I have a 75 page rule. Unless it's for class. Then I have to suffer.

I quit bad books all the time, based on as little as the first sentence.

If I really start reading a book, I try to give it 50 pages. That's usually more than enough to tell if it's any good.

The thread would be better titled "Do you ever finish a bad book?"

I sometimes will skip ahead a little just to see if it gets better. Sometimes it does get a better, it seems sometimes that the author has a little too much build up to the story so just skip ahead a chapter or 2. If that does not work then I find a new book.

I almost never give up on a bad book, must be the completist inside me or something.

I drop probably about 5 percent of what I start. If it's bad or if it simply fails to grab me, it's not worth my time.

The only book I ever put down was the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I got midway through the second book, discovered that there was no way I could care less about the history of the tree people and just dropped the book right there.

I'm guilty of this as well.

I made it through the entire series (see above), but for all of its legend, I found this a very laborious read.

I'll definitely quit a book if it's not holding my interest.

Too many entertaining books out there to waste time on something that isn't working for me.

Nope. If it doesn't hold my attention it isn't worth my time. Period.

The only time I did was with the Dune series. The first book was great, the second OK, the third eh, and the fourth, fifth, and sixth were painful for me.

Fred

I have never finished a bad book. I usually put weeks worth of effort into researching which book I will probably enjoy.

Not-great books, I'll try to finish if I'm enjoying it.
Bad books, no (unless I have to, and even then I'll try to get out of it). I give it a couple chapters, depending on the length thereof. I have come back and restarted a book I previously quit, and enjoyed it, but there are too many good books to waste time on bad ones.

No. Unless it's a Stephen King book.

I don't think I've ever not finished a book because it was bad. In fact in HS/college if I didn't get a book done in time, I still usually went back and finished the required books even after we'd had the test.

I'm certain I've never stopped a book that I chose for myself. It's rare that I read a book I don't like though. I'm either easy to please or always pick material I'll like.

There were some rough spots there. But I thought #5 was outstanding.

I will almost never give up on a bad book, it may take some time to finish.

lifes too short and for every bad book there are 5 good books waiting to be read by me..
i just hate when i invest time in a series and its fizzles out on like the 4th or 5th book
take the Dark Tower Series for example..started to fizzle in Wolves Of Calla then got about 1/4 of the way into Song of Susannah and just quit reading..

I usually don't but since having bumped into Koontz I have started drop books mid cycle. That guy cranks out like 3 a year when he should focus on just one for a full year. Plus bastard still hasnt made the third Chris Snow novel.

Same for me.

Very rarely do I quit a single book partway through (although I'll skip some of the non-plot stuff if it isn't holding my interest).

I've dropped several series partway through when I just can't take it anymore, for one that stupid L. Ron Hubbard 10 book series. I quit in the middle of book 7, how and why I got that far I will never understand.

Not making fun of the OP. I have a 72 page rule, if I can't get in to the book by the 72nd page - the book gets dropped. The Hobbit was one of the first notable books that was dropped. That was back in high school. Should probably try that one, again.

The first chapter is what normally catches me, though.

I made myself finish that series thinking it would get better after the major drop in excitement in the middle. It didn't, really. That one dragged on about four books too long.

Heh, that's pretty funny. Koontz is something else. Not a great writer, but I enjoy his books for the ideas he comes up with, hardly ever the execution. I would be just as happy to have someone just tell me what happened in a camp fire story kind of way.