Top Ten | Reasons I Can't Finish A Book

Books are great. They give us enjoyment, ideas, knowledge . . . book boyfriends. Plus, someone worked really hard to put those words onto paper. The least we can do is give it a shot, right?

I read fiction. Mostly fiction. I mean, I can’t even tell you what the last non-fiction book I may or may not have eyeballed was. I might have just looked at the cover…I don’t know.

*awkward silence*

Anyway, I read to lose myself. Reading about actual people with real problems no matter how uplifting and inspirational brings me down and that’s the opposite of why I read. I also can’t do cookbooks, business books, history . . . okay, basically, anything not fiction. I like my made up stuff, okay?

But there are fiction books I’ve been unable to finish for various reasons. I don’t normally like talking about them because I feel bad. Some person put their heart and soul into those words and it just wasn’t for me.

True fact (and I’m going to lose friends over this, but…): I’m not a fan of Shakespeare or Jane Austen. 😬

Yeah. Not even a little. I tried. I gave both multiple chances. I just can’t. But then there are books I absolutely loved that no one else did.

So, it just goes to show you that not all tastes are the same and we like what we like. And I never judge another person for their reading choices. So few people read nowadays that alienating a fellow reader is like throwing a fellow survivor to the zombies.

We need to regroup and fight together!!

Aside from just listing all the books I couldn’t finish and why, I’m just going to tell you why I sometimes can’t finish a book. Now, by no means is this anything written in stone and I am not hinting at any one book. I have been known to overlook a lot of these on occasion and wound up surprising myself by liking the book in the end (or not liking, but at least a chance was given).

But let’s begin.

1) The Hook — this is probably a given. I’m sure I’m not the only one, but if I’m not immediately drawn into the story by at least the third chapter . . . We’re going to have to part ways.

2) Pace — like the hook — the book needs a good pace, something steady with a reasonable revealing of information.

3) Information Dump — I like knowing all the things, but not everything all at once. Too much stuff makes my brain fall asleep and that defeats the purpose.

4) Character . . . Everything — this one is going to be a bit long so bear with me.

Because the characters are the reason we’re reading this book and the reason we’ll keep reading it, it’s important to have good ones. But a lot of the time (a lot!) the reason the book is set aside is because the hero/heroine is . . . Not great.

— Character Attitude — they’re insufferable. They’re annoying, whiny,or rude. Other times, they’re just dull, lifeless, dry. I don’t expect award winning character writing. Each one is written a certain way for a reason (in the author’s mind). So, unless there’s a real reason why a character is the way they are . . .

— Character Decisions — I understand that choice is a freewill we all possess and we should always do what we feel is right, but when the situation is clearly dire, it’s not the time to be stubborn just for the sake of pride. I can’t express how much this infuriates me. Like, it’s not cute or empowering. Stop and look at what you’re doing. Apply some common sense!

— Character Description — this kinda falls into info dump, but with characters. When you learn everything about them in the first chapter, then it branches off to cover their family and friends and their families and their pets and the sandwich that lived behind the dumpster and the brick that fell on the sandwich and the person who set that brick into the wall of the building positioned in the city owned by . . . Do you see what I mean?

This could also fall under pacing, I guess.

— Character Names — this is a two parter.
*Names I can’t pronounce.
*Too many names

Often times, mostly in sci-fi and fantasy books, I can’t tell if the author fell asleep on the keyboard, woke up, saw the scrawl of letters on the screen and thought, hmm, yes, I like that! Or what, but no name should have eighteen syllables in random order and the blood of a virgin.

The other is a stream of characters all with complex names, some who match, others we only hear about once then never again. Like . . . Why!? We get whole back stories and pages of information for characters we will never met again and have zero purpose driving the plot forward.

Also see Character Description.

5) Author Behavior — there are a few authors I will never read just because of how they have behaved in the past. Some are just arrogant, others harmful to their readers or others. No matter how great their books may be, I won’t support them. It’s just a personal choice.

6) Over Description — basically like Character Description, but with things. Like describing the stitching on clothing, or the veins on a leaf. I know a lot of people really enjoy over description and that’s fine. I, unfortunately, start to lose focus in the story and my brain starts moving to other objects and I forget what I’m reading, that I’m reading.

7) Run-on Series — Five million books later and we’re no closer to wrapping it up. I think the longest series I ever really dedicated myself to was Harry Potter and everything by Rick Riordan, because the man is a genius!

True Fact: I almost couldn’t finish Percy Jackson, The Lightning Thief.
I couldn’t get into the book at all. A friend pushed me to get through it and I have never been so happy! So, you see? Sometimes . . . sometimes it’s okay to break your own rules! Sometimes, things turn out better than expected, so don’t set everything into stone.

8) Me — I’m not in the right place for THAT book. It happens. I mentioned in my Friday Read post on (you guessed it) Friday that I have to be in the mood for certain books. A time and a place. So, if I’m not in the mood for that type of book, reading it won’t change my mind. So, I put the book aside until I can get back to it.

9) Bad Romance/No Romance — I love romance. You can tell because I write it. But sometimes, I’ll read a book and the relationship between the H & h will make me uneasy. This is a tricky topic and I’m sure a book just popped into your head, and you could be wrong or right. I don’t know what you’re thinking. But the fact is that sometimes the “alpha male” comes off . . . not so great.

Maybe this can fall under Character Attitude? Maybe.

10) I am coming up blank. Honestly, it took a lot of brain scratching and head banging to come up with ten whole things. I’m really not this picky. I always give every book my whole attention and I give it as many chances as I can before accepting it wasn’t meant to be. I have gone back and tried to reread certain books, Hunger Games being one of them. That was another one I gave up on . . . EIGHT TIMES! But I kept going back and trying again and now, it’s one of my favorites. I kid you not, I’ve reread it like five times. But let’s pretend there’s a number ten here and it’s thoroughly explained.

What book did you give up on only to go back and find you actually enjoy it?

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