Book Chat - CLOSED by original moderator discussion

Anyone familiar with this one? Title: Bones of Grace by Aman I started it but I’m thinking of abandoning it bc plot sounds cliche’. She marries someone other than the person she loves but always thinks of the man she really wants to be with. I’m just basing that on summary on jacket and reviews. Worth continuing?

I think only you can decide whether a book is worth your time to read. If I am not sure about a book, I'll put it to one side and start reading short stories (I don't like to read more than one full length novel at a time). If I don't want to go back to the book I put aside within 2 or 3 days, I don't think it's for me. I'll ditch it and start something that looks more interesting.
I hope this helps.

So I might not pick up a book based on its description but I never abandon it based on one. I've eventually ended up reading and being full on obsessed with books or series that I kept passing over because the description was bleh or sounded too cliche. I've had the reverse too where the description sounds perfect and I read the book and I'm like um where was the book you described on the cover. So my personal rule is check out the one and two star reviews on Goodreads, see if they are complaining about the same things that irk me about a book (if you rate a book 1 star because you just aren't into that kind of book, and people will say that in their review, then you don't understand the concept of reviewing and should be put in review timeout, and I don't do the five star reviews because I've been burned by those too many times where it's saying a book is perfect and then it hasn't been edited or kills off one of the main characters destroying their connected group and leaving the bad guy uncaught with literally none of the plot points wrapped up even though it is the last book in the series and the five star reviews is all yay! Best ending ever!). Even then I usually read at least the free sample portion to get a feel for if the book is going to hook me. So I recommend reading the sample if you havent bought the book, if you have read the first 20% or so and then see where you are on your enjoyment.

Lucie wrote: "... personal rule is check out the one and two star reviews on Goodreads, see if they are complaining about the same things that irk me about a book ..."

What a good strategy. I wish I'd thought of this, it could have saved me from some books that were not my type of book even though they sounded good from the synopsis.
An equivalent method for when you are browsing in a bookshop or in the library is this:
Read the synopsis to assess whether it seems like your type of book. Open it to a fairly early page (say around a 1.4 of the way through) and read the page.
If you are wondering about the characters and plot (e.g. who is David? Why is it so bad that he's gone to Paris?) then there's a very good chance you'll enjoy the book. If you are not interested don't bother with it. You won't like the book.
I tested this method using my local library. I made a note about whether I was "meh!" or interested in the page I'd read and what I thought of the book after reading or abandoning it. It really works.

I never used to "give up" on a book, but the older I've gotten, there just is not enough time to read everything that is on my Wish List!
My rule of thumb now is if the story does not engage / engross me by page 100, I will either set it aside or abandon it all together.

Since I hadn't read Faust (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe), I decided to give it a go. I actually enjoyed Part 1, but I struggled through Part 2. After reading over 100 pages into Part 2, I had to abandon it. Part 1 had a story to tell, but Part 2 was a mishmash of events happening that was difficult for me to keep straight. I don't like to give up on a book, but I think that sometimes you have to in order connect with something that will better serve your time and knowledge.

Sue wrote: "...My rule of thumb now is if the story does not engage / engross me by page 100, I will either set it aside or abandon it all together."

I must be impatient. I give them 50 pages! My scheme of reading a page early on in the book usually screens out the books I won't like before I get them, but I still have to "bail out" occasionally.

Robert wrote: "Since I hadn't read Faust (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe), I decided to give it a go. I actually enjoyed Part 1, but I struggled through Part 2. After reading over 100 pages into Part 2, I had to aban..."

I'm impressed you even tried to read it!

Life is too short to continue reading a book you dislike.....

Kimberly wrote: "Life is too short to continue reading a book you dislike....."

Agreed. When I was youngster if I started a book I always finished it. Now that I am an adult, an older adult at that, I avoid reading books I dislike.

I'm loath to abandon a book. There have been a few that were real slogs, but VERY few I have outright dropped. I don't want to mention names...

There have been a few books with horrible editing and some with less serious (but equally annoying) issues like misuse of jargon or specific terms in the book. I make it past those.

The only books I have completely dropped have been due to stories I just couldn't follow. I made it through one recently that seemed like when it was converted to Kindle it moved a bunch of the paragraphs (dialogue was VERY difficult to follow... one speaker would be in three one line paragraphs and the next three would all be in one long paragraph), but hit another where the first 30% of the book seemed like the backstory... as in told in the past tense. Then I figured out we weren't rehashing what had gone before, but that this WAS the book. It was like reading a transcript of a small child telling a story "and then... and then... and then..."

Now, when it comes to series, I discard reading more of the series all the time. I'll read a single book... but I'm NOT going to read a series full of bad editing, weak plots or transparent characters. And I REALLY hope none of the books I author come across that way. Free or not.