London - “A writer only begins a book,” Samuel Johnson once said. “A reader finishes it.” Unless, of course, they give up halfway through.
New research has found the top five books that readers shelve before the final page, which include JK Rowling's latest work and erotic sensation Fifty Shades of Grey. Reasons for ditching a book included everything from the narrative being “slow and boring” to a “ridiculous plot”, a dislike of the main character, and even objections that the work was “immoral”.
Schopenhauer was of the opinion that life was “too short for bad books”, so the reading website Goodreads has compiled a modern list of the most abandoned by its 19 million-strong online reading community.
The most abandoned book was The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling, with comments suggesting those returning the book to the shelves were largely Harry Potter fans. “Where's the magic?” one said. Suzanne Skyvara of Goodreads believes it was a case of “mismanaged expectations”.
It was followed by the first of EL James's best-selling Fifty Shades trilogy, with one user simply saying: “I am embarrassed for us all” after giving it up early.
Eat Pray Love was third on the list, with the heroine of the book proving polarising. Ms Skyvara said: “You either really liked the heroine or you wanted to throw the book, and her, across the room.”
The list was rounded out by Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Wicked by Gregory Maguire.
Ms Skyvara said: “This turned out to be a real watercooler topic. People split into defined groups; it is amazing how many people will push on to the end of a book they don't enjoy. I'm in the 'life's too short' category.”
Close to 40 percent said they finish books no matter what. For those that did plough on, most gave the reason “as a rule I like to finish things” and “I have to know what happens”.
Just over 15 percent abandon a book before the 50th page, while 28 percent give up before they reach 100. Goodreads, which was launched in 2007, tracked the data for the past six years on the books its users had marked “abandoned”, “did not finish”, or “unfinished”.
Of the top five abandoned classics, Joseph Heller's Catch-22 topped the list, followed by The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien, James Joyce's Ulysses and Herman Melville's Moby-Dick. The fifth was Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.
While readers have professed to feel guilty about abandoning books prematurely, they can take comfort from Dr Johnson. On hearing about advice that a book should always be completed once begun, he said: “This is surely a strange advice; you may as well resolve that whatever men you happen to get acquainted with, you are to keep them for life. A book may be good for nothing, or there may be only one thing in it worth knowing; are we to read it all through?”
LOSING THE PLOT
THE TOP 5 MOST ABANDONED CLASSICS
Catch-22
Joseph Heller's 1961 satirical work about the madness of the Second World War introduced its title into the English language.
The Lord of the Rings
JRR Tolkien's fantasy novel published in 1954 follows the epic journey of hobbits, dwarfs, elves.
Ulysses
James Joyce's tale of Leopold Bloom's passage through Dublin has been hailed as one of the best English-language novels of the 20th century.
Moby-Dick
Herman Melville's book follows Captain Ahab's ill-fated pursuit of the whale over 635 pages.
Atlas Shrugged
Ayn Rand's tale of a dystopian US dogged by taxes and government regulations takes up 1,168 pages.
THE MOST ABANDONED BOOKS OVERALL ... AND WHY
The Casual Vacancy (JK Rowling)
“A far cry from the Harry Potter series.”
Fifty Shades of Grey (EL James)
“I'm a bit of a lit snob.”
Eat Pray Love (Elizabeth Gilbert)
“Heroine seems whiny and self-obsessed.”
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (Stieg Larsson)
“Slow beginning and hard to wait for something to make me care.”
Source: Goodreads survey. - The Independent