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Started keeping a 20 page bail list and now I quit books way too fast, is that a problem?
I used to force myself through every book I started, even if I hated it by page 50. Then last fall I read a tip somewhere that you should quit a book once you know it is not for you, and to make it easier, keep a list of every book you bailed on. So I made a note on my phone called The Graveyard and started logging each one with the page number and a one line reason. I am now at 20 books bailed since November, which sounds bad, but here is the thing: I finally finished 9 books in that same stretch because I stopped wasting weeks on stuff I dreaded. My sister thinks the list is just an excuse to give up the second a book gets slow, and maybe she is right, because last month I quit a mystery at page 60 and my friend says the twist at the end makes the slow part worth it. So now I am stuck between two ideas: quitting early keeps me reading, but the list might be training me to bail before a book gets a chance. Where do you all draw the line, page count, gut feeling, or do you push through no matter what?
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reed.ray14d ago
Man, that Graveyard list is basically a data log on your own reading habits and I bet if you looked at those 20 reasons you would see real patterns, like half of them are probably "didn't care about the characters yet" instead of actual boredom. The fix might not be a page number at all but asking one question at that quit point: do I want to know what happens next? If yes, keep going even if it is slow. If you honestly do not care how it ends, that is not quitting early, that is just knowing yourself.
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