Just Curious

I'm a finisher cause the book just has to get better right? Yup I may turn into a domestic godess when a book just doesn't do it for and housework and sleep take a backseat to a really good book.

(which has remained nameless) "This is not a book to be lightly tossed aside, it should be hurled with great force"

I
think I know the Patricia Cornwell you were talking about, I felt the
same way and she hasn't yet won me back though there have been several
books published since then

I have a (maybe unfair) advantage over
some of the rest of you, just given the speed at which I read, but even
I have read books which I struggled to get through (some of which were
the same length as a Romance or a Presents) and which therefore took me
a day or two to get through even though a good Romance takes me less
than an hour

The one good thing I have to say for those books is that they're clean house facilitators

I
being an optimist by nature do struggle on because I like to believe it
will improve, but sometimes the book does prove me wrong

Should that make me less optimistic about the next disappointing read?

Maybe so but I try not to give in to such negativity

Hugs

Sadhbh 

Point of Origin, I didn't really like Black Notice but I struggled
through until The Last Precinct and then realised she needed a good
therapist

Similary I enjoyed Hornet's Nest, found Southern Cross disappointing and just wanted Isle of Dogs to be over

Haven't read any since though I think a friend offered me Blowfly and Trace is in my TBR

Supposedly
Book of the Dead is supposed to be back to her original form, but I'm
going to need more than ten good reviews to believe that

Hugs

Sadhbh 

(maybe on Amazon or some similar site) where she was whinging that
all the criticism was people being paid to slam her because they were
jealous of her success - not really a recommendation for believing
she's back to the top of her form

She
has the money to pay for a therapist, she doesn't need to make me pay
for her to work through her problems in print - and it looks like her
editor also needs a good therapist for letting her away with it

Hugs

Sadhbh 

two times, to my knowledge, that I have not completed a book.  Once, was last year.  The book was so bad I kept sighing and groaning with frustration.  It was my husband who finally convinced me to put it down.  It was really just that bad.

 Usually I finish, even if I don't like the book.  I do find myself picking up another book to read, of a different genre somewhere in between if the situation gets really stinky.  I have two books sitting on my shelf from last year that I started and have not finished.  I won't give them away and they will get read before they get moved from my shelf. 

The other thing I have noticed after finishing a bad book is my need for a security blanket.  I usually switch genres but pick what I consider to be a sure-thing.  That way it keeps me from hitting a reading slump.

but, it it is really bad, I skim it, as FF does...

they're not out to get her LOL

There were sooooooo many quirky characters and non related events and I kept thinking that at some point everything would come together and make sense NOT. I have tried a couple since that one, but have now thrown her over to my never read again even if given the book list. And some of her earlier stuff was so good.

I'm definately a finisher!   I will 'look within myself' to attempt to figure out why I'm being so pissy as to not enjoy the book before I'll proclaim the Author could have done a better job.  I also keep reading in hopes that the book will get better  ("just a couple more pages and it will get back on track')..and I also have the noogies to defend Authors and realise they're entitled to one every now and then that isn't their best writing.

I also got tired of Cornwall's books and have a find for you. I can heartily recommend one of our own authors who writes a really great mystery. I'm one of Gwen Hunter's biggest fans, and I'm sure you'll agree once you've given her a try. She has a new book out this month, and if you like vintage Cornwell, then you definitely should give this a try.

Jayne

I'm a finisher. I've only put aside a handful of books after I started them. I notice, however, that I've been doing this more often in the past two years, now that my free time is much more limited.

I was thinking about bad movies, though, and wondering about the differences. I've never read a book and then said, "That was so bad, it was funny/good/entertaining." I have felt that way about some movies.

I think it's possible that I can be engaged in more than one way by a movie--actors, dialogue, plot, humor, unintentional humor, etc. but with a book it's really just the writing.

Now I'm going to counter my own argument, though, because I've kept reading a book for one character even when I disliked everything else about the book. Hmmm.

Interesting to consider this topic.

Ellen

Thanks for the info will check into Gwen's books.

99.9% of the time I'm a finisher. The book has to be really, really bad (IMHO) for me to put down. After all the book was published, which means it passed through several hands to get from a slush pile to our hands, therefore it must be a 'good' book. It really is all about personal preference and I try to select books I will enjoy. If there is a book a just can't finish it will be in the group of books from a reader's club. If I find myself wanting to set aside too many from my pile of club books I will drop that club and join another. But I will eventually read the books in that TBR pile (and yes, I have more than one TBR pile).