Very frustrating, perhaps I'm getting old . . .

[Paul_C]

. . . but I'm not giving books as much chance as I used to.

I'm still finding books that I really enjoy, so it's not all of them, but I do seem to be rejecting an awful lot at the moment. It's not as if I'm very old (I'm 55) but I wonder if I've already got to the stage of "I haven't got time enough left to waste on this"

I'll add a list tomorrow some time, but the most recent failure I was quite hopeful about, Stephen Baxter's Raft. For what is described as hard science fiction I don't get the use of "trees" to travel about (unless I'm missing something) as it sounds like nonsense.

I've just started Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft, fingers crossed

 

[Vince W]

You aren't alone Paul. I can't be bothered with a book if the author can't grab me within about 50 pages any more. I think it does have to do with age. You're now experienced enough to know what's rubbish and what's worth the effort. I wish I knew that when I was about 20. It would have saved me a lot of grief in many aspects of my life.

 

[Paul_C]

Books I have given up on (all fairly recently-ish)

Infinite Jest
If Then
The Quantum Magician
Station Eleven (mostly as it's post-apocalyptic, something I'm not really into at the moment, and I hadn't realised)
Noumenon
Arrive at Easterwine (I was warned )
By Light Alone
The Family Trade
and a couple more I can't recall right now.

 

[Vince W]

Books I have given up on (all fairly recently-ish)

Infinite Jest
If Then
The Quantum Magician
Station Eleven (mostly as it's post-apocalyptic, something I'm not really into at the moment, and I hadn't realised)
Noumenon
Arrive at Easterwine (I was warned )
By Light Alone
The Family Trade
and a couple more I can't recall right now.

I don't recognise a single title there. I would not have even attempted 'The Quantum Magician'.

 

[Lumens]

I'm the same. It's not only books, but movies and tv series too. Sometimes even music. There is just so much choice these days. It's great in one way, and maybe a little bit sad too, but I don't want to complain. I like lots of choice, or I like to think that I like it.

 

[Anthoney]

@Paul_C I'm around your age and have been experiencing the same thing. It's something I've noticed more and more in the last few years. I have less and less patience for books and shows that are almost what I like, or close enough. Not only am I more careful about what I start, I'm more careful about what I finish. Before the last few years I can think of only 2 books (and 1 movie) that I started but did not finish. In recent years I've way surpassed those numbers.

 

[Brian G Turner]

I would suggest it's less about age and more about reading experience - you've come to recognize what works for you at the start of a story, and if it doesn't it likely won't payoff reading on.

 

[thaddeus6th]

When I was younger I used to (usually) force myself to finish books. Now, it just seems daft. There's a bucketload of books, so why waste time on something unenjoyable?

 

[Rodders]

It's natural to zero into the things that you enjoy most. I'm finding it really noticeable in my musical taste. (Thanks to iTunes, I down load a lot of music, but it tends to be a similar genre.)

Book wise, I suppose that I also have a tendency to prioritise what I would consider "Go To" authors over others (Although I have many new authors on my TBR pile.)

 

[HareBrain]

There's a bucketload of books

A bit out of date there, Thad. In February 2008, the original bucket reached its limit and thanks to self-publishing, we're now quite a way through the second. So it should be bucketloads.

 

[Vince W]

Book wise, I suppose that I also have a tendency to prioritise what I would consider "Go To" authors over others (Although I have many new authors on my TBR pile.)

If your TBR pile is anything like mine you need a sherpa and oxygen to reach the summit.

 

[Ursa major]

The Family Trade

I enjoyed this and the other half-books in the trilogy**. It just goes to show that people's taste's differ.


** - The story was written as three books, but originally published in six volumes (of which the sixth was hard to obtain in the UK); the trilogy has subsequently been re-edited and published as three books, The Family Trade forming the the first half of The Bloodline Feud. (There is a sequel trilogy, of which I'm waiting for the final part to be published.)

 

[Paul_C]

I got a fair way into The Family Trade and then something annoyed me (I'd have to check on the Kindle to recall what), which is also true of Numenon - I was enjoying it until the characters changed behaviour so dramatically that I felt someone else had taken over writing it.

I recently read one of the short stories set in the Machineries of Empire universe (a series which I very much enjoyed despite not really being bothered by Military SF these days) so I think it very much comes down to the teller of the tales and the style of their story telling rather than the subject - an old story well told being much more enjoyable than an original done badly.

 

[thaddeus6th]

I never said my bucket conformed to your Euclidean geometry.

 

[Parson]

Interesting thread. I too at the advanced age of 68 find myself not finishing many, many, more books that ever before in my life. I think in my case it comes down to a few things.

One, age, at 68 I don't feel like "wasting time" on something I find tedious or revolting, which seems to be happening with increasing frequency.
Two, insight, being a part of this forum for over a decade has opened my eyes a lot in terms what I actually like and what is good writing.
Three, Kindle, Living on the backside of nowhere I was pretty much forced to buy and read any half decent S.F. that came my way. Now that's not the case.
Four, Kindle again, Having so many books being published has meant that a lot of half cooked book ideas have found their way into my recommendation list, and more that a few times I've been snagged by them.
Five, affluence, after years and years of living paycheck to paycheck --- most parsons are not well paid at all --- I now have enough so that if I don't like a book, it doesn't bother me too much to dump it for something better without getting full "value" out of the book.
Six, tropes, I've now read so many books in my go to --- military S.F. --- that a lot of what is written now looks to be a non-exciting rehash of what I've read dozens of times before and my toleration of said tropes has been severely curtailed.

I really wanted seven reasons. You know a "biblically" perfect number. But six seems to be the end of honest answers. Am I ignoring that 6 is the devel's number?

 

[-K2-]

@Parson ; I'll give you an angelic number...
Seven, you one day, out of your mind bored and feeling generous, read one of my novels when it comes out. Within 222 words, you sense it. Within 333 words, you're sure of it... and within 444 words, you know it with all your heart. --- You wish you had read a cheesy romance novel instead.

K2

 

[KGeo777]

I forced myself to finish GULLIVER OF MARS but it was a tedious read. I hate abandoning things though, so I endured it despite wanting to do something else.

 

[Vince W]

Interesting thread. I too at the advanced age of 68 find myself not finishing many, many, more books that ever before in my life. I think in my case it comes down to a few things.

One, age, at 68 I don't feel like "wasting time" on something I find tedious or revolting, which seems to be happening with increasing frequency.
Two, insight, being a part of this forum for over a decade has opened my eyes a lot in terms what I actually like and what is good writing.
Three, Kindle, Living on the backside of nowhere I was pretty much forced to buy and read any half decent S.F. that came my way. Now that's not the case.
Four, Kindle again, Having so many books being published has meant that a lot of half cooked book ideas have found their way into my recommendation list, and more that a few times I've been snagged by them.
Five, affluence, after years and years of living paycheck to paycheck --- most parsons are not well paid at all --- I now have enough so that if I don't like a book, it doesn't bother me too much to dump it for something better without getting full "value" out of the book.
Six, tropes, I've now read so many books in my go to --- military S.F. --- that a lot of what is written now looks to be a non-exciting rehash of what I've read dozens of times before and my toleration of said tropes has been severely curtailed.

I really wanted seven reasons. You know a "biblically" perfect number. But six seems to be the end of honest answers. Am I ignoring that 6 is the devel's number?

I'm with you on points one (not quite there yet), two, five, and six. I understand three and four, but I'm very particular about what I buy for my Kindle.

 

[Overread]

I'd say that with ebooks and self publishing the market has become more complicated and messy. There's a lot of great self published books and a sheer mountain of dross that buries them. Reviews are also hard won because Amazon doesn't really reward users much for making them, they don't even give you achievements for doing it. So there's less pressure to review which means books have to fight to get any reviews at all. Even more than 30 or 40 reviews is a lot for many books. It doesn't help that many classics, sitll great reads, might have only a tiny handful of reviews.

So it can be hard to judge the good from the bad before you dip in and have a read. So yeah I can see a higher reject rate arising from that alone, regardless of age or experience or maturity of reading etc... Simply having far more material with less filtering will result in a higher reject rate unless you only stick to the very top titles.

 

[Parson]

Simply having far more material with less filtering will result in a higher reject rate unless you only stick to the very top titles.

Yea, I buy that, but I've had a lot of experience with things that were not "top titles" but I liked very well indeed. So it's not a perfect plan.