I go through as many as 5-7 books sometimes left unfinished (I usually get in 10 pages or less each) per every book I finish. I used to think maybe I don't like reading but when a book grabs me, I have no problem finishing it (and I have nothing against "big" books, I've read the entire Harry Potter series although I couldn't get more than 5 pages into The Hobbit).
Do you start more books than you finish? I'd say I average five started books per every finished one. I feel somewhat guilty but why force myself to read a book just to finish it when I could be enjoying something else?
Lastyear
10-03-08, 05:03 PM
I read about 3 books a week. I probably finish 95% of them, but I usually don't pick up books without some idea of whether I'm going to like it or not. If I don't finish something it's usually a novel like The Da Vinci Code which I just found very poorly written.
GatorDeb
10-03-08, 05:08 PM
That's another thing... I wish I could read that fast but I can only manage a book every two weeks if that :(
djmont
10-04-08, 04:34 PM
For most people, I think, your reading speed will increase the more you do it. (Reading is a skill like anything else and it takes practice to be good at it.) I would recommend trying to read when you don't have a lot of distractions. (It always amazes me when people "read" while watching TV, for example.)
GatorDeb
10-04-08, 06:42 PM
I've been an avid reader all my life. I hear that if you don't "sound out" the words you read faster, but I -have- to sound out the words and hear them in my head. I haven't really read in Spanish (my first language) in almost two decades so I don't know if English being my second language has anything to do with it. I like to focus on each word and let them wash over me :D
I timed myself and I read about 105 words a minute. 100,000 words would be about 16 hours for a regular novel.
Walter Neff
10-04-08, 08:49 PM
I actually finish more books than I start. I have no idea how it happens.
nodeerforamonth
10-07-08, 01:29 AM
no.
benedict
10-07-08, 03:51 AM
I actually finish more books than I start. I have no idea how it happens.:lol:
I don't think that I've ever started a book and deliberately not finished it. From time to time I put one down that I've nearly finished and pick up another for a long journey then take a time to return to the unfinished one.
Anyway, I'm reasonably selective but, even if it's a stinker, I'll persevere.
EDIT: Years ago, I twice read a few paragraphs of The Silmarillion. It wasn't my copy but it was sufficient to deter me from picking up the book to read in full. Maybe it'd be different now I'm not a teenager ;)
milo bloom
10-07-08, 10:08 AM
Not often, for better or for worse, I finish any book I start.
Notable exception: Anne of Green Gables. My wife still has these from her younger days, and I tried to read the first one a few years ago and just about put an icepick through my brain from the horror of it all.
iggystar
10-07-08, 11:07 AM
Not often, for better or for worse, I finish any book I start.
Notable exception: Anne of Green Gables. My wife still has these from her younger days, and I tried to read the first one a few years ago and just about put an icepick through my brain from the horror of it all.
Yeah, I think you'd have to be a teenage girl to really appreciate this series. I think I read them all. I mean, I loved the Ramona books back in the day, but I can't imagine reading them now.
mgbfan
10-07-08, 12:56 PM
I actually finish more books than I start. For every book I start, I probably finish 2 or 3.
GatorDeb
10-07-08, 01:27 PM
I actually finish more books than I start. For every book I start, I probably finish 2 or 3.
Walter Neff beat you to it :p
djmont
10-07-08, 03:09 PM
If you count reading a page or two, I quit more than I finish. If you're just going by reading 50 pages or so... I probably quit 1 in 5.
milo bloom
10-08-08, 11:22 AM
:lol:
I don't think that I've ever started a book and deliberately not finished it. From time to time I put one down that I've nearly finished and pick up another for a long journey then take a time to return to the unfinished one.
Anyway, I'm reasonably selective but, even if it's a stinker, I'll persevere.
EDIT: Years ago, I twice read a few paragraphs of The Silmarillion. It wasn't my copy but it was sufficient to deter me from picking up the book to read in full. Maybe it'd be different now I'm not a teenager ;)
I'd definitely try the Silmarillion again. I took it with me on a cruise a few years back, and was able to get several hour-long stretches of uninterrupted reading done between islands, and it was worth the effort.
scarface983
10-10-08, 05:29 PM
yes i do the same thing ive started like 3 books and havent finished any yet. i dont know y i do that
xmiyux
10-14-08, 09:05 AM
When i stop by the public library i will check out anything i'm mildly interested in and then give it about 25 pages to hook me.
Needless to say i start a ton of books that get taken right back to the library.
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