What Are the Signs You Should Give up on a Book?

Because reading should never feel like a chore — ever

Have you ever waited months to read a book and then found it doesn’t live up to expectations?

Whether you decide to plough through and live through weeks of disappointment or give up on the book altogether, it never feels great to fall out of love with a book.

Sure, some books are more difficult than others, but reading should never feel like a chore. It should be an activity you crave, and one you look forward to.

However you look at it — our time for reading is limited, and in a lifetime, we’ll never get close to reading all the books that are currently published, or those yet to come.

If you dedicate 1–2 hours to reading per day (which is a lot by most standards) you could finish 50–100 books in a year. Which could accumulate to 1800–6000 books in a lifetime, which is a lot, but nowhere near scratches the surface for every book that has ever been published.

The bottom line is — if you are spending time on a book you’re not enjoying, this is a waste of time. It’s okay to admit defeat, your next favourite book could be right around the corner.

Here are the signs to look out for if you are not sure whether to keep reading a book.

You Lack the Motivation to Pick It up in the First Place

You come to dread bedtime because that means reading. Instead of laying awake past your bedtime, eyes glued to the pages and losing track of time, you come to do everything in your power to avoid it altogether.

Immediately, reading feels more like a chore than an enjoyable process — this is one of the main signs you should probably give up on a book.

This might only be the case for a specific book, but it could also damage your relationship with reading in the long run.

In desperately wanting to finish the book, your reading momentum could wane and negatively impact your relationship to books. Which is never a good thing, as it could make it harder to pick up the next one.

You’re Taking Longer than Usual to Read It

We all read at different speeds and this can also depend on how much time we have got in our daily lives to spend on reading. But if you notice that the time it usually takes you to read a book is being strangely extended, this could be another sign that you are not into the book.

If you are spending months on the same book and not making much progress, this may suggest you should put it down and try something else.

If each paragraph feels slow and you’re reading the same lines over and over this could be a tell-tale sign that you should put the book to one side.

Instead, get yourself lost in something else.

You’re Reading It Half-heartedly

You manage to set aside time to read, but when you do, you’re doing other things like checking your phone every few minutes, getting up to make a cup of tea and mindlessly scrolling doing anything to avoid actually reading.

Reading shouldn’t be like this.

If you’re really into a book, nothing else matters. Your attention should be hooked firmly into the pages in front of you and for that short while, nothing else should seem relevant.

Sure, some books are more gripping than others, but ultimately if you’re more than halfway into a book and finding that your concentration is constantly wavering and you’re making all sorts of excuses not to read, then you should probably think about giving it up.

There’s a Feeling Deep down You’re Not Enjoying It

“If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.” Oscar Wilde

Once you acknowledge it — the feeling is always there.

Fundamentally, it never feels good to give up on a book. As a reader, you often feel as if you are doing the author a disservice.

All the hours they have spent on writing and perfecting it may feel wasted. But remember, there are plenty of other readers who will be enjoying the same book you give up on. Books cannot be loved by everyone and its completely okay for you to give up on one. The author will not even know.

In between or during reading this book, if you become aware of this feeling of discontentment, don’t let it consume you, chances are, it’s time to put the book away to one side.

You Are Thinking about All the Other Books You Want to Read

“I can never read all the books I want; I can never be all the people I want and live all the lives I want. I can never train myself in all the skills I want. And why do I want? I want to live and feel all the shades, tones and variations of mental and physical experience possible in my life. And I am horribly limited.” Sylvia Plath

This might be the most obvious sign of them all. If you’re sat lusting over your TBR (to be read) pile, instead of the book in front of you, it’s probably time to call it a day.

Instead, don’t waste a moment longer on a book you’re slaving over, but go grab another book you’re desperate to read. And if you do not like that one either, don’t be afraid to put it down and start the process again.

Life is too short for spending time on books we do not like — never forget that.

What to Do about a Book You Did not Finish

Every book is different and so is every reading experience. Depending on how far you got and how much you disliked the book, you may simply want to set the book aside and leave it for a while and come back to it.

But if you really did not enjoy it, there’s no pressure to have another go either.

Sometimes you may not be in the right mindset to read a certain book — and that is okay. I’ve tried a book once, and then came back to it several years later and enjoyed it, so sometimes they are worth saving.

Most importantly — never beat yourself up for not finishing a book. You did not fail, you didn’t cause offence and you didn’t do a bad thing, you put yourself first and that’s how it should be.

I used to think it was a book lover’s sin to give up on a book and it was a test of my book-loving affinity if I could continue with a book I hated — which was a stupid mindset. But I was young then and didn’t realise how much our days are numbered, and so are the books we get to read.

If you do decide to give up on a book, make sure to have books lined up that you want to read. In that way, you can take your mind off the one you just ditched and get back into enjoying reading again.

It’s never a great feeling to leave a book unfinished, but if it is putting you off reading altogether and ultimately getting in the way of all the other books you want to read — then it’s best to call it a day.

Reading, above all, should be about enjoyment. It should not feel like a task, chore, or something you have to do.

Spend more time on the books you love, and you’ll soon forget about the ones you abandoned.

Stuck for something to read? Check out my recommendations in Books Are Our Superpower