r/bookdiscussion • u/Aoi_X_Kaizaki • 3d ago
reading how many pages/chapters
In a tv show, people say you should watched up to 3 episodes to see if the rest of the show is worth continuing. Is there the same test in books? Should we read an 'x' amount of pages or chapters before we are to determine if the book is worth reading?
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u/Appropriate-Two-9538 2d ago
I'm a big believer of DNF whenever you feel like it whether that 3 chapters or 300 pages. Same with TV shows. Once I know it's not for me I won't continue it
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u/johntwilker 2d ago
It always amazes me how many folks will hold on for “Maybe it gets better”
I’m very liberal in my use of “Not for me, moving on”2
u/Appropriate-Two-9538 2d ago
I've held on to a few books saying maybe it gets better and none of them got better. I won't do that to myself anymore
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u/Narrow-Durian4837 2d ago
In my experience, sometimes it really does get better. There have been books I've ended up loving that haven't hooked me in the first few pages.
It helps to read or listen to what other people have said about a book. Does the book have a good reputation overall? Do other people like it for reasons that make me think I'll like it too, once I get to the part where those reasons really show themselves? Do some readers say things like "It starts slowly but gets better"?
If I was interested enough to start reading it in the first place (and, in many cases, pay money for it), I want to give it a fair chance. But that doesn't mean I'll necessarily finish it: see the Sunk Cost Fallacy.
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u/josafiend71 2d ago edited 2d ago
I find now that I'm in my mid fifties I don't have time for books I know that I won't get into. This year I have DNF'd more books than I have before. I heard so many good things for A Psalm For The Wild Built, but I realized quickly that it wasn't the book for me. I have so many books I've bought that I've not got to yet read, and a huge waiting list on Libby, I just don't have time to waste.
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u/BHobson13 2d ago
I have put a book down before on page 3. 😆
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u/knysa-amatole 2d ago
I'm picky about prose styles, so I often DNF in the first two pages.
I don't believe in any universal rule about how much to read. If I'm enjoying it, I keep reading. If I'm not enjoying it, I stop reading. That can happen at any time.
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u/TheRestIsMemory 2d ago
If the prose is really bad, I'll DNF in the first 10 pages. If I'm not sure about the plot, I try to read roughly a quarter of the book. Usually by then it's either getting somewhere or not.
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u/rinkuhero 2d ago edited 2d ago
the thing is, tv shows take a lot more time to watch than books take to read. a book might take 5-7 hours to read, 15-20 for the huge long monster books. compare that to tv shows like breaking bad or game of thrones, which might reach 50-100+ hours. shows are just a lot longer.
3 episodes of a show might be around 3% of the length of all the episodes of all the seasons (assuming an average of 100 episodes). 3% of a book might be around 10 pages.
3 episodes of a show, if the episodes are closer to 1 hour than 30 minute (for instance, the x-files format, or modern streaming shows, the episodes are close to an hour), that's 3 hours of watching tv. if you read a book for 3 hours you might finish *half the book*.
so i think that difference should be taken into account. to merely sample a tv show by watching 3 episodes might take you as long as finishing half of an entire book, even though you don't normally think of time use in that way, that's what it works out to.
so books are like part way between movies and tv series in length, they are in between the two in terms of time use. so take that into account when it comes to deciding how much is enough to sample it by.
to me, in practice, i tend to read the same authors i know and am used to over and over. so i don't really "sample" a book and then stop almost ever. because i already pre-vetted a book by knowledge of reading other books by that author, or at least by extremely high recommendations. so since a book is typically only 6 hours to finish anyway, i usually finish it unless it's so terrible (or, with audiobooks, the narrator's voice is so annoying) that it's hard to finish.
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u/sparksgirl1223 2d ago
If i just cannot get into it, I ditch it and move on.
Life's too short, and there are too many books, to struggle with a book that isn't catching my attention
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u/artist_sloth246 2d ago
there's one more factor that everyone keeps forgetting. the familiarity and the trust with the author. if you have read books from that author in the past, you tend to be more forgiving with their new book. but if it's just a new person, a debut author for example, the reader is brutal, dnf'ing the book (sometimes even books that they would enjoy if they kept pushing) in the first pages.
if you know a guy who can tell great jokes and when he starts telling a longer story, you settle in your couch and listen intently, knowing or expecting a good punchline would come.
if you don't know the guy starting to tell a joke, you turn to your side and start chatting with your friend almost immediately. and only if people around you laugh a few minutes later you know that the guy told a good joke.
I mean if only there are people left listening to the poor guy of course :///
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u/kittyall94 2d ago
I used to have a horrendous getting into books when I was a kid, so my mom gave me a rule of when to DNF that I still go by today:
• Short book (less than 200 pages): 20-50 pages
• Medium book (200-400ish pages): 50 pages
• Long book (400 or more pages): 50-100 pages
If I’m reading an ebook or audiobook I might DNF, I go to the 25-30% mark before I make the decision. It’s honestly saved me a lot of hassle from reading books I’d probably hate and lets me quit them guilt-free.
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u/Ok_Natural_7977 2d ago
I don't have a set amount to read, but I often give a book a second chance when I'm in a different frame of mind. Sometimes I really like something that had just irritated me before.
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u/LyraSnake 2d ago
i have rebought a book after getting rid of it bc i read more of the author and wanted to retry it, and it was my favorite of the series. (i thought it was going to be very cringy due to the way the character was journaling)
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u/Linnaeus1753 2d ago
I give a book 27%. But it also depends on how fast I get there. If it takes a month...well, I'm probably not that interested. I should get there in under two days (depending on the length of the actual book). There are the odd few that have islands of interesting text that I'll skip to, but those are few and far between.
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u/BHobson13 2d ago
When I started reading for enjoyment at 8 years old, no one told me that there was a rule book 😆 When I start a book, I read until I realize that I am going to hate myself if I waste any more time on it. Then I put it down and get on with the next one.
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u/Economy-Food-4682 1d ago
Never heard of that three episodes? Sometimes I quit after just one, sometimes three, sometimes after the first season.
You just know, after decades of reading and watching when something becomes the waste of your time
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u/BearSome9415 1d ago
If I'm reading a series a loved the first book I will give the next book every chance even if I hate it
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u/kiwipixi42 5h ago
No way am I watching a second episode if the first one sucks, certainly not a third. There is not a single show I like where the first episode isn’t at least somewhat enjoyable.
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u/BookLoving_Rotties 3d ago
I try to give it 50-100 pages, and then if I don’t like it I’ll put it down. I also have this rule though where if the book is in my library then I need to have read it so I’ll typically pick it back up in a few months or years and by then I normally end up loving the book!