I generally give up after 100 pages or so if it hasn’t caught my interest by then.

Life is too short to slog through a book just because other people liked it.

Life is too short to read books you’re not going to enjoy, OP.

My biggest enemy is boredom - I have to be engaged to keep reading. Although the last two books I’ve abandoned were for other reasons. One because of a graphic animal-abuse scene that I couldn’t make it through and one that turned into a Christian novel half-way through. None of the reviews mentioned it, but apparently the author found god and released a new, improved printing featuring extra Jesus. Blech.

I usually know by about 20–30 pages in if I am going to continue to the end of a book.

There are too many great books out there to spend time on those that don’t speak to you.

I have never been ashamed in just straight up throwing a book down if I’m not in pretty quickly. Not everything is going to be everyone’s taste, and classics of all genres can be dull if you don’t find the premise interesting. Too many books out there to slog through anything lol

When it is too stressful, not-engaging, not-interesting, or not “well-researched.”

If I get bored, I drop it. Maybe I miss out on some gems that ‘get good after the 7th chapter’ or whatever, but I’m not fussed

Could be the first chapter, ¾ through the book, halfway through a series… If I’m bored I’m out lol

I’ve dropped books for being boring, poor dialogue, incosistency, basically anything that majorly breaks my immersion. I was reading the newest book is Andrew Rowe’s Arcane Ascension series, which I had loved up this point, and got to ch. 18 where he breaks all the rules of story writing and character development to basically go on a IRL political rant. I still havent picked that book back up.

There are millions of books, no need to waste your time on a bad one. I go by my gut; if someone I know recommended it I’ll stick it out longer. If it has lots of praise or I like the author I may read several chapters hoping it gets better.

I have no qualms quitting in chapter 1. I started Life of Pi and quit like 10 pages in because the main character is insufferable. I quit Dear Miss Metropolitan because I didn’t like the style of narration; the story sounds great but I don’t enjoy reading it so I move on.

Conversely, I’ve stuck it out with books that weren’t what I expected but still were interesting. Song of Achilles was one of those; it turned out to be a gay bodice ripper but by the time I found that out I was already interested in the storyline and wanted to see it through.

When it becomes a chore. When the stupidity surpasses my ability to tolerate stupidity. When the writing is poor enough to detract from the story.

If I’m reading a book, I normally give it a couple of chapters. If I don’t like the style of writing or the story isn’t engaging, it’s very unlikely that it will get better later on.

If I’m listening to an audiobook, I give it a lot longer because I’m usually doing something else while listening and there’s less effort required to progress.

A recent exception is The Power. I read that until 49% because it was okay. Somewhat interesting but I just didn’t care about the characters and I hated the writing style. I thought I should like it more because it was a bestseller and turned into a TV show. I got around to reading reviews which confirmed that it wasn’t just me who didn’t get it and I’m so glad I stopped. I should’ve dropped it after two chapters.

If I get to about 40% of a book and I don’t care about what happens to any of the characters, I’ll just drop it.

I’ll usually flip to a random page in a new book and read a few paragraphs to see if I like the way the author writes. If it doesn’t click with me; phrasing, vernacular, etc, I won’t bother with it disregarding whatever the story is about.

30% in I ask myself if I want to continue. That’s a fair shake.

This is something I’ve struggled with. I read a lot of trending books in high school like Hunger Games and Twilight but ended up reading 50 Shades of Grey to the end and it honestly turned me off of reading for a while

I’m not the fastest reader so it really seemed like I just wasted a lot of time

I have a Kobo ereader at my bedside table and read almost every night in order to fall asleep, so when I dread picking that up I know I either have to double down and finish the book or drop it. So far it has only happened once in recent years. That time it was Salvation by Peter F Hamilton, a hefty chunk of a book. If it’s a novella I generally try to read more often just to finish it.

You have no obligation to finish a book. There are too many good books out there to waste time on one you don’t like!

(Also you’re completely right, 7 1/2 Deaths… was such a brilliant book but his follow up had that second album problem. Hopefully the third will be great)