>you start reading a novel by a famous classic author >you're

>>8376393
I'm the kind of asshole that finishes every book I start. I can't remember when, if ever, I dropped a book.

>>8376406
This, you're only allowed to criticise it if you finish, otherwise your only criticism can be 'I didn't finish it because it was so boring'

>>8376406
I'm the same way. After reading a fair bit in high school I dropped off so hard in college that I don't think I finished a book for pleasure until senior year. I would just lose interest and never see it through.

I think a fear of returning to that makes me finish even the most boring stuff once I've started it.

>>8376406
this. maybe it will take me a few weeks to finish, depending on the size, but i cannot live with myself if i dont finish it, thats why i only read what i feel like reading and avoid 1000 pages ficctions unless its a great classic

>>8376393
The brothers karamazov is a good book OP. Maybe shouldve read other Dostoevsky first

>>8376393

I felt that way about the romance of Gargantua & Pantagruel, but it kept changing enough that I couldn't put it down. You go from sex and shit jokes to a scheme of humanist education, to a badass monk killing people with a crucifix (described in great anatomical detail), to a philosophical voyage across the world, with the shitty giant becoming a sort of Socrates.

But if I had a nickle for every book I didn't finish I would have at least a couple of bucks.

>>8376431
Kek not OP, but you got me

>>8376426
>>8376420
>>8376415
>>8376406
Four retards in a row. Well done.

>>8376406
Do you have a Kindle? I used to finish everything I got, but now it is so easy to download tons of books that I have dozens of books that I read one or two chapters only. Please help me.

>>8376508
Because they finish what they start?

>>8376393
>"I started reading a novel by a famous classic author"
>"he/she was really boring"
>"i'm reading this author now instead"

it's not that fucking hard you had two thirds of it in your greentext. literature is supposed to make you think critically you autist

>>8376415
So you have to watch the whole fucking of the new ghostbusters to say that it sucks?

>>8376393
I muscle my way through for /lit/ cred

>>8376406
I even did this with IJ. Took months, regret it to this day

>>8376393
You should remember that not every "classic" is actually good or will be readable to you. A good chunk of them are just really old genre fiction or old equivalents of things you wouldn't read had they been written now.

I've only ever dropped two books.

First: a Confederacy of Dunces

Second: Les Miserables, though I did pick that up and finish it a year later. (I skipped the sewer chapter and the 30 page description of life in that nunnery)

>>8376393
>Are you worried that you're now considered a pleb?
Pleb detected. The only 100% mark of a pleb is worrying if others consider you to be a pleb.

>>8376393
It's fine, if it sucks it sucks, sometimes you get memed on into reading shitty books

OP here, the book is Nicholas Nickleby

>>8377995
I agree, sort of.

I actually am dumbfounded you people bother to continue. I just drop something whenever I find myself consistently uninterested. You guys are weird.

>>8377969
Why did you drop the first one ?

>>8378031

It's hard to say. I was pretty depressed at the time having just finished university and being in a state of limbo where I was just laying around the house doing nothing but take up space, but also resenting the idea that I'd have to work, so I guess it hit too close to home in some ways.

Also I guess I just didn't enjoy the humour very much, even when Ignatius wasn't involved. It felt a bit repetitive.
It's entirely possible I just wasn't in the right place to enjoy it.

>>8378045
Thanks for the answer, it's pretty interesting.
Hope you feel better now.

>>8378056

Thanks. I went back to college for a masters degree after that and now I'm in the same position again,

My mindset is much better though, which makes all the difference in not hating life.

>>8376393
>Started reading Bros K yesterday at midnight because reasons
>Stopped reading. Its 4am

Holy fuck, what an amazing book.

>>8376393
J. L. Borges once said that it does neither the author nor the reader any good if the reader simply cannot enjoy the work.

So if you're a little bitch and not enjoying the book, stop wasting everyone's time.

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>>8378169
> Insulting people because you do not agree, even if the boy just asked a few questions without being harsh.
> Thinking citing someone gives credibility and replaces an argumented opinion.

I know it's the glorious Internet, but why have you to be that edgy my friend ? OP was just a curious fuck and you're here, spitting your hate. Poor, poor thing...

By the way, I'm not OP.

>>8378169
so...
you enjoy every book you read? you're really making miracles anon

If you can easily vocalize why you dislike something, then why bother reading? If you're worried about people looking down on you, for starters youre an embarrassment, and you'll know why you didn't like it.

>>8376393

I try to go as far as I want/can. But, whatever the reason, if I don't like it, I don't read it. It's like veggies, have a taste sometimes, but if it isn't your thing, don't force yourself. Like he says >>8377886


I explain them why I gave up. No more complicated than that.

I feel annoyed to have started something without finnishing it. By the way, I will only criticize what I can, but my opnion won't be complete or fully acceptable I think.

I can't give a damn fuck about what others think about my readings habits. As >>8377995 says
. Affraid to be pleb ? Do you build your identity on that "I don't wanna be a pleb" only ? I don't know about you, but I like what I like, I think about my tastes, I see what pleases me into it and that's pretty much everything.

A Tale of Two Cities was bloody unbearable but I kept reading all the way through hoping my gripes would make sense by the end of it or that I would 'get it' by the time I finished reading. But no. I found the book horribly boring and stupid, but almost universal consensus says I'm wrong so I just feel dumb. But I will take this experience as a lesson and probably not stick with a book in the future if I am not enjoying it.

>>8376393
I forced myself to finish pride and prejudice. I'm much more selective in what I read now.

If I start reading something like that and get bored of it, I'll just end up scanning thru the rest of the book rather than read it.

>>8376415
This. I finish everything I start to have criticism rights.

>>8377870
Yes

>>8377871
this.

>>8379503
You can criticize some point if you no not forget about your lacks. Saying that you can't criticize anything juste because you didn't eat the whole thing isn't totally true. If this was like that, only experts should discuss in their fields. It is very important, but on the other hand, you won't go far if you do not take other's opinions just because they do not know as much as you.

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I'm a bit over 100 pages into this. While it's beautifully written, it is so damn boring.
Does it just have a slow start or am I in for more of the same?

>>8380655
The Scott-Moncrieff translation is the best, even with it's flaws. The other translations feel clinical; his feels human.

>>8376415

That's a pretty damning criticism.

These aren't textbooks, guys.

For me, I give the author 100 pages to show me something. That way I'm sure that I didn't just quit the first moment the author did something that upset me.

Reproducability is the most important quality of a story. People didn't carry Homer or Shakespeare into the future for posterity sake. They did it because they enjoyed hearing their stories.

>>8378184
>being 19
>calling someone "the boy"

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In my case i've dropped two books:
Grapes of wrath: because its difficult to me to read in English at this moment, but im thinking in continuing it this year

Manhattan Transfer: Too many characters, bad translation, didn't like it

>>8376431
Is this a meme im missing? i am actually trying to read the Brothers right now and it is my first Dostoevsky. Im having spikes of interest followed by long lulls in between. Did I fuck up by picking this as my first Dostoevsky book?

>>8379427
>8379427
I gotta say the only part of that book that I liked was the chapter of Cartons death

>>8380985
You should've started with Crime and Punishment.

>>8380992
Why is it that Carton, who is possibly the only interesting and sympathetic character in the book, is just there as a plot device to sacrifice himself to save all of the boring perfect do-no-wrong Mary Sues? What annoys me even more is that I feel as if I am expected to admire his character development from being down in the dumps and not doing anything with his life to pulling his bootstraps up.. in order to willingly kill himself in aid of a bunch of Mary Sues who barely have a character flaw between them. What is the message here? That his character flaws are redeemed by the fact he avoided the label of 'completely useless' by saving the people who aren't total fuckups like him and are thus more worthy of being saved and sympathized with?

>start Don Quixote
>loving it
>by page 600 of the same thing over and over it starts to be a slog

i still love it but man - i jsut dont have the stamina for this

there are plenty of books I don't finish

some books I open halfway and just read a bit, no commitment

others I've been reading on-and-off for years

Yes, you should be ashamed that you didn't finish Nicholas Nickleby

>>8381174
you are supposed to read it over many years

>>8381270
are you referring to the 20 year period between part I and II, or are you just saying to read Don Quixote at a slow pace?

>>8380923
>>8380923
> Doesn't appreciate the message
> Assuming someone's age as an argument

O r you're talking about OP's age, in this case, I do not have any fuck to give.

>>8376516
keep your books in your computer, leave only one book in your e-reader

read half, sparknotes the rest

you don't owe these dead white males a thing