Is there a book that you couldn’t finish?

 

Sometimes at the shop I ask people this question.

Robert said that he finishes everything except for all the books that have been stolen from him over the years. His ex’s ex stole the most.

Barry said: oh mate, heaps. Don’t even remember, I mean, yeah, you know. But I always finish the good ones.

Irene said she finishes every book she starts, always.

One couple said they did not finish Fifty Shades of Grey.

Madeline, who is about 12 said that she…thinks that she might not finish…some books…if they are not very good…but some books she has read 4 times…if they are really good.

David will not continue if he cannot connect with the author. He could not connect with Patrick White.

Michael, who reads all the Spanish and Latin American novelists says he always finishes everything by the Spanish and Latin American novelists. He has a copy of The House of Paper by Carlos Maria Dominguez in his pocket; he always has a paperback novel in his pocket which he reads over coffee in the bakery next door. His answer to me was that anything by the Latins is worth finishing and he tapped his pocket to show me that this was true.

Cory said that he never finishes a book if it is dumb.

Peta said that Middlemarch was a concern.

Glenda told me that Bonfire of the Vanities and A Dance to the Music of Time were her triumphs, she made it to the end of both. But Poor Fellow, My Country defeated her finally.

Dale said he gives a book 15 pages and if it is no good for him after that he always knows. He has another way too: to open at any page and if that page is good he will get the book. He demonstrated his method for me with The Pox Party (The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing). He looked at one page and said that he would not read this book.

Margaret said that Miss MacIntosh, My Darling (Marguerite Young) was a book she did not want to finish. But she did and it is one of the most brilliant books she ever read.