I give up!
I made a New Year's resolution at Samhain, as is my wont, and it's a weird'un.
I hereby resolve to give up on more books.
I give books a long probationary period, no matter how little I'm enjoying them, out of fear that the next page starts the "really good part". By the time I concede that there is no "really good part", my innate stubbornness kicks in: I've read this far and invested this much time, and I'm by Sagan going to finish the thing. Apart from books assigned for school, which often got short shrift, I can probably count the number of books I've started and abandoned on my fingers with enough left over to hold a teacup. And I mean in my whole life, starting with Farmer Boy in second grade.
But just after Samhain, three weeks into my slog through a book I wasn't enjoying at all, I went into the library and was struck with great force, by how fucking many books are in the world. And I don't read that fast. If my life and eyesight last long enough, I might get through all of the "must-reads" on my list, and maybe an eighth of the "would be nice to reads". Plus, you know those damned writers are just gonna keep writing books, so it's not like my list is gonna get shorter.
So from now on I'm going to swallow my stubborn pride and be willing to call it quits. Life is too short to waste on bad books.