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Originally Posted by Geralt
What genre do you primarily read? It's kind of important.
If you read romance/crime/mysteries or something like that 100 pages can be 1/3 of a book most of the time.
I read epic fantasy primarily and 100 pages is more like 1/8, 1/9/ or 1/10 or less most of the time. I don't really expect from the writer to bedazzle me in what is basically introduction to the world and characters. Sometimes they do but usually I give them more leeway and I have more patience.
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I read all sorts of stuff.
Epic fantasy, sword and sorcery fluff, hard and soft sci-fi, post apoc, YA, horror, indie authors, biographies, crime, thriller, whatever.
My Calibre collection has about 90 different authors and 12 or 13 different genres in it.
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Originally Posted by Geralt
And I don't buy this argument of there is always so much more to read. Yes, but at what price? It's not even the case of money, it's too many choices (which scientists proved lead people to being miserable) and not being able to really get lost in the book, because maybe a better read is right around the corner. Besides, there will always be more books to read than we have years on this planet. That doesn't mean much. Giving up after 100 pages is just gonna leave you with bunch of unread books.
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It's not a matter of not being able to get lost in a book "because maybe a better read is right around the corner." It's also not about trying to read as many books as possible. Obviously there will always be more books than I can possibly read no matter how many I give up on after 100 pages.
I judge each book on it's own. If I'm liking the book I keep reading, if I'm not I stop. My point about other stuff to read is simply to illustrate the waste of continuing with something I'm not really enjoying.
I just don't get the point of continuing with a book if you are not really enjoying it just to see if it gets better. That to me is sort of like continuing to hit yourself on the head with a hammer even though it is painful just to see if it gets less painful or at all enjoyable. Sure, maybe it will become enjoyable but why not stop hitting yourself on the head with the hammer and try some other activity that might prove more enjoyable from the start?
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Originally Posted by Geralt
I personally know my taste so well, that for example this year, I've read 4 two star books out of 50 titles, and no one star books. That's 8% which is pretty good imo. And no DNFs either. I choose what I know there is a high chance of me enjoying it.
I don't really get people who constantly DNF their books, or give low ratings most of the time. It's like they don't really know themselves or what they like and want.
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I have a group of authors I know I will like pretty much anything they write. I prefer certain genres, sub-genres and styles over others and I know I will generally like things that fall into those groups.
Having said that, I like to try new authors, genres and styles. I'll happily give lots of different stuff a go. If I like something, say a genre I've not read or haven't read in a long time, this will often lead to a mini gorging on that new genre. For a while I will seek out anything that sounds interesting in that genre and give it a go. This in turn will often lead to starting things that sound good but just are not. So I drop them and move on.
So this year, I've only been able to read 28 books for enjoyment. Too much studying and work for more. 2 DNFed, a few 2 star books, majority were high 2 to low 4ish star and probably about 3 or 4 were high 4 or 5 star. To be frank, this has been a below average year. Other years, for example when most or all of the authors I like publish something, I might read many more books and not DNF a single book and mostly read high 3 to 5 star books.
ETA: To give some examples I often look through the reading recommendations board here and MR and will try new things that sound interesting. I'm going to try a couple from the Chinese fantasy and International Conspiracy Thrillers threads. I've just finished the Matt Damon Bourne Identity movies so have decided to try the books even though I've heard they are totally different, because why not?