Do you feel guilty if you don't finish reading a book?

[Ginnydoll]

If you are reading a book that you are not particularly fond of, do you finish reading it anyway? If you don't do you feel guilty about stopping before the end?

The only book I can think of that I couldn't get into was The Host by Stephanie Meyer
I did feel guilty and sometimes I think I should try to read it again, but I just couldn't get into it.

Maybe it's not guilt but more worry that I might miss the moment when the book turns into greatness...

[gali]

I have no troubles to quit a book. My time is too much valuable to waste on books that bore me. I read around 50 - 100 pages before deciding. If the book fails to grab my attention by then, I won't waste any more time on it. I may miss out a good book, but they are many other books out there.

I have read and enjoyed the "Host", but it is a matter of personal taste.

[TomBeck87]

I agree - books can be rather boring at times. If you were watching a film in the evening and it was woeful, you would probably change the channel or do something else. I feel a little bad when not finishing a book of course but it's no problem - I just start a new one.

[amandabaronas]

In most cases I just have to finish the book no matter how boring or bad it may be. When I start to read a book, I become connected to the story and I just cannot leave it without knowing the end. I am not sure that I would refer to it as a form of guilt, but more of a fear of missing out. I do not want to give up on a story because maybe I was not in the right mind frame to appreciate it at the time. I have placed many books back on the shelf to come back years later and devour it, but I will not just give them up.

[Ikiri81]

If i cannot get into a book or find myself reading it more out of force or to just finish it than pleasure, then I would have no problem in just giving up on the book. There are plenty of other good books. Reading is supposed to be enjoyable in my opinion, not looked at as a chore or boring. That can make a person not want to read or read less.

[Aubrey_Archard]

On the contrary, I find giving up certain books to be liberating!

No guilt here, just a good ole dose of subsequent library searching.

[DATo]

I used to, but I don't anymore. There are too many good books waiting to be read to waste my time with books that don't seem to be going anywhere. If an author is worth his/her salt they would be mindful of this when writing the book. That's the way I felt about Ender's Game and thankfully, in this one instance, I stuck it out and was rewarded at the end. Unfortunately this book was the exception and not the rule. I've found that more often than not if it stinks at the beginning and half way through it will probably stink at the end as well.

[Aithne]

Like DATo, I used to more than I do now. I've realised if I can't finish a book it's really, really bad...or really not my style of writing. In either case, I shouldn't be reading it. Occasionally I'll find a book I quite like but never have the concentration or will to finish (usually during my uni course) and these can make me feel guilty for a while but I have years yet to read the second half of those.

[Craigable]

Guilty? Yep. Always have. But then maybe that's just the former English major in me coming out. There are only a handful of books I've never finished. Fewer than five, I'd guess. "Naked Lunch" is one. Nothing else comes to mind immediately.

[Fran]

I don't feel guilty but if I start a book I will finish it .... sooner or later. It's just the way I am.
It does mean that I am careful about what books I start on and whose recommendations I take up.

[B_elk123]

Yes! I feel terrible if I don't finish a book. I feel like I have no right to review or claim to have read it if I leave it unfinished.

[buddyroo]

Yes, I feel a need to finish, to give it every opportunity to redeem it's self. I have stopped reading just a few books, and I still think about them. It's like an unreasolved chord in music, there has to be an end. But sometimes, a book just turns you off. I hate this part of my personality, I just want to forget it and move on. I have moved on, but not forgotten.

[haileyxxmarie]

Yes and No. If i generally like the book and then all of a sudden put it down and then forget about it i do. But if its a book that doesn't peak my interest after 6 chapters then no i do not real guilty.

[tabIRinribbons1313]

I really enjoy others validating my feelings on finishing a book. I have to finish anything that I start. It's almost an OCD thing. Normally it's okay, I consider it a personality trait: but when I complain about finishing a book, I wish I could just close it and walk away. My best friend has me read almost everything first. She reads slower than I do and she has no impulse control. I laugh every time I pick reading material up from her. I know if any of the covers are bent that this was a book that she tried to read first. When she gets bored or dislikes the book she just stops and throws it across the room. I guess it could be a personal rating system if I don't finish the book it must have some real problems.

[batessurveys]

It all depends on the circumstances. I was given a book for Christmas one year, and it took me about five years to finish it because I could never get into it.