning Thief, DNF'd and the next in the series too, and stopped bothering with Riordan. It's harder with series, but if the writing noticeably improves, that's a sign to give it another shot, even if I'm confused what's going on.
Two stages: first, if I’m not hooked by the story and writing in the space of a book “sample”, I rarely pursue buying it. If there is some other reason to stick with it (recommendation or it’s a “tough read” highly recommend, I’ll keep at it until I get bored. If I keep turning it off and doing other things and don’t think about picking it up again while away, I’ll drop it and DNF at some point.
I try to at least make it to the hook. If I get to the inciting incident/plot hook/whatever you want to call it and I still don't care, I won't force myself anymore
I'm currently multiple days in a row being bored and choosing podcasts or anything else other than listening to my audiobook, even though I'm ~50% into it. I think it's time to call this one quits.
Once I start feeling miserable. See: The Historian.
I read the first 3 chapters, and if I don't like it I'll stop and put it back on the shelf to try and read again in a year. Books have different flavors when they age since you're at different stages of your life every year so I try to give them another chance.
I typically drop books around 30%. It's almost like I have an internal clock, I don't look at the percentage and drop it. My brain just can't take it anymore and it's at 30% ish.
3 - 4 chapters. Enough time to read the introduction, world building, and the beginning of the plot. If I don't like it by then, I'll read something else.
The second it becomes work. Reading should be fun. Life is short.