Do you find yourself slogging through a book that you don’t even partciularly like, simply because now that you’ve started it, you feel as though you have to complete it?
Stop it. Try this instead: Read to your age.
I learned this from a wonderful woman in Champaign, IL. She owned a used bookshop and sat in the back all day, drinking coffee and reading, emerging only when a customer came in. I bought a couple of books and we got to talking, and I guess I mentioned that I was slogging through a book—I didn’t particularly like it, but I’d started it and felt the need to finish it. She looked a bit confused, then sympathetic, and then uttered these magic words, with a caveat:
“Read to your age.” Caveat: This works best if you are at least 50.
Yes – read to the page number that reflects your age. If you like the book, then move on. And if not, drop it like Leo DiCaprio drops a model when she turns 25.
Life is too short to spend it reading books you don’t like because you feel like you somehow “must” finish it. There are approximately 435 million others to choose from and I suspect that out of that 435 million, you’ll find at least one you enjoy. Move on!!