What do you do when a book is boring?

[shelly blomker]

The last few books I've tried to read have been so boring that I didn't even finish them. I can't write reviews on books that I don't finish. I don't think it would be fair to my readers if I did.

 

So, what do you do when a book is so boring?

[Sugarmoon]

That is your review. It was so boring you couldn't continue, therefore you can't reccommend it.

[Jill Elizabeth]

I have a hard time with this too - several of the things I have been asked to review lately are just not that good.  Usually I can find at least one redeeming quality (the writing, the idea, a character) but there is at least one right now that I honestly cannot say a single good thing about and I don't know how on earth I'm going to write something to post as a result (plus it's killing me to finish reading it - I have never read anything so slowly!).  I know that all feedback is useful, and am obviously not going to lie, but I do not like to post something entirely negative either.  UGH!

[Tony Evans]

Do you have to finish it? Maybe you can write the author a message giving them some constructive criticism.

[shelly blomker]

Thanks for the replies. I just don't write about books I can't write about a book that I haven't finished. I don't think its right to share about a book unless I've read the whole book. If I can't get into it I just start another book and hope that I can get into and finish it.

[Jill Elizabeth]

I agree.  I won't write a review if I haven't finished the book - UNLESS I explicitly say I haven't, of course, as in one of my recent posts which was about books I can't finish!  :)

[Kelli Wheelwright]

I had a similar issue with a book someone sent me a couple months ago. I also will not review a book I haven't completely read.

 

What I ended up doing is sending the author an email letting them know that the book wasn't a good fit for me and unfortunately I was not going to be able to do a review. It wouldn't be a fair review for the author, especially because in this case the genre ended up being something that completely doesn't interest me.

 

When you can't get into a book or are rolling your eyes at how ridiculous it is, you can just let the author know. They would rather you be honest then put out a bad review.

 

Good luck!

KW

http://www.ekfamilybooks.blogspot.com

 

[Moissanite Jewel]

+1 to KW. Let the author know.

[Iben]

I agree completely. I'm currently stuck on a requested-review book, i can't find anything redeeming about it at all and have been struggling to read it for far too long. I'm going to have to give up soon and let the author know

~iben
www.boroughofbooks.com

[Nari - The Novel World]

I did this occasional feature on my blog called Half Read Books. I would quickly summarize the 3 or so books I had attempted to read, but didn't finish for whatever reason.

 

In about 8-10 sentences, I tried to sum up the plot and why I didn't get into the book (writing style, life distractions etc). That way, you can discuss the book and why you didn't finish, without giving it too much of a spotlight. You might find that the books you read and are finding boring to run along the same themes/style/plot. I try to do this with books that I've at least read halfway though. Otherwise, I just feel nit-picky.

[Kelli Wheelwright]

That is a really cool idea! I hadn't considered it before. Normally the books I dont finish aren't because they are awful as much as it is they aren't for me.

 

KW

http://www.ekfamilybooks.blogspot.com

 

[Iben]

What a great idea :) Thanks for the inspiration ^_^

 

~iben

Borough of Books

[Vontavia Heard]

wow this is great idea! mind if I try it?