For a little while now, I've been trying to up my game when it comes…
How Many Books Do You Try Before You Quit?
I think I’ve said before, and I’ll say again, I’m a pretty laid back reader. I really am. If it’s possible to suspend disbelief, I’m there and it’s suspended. Something in the book has to be horrible, truly horrible, to get me to give up. But, if I read a book by a new-to-me author and have a sort of “Meh” reaction to it, chances are, I’m unlikely to go back. I *might* try one more book by them, particularly if the first I read was their debut (let me tell you folks, debut books…not all of them are awesome even if the writer is.)
But after that? Yeah, I’m done. It’ll take a lot of recommendations from good friends whose recommendations I trust before I go back yet again.
What’s odd to me is that this doesn’t appear to be normal for everyone. I look at reviews (not even talking about mine, for other folks’ books) and I see the same readers reviewing book after book by the same author and saying how it just wasn’t good, wasn’t what they expected, wasn’t enough. And I want to reach into the computer and give that person a little shake and ask, “Why don’t you quit reading them?!” I mean, if after two or three books, you don’t like their books? Why don’t you just assume they’re not the kind of author who writes what you want to read?
So I’m curious, what’s your cutoff?
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I 100% agree with you Elizabeth! I am an avid reader and if I like an author I will continue to read their books, but if I do not like a book I will not continue to read books by that author. You are one of my favorite authors, along with a few others and I’ve read many. Keep up the awesome work! I consider you one of my friends!
Thanks Linda!
I will say, if I have a history with an author of books I’ve enjoyed previously, I don’t give up right away if I hit a bad one. Sometimes bad books happen. 🙂
There are too many good books in the world to waste time on mediocre ones! I’ll always finish a book (because sometimes the second half is better and because I’m kinda compulsive about that sort of thing), but I won’t pick up a second one by the same author unless it has won some kind of award. What’s more disappointing is when you love the first book you read, but the second is bad.
The bad second book can definitely be disappointing – I’m much more likely to try a third in that situation though than if the first was disappointing. I tend to finish as well — you’re right, sometimes the endings are a good surprise!