Open Thread for Readers for April 2026
Got a book you want to talk about? Frustrated with a book or series? In love with a new one? Found a buried treasure? An issue that keeps popping up in the books you are reading? Just want to chat about stuff in general? Post about it here!
I’m curious. When do you know to call it a day with a book that isn’t working for you?
I’ll recommend Rescue Me by Sarra Manning.. The cover copy says “Two Lonely People. One Good Dog” and it’s the perfect description.
@Jayne: Sometimes I’ll stop reading after the first paragraph.
@Jayne: It varies widely but I try to give books between 25 and 50% before I call it a day, unless there’s something egregiously wrong before (or after) that, or if I have other shiny books calling out from my TBR pile.
E.G., I have tried to get into thrillers because they are so popular, but I stopped reading The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley at 40% because every single character was unlikeable. Also I do not enjoy plots in which everybody knows What Happened except the MC. The author doles out clues little by little but when the truth is revealed, it’s not all that interesting.
@Jenreads: Yep, done that, too.
@Jenreads: Oooh, I’ve not heard of this author before. Thanks for the tip.
I have dropped books after a paragraph, a page, a chapter, or even when three quarters of the way through. (The last is most painful.) I stop if the book does not grab my attention or if it loses it. I abandon books with abandon. I also know that if I had only one book on hand that I would likely finish it.
@Kareni:
Ouch. You’re right about that.
@Jayne: I used to try to give a book 50 pages or 20%, whichever was greater, but no more. Life’s too short, and, if a book doesn’t grab me, I give up. I will say this: if there’s nothing egregiously wrong with the book and it’s just not capturing my attention, if it’s a book I got from KU, I will scroll to the end of the book so the author gets full credit for the read.
Oh this very much depends ( when I will abandon the book I do not like/ does not grab my attention) on whether I plan to review the book before I start or not. Since I very rarely/ almost never take ARCs I often make a decision on whether I want to review the book before I start reading . So if I have no plans to review it, I will abandon early enough if the book does not interest me. If I do have plans to review, I will persevere ( that usually means the book won’t be highly graded obviously).
I borrow so many books that sound so good that I want to read so bad— but usually I can tell within the first 5-10 pages if its going to captivate me and I want to keep reading or not. My husband always makes fun because he can tell which books I am into ( the ones I read throughout the night and can’t put down! Or read at the table or whenever I can), and the ones I start but never finish. I often have problem of wanting to finish a book because I like some part of it , or believe it will get better. I tend to also have two categories of books— ones that are ok not captivating but not bad… and ones that are so bad I can’t finish them. Lately I had a book that got my attention with the premise and the writing but went south real quick….. I kept reading and finished it and wanted to hurl it all the wall.
The book that I hated by the end was The Debtors Game by Isabelle Mongaue. First off— she had an intriguing epigraph from a famous writer I admire David Graeber. The cover was cool. The description was interesting — a good concept I haven’t seen before and it had potential to blend genres, romance with Marxism and class warfare, fantasy and social critique. Too bad the book devolved into messy slop. I hated that I wasted precious reading time on it !!!! Time I’ll never ever get back.
If I’m going to give up on a book it’s usually pretty early on. Looked at my reading log to find DNF books but realized I usually don’t include them because I didn’t read all that much.
Didn’t like the characters in THE AUSTEN AFFAIR so gave up on that at about 50 pages. Hated THE EMPRESS MURDERS. Stuck it out through most of the book because it’s a mystery and I wanted to know whodunit, finally gave up and just skimmed the end. OTOH, there were some books I didn’t like at first but liked very much by the time I finished, such as Richard Russo’s EMPIRE FALLS and Niall Williams’ THIS IS HAPPINESS. The only reason I kept reading those two was that they were highly recommended by my son (the Russo) and a good friend (the Williams). Once I’d told them I’d started the books I didn’t feel I could stop without insulting them or hurting their feelings, and I wound up very glad I continued. I’ve since learned that many others (including Ann Patchett) also felt that THIS IS HAPPINESS starts slowly but is well worth the initial labor.
Has anyone else tried asking ChatGPT for book recs? I have found it pretty good (certainly better than Goodreads and Amazon) for recommending similar books based on books I say that I like. I think it’s using Reddit forums and websites like this one to find similar books and I can attest to its being an effective tool in this case. I told it I like uprooted and the goblin emperor and it found me radiance by grace Draven. Also, it uses affirming language like “you have good taste” which is nice. It makes me think I should endeavor to say more things like that in my online and real life interactions