I have or should I say, HAD a rule that if I pick up a book to read it, I need to finish it. Don't ask me why I thought that I needed to do that, but I did. It didn't matter if it was a book I bought, one that was gifted to me, or one that was sent to be reviewed. If I started it, then I finished. There have been a few times I finished a book and wondered why I didn't just put it down. In the end, that would have been the best thing for both the book and I. Not that I did anything to do the book, but I wondered why I wasted time reading it (I know that's harsh to say), when I could have been doing something else. Being a mom, there is always something else I can be doing, but I enjoy reading on my down time which sometimes can be in the middle of the night.
I freely admit there's been plenty of times house cleaning was put on hold for a day as I couldn't put a book down. Don't judge.... lol You know the books I'm talking about. You get so wrapped up into the book that you literally can not walk away from it until it's done. That may mean the phone goes unanswered, you reschedule a lunch date, etc. Then there's a handful of books that I completely struggle to get through. Sadly enough this has happened to me recently and I wondered why I didn't just put the book down.
I've come to admire those readers who can put the book down and walk away from it. I started to talk to friends about it to see what they did. Don't laugh, but it bugged me when I didn't like a book and there's been times I've wondered if it was just me, as some of these books have been ones people have just raved about. In case you're wondering, no, I've not posted reviews for the books I'm talking about. I've been left feeling frustrated for one that I didn't like the book at all and two that I spent time reading it when I really should have just put it down. I don't want to regret spending time reading a book I didn't like.
Recently I decided to follow the 100 page rule. If I'm not into a book by 100 pages I'm putting it down. We'll see how well I do with that, as I've not yet applied this rule. There's so many fabulous recent and new releases I want to read, not to mention a huge to be read pile that won't stop growing, that when I sit down to read I want to enjoy that time. In reality, I know I'm not going to love or like everything I read, which is why we have the rating system we do on MM's, and we do post 2 star reviews. There's been books others have loved, that I didn't like, and there's been ones I didn't like that others loved. Even with the few books I started out not liking, by the end I loved them, which is another reason I try and finish each book that I start. The books I'm talking about wishing I didn't read are the ones you would either give a 1 star rating to or wouldn't rate at all.
I wanted to ask you guys, what do you do? Do you follow a rule when it comes to book reading? Do you read everything you pick up or do you have a certain page rule? I'd love to know your thoughts.