What Makes You...

...want to finish or not finish a book?  I have wondered that before, and again now recently, because after buying a book, I've had to literally slog through it to finish, which I only did by 'cheating' and looking at the final pages.  Even then, I wondered why I bothered and lamented the loss of money I could have spent on another, more satisfying one.

I love books, and will often take a chance on most of them, even if I haven't heard of the author or don't usually read the genre.  After all, you can always open your horizons to new things; and hey, a book's a book.  But when you have to force yourself to finish - which you know is happening because you suddenly wonder what you're going to make for dinner or if you're just going to order in - then the book really isn't captivating your interest, is it?

To be fair to everyone, I'm not naming the book.  Because everyone likes different books, and it wouldn't be fair to the reader nor to the author.  Because maybe they've written other books that are better than this one.  I know that we all see books differently - which is as it should be.  We're all going to have different reactions to them.  Yet I still find it hard to believe that a book can get such glowing reviews by others, and I can get halfway through and think, "who buys this pap?" or "are you kidding me?"  Books that you can't review because in all fairness, you really didn't finish it.  You 'peeked' to see the ending, because you got tired of rolling your eyes at every other passage (well, at least my eyes were getting exercise while I was reading!)

So, that being said, do you finish the book because you bought it?  Do you feel because you started you might as well continue to read?  Or, like me, do you peek to the end and just cut your losses, as it were?  And when you finally put the book down, do you immediately take a chance on a new or unknown author, or do you go to someone you're familiar with, someone you know, a book that you're truly going to savor and enjoy?