Book Hopping Pain

[Tower75]

Hi, all.

So, since about July I find myself in a situation where I cannot settle on any one book. I buy one, read about 100 pages, go: "meh," put it down, buy another one, read 70 pages of it, go: "meh," put it down, buy another one... etc., etc.

I've never book hopped like this before, seemingly I like everything and nothing all at the same time. Doesn't matter what the genre is, either.

Anyone else have this issue. It's actually quite sad, I love reading, I don't really want to be bouncing from book to book forever.

Maybe it's my brain telling me to write my own.

 

[Zoe Mackay]

Is it happening if you re-read a book you really like? I just sometimes get in a state where I don't want to read anything new.

 

[Tower75]

Haven't tried, to be honest. I don't do a lot of re-reading. I don't know if I've got any books I'd want to re-read at present.

 

[Zoe Mackay]

Gosh. How odd. I'd go bankrupt in a hurry if I didn't re-read.

 

[Tower75]

Reduced prices on Kindle books does help this condition... and shelf space. Haha.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I go through phases like this. I think it's partly to do with being a writer - I find it harder to engage now. But I usually come out of the phase and devour books again.

 

[Zoe Mackay]

Reduced prices on Kindle books does help this condition... and shelf space. Haha.

I used to have a saying "you only have too many books when you can no longer open your door for books". I then passed that point. The shelf space saving is the primary benefit of the Kindle for me.

 

[Brian G Turner]

So, since about July I find myself in a situation where I cannot settle on any one book. I buy one, read about 100 pages, go: "meh," put it down, buy another one, read 70 pages of it, go: "meh," put it down, buy another one... etc., etc.

I do this a lot, mainly because I push myself a lot to read books I wouldn't normally pick up. And I don't really enjoy a lot of them. But sometimes I discover gems and new authors.

However, to keep myself sane, I keep two reading piles - unknown books, and books I think I should enjoy. If I'm having trouble getting into any of the former, I pick up something from the latter.

 

[Vertigo]

Reduced prices on Kindle books does help this condition... and shelf space. Haha.

If this is purely an issue with cheap priced Kindle books then you may just be suffering from the mass of rubbish ebooks out there. Obviously I don't know what sort of authors you've been picking up but in my experience a very high percentage of the cheaper ebooks tend to be rubbish. Now I know that's a huge generalisation and I have picked up some excellent books from good established authors on cheap promotions but still, when you get right down to it, an awful lot of the cheap kindle market is pretty dreadful. My apologies, though, if I have misunderstood you there.

 

[Vince W]

I don't worry too much about this. I read for enjoyment and if a book isn't doing it form me I put it down and move on to something else. I may come back to it later, or not. It's my time and my money so I'll spend it as I see fit. I don't feel guilty about not enjoying a book.

 

[Michael Colton]

This is a common problem for me. It can be quite frustrating. Sometimes I cannot solve it, but when I am able to shake myself out of the rut it is usually through returning to something I know for certain I will gain insight through rereading such as Dostoevsky or it is by switching to history or biography for a bit. The simple inquisitiveness of desiring to learn about something can break the spell sometimes. I am currently in one of these phases, actually. I am unable to finish Consider Phlebus and everything else I have picked up just is not doing it for me right now. So I am reading Stephen Fry's second autobiographical book.

 

[Perpetual Man]

Nope, I can't say that I ever book hop. I just plod along reading what I'm reading. Sometimes, if I'm not really enjoying something I consider putting it down. Permanently. But I rarely do.

(As an aside I do read a few comics while on any particular novel, so that might segue into book surfing or something )

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Only ever maybe put one aside for a while and then later read it (I had to put "one of our Thursdays is missing" aside recently though. Wrecking my head after reading Enid Blyton St. Clares).
Also I read very quickly anyway.

 

[tinkerdan]

I have had this happen in waves.

It sort of goes like this; I'll pick up books from authors I like and get excited about reading and then I pick up some old stuff I really love and read that and then I've run out and don't quite feel like rereading them so soon again. Then I buy a few books that sound good usually by known authors and find that they are idea books with thin characterization and I only read them partway through.

For me I have to have characters that pull me through the book and says hey look here and here and oh wait you'll love this. Then maybe an oh oh where are we...how'd we get here...lookout.

I can generally get through one idea book. This was a great idea but the author never found the character to carry it. Granted: a lot of those can be found in the cheap ebooks, but just as large a percentage can be found in traditional. Of course some of my books come from library discards and the dollar table at Barnes and Noble.

The kindle and cheap ebooks have been a boon to me because it doesn't matter how many of the cheap ones I let pile up and I can usually find one that interests me somewhere in the pile.

But there is something to be said for digging into your writing because the worst parts of my reading cycle are generated by getting partway through something and saying, "I could do something better than this."

 

[The Crawling Chaos]

I'm going through such a phase right now.

It even started with a book I read more than three quarters of before I put it down in favour of another.

Although I'm sure it has to do with the fact that I buy a lot of books and my interest for one wanes when I get excited about my latest acquisition, I was also starting to worry about it since I noticed the phase had been going on for quite some time - about 3 months I think - and had also started to infect my movie watching habits. I start watching a film, then stop 20 minutes in, bored out of my mind to watch something else or do something else entirely.

I also think I have too much on my mind, constantly putting myself under pressure to write my own stuff, draw, research, while at the same time being a fervent adept of procrastination who likes to read and watch movies for "research purposes". I find that whenever I manage to spend a few hours doing actual work, it is easier to finally reward myself by watching a film in its entirety, or read through 100 pages in one sitting. So my lack of focus is clearly at least partly at fault here.

So hey, unfortunately I have not found a solution for us, but I wanted you to know I was right there with you.

 

[elvet]

So glad to hear other people are going through this. This year has been so bad, I made a Goodreads shelf just for my unfinished books.

 

[Tower75]

Nice to know it affects others.

Did it again last night, put down the (insert number)th/st book this month and I'm now reading a Stephen Hunt book, which is odd considering I put down one of his earlier ones last year, unread.

I like the above statement, though, I read for one reason: I love books and I love to read, so If one book's not doin' it for me, why not move on?

I do feel like I "could do better then this" some of the time, though. I've already got 5 whole pages of my own "work."

 

[Michael Colton]

I do feel like I "could do better then this" some of the time, though. I've already got 5 whole pages of my own "work."

This was a large factor in me deciding to try to actually learn to write. I have always had stories to tell and I always dabbled a bit, but it was not until I read some very popular work that I thought was awful that made me think I should give it a serious attempt in the sense of trying to actually learn and develop.

 

[biodroid]

Same here, I try a book, and if at page 50 the writer hasnt gripped me then sorry for you. If its a long book or any book and that book has a great ending but it takes a while to get to it then I stop. A book to me should have a lot of plot moving and interesting and exciting things happening throughout the book, drag me to the great ending, it should be great throughout. And I do not like boring books, stories dont have to have full out action but dont bore me.it took me about five years to finish A Game of Thrones. I do not care for the rest of the books coz it was a slog for me.

 

[The Bluestocking]

I have a whole pile of books-in-reading - bookmarks sticking out everywhere!

It just depends on my mood sometimes. Other times, it usually is down to having an overabundance of new books in my "To Be Read" pile and me trying to figure out which to read first and ending up starting a whole bunch of them to see if anything sticks...

If it helps, Lionel Shriver does have some words of wisdom about not feeling guilty if you can't finish a book:

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeands...not-to-read-books-lionel-shriver-do-something

Yeah. Life is too short to read books that don't engage you.