How long do you give it before you give up on a bad book / film?

[Me76]

I have only recently started giving up films or books as a bad job if I'm not enjoying them and still find it quite hard.

For a film I would go for about 40 minutes. For a book about a third of the way through.

I still feel like I am losing little bits of my life on rubbish but can't seem to pull out any earlier.

 

[bi0boy]

Film about 20 or 30 minutes, but I'd never walk out of a film at the cinema so tend to be a pit picky about what I see on the big screen.

Book about 12 pages.

 

[8115]

I think it depends how crap it is. Some things I put down after the first page, sometimes it takes two years before I finally acknowledge things aren't working.

 

[youngian]

but I'd never walk out of a film at the cinema so tend to be a pit picky about what I see on the big screen.

I held this rule all my life until someone persuaded me to see Star Wars- Attack of the Clones. Amazed I lasted over an hour.

 

[Firky]

Films I can give upon within minutes, books I usually make myself read the first 100 pages. TV... I go off the synopsis online.

 

[Frances Lengel]

Unless it's properly shit, I'll read a book til the end. Though I seldom pick up a crap book coz I've got pretty good taste. I'll watch a shit film til the end as well just so I can go on about how shit it is.

 

[Greebo]

If it hasn't improved by halfway through, I give up.

 

[8115]

I'd never walk out of a film at the cinema so tend to be a pit picky about what I see on the big screen.

I realised a while ago that I have a very limited cinema diet (arthouse blockbusters/ must-sees) because of this.

 

[camouflage]

I have only recently started giving up films or books as a bad job if I'm not enjoying them and still find it quite hard.

For a film I would go for about 40 minutes. For a book about a third of the way through.

I still feel like I am losing little bits of my life on rubbish but can't seem to pull out any earlier.

Films, too varied to say. books, I've fallen in love with books by the second page, might give a book till about fifteen before bailing though. On a couple of occasions I've dropped a book for offending my sensibilities on page one.

 

[DexterTCN]

I can give up on them right up to the last minute/page. You never know.

 

[lau1981]

I have only recently started giving up films or books as a bad job if I'm not enjoying them and still find it quite hard.

For a film I would go for about 40 minutes. For a book about a third of the way through.

I still feel like I am losing little bits of my life on rubbish but can't seem to pull out any earlier.

Your timings are exactly the same as mine.

I feel I have to give them a proper chance altho there are exceptions.

For "IT" by stephen king I read it all the way despite being bored to tears until the last 2-300 pages, whereas "The Stand" was so dull I kept having to re-read the first 30 pages so many times I eventually gave up before I beat myself to death with it in pure frustration at it's coma-inducing properties.

 

[pennimania]

I will always finish a book.

Can't remember last one I gave up on.

I walked out of Neds sometime in the last two years.

 

[ginger_syn]

with bad films I generally give it ten minutes, with bad books I will read the book completely ,except for that stupid Dan brown book. If I think a book is bad I won't read it again.

 

[Firky]

I sat through the entire of the hobbit but my brain shut down. All I can remember is pretty scenery

 

[Hocus Eye.]

I can give up on anything after a few sec

 

[Reno]

Usually something like half way through with films. I like to give something a chance, but if its really rubbish then life is too short to waste anymore time on something. There are lots of good films that take a while to get into, so I don't give up after a few minutes. With books I've given up a few pages in if the writing is really bad.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

I'll watch a film until the beginning of the second act: I like to see what the change of direction is going to be before canning the thing as a lost cause.

 

[Johnny Vodka]

Films I can give upon within minutes, books I usually make myself read the first 100 pages. TV... I go off the synopsis online.

You can save time on watching TV shows by just reading the synopsis.

 

[danny la rouge]

I have a 50 page rule with books. But if I find I'm counting the pages, it's never a good sign. As with films, I have walked out of cinemas. But I don't have a specific time limit. It depends.

 

[Frances Lengel]

I will always finish a book.

Can't remember last one I gave up on.

I walked out of Neds sometime in the last two years.

What was wrong with Neds?

 

[Orang Utan]

I've only once wanted to walk out of a film and I didn't because it was a very rude French film called Baise-Moi and I was concerned that people would think I was walking out because I was a prude, and not just because it was shit and boring.

 

[Part 2]

I don't think I've ever walked out of the pictures.I rarely give up on films, Defendor had me beat the other night though, it was crap.

Books I give up more often than I finish thesedays. I usually read 100 pages as if to prove something to myself, before putting them on the side by my bed until there's a thick sheet of dust on the cover, then they get moved.

 

[danny la rouge]

I've only once wanted to walk out of a film and I didn't because it was a very rude French film called Baise-Moi and I was concerned that people would think I was walking out because I was a prude, and not just because it was shit and boring.

Mary Whitehouse has so much for which to answer!

 

[pennimania]

What was wrong with Neds?

Apart from the very unrealistic portrayal of teachers?

I didn't like the frying pan scene.

 

[Frances Lengel]

I've only once wanted to walk out of a film and I didn't because it was a very rude French film called Baise-Moi and I was concerned that people would think I was walking out because I was a prude, and not just because it was shit and boring.

I quite liked that. I saw it at the pictures as well - It was a proper sleazy looking audience as well, all blokes on their own going to the pictures on a weekday afternoon.

 

[SpookyFrank]

I sometimes give up on books which are good but just too complicated to keep track of. I have an awful attention span and if reading something becomes too much like hard work I'll move on to something else. Some long and complex books manage to hold my attention, but for some reason these tend to be books that have been translated from other langauges.

 

[wemakeyousoundb]

I've only once wanted to walk out of a film and I didn't because it was a very rude French film called Baise-Moi and I was concerned that people would think I was walking out because I was a prude, and not just because it was shit and boring.

it was shit and boring, and I sat through it without the excuse of possible social awkwardness :/
books I usually read, the ones I haven't finished are very few, "zen or the art of motor..whatever that shit was" springs to mind, I'd rather give up smoking than read that, war and peace I had to wait until a forced holiday to get through, but I did in the end, nothing stuck though so probably it was a waste of time.

 

[Dr Nookie]

Because I'm a bit anal, I have this thing where if I start a book I have to finish it no matter how much I hate it. I know life's too short and all that, but my brain can't cope with leaving a book unfinished. For years Don Quixote sat on my bookshelf as I was so daunted by it. In the end I couldn't face it and took it to the charity shop unread!

 

[DotCommunist]

I'll give books around a third, sometimes more

films it has to pass the fag test, I normally have a fag break an hour into a film and if when i come back to press play I'm not really arsed and decide to fuck around online instead it won't get finished

 

[bi0boy]

One exception to my quick giving-up of books is China Mieville.

With both his novels "Embassy" and "Kraken" I go more than three quarters of the way through before gradually losing interest and not finishing.