That could never work for me personally. A book isn't something that's uniform in quality or engagement throughout, in fact they're often predictably lopsided where the the first few pages are getting you familiar with the characters and setting. I also have to know the ending to even begin to think about the book as a whole. Never not finished a book myself and I read a lot - can't say I loved every book I've ever read, but I don't regret the time spent finishing them, even the least enjoyable ones.
>Never not finished a book myself and I read a lot - can't say I loved every book I've ever read, but I don't regret the time spent finishing them, even the least enjoyable ones.
I agree. I read a lot of books too, and I've only given up on a few. Mostly I don't remember what they were (after all, I disliked them enough not to finish them), but BattleField Earth[0] comes to mind. Gosh, what an awful read. Never did finish that one. Ugh.
Other than those few, I'm not sad I finished any of the books I wasn't that into.[1]
Authors pay a lot of attention to the first few pages of their books, and try to expose the best aspects of their writing style there in order to hook you in. I try to remain conscious of this as I read in order to better anticipate the style and content curation that follows.
> I don't regret the time spent finishing them
I think this is a different take than many others would have on the topic of reading. I know I regret spending time reading things that do not "spark joy", to put it pithily.
For fiction, I flip a book open to about 1/3 of the way through and read a paragraph or two, which generally tells me everything I need to know. That avoids the unrepresentative intro portion—I appreciate a punchy and/or gripping opening scene, but it's not very well correlated to how much I'll enjoy the rest of the text.
It's weird, there aren't that many ways of choosing a set of words to convey something, and yet an author's voice and style comes through roughly the same no matter where I sample from (except for the overworked parts, which usually includes the beginning.) And it usually comes through strong, which is great: sometimes I think my reading diet is mostly about sampling a variety of good-tasting styles of mental processing. (Sadly, that does mean that co-written books hardly ever work for me. The voice is muddled. It's rare that authors are able to meld their work truly synergistically.)
>Sadly, that does mean that co-written books hardly ever work for me. The voice is muddled. It's rare that authors are able to meld their work truly synergistically.
I thought the authors of the Expanse[0] series did a pretty good job with that. AFAICT (but I have no way to confirm this), they split the storytelling so that each plot arc is consistent and speaks with a single voice.
I can certainly see how multiple authors could muddle the "voice", but I think the quality (or otherwise) is more a function of storyboarding/universe creation and how well that's done collectively by the authors.
Please note I'm not really disagreeing with you and, as a rule, your observation jibes with mine. Although (as I mentioned) there are some exceptions.
There's a wide range of emotions and impact I expect from good writing - joy is nice, but hardly required for me. A couple of my favorites I've read several times like East of Eden or Brothers Karamazov end up being more like fundamental changes to who I am rather just experiences of emotion, neither being very joyous.
Very much agree, no shame in dropping a work you started if it isn't as good as it seemed. Also skipping ahead in books and skimming articles can help.
In simple words, don't be afraid to put down a book before you've finished it if it hasn't seized you in the first pages.