What makes you STOP reading?
I recently read an article about what makes people stop reading a book.It got me thinking about my own reading habits. I've always been an avid reader and when I started up this blog five years ago (!!) my reading tastes rapidly expanded. I had review requests on backlog and was reading 10-20 books a month. When I first started out, I felt like I had to read a book if i'd committed to reviewing it, even if the story was not my cup of tea. I'd power through and then feel terrible for giving it a low rating.These days with a part-time job, an online business, writing projects on the go and a one year old daughter- life is super busy! I don't have time to read books I don't like. I'm soo much fussier these days and if a book doesn't grab me then I put it down and I don't pick it up again.
Top 5 reasons I stop reading:
- I don't care about the character (and probably never will)
- The story starts strong but goes nowhere
- The story starts slow and goes nowhere
- I'm not hooked by page 50 (or at least wondering about what will happen next)
- The dialogue is clunky
Essentially, character development and pace is most important to me. Of course there are exceptions to the norm like Jane Eyre (unlikeable characters) and Burial Rites (slow pace) but if the book meets all five points then it's definitely one that I'll dump in the DNF (did not finish) pile.I have a busy schedule and when i read a book it's my chance to relax and unwind. So, if I pick up a book it needs to worthy of my time :-)I'm interested to here from other readers, what makes you stop reading a book?