3 Reasons You Shouldn’t Finish a Book You Don’t Like
I want book recommendations. I want them all. Books to be smarter, a more productive, a better mom, a better writer.
And then there’s that book, recommended by the blogger or author you admire. So you buy it.
And you hate it.
And you know what? That’s okay.
Even if that book was recommended by the wisest of the wise, the most popular amongst the popular, or by your mom. You can stop reading that book and pick it up again some other time. Or you can also abandon it forever. Let me try to persuade you with three brief arguments:
1) There are so many other books you could be reading:
Every year, more than 600,000 books are published in the US alone. How many books do we have available from the beginning of recorded history? I have no clue! But there are many more books than those you’ll be able to read in your whole life. So, why would you waste your valuable time reading something you don’t even like?
Enjoy your reading time, don’t waste it.
2) You’re only going to get frustrated:
If reading books you don’t like is a waste of time, it’s also a waste of energy. We all have things to do; sometimes there are things we rather not do but we must. Why would we do that with books? You’re (probably) not in high school anymore. Nobody is forcing you to read anything.
When I feel that reading a book is more a chore than a joy (like when I force myself to wash the dishes after a long day of work) I think twice before continuing. Maybe I’m just not in the mood to read that book right now, or maybe I have to let it go completely.
3) You’re probably doing it for the wrong reasons:
Why would you want to continue with that book anyway? Maybe it’s a classic everybody regards as a “required reading” for a cultured person. Or maybe you just want to say you’ve read it because it’ll make you look good. Or you might be ashamed you don’t like something your teacher or mentor recommended.
Stop for a minute and ask yourself why you want to continue reading that book. Be honest. Is it a good reason? Maybe you want to step out of your comfort zone. That’s great! But if you realize it’s just about pride, shame, or hypocrisy, run the other way!
Before you go, I want to clear something up. When I say you shouldn’t finish a book you don’t like, I don’t mean you shouldn’t read stuff you don’t agree with. That’s something completely different. You should read books by authors you don’t agree with… and you can enjoy doing it! Reading people that think differently than you with will help you grow and understand new perspectives. Do it!
I know many people that torture themselves to finish a book. I guess we learned at school that we must read certain books or we would be losers. That’s not true. You can enjoy a book I don’t enjoy at all.
And that’s fine.
A version of this article was originally published in Spanish on Medium.
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