I generally give up after 100 pages or so if it hasn’t caught my interest by then.

Life is too short to slog through a book just because other people liked it.

If I get bored, I drop it. Maybe I miss out on some gems that ‘get good after the 7th chapter’ or whatever, but I’m not fussed

Could be the first chapter, ¾ through the book, halfway through a series… If I’m bored I’m out lol

There are millions of books, no need to waste your time on a bad one. I go by my gut; if someone I know recommended it I’ll stick it out longer. If it has lots of praise or I like the author I may read several chapters hoping it gets better.

I have no qualms quitting in chapter 1. I started Life of Pi and quit like 10 pages in because the main character is insufferable. I quit Dear Miss Metropolitan because I didn’t like the style of narration; the story sounds great but I don’t enjoy reading it so I move on.

Conversely, I’ve stuck it out with books that weren’t what I expected but still were interesting. Song of Achilles was one of those; it turned out to be a gay bodice ripper but by the time I found that out I was already interested in the storyline and wanted to see it through.

I have never been ashamed in just straight up throwing a book down if I’m not in pretty quickly. Not everything is going to be everyone’s taste, and classics of all genres can be dull if you don’t find the premise interesting. Too many books out there to slog through anything lol

When it becomes a chore. When the stupidity surpasses my ability to tolerate stupidity. When the writing is poor enough to detract from the story.

I’ll give it 100 pages. If I find I’m not excited to read it the next night, I’ll drop it. Too many books to waste time on something not resonating with you. If a book is good, it’ll happen before you have finished 100 pages. If the “good parts” only happen after the first 100 pages, I’ll drop it. Life’s too short.

If I get to about 40% of a book and I don’t care about what happens to any of the characters, I’ll just drop it.

I’ll usually flip to a random page in a new book and read a few paragraphs to see if I like the way the author writes. If it doesn’t click with me; phrasing, vernacular, etc, I won’t bother with it disregarding whatever the story is about.

30% in I ask myself if I want to continue. That’s a fair shake.

I try to do it before I even touch it. 😊

The best way to do that is to select your next reads by relying on your own previous reading (that gets easier as you read more), or on the opinions or recommendations of people that know you very well or have very similar tastes.

I haven’t abandoned a single book in years. The few times I was tempted to throw something aside, it was because I was misled by hype (and comparisons that seemed promising but didn’t deliver), or - most commonly - because someone gave it to me as a present.

@1019throw Depending on the length of the chapters, but usually 3-5 of them does the trick.

Either I’m hooked from the first sentence or I’ll never be. Simple as that.

I’ve always been a really fast reader so yeah if I don’t finish a book in the first couple of days I’ve pretty much lost all interest in it.

Around the point where you start looking for excuses not to read it and need to force your way through it

It’s very rare I give up on a book but that’s mostly because I choose books I know I’m going to at least find passable entertainment.

The one I should have given up on was “Annihilation.” I hated it starting about 20% in but kept going to see if it got any better. So many people loved it! Nope, in the end I was just angry at myself for reading that boring junk.