When to Call it Quits

Bookgasm calls it the 100 page rule. SF Signal calls it the 33% Rule.

Everyone has a breaking point. Michael May had his around page 150 of George RR Martin’s A Game of Thrones (one of my favorites, but to each his own). Personally, my bookmark is still lodged on page 180 of Moby Dick where I placed it over ten years ago (although I do intend to finish it “one of these days,” I swear).

I am an avid reader, working through twenty to twenty-five novels in a year and one hundred or so short stories. That said, I acquire my books the old fashioned way: From a reading list as long as my arm (ok, I admit it… longer than my arm). Most of the books on the list are award winners I haven’t gotten around to yet, or considered to be classics within their genre. Some are recommendations from friends, family, and colleagues, while others I have stumbled across and thought “oooo I forgot about this one!” I say this because, usually, I am not going into the books I read blind. I am not a reviewer who reads, essentially, for a living, picking up the latest releast or ARC and hoping for a byline with an early review. I read because I love reading and my books have passed a certain filter just to reach my perception.

In the rare instance that I do come across a book that begins to turn me away, I tend to shift into a different mode of reading, especially if it is a book I am reading for pleasure. I get much more analytical with it. I want to know why it isn’t grabbing me. I want to know the reasons why something strikes me as “bad” or “un-enjoyable” so I can recognize it in my own work.

Which brings us to an interesting point… What if I was a reviewer? What if, for example, I write a review of a book I stopped reading a third of the way in, is it fair for me to review the book? You bet it is. The fact that I stopped reading is a pretty powerful review. Unless the review is a critical analysis of the book, then it is the experience of reading the book that gets reviewed as much as the book itself. That’s all a reviewing is: Being able to elaborate on “I liked/disliked this book (or movie, or computer game, or toaster, or anything else) because…” and then justifying whatever emotional reaction was generated. Anything beyond that is a critical analysis and subject to a whole host of other constraints.

All told, I think I like the 100 Page Rule. Really, if an author hasn’t hooked me by then, the next 200 pages are going to be… difficult at best.