Reading Books We Don’t Like

I was just sitting here thinking about my little problem that I mention often about needing to read a series in order. Along the same lines I have a problem putting down a series after I’ve started it. I put them on hiatuses sometimes, but I have trouble abandoning them altogether so I generally try to come back to them.

width= However, if I have a problem with the series to begin with, then I generally tend to sludge through the rest of the books grudgingly. Is this any way to read though? I mean, I’m really thinking about it and it makes my stomach hurt to think that I am struggling through books that, sure, maybe other people have enjoyed, but that I really am not enjoying. There are so many, and I mean SO MANY, good books out there and life is so short. So why should I waste my time on these books?

I have a problem though. I know I do, for real. Because it literally makes me sick to think I will never finish the series (whatever series it may be at the time). I don’t know if I am alone in this. But I feel like it’s a big problem. Because it takes me longer to get to books that I really am very much looking forward to. I can’t run out and pick up a fantastic read I just heard about because I’m struggling through mediocre to bad books before I can do that.

So what’s a girl to do? Should I throw these books on the back burner, or in the fire completely (theoretically of course), or should I struggle through them to satisfy my itch to complete a series from start to finish? I just don’t know. But right now I feel a bit in a reading slump because of this and I’m beginning to think it’s important to my reading health to abandon the notion that I must finish a series once I’ve started it.

But alas, this is a tough one for me, because I feel like I should give the series a chance to grow and develop. Then I think about it and realize that most of the series’ that I ADORE, I loved from the beginning (at least by book #2). So I think that perhaps I should just give in to this urge to be a bad girl and give up on icky books that make me want to pull my hair out.

I could go on, because this is truly just a “Rabble Rabble” post for me. But that’s okay. I needed to vent this a bit because for some reason it’s become a big problem for me. I am a perfectionist to the core so I know that’s the source of this issue. But I think perhaps putting things on “the back burner” but then maybe, just maybe, never getting to said back burner might be the option for me. It might satisfy my inner crazy person to at least pretend I will get back to it one day, but at the same time allow me to move on to all the wonderful books and series’ that I have on hold because I’m trying to get through something I’m not loving.

Do you do this to yourself? Do you read okay to terrible books because they are part of a series that you’ve started and can’t seem to give the boot to? I mean, I’m sure you’re not as crazy as I am about it, that’s a given. But, do you find yourself in these kinds of slumps?

P.S. It’s a good thing the world is ending today so I don’t have to think so hard about this anymore. 😉