Thoughts: I’ve committed a sin

I’m going to tell you a little secret..

…

*whispers* I don’t finish books. *cue dramatic music*

And it happens more often than I’d like to admit. I don’t usually reach a certain point before I quit either; it could be halfway, it could be at the 50th page. Usually I stop somewhere before halfway of the book. It would be nice if I could force myself to finish a book so I can do a full, honest review of it but sometimes I just can’t. It’s even worse if it’s a popular book that everyone and their dog seems to love except me (aka The Martian). But I sometimes feel that I’m DNFing for the wrong reasons, I read Splintered by AG Howard about 3 months ago and I didn’t even finish a third of the book before deciding to quit it. I then started skimming it and stumbled upon this gem of a conversation between the male love interest (who has a girlfriend) and our main character, Alyssa.

“Al.” His Adam’s apple moves as he swallows. “I want you to put a stop to this Hitch thing. Whatever’s going on, it’s not worth…” He pauses. “Losing an important part of you.”
Unbelievable. He thinks I’m such a prude, he won’t even say the word. “You mean my virginity?”
His neck flashes red. “You deserve better than some one-night thing. You’re the kind of girl who should have a commitment from a guy who actually cares. Okay?”

I mean the title of this conversation should be” How to Offend Me in a Few Sentences” or just “Sexism 101”. So I quit the book after that.

But is it wrong that I’m basing my opinion of a book because of something a character says even though it was offending? I mean I’m sure there have been and there will be plenty of books that obviously don’t align with my views on life, but that shouldn’t deter me from reading the book, that would simply make me a little narrow-minded not wanting to see from other people’s perspectives. This is definitely only one of the reasons why I don’t finish books. Maybe they’re just boring or I’m not interested but it’s something I’ve thought about and whether or not DNFing was the “right” thing to do. But in most cases, I do feel like I know myself well enough to know if I’ll continue to enjoy a book or not.

Some questions I ask myself before I decide not to continue on with a book.

1. Do I care about what’s going to happen next? Is it interesting enough?
2. Why don’t I like this book? Is it the writing? The characters?
3. What can I learn from this book that hasn’t been done before?
4. Do I not like it because of preference or because I believe it’s  not a “good” book?

Let me know if you finish books no matter what or you’re ok with DNFing books? If so, how do you decide when to stop? What are the reasons you stop reading a book?