Had to choose between finishing the book or ditching it for book club night

Last month our club picked 'The Goldfinch'. 600 pages. I was 200 pages in and hated it. Everyone else loved it. I forced myself to finish it just so I could argue at the meeting. Spent 3 hours the night before skimming chapters. Got to the debate and the person who didn't even read it had more to say than me. Has anyone else wasted time finishing a dud just to have a stance?

3 comments

3 Comments

ross.lily1mo ago

Oh man, did I ever waste time on a dud like that? I read "The Night Circus" for my old club and it was all hype. I kept waiting for it to get good and it never did. I even skipped to the last 50 pages just to see if the ending saved it. Nope, still hated it. By the time book club came around, I was so frustrated I just talked about a movie I saw instead. Nobody even cared I skipped the book lol. Sometimes you just gotta cut your losses and move on, you know?

the_thomas1mo ago

Oh man, @ross.lily I feel that so hard. What worked for me was just switching to audiobooks for those overhyped novels. I listened to "The Night Circus" while driving and hated it SO much I almost missed my exit twice from frustration. But audiobooks let me multitask so I didnt feel like I wasted HOURS. Honestly, if I had to sit and read that thing page by page I would have thrown it across the room. Cutting your losses early is a SUPERPOWER.

samk771mo ago

Cutting your losses IS a superpower, and I'm here for that movie swap move.