Reasons I Have Quit Reading Your Book This Afternoon

[swan_tower]

I really wanted to like your book, because it's so very much up my alley in terms of subject matter. But the writing just didn't work for me, on a fundamental level: too much dialogue that didn't sound like things people would say, too many places where one paragraph didn't lead into the next, too many one-line paragraphs chopping the whole thing up into kindling.

Man, my batting average is not very good right now.

Comments

[marshallpayne1.livejournal.com]

I’ve been enjoying these posts! I often have these same reasons. Sometimes it’s just that 100 pages was enough and I feel like sniffing out the prose and world of something else.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Hmmm -- 100 pages is rarely "enough" for me. It's either a good taste I want more of, or a bad/disappointing taste I'm actively putting down. But I think that may speak to the kinds of books I read, where there's usually a central and relatively strong plot I'm walking away from if I stop reading.

[marshallpayne1.livejournal.com]

I’m just not one of those readers who has to finish every book they start. Which is why I liked your posts, I guess. I used to try and reach The End on everything, but after reading so many novel over the years... Just saying there’s no crime in not finishing a book. Unless it’s one I’m writing. ;-)

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

I used to be the same. It's still hard for me to persuade myself to put something down, if I haven't bounced off the first five pages. (Those, I put aside very easily.)

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I often find that I go in streaks--finding things I'm really digging and then for whatever reason just a run of bad luck with books.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Some of it, I will grant, may be mood-related: I'm not in a terribly good mood right now, and so my patience for imperfect books is shorter than it might otherwise be.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Maybe. But I also often feel like I am plagued by actually worse books at times like that. This may be unfair, I grant.

[alecaustin.livejournal.com]

Possibly, but... you've often mentioned or described the books to me. I do not recall any instances where I felt like you were being notably unfair.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

I wonder if I'm more prone to picking up things I'm not sure I'll like when I'm in a bad mood, so as not to sour good books (or be distracted from them) by my annoyance with other things?

One might equally suppose I'm likely to pick up books I know I'll enjoy, so as to improve my mood. But I don't think I've ever paid particular attention to that question before, such that I'd be able to say for sure if I have a pattern in one direction or the other.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I think for me it's kind of the reverse: I'm more likely to pick up things with high levels of uncertainty, because, "HEY, this is AWESOME and I had NO IDEA!" will help a lot more when I'm in a bad mood than when I'm in a good mood.