There are all kinds of theories as to when you should give up on a book. I like the Rule of 50 put forth by Nancy Pearl which says that you should give a book 50 pages if you are under the age of 50 and if you are over 50, subtract your age from 100 and use that number. I'm a pretty fast reader though and sometimes I allow myself to continue reading a book for far too long.
Case in point, The Given Day
I guess I liked the characters well enough -- which kept me reading as long as I did -- but I don't really care if Luther ever gets back with Lila, or if Danny ever ends up with Nora, or gets his gold shield, or unionizes the police in Boston. And enough already with Babe Ruth! (There are these weird passages which are supposed to sort of link two stories here. They all include Babe Ruth and as far as I'm concerned, they have little value, break up the flow and make me wonder why an editor didn't convince Lehane to remove them.)
So there you have it. I've invested quite a bit of time in reading this book, but I just don't have it in me to finish. My mind keeps wandering to the other goodies sitting on my shelves and I find myself reading shorter bits of the book each night. It's time to say goodbye.
Up next: Slaughterhouse-Five
I confess that I rarely give up on a book in the middle ... though I did that with Dr. Strange and Mr. Norril ... it was either that or throw the thing across the room, I hated it so much. Usually by the time I'm deciding I'm bored silly with the book, I'm so far into it, I at least want an idea of how it ends--kind of like getting sucked into those really bad, maudlin, corny tv-movies that you sit there watching, wondering why an intelligent person is wasting her time, yet unable to look away without knowing exactly how the two leads end up together, or does the mother really die of cancer. I'm a sucker for a story--even a bad one!
Posted by: --Deb | Monday, February 09, 2009 at 08:32 PM