Nobody Owes Us Attention

Readers Have Other Things On Their Minds

I have a quirky book problem. Once I get through the first few chapters of a book, I feel obligated to keep going, even if I’ve entirely lost interest.

I start skimming, flipping through pages-doing anything so that I feel like I reached the end legitimately. It seems absurd even as I do it, but if I page through to the last page, then I’ve met some kind of obligation and given the author the benefit of the doubt.

Sometimes I can’t even do that. My Kindle is cluttered with the relics of books that I cannot quite delete. Let’s not even talk about my bookshelves.

Maybe it’s the sunk cost fallacy- I’ve read this far, I will have wasted this time if I stop.

Maybe it’s too much conscientiousness. Abandoning a book is like returning a pet to a shelter. I picked it up, I ought to finish it -so says some inner voice.

How about you?

What do you do if you’re bored with a book 50 pages in? Do you keep reading out of a sense of obligation, or put it down and do something else?

Unless you have to read it for a book club, a class assignment, or your job, you probably move on.