What Makes You Stop Reading?

I've had difficulty deciding what to blog about this month. This is something that happens to me every so often. The last time... last year, I defaulted to a Top 10, which turned into a whole string of them. So not doing that again this month.

Instead, I'm going to chat about writing and reading. More precisely, about writers and readers.  Actually, about one writer/reader in particular. Myself.

Y'all know I'm a slow snail writer. I'm a slow reader, too, especially when I'm reading a good novel. I love to take my time and mosey through the story reading it at my own speed. I rush through some pages and linger over others, often reading them more than once. I read all kinds of novels by all kinds of writers.

Currently, I'm reading a new novel by a well-known NYT bestselling author who writes mostly suspense thrillers. Everything was fine until a little before the halfway point. The chapter d-r-a-g-g-e-d. I thought I would never get through it. It contained a lot of detail that was somewhat repetitive and dull. It was a long chapter, nearing twenty pages, that had little to do with the story. I wondered if it was something that should have been omitted and was overlooked. Toward the end of the chapter, the reason for it being there showed up. It shouldn't have taken up 20 pages of the book. But it did. Ten would've been tighter and more appropriate. In my opinion, which is worth what you paid for it.

I left the book alone for about a week. I really didn't know if I wanted to finish it. Finally, I decided to try another chapter. It was back to all the previous chapters, filled with movement and voice. So I kept reading.

A few chapters later, the main character did something mystery writers learn early on to never do to their main character. I was like What!?

It took me only a few seconds to see a different way the author could've achieved the same result that wouldn't have caused the problem it did. Would my option work as the story moves forward? I don't know, but so far it makes no difference in the story. In fact, I'm actually wondering why that small bit needed to be there at all. I thought I knew, but I'm less certain now. I'm nearing the end, and I'll continue reading. So far, the rest of the story has been as good as the first part. Updating: I finished this book, and this incident that bothered me had zero to do with the rest of the story. It should've been cut. Again in my opinion.

I'm not saying that I expect something close to perfection in any book I read. No book is perfect. What I'm saying is that I don't enjoy being pulled from a story by a sloppy chapter and a beginning writer mistake, especially when the book has been written by a acclaimed professional author. Both author and editor should know better.

I noted some other things that aren't worth mentioning and that we all miss at times. Things like time inaccuracies and what-was-available-when type things. More thorough research would have helped, but sometimes I'm guilty of this sort of thing too. It didn't affect the story here, and that was okay with me.

How would you handle this? Would you blow it off and keep reading or stop at the first incident of something not quite right and close the book? Or are you somewhere in between? Like me.

In this instance, I'm glad I continued reading. The story was great overall, with lots of ups and downs and many surprises along the way. 

Disclaimer: The image above is from a random book I pulled from my shelf. It is not the book mentioned here. It did, however, let me see how much dust had accumulated up there. #notagoodhousekeeper because life is more fun to let dust just do its own thing :) 

See y'all next month :)