Books - Motivation to keep on reading.

barelylegal · 06-05-2006, 06:40 PM

I am reading A Tale Of Two Cities by Charles Dickens over half a year now. And let me tell you, the advancements made are very few. The book itself is okay, just slow. Charles Dickens must be read in small doses. (The only exception was so far: David Copperfield. I love that one to pieces.) Somehow there is no motivation to keep on reading. Thus, a reading hiatus occured. But this hiatus is taking too long.

I need go back on track. Any suggestions? I have to finish this book. I dislike leaving books unfinished.

Any similar tales to share?

secret tragedy · 06-05-2006, 07:30 PM

I've always wondered the same thing. Many times I've started a book and not had the motivation to finish. Even if I wanted to finish, it didn't seem like enough.

**Quarterley** · 06-05-2006, 08:49 PM

Same here. Harry Potter books are still sitting there.

*Marianne* · 06-06-2006, 12:59 AM

Me too, some books take forever to get through and some even though I really want to I never finish

**~Unfaithful~** · 06-06-2006, 05:26 AM

The only motivation I have is the end of the book. I know that to finish the book I have to keep reading. Sometimes it's hard though

**TheAngel** · 06-06-2006, 07:40 AM

The one for me is For Whom the Bell Tolls by Hemmingway. I read that one for about six months and then put it away without even finishing it. I've also started David Copperfield by Dickens about six times but have never gotten further than a chapter or two into it. One of these days I will finish both of them, it may just be a while.

goodnightboy · 07-10-2006, 08:51 PM

Harry Potter?

That I could finish - most definitely

Oh, I really hate it too when I can't finish reading, yet at the same time you know that it's stupid to punish yourself by reading further! I had to force myself to finish Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Love In The Time Of Cholera (I know, the critics love him but I for one just find his prose too rich and hard to read) - and the next book of his I read, The General In His Labrynth (or however you spell it) I couldn't finish.

Actually I haven't finished reading the last Lord of the Rings book either

Motivation? It's just about finishing the book. But don't force yourself if you really can't, it's pointless and you just feel so annoyed, which is what reading's NOT about.

ImmortallyUsed · 07-10-2006, 09:01 PM

i find it every hard to get through lord of the rings - i have been reading it for 2 years now. and every couple of months i just have to put it down and not think about it - weird

shutterbug579 · 07-10-2006, 09:33 PM

I've been reading The Hobbit for about three years now. It's so detailed that I think it's one of those books that I have to read with no distractions. I use it as my road trip book so I'm sure I'll eventually finish it.

barelylegal · 07-10-2006, 09:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mapraleif

Harry Potter?

That I could finish - most definitely

Oh, I really hate it too when I can't finish reading, yet at the same time you know that it's stupid to punish yourself by reading further! I had to force myself to finish Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Love In The Time Of Cholera (I know, the critics love him but I for one just find his prose too rich and hard to read) - and the next book of his I read, The General In His Labrynth (or however you spell it) I couldn't finish.

Actually I haven't finished reading the last Lord of the Rings book either

Motivation? It's just about finishing the book. But don't force yourself if you really can't, it's pointless and you just feel so annoyed, which is what reading's NOT about.

Waaaa

I heart you for not liking Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I detest 100 Years of Solemnity, Love In Time Of Cholera was okay.. actually the only book I kind of enjoyed... and some other book I had to read was horrible (!!!!!!!!!!!), even his autobiography was only so so. Waaa for me Marquez is boring. Sorry to disagree with critics, but true.

**TheAngel** · 07-11-2006, 02:45 PM

I ran into a brick wall with Frankenstein and put it on my shelf again so I can ignore it for another year or two and then start reading it again. I just was unable to get into it right around chapter 19 it lost all interest for me.

***Yellow Mustang Girl*** · 07-12-2006, 05:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by barelylegal

I am reading A Tale Of Two Cities by Charles Dickens over half a year now. And let me tell you, the advancements made are very few. The book itself is okay, just slow. Charles Dickens must be read in small doses. (The only exception was so far: David Copperfield. I love that one to pieces.) Somehow there is no motivation to keep on reading. Thus, a reading hiatus occured. But this hiatus is taking too long.

I need go back on track. Any suggestions? I have to finish this book. I dislike leaving books unfinished.

Any similar tales to share?

It can be difficult finishing a book

Especially one you aren't so into... I, like you, though, hate having books unfinished. I try to read a chapter or two a night as I lay in bed just to finish.

wanderer78 · 07-13-2006, 03:55 PM

It's hard. I've had that happen with books, some are too long, or too dense to read. And some are just plain boring. I'll admit with Madame Bovary and Don Quixote, I read the Cliff Notes (since it was required reading).

Sometimes I'll read two or three books at a time. So I can switch it up. If one is getting boring or tiring, I'll switch to the other and vice versa.

dizzy_izzy · 07-13-2006, 10:26 PM

I have this problem all the time too. Usually school reading gets in the way of recreational reading. I started Anne of Green Gables a couple months ago but school got in the way. I hate having to take a break from reading a book because I tend to forget too much.
I tend to pick books that are either shorter or an easy read so I can get through them in a relatively short amount of time.
I seem to go through spurts though where all I do is read...then I take time away and do other things.

xallyx · 07-15-2006, 05:17 AM

I hate leaving books unfinished too.

Sometimes I find that the first 1/4 of a book can be really tedious to get through. Then I'll get to a point in the novel where I suddenly just fall in love with it...at that point I'm usaully telling myself "you should have read the first few chapters quicker!"

If I've only read a chapter or two of a book and find it hard to coontinue, I'll put it aside. Then I'll go back to it in a few months...or years (

) and start again all from the start. But if I'm half way through a book or something and still finding it difficult to get through, I may put it aside for a very long time, then just try to pick up where I left off later down the track.