Book Rejections

Discussion of Books, Literature, Book Reviews, and more!
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tabby
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Book Rejections

Post by tabby »

As Dorothy Parker once said of a book: ““This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.”



I’ve picked up a few that have made me feel the same way!



Beginning a new book is a venture that's usually accompanied with a sense of high expectations. It’s always fun to start reading a new book and I love it when I find one that I enjoy so much that it’s hard to put down. Those are the books you don’t want to end! Alas, there are also books that seem like they will NEVER end. Whether it be uninspired writing, uninteresting characters, a sleeper of a plot or whatever ... go away!

I used to feel obliged to slog my way through, doggedly determined to see it through to the bitter or not so bitter end. Maybe I was hopeful that it would pick up. Surprise! Sometimes they don’t and I’m left wondering what all the fuss was about!

These days I give a book ONE chapter and one chapter only to grab me and entice me to finish it. I don’t hurl them like Miss Parker but they’re definitely removed from sight!

Do you try to finish reading a book even if you don’t really like it? Does it matter if it’s a library book v/s a gift or book you bought? How far will you go into it before giving up and moving on to another? A chapter like me? Halfway through? Give up on the dust jacket description?? :confused:
Chloe_88
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Book Rejections

Post by Chloe_88 »

I give up after a chapter or two/three. If it's not starting to intrige me by then, well i'll just put it down.
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LarsMac
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Book Rejections

Post by LarsMac »

I don't know that I make a conscious decision, really.

IF it is just distractedly bad, when I set it down because I was interrupted, I may just not pick it up again for a while, and when I do, I remember why it has been gathering dust, and it ends up in the recycle bin. Most books I read, though, are recommended by someone, or I read a review or two and it sounded very interesting. So, that kinda weeds out the really poor stuff.

Sometimes, I pick up a book to read at the airport, and it just gets left on the plane.
The home of the soul is the Open Road.
- DH Lawrence
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jones jones
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Book Rejections

Post by jones jones »

It has to grab me in chapter one.

I just started reading "The Take" by Martina Cole and I was hooked from the bottom of page one.

Sometimes we start reading a book simply because people are raving about it and we feel we have to read it too.

As my old dad used to say: "The proof of the pudding is in the eating!
"…I hate how I don’t feel real enough unless people are watching." — Chuck Palahniuk, Invisible Monsters
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along-for-the-ride
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Book Rejections

Post by along-for-the-ride »

I have read countless books in my lifetime thus far. I belong to two book clubs and sometimes I just choose a book that sounds interesting to me. I am currently reading the latest book by Amy Tan. She is one of my favorite authors. I particularly enjoy stories about people and how they live through their circumstances; a time in history and just day to day living. I usually pass on a book that I enjoyed to a friend or relative or just keep it.

You have to be careful about giving up on a book just because it has a slow chapter as sometimes that next page gets more interesting.

There is one book that stands out as one I threw away. Ironically, I can't remember the title, but it was one of of those paperback crime novels. There was a passage in it that I found so disgusting (involving child abuse) that I just wanted to get rid of the book. I didn't finish it and I didn't want anyone else to read it.
Life is a Highway. Let's share the Commute.
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tabby
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Book Rejections

Post by tabby »

Some books get much more publicity than others and the media play up only a tiny fraction of the good writing at any given time. I think JJ made a similar comment about the movie industry a week or two ago in a another thread. I've found older books from the 1920s onward in thrift stores that rival anything written today yet they are unheard of anymore. They aren't classics in the usual scholastic sense of the word yet so many of them deserve to be brushed off and re-introduced.

Sometimes I briefly wonder if I made the right decision not to go past Chapter 1 on some books but I guess I'll never know! :-3

I love how LarsMac leaves a book on the plane! :yh_rotfl

AFTR, Amy Tan is a good writer and I've read her earlier books but nothing recent.
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