I read many books, obviously. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have anything to talk about here every week. Well, let’s be honest, I would find something to talk about… I try to be honest about the books I did and didn’t like. What I don’t usually talk about it the books I don’t finish.
Some people finish every single book they start. I don’t. There are too many books in the world for me to drag myself through a book I dislike. Such as the other day, when I solemnly removed the book mark from a book. I had high hopes for this book, I like the author, and it is popular right now. People love it, but it didn’t click with me, so I didn’t finish it.
I do have parameters for the books I can stop partway through and never look back. If it is boring, I have to finish it. If I am mad at the characters, I take a break, and then come back to it later. If it is due at the library and I have already renewed it two times, I write down the page number and return it without making eye contact with the librarian…
Sometimes, I just don’t like a book for other reasons than listed above, so I remove my book mark, or shut the book, with a sad sigh. It has nothing to do with how good a book may be. A book may be excellent, and I still don’t like it.
For example, I did not finish ‘The Unmaking of June Farrow’ by Adrienne Young. The writing is excellent, the characters are interesting, I really like the authors other works. (‘Spells for Forgetting’ is amazing) But I thought the book was a portal fantasy, and it isn’t. It’s time travel. I have a deep rooted personal preference against time travel, it drives me crazy. So I stopped reading it. I would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who likes time travel with some romance. It is a great book, just not for me, so I didn’t feel the need to finish it.
The most recent book I didn’t finish is ‘The Familiar’ by Leigh Bardugo. A popular book right now, I am pretty sure? (I don’t always know, I live under a rock…) The world of the book is very, very interesting, and I enjoyed the setting. But about a quarter of the way through the book I realized I didn’t care about the main character at all. I had no emotions for her. I didn’t care if she lived, died, disappeared from the story, or anything else. In fact, I liked one of the antagonists waaaay more than the main character. Which, good for the author in making a sympathetic antagonist! Honestly, if someone could have promised said protagonist would have a redemptive arc and a happily ever after, I would have finished the book (maybe). But it didn’t look like it. Again, there is nothing inherently wrong with the book, I didn’t connect with the character, so I moved on.
Life is short, read good books you like. It doesn’t matter if the book is insanely popular or has won awards. It doesn’t matter if no one has ever heard of it. Books are forms of art. I do not enjoy all forms of art, though I can appreciate all forms of art. I have the style of books I love, and some I don’t. This is not to say that I never struggle through a book that is not my favorite, or branch out to other genres. It just means that I don’t pressure myself to finish every book I ever started. There are too many books in the world for that. Read what you love, try new things, don’t read the books you dislike. Simple as that.
Shaina Merrick
The Beauty of a Story 