This week’s topic is:
Why would you, as an author/reader, abandon (stop reading) someone else’s book?
Yes, I have abandoned books in the past. I have an ‘Abandoned‘ shelf on Goodreads, but some authors objected to me adding their books and asked me to remove them. The 5 books I have on there at the moment I tried to read so long ago that I’ve forgotten why I stopped reading them. However, I can tell you what the probable reasons were, which I’ll list below (in no particular order).
- Poor spelling / grammar: This tells me the author hasn’t made much effort to produce a reasonable story.
- A book that’s written in too young a style: This is fine for children, but not for me.
- Boring: Sorry, but if I start skipping over pages because it’s going nowhere, then I’ll probably end up abandoning it.
- It’s in a genre I can’t get on with: This includes Fantasy (the worst one for me unfortunately), cosy mysteries, Sci-fi, horror and erotica.
- It’s too long: I prefer shorter novels up to about 70 – 80,000 words.
- Too many characters: I’m an old lady now and get confused!
- Characters with names that nobody’s ever heard of: I’ll look at the blurb, and if the names are outlandish, then my heart sinks…
- A picture with a half naked unshaven man on the cover, or a cover with a woman pouting and wearing very skimpy clothing.
- Lots of plot holes: Again, the author hasn’t made much effort to fill them in.
- Too many conversations in local dialect: Can’t understand it if I’m not local to that area.
Do you abandon books? Why? Click on the blue button below to take part in this week’s hop, or just leave a comment.
Rules:
- Link your blog to this hop.
- Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
- Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
- Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
- Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.
Stevie Turner 
I don’t give up on many books. That’s probably because I don’t start reading them if they aren’t in a genre that interests me. Most of the reasons you give might prompt me to give up, though if I’m enjoying the book I try to overlook them. Unless I’m being bored witless, that is!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Interesting post. I’m happy to say that I haven’t abandoned but a few books. When I buy a book I’ve usually already read the blurb and looked inside to read a bit before buying to get my clues, but like you some genres just don’t draw me in no matter how great the book may be. Fantasy and Sci-Fi are 2 to mention. Although there have been the odd exception because I just enjoy certain author’s writing. But dialect writing that makes me have to stop and pause to decipher something too many times will have me leaving too. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
We seem to like reading the same genres. I often buy the books you review!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lol ditto my friend!!! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good post. This is a bit of a tangent, but when I’m having a rough day and need a smile, I take a look at the books with the half naked men on them because the titles always give me a good eye roll and a laugh. “The Err of the Earl.” 😀 😀 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
And impossibly handsome cowboys…
LikeLike
I avoid the genres I don’t care for — usually, but sometimes I’ll click on a blurb or pick up a book in a store and think “Interesting. Like that concept” and give it try. I’ve read both romance and cozy mystery, both yawn-worthy genres in general because of that, Some authors break the mold and make it worthwhile. Erotica, though, feels like I’m mentally cheating on my husband and I’ve never really cared for horror — unless it’s similar to the horror in the original Alien movie.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes the ‘cosy’ books to me are also yawn-worthy. Erotica and horror – yuck…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Reblogged this on aurorawatcherak.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for the re-blog.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I seldom abandon a book but if I do, it is because of point number 1. I know there will always be a few errors in books but when there are many it really bothers me. I don´t even bother reading a genre I don´t like. Too many books, too little time to read something I´m not interested in. That doesn’t mean others won´t enjoy it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Absolutely. We all have our favourite genres.
LikeLike
Poor language choices. Not profanity, but too many words thrown together like a stew of illogic in an attempt to convey a scene/emotion. I have no idea why authors do it.
Really bad/over-reaching patois or inconsistent dialect. The infamous pirate talk pidgin English comes to mind. I read a “southern” book recently where ony da black folk tawk funny, eh?
Too much set decoration. “…lined with multi-tiered lush subtropical foliage and palm trees” works much better than the names of 15 or 20 plants and trees. The same may be said of any set location that spills over into travelogue.
Lots of characters are fine as long as the author understands character wrangling/herding. I studied MacDonald and Hammett both for their crowd scene handling. I had a guy get a Hollywood celebrity for charity female softball team dumped on him. Work that one.
I really don’t care if a story is “about” something specific, a spoken goal, a crusade, as long as it is an entertaining caper. People make a lot of noise about goals and motivation blah blah and I would point to “North by Northwest” and any number of Hitchcock films. Tell a good story, I’ll read it. Too much “authenticity” and not enough story and I’ll put it down.
Funny what you said about characters, though. A friend used to read all the Clancy et al franchise spy, conspiracy etc and he gave up because it was too hard to keep track of the alphabet soup of agencies and characters. “Give me 007,” he said. “One guy, some bad guys, M, Moneypenney, a random broad. That’s all I need.”
In an effort to look “writerly” we sometimes forget simplicity.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yes, I prefer not to have to get my head around too many characters. Patois I’ll skip over. I once read a traditionally published book that described everything down to the nth degree. Yawn. Not sure how it ever got published.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The Brits are full of examples of lit overkill from the sainted Dexter who can turn a body in the woods into a three inch soap opera to PD James describing a country kitchen for a page and a half. My most recent was James Lee Burke’s Dave Robicheaux novel(s) that were more of a horticultural tour of coastal Louisiana than crime novels.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lol! I suppose it increases the word count. Take away all the descriptions and you’ll be left with something that takes only half an hour to read.
LikeLike
The up the word count tradition may be based on the old method pf paying authors by the installment. (see Charles Dickens) The longer an author could make his story, the more he’d get paid.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Pay by the word. Why moby dick is a good short story buried in a how to whaling manual.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah, didn’t know that.
LikeLike
WRT Indie authors, I usually follow the blog for a while before I buy so I have a good idea of the author’s style and attitude towards writing. I have never been disappointed, or abandoned, a book by one of the Indie authors in my writing communities. I have abandoned traditionally published books, usually because they write to a formula and I have worked out the ending half way. I read the end and if I am right I abandon the book. Sometimes I stop reading a book because it is to violent and horrible.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Since I have been Indie (six years), I find that I read less trad and more Indie, for the same reasons
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes I agree – I don’t like overly- violent books either. I have often read the ending first too! I also always read magazines starting from the end first.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Formula writing is one of my pet peeves too, and can’t understand why it sells so well. Having worked in a library for a number of years gave me no insight into the matter, except that those kinds of books were popular among certain reader groups.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Fair enough, I wondered because I like to mix my sci-fi with other genres, like cosy or psychological or Victorian (steampunk). I’m not a huge fan of “hard” sci-fi, especially if the setting or premise makes little sense in relation to the world of today.
LikeLiked by 2 people
One man’s meat is another’s poison, Richard. I love sci fi and cosy mysteries.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Totally agree, I would hate to recommend mine,……
LikeLiked by 1 person
Many people do, for sure.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree with you on most of the points, as a writer of cosy mystery and Scifi (in fact, I combine the two in my Andorra Pett adventures), number 4 is interesting though. Why don’t you like them?
LikeLiked by 1 person
For me a story has to be based on reality, so I just can’t handle sci-fi. Cosy mysteries are rather bland in my opinion. Sorry to be so negative, but we all have favourite genres I suppose. My favourite one is to curl up with a good psychological thriller.
LikeLiked by 1 person