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

[Jon-of-arc]

I suppose it depends how hyped a thing is. I really struggled with the first 6 episodes of the wire. Only on re watching the first season did I really get it. Was just too complicated and slow, on first watch. Glad I persevered, though.

Trainspotting, the book, I really struggled with the scots dialect writing style. Gave up and returned.

Generally, I don't have a hard rule. If something's hard going, and not entertaining, then sooner or later i will give up. I've tried the count of monte cristo about 3 times, but it just doesn't do anything for me. Got no further than Dantes ending up in court. I know what happens, roughly, because I read Stephen frys retelling, but I'm assured that version does the original no justice at all. I may never get to decide for myself.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

I don't think I've ever walked out of a film in the cinema, but I'm picky about going to the cinema anyway, and there's also an odd feeling that you've paid all that money so you should get the full ration of crap rather than just a bit of crap. Which makes no sense tbh.

It's different with downloads or iPlayer - if something's not really grabbing me I'll just ignore it after a while and do something else, but leave it playing, with the idea that I'm half watching it so if it suddenly gets good I can go back to it. Or, I ruthlessly fast forward it if it's boring but I heard there were good bits later on. (If I've gone to the effort of putting it on at all I'll probably watch for 20-30 minutes before doing either.) There's more control over them generally and I know I can always go back to them if I want, which doesn't normally happen.

If I give up on a book it tends to be because it's so fucking huge that I never get around to reading it fast enough to remember who everyone is, and I have to re-read lots of pages every session, and then get to the middle of the book and think "hold on a second who is Juan and why is it his old teacher from Buenos Aires so important suddenly now? christ I'm not going back to chapter 2".

 

[polly]

As soon as I'm sure a book is shit, I give up on it. If it's shit because it's badly written, usually page 2 or 3. I find I can really enjoy a shit film though. The same masochistic tendency that keeps me watching BBC Breakfast, probably. It's also not very satisfying to shout at a book.

 

[albionism]

book, 10 pages, film, 10 minutes.

 

[QueenOfGoths]

Thought I would resurrect this thread as I am Page 99 of a book and I just can;t seem to get into it.

It's "The Man From Berlin" by Luke McCallin, gets good reviews, looks just like the sort of thing I would like but at the moment it is just not doing it for me.

Okay so I am tired, have a stinking cold and headache which is affecting my concentration so maybe it is just that the books requires more attention than I can currently give it but I am not sure.

I very rarely give up on books, the only two I can think of are "Les Miserables" as I just found it a bit overwhelming and "Bridget Jones Diary" as it was just really not me, but I have a couple of other easier to read books in the house which are itching to take its place!!

Should I give it longer or just leave it?

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

Books maybe 40-50 pages.

Films - I've never walked out of a cinema. If I'm at home I usually have a laptop on so I'll divert my attention to that pretty quickly if the film isn't grabbing me. Maybe 10-15 minutes or so. Or until Nicholas Cage or Jude Law pop up if that's sooner.

 

[Sirena]

Should I give it longer or just leave it?

Leave it. As long as you've given it honourable effort.

I think the only books (or films) you should toil at are the recognized classics because they are often complicated and dense and long but they show something important about their genre or their period or whatever. And, when you've read them, you can preen just a little bit more....

But if it's just a book and you don't like it, then pfft.....

 

[leanderman]

I like the reading progress indicators on Kindle, showing you how much more you would have to endure - with my current novel ... just another 64 hours and 25 minutes!

 

[Reno]

There was a time when I'd force myself to read books/watch films to the end, but now that I don't have as much life left as I used to, I chuck it in if I'm not enjoying it. When that is entirely depends n the film/book. Sometimes I know a short time in that this is not for me, sometimes I'll make through half or even more of it.

 

[danny la rouge]

Thought I would resurrect this thread as I am Page 99 of a book and I just can;t seem to get into it.

Should I give it longer or just leave it?

99 pages is twice as long as I'd have given it. Embrace your inner curmudgeon: she knows what's good for you. Fling the book aside. Literally do this; it feels much better than simply not picking it up again.

Welcome to the curmudgeon club.

 

[DotCommunist]

I'm starting to learn to ditch a series of TV if it is crap. Often I might continue because I want it to be good but then it isn't and I admit defeat. Man In The High Castle was an example of this, gave it longer than I normally would because I hoped it would live up to the pilots potential

 

[QueenOfGoths]

99 pages is twice as long as I'd have given it. Embrace your inner curmudgeon: she knows what's good for you. Fling the book aside. Literally do this; it feels much better than simply not picking it up again.

Welcome to the curmudgeon club.

I like your thinking danny

 

[danny la rouge]

I'm starting to learn to ditch a series of TV if it is crap. Often I might continue because I want it to be good but then it isn't and I admit defeat. Man In The High Castle was an example of this, gave it longer than I normally would because I hoped it would live up to the pilots potential

Yey!

 

[leanderman]

I'm starting to learn to ditch a series of TV if it is crap. Often I might continue because I want it to be good but then it isn't and I admit defeat. Man In The High Castle was an example of this, gave it longer than I normally would because I hoped it would live up to the pilots potential

Gave up on ep3. Just wasn't working.

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

Thought I would resurrect this thread as I am Page 99 of a book and I just can;t seem to get into it.

It's "The Man From Berlin" by Luke McCallin, gets good reviews, looks just like the sort of thing I would like but at the moment it is just not doing it for me.

Okay so I am tired, have a stinking cold and headache which is affecting my concentration so maybe it is just that the books requires more attention than I can currently give it but I am not sure.

I very rarely give up on books, the only two I can think of are "Les Miserables" as I just found it a bit overwhelming and "Bridget Jones Diary" as it was just really not me, but I have a couple of other easier to read books in the house which are itching to take its place!!

Should I give it longer or just leave it?

99 pages is more than enough to ditch it IMO.

But...I do sometimes find that I struggle to get into books if I'm not reading much at a time. If I read a page or two hear and there I can get quite a way into it and just not be into it at all, even though it might be a good book. Sometimes restarting works better than either dropping it or ploughing on.

Obviously it might just be shit though.

 

[stdP]

I tried reading both the Da Vinci Code and those "Girl with the X Y" books as "enjoyable pap that I can pass the time with cos they're lying around the office whilst I wait for this to finish". Think I got about fifty pages into Stig Larson before I got sick of Mary Sue and after about three syllables of Dan Brown before my optic nerve went on strike and threatened to strangle my brain.

I've only worked out of one film at the cinema - Salo. It requires a strong stomach and irony of ironies at the point they started popping out people's eyeballs with knives I found it had become literally unwatchable and I headed out to the foyer in search of a nerve-steadying drink. My friends followed me out about a minute later:
"What the hell, did it get even worse?!"
"No, it finished"