Sticking With It

Have you ever been reading a book and the story was moving so slowly that you didn't think you could even make it to the ending? And because you didn't think you were going to make it to the end, you decided to take a sneak peek at the last couple of chapters just to see if it was worth continuing? Guilty as charged, I'm afraid.

I was reading this book and I was really contemplating, for the last two days, if I should just give it up. Would I be 'OK' if I just stopped reading it and be satisfied that I knew how it ended? This had to have been one of the slowest moving books I've ever read. And believe me, if I like a story, I can finish a 360-400 page book in about 2-4 nights of bedside reading. This one took a Sunday and two nights. So it took the max and it was only because after deciding to continue, there was a good twist in the plot that actually made it interesting and bearable to finish. I'm actually glad I stayed with it because it really made the ending better than when I cheated and read ahead.

I have this standard now (in reading fiction) that once I reach the 100-page marker, I can look ahead to see if the ending is good. Or I read the epilogue because I really like epilogues. I like to know what happens to the characters so that I'm not left wondering. Yes, I can get very involved with books and their characters - I've even had dreams about books I was reading, picturing everything in my head. Sometimes I wonder if I'm reading too much fiction.

Anywho - there has only been one book that I have not been able to finish and that's only after reading the first two chapters....I won't name names because it belongs in a series of five books - and the one I could not finish was the fifth...just couldn't bring myself to do it. I was well satisfied with the fourth book (surprising, really) but after the first two chapters of the fifth book, I had to set it down and not look back - and it still lays at the bottom drawer of my night stand.

So I don't always stick with everything I read, but I think an important note to authors is that you have to get them (the reader) in the first two chapters...or your ship will sink. Fortunately, the author, of the above mentioned book that I couldn't finish, moved on to other stories. Perhaps I'll pick one of those up.