Urban Fantasy discussion

I feel like reading so much fast-paced UF has completely eroded my patience for slow starts :P I'll give a book two pages to kick off, or maybe a chapter if I'm in a REALLY good mood, before I put it aside. My TBR pile (or should I say To Be Attempted Again pile) is almost as tall as me now :S

How long do you stick around for the books you start reading? I mean, do they have to kick off right from the first page or two, or are small mysteries enough to keep you reading? And do you reckon that your attention span has decreased? :P

Sometimes I feel that way but it's usually b/c I'm wanting to read something specific and the book I've chosen doesn't have it. I will end up reading the book I started at some point in time but I'll either want more mystery, romance or action. It's all about the mood I'm in. I do get what you're saying though but I don't think it's my attention span, it's just about what it is I want to read at the moment.

My older sister became a book lover as soon as she was capable of reading. It worked out really well for me because she watched me growing up and would pass on books she knew I would like.
It wasn't long before she knew my favourite genres and she would only pass on the best of the best.

I've read very few bad books which is great but if I do pick up a bad one I have to read the whole thing (only because I'm the kind of person that has to finish everything I start. So no matter how hideous I find it I will fight to the end, but once my attitude turns sour in the early chapters it's very hard for the book to redeem itself!

I tend to finish everything I start, even if it's not so good, and even if it takes me months—just because I don't like starting a book and not knowing how it ends. (In other words, when I *don't* finish a book, it means I find it really, really awful.)

I don't mind if a story doesn't start with a quick pace, as long as there's something in it that keeps me interested: setting, characters, some elements left in the dark and which I hope to discover more about later on... I think the one thing that might really put me off is a ton of heavy descriptions. I don't need to know the exact shape of every tiny feature of the main character's face, nor do I care about the exact contents of his/her wardrobe, or stuff like that.

Well....it depends.

If I'm surfing around through miscellaneous books and come across something that looks like it might be interesting, then I often read the free sample (usually about 10% of the book) and decide from there if I want to pursue it. However, if there's a book that I'm specifically interested in, then I rarely put it down before finishing -- even if it's not very good.

This past year I've also developed a sad addiction to some kinds of romance -- and I'm much more likely to give up on those than on books in other genres.

As for pacing -- I'm very very tolerant of slow pacing, as long as the prose and characterization are good. In fact I just finished -- and very much enjoyed -- a book by Louise Penny, in which not much of anything happens for most of the book. But I love her anyway. :)

For most books I give them at least 20-40 pages. Some books the writing style or setup is so bad I may give up on them after only 5-10 pages.

I read a fair amour of samples on my kindle and look at goodreads ratings and reviews before even trying a sample so usually by the time I have purchases a book I know I will stick with it.

Since I buy all my books I will read it even if the book is boring which so far I can say has not happened too often.

I read about 5 to 6 chapters before I give up on a book. It is not the slow pace that I will give up on, it is bad writing style. The Twlight books I read about 5 chapters of the first one, and was glad I got it from the library. Mink River not UF is slow but so well written I could not have put it down if I wanted to.

I read the entire book no matter how much I don't enjoy it :(.

If it's truly unbearable (which most books aren't), I read it as quickly as possible....but that usually means reading 100+ pages.

I tend to be fairly patient, in that I don't give up on books usually. I am currently reading Great Expectations, and I can't read more than 10-20 pages at a time, but I won't give up. I think that I try to match my reading to my mood. If I am feeling anxious, or keyed up, I go for a faster-paced book.

I used to finish every book I started. But I was resenting ok, hating the books that weren't for me when they were not to my taste or mood and that's no good.

I read Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason by Nancy Pearl. She's a librarian, whose recommendations I really like- and it doesn't hurt that she has her own action figure. Anyway, in that book, the first of many books of book recommendations she's written, she suggests a formula for when you can give up on a book. If you're under twenty years old, you need to read about 80 pages of a book before giving up on it. If you're 75 years old, you only need to read about 25 pages of the book before giving up on it. I like the idea because it's based not only on how old you are, but presumably on how many books you've read in your life...

I never know what will happen. I pick up books, set them down somewhere then come back to them later and wonder what was wrong with me because they were so great. If it truly sux, I will leave it for a while, then realize it should move on to someone else who might love it. I get many of my, let's try it and see books from the library bookstore, so my investment can be minimal and I don't feel too bad about abandonment. However, I do need to give it some time to see if life's currents will take me back to it eventually. The ones I pay full price for...yea, I force myself to read them eventually!

John wrote: "How long do you stick around for the books you start reading? I mean, do they have to kick off right from the first page or two, or are small mysteries enough to keep you reading? And do you reckon that your attention span has decreased? :P "

Well, the older I get, the less patience I have for books that don't interest me. I will say that as soon as I left college, I didn't read any more books just because I started them ... I'd had enough of that.

It isn't just UF for me, though, as I'm the same way with my mystery/adventure/ sci-fi and fantasy. I'm character driven as well, so if I can't relate/like the main characters I don't stay interested.

For me, the last six months has definitely decreased my attention span, thanks to my Kindle and free downloads. I download anything that sounds interesting from the description, but my percentage of DNFs has gone up a lot.

I find it difficult to translate Kindle 'pages' to actual book pages but I rarely read more than 25 or 30 pages in a print book before going on to something more interesting, so I imagine it's the rough equivalent with the Kindle.



Julia wrote: "She suggests a formula for when you can give up on a book. If you're under twenty years old, you need to read about 80 pages of a book before giving up on it. If you're 75 years old, you only need to read about 25 pages of the book before giving up on it. I like the idea because it's based not only on how old you are, but presumably on how many books you've read in your life... "

That's a very interesting thought and rather works into my reading habits now. I don't remember how many books I didn't finish in my 20s ... for one thing I didn't have nearly as much time to read (2 children, full time job plus college) ... but at 70, 25 to 30 pages is about my limit. At that point I fell pretty sure I'm going to enjoy it ... or not.

Honestly I think I have more patience for books than most. Not sure why this is. I just get into them easily. I'm fine with slower, introspective stories. I will hang on for quite awhile for something to start. Then again I'm a big character based person and that may have something to do with it.

Erin wrote: "Then again I'm a big character based person and that may have something to do with it. "

That is true for me as well and I will sacrifice quite a lot of plot/storyline if the characters are interesting. The other side of that, of course, is that I am even quicker to put something down if I can't connect to any of the characters.

Kindles "sample reads" have become my limit. If I'm rolling my eyes and annoyed I'm going no farther. If it's an interesting premise and I don't hate any of the MC's yet I'll buy it. Once I buy a book I try to struggle through regardless but it doesn't always happen.

Patience is not one of my virtues. I have discovered that the older I get the shorter my patience gets. In fact when attempting to watch movies I loved as a kid, I can't even get through them...the same goes for books.

On a similar subject: have you ever given a copy of your favorite book to a friend only to find the philistine never started/finished it? Friendships have ended over this.

I try to read every book I buy that is over the $7.99 threshold. I might not read it for awhile, or I make myself read 2 of these types of books on my TBR before buying another book. This has helped with keeping my book budget in place. Patience for slow starts has increased with my validation process. Or I tell myself "Just read faster, it'll be fine in 20 minutes."

Then there are the freebies, cheapies and bargains. For freebies, I will read 10-15%, if I'm not hooked I won't finish it. I also keep my freebies in a separate collection on my kindle and I try to read a freebie between my standard go-to series and authors. Just like everyone, I've read good and bad freebies, the free factor is great for exposure to different genres & writers.

For cheapies and bargain reads - I try to read them fully but won't beat myself up if they are not for me. I usually try to set out read 25% and then if I'm fully aware of when I've arived at this point, then I'm not fully engaged by the book. If I pass this point unaware, I'll just finish it. For paper books if I don't finish them I will box them up by category and pass them on to a friend. For ebooks I just remove them from kindle, and let them sit in the abyss aka archieved items.

I'm a character person, too. If something starts out with nothing but a chase scene or a fight scene and I can't get a sense of the character, some sympathy (or horror, if the scene starts with a villain), the book won't grab my interest just like something really slow and ponderous doesn't.

I have almost no patience for a book that is written clumsily or has mistakes from page 1. Unfortunately, that makes me hesitant to even try most indie books (even though I'm an indie author). 80% of them seem to be what my wife calls "unfortunate." ;)

I like to read the first chapter on Amazon if I can to see if I want to buy it however I like to buy books with a minimum of 2 in the series already and I always buy a series in one go (even if it has 10 books or so out) so I guess I have a lot of patience because I always read what I buy.

I tend to pick books carefully so rarely get a dreadful one. I think you have to give a character a good chance,they should be awful to start with and maybe for the whole of the first book. Characters need to develop in a series and if they are great to start with they have nothing to grow into. If there is no action by chapter three I get a bit frustrated though.

Wow, there's a lot of variation here! I never knew character was so important, but the more I think about it the more I realize that it's true. I'm going to attempt to keep to the 80 pages rule to build up a bit of reading muscle, so I don't miss out on potentially awesome books in the future. Maybe I need to try some more old school epic fantasy? I've got two books in the Wheel of Time series on my table, one of which needs to be re-read :P I think I'll start there.

Thanks for answering, everyone :) I'm a lurker most of the time, but I've decided that Goodreads and Nanowrimo are my favourite sites :)

I used to finish like two books a day in the good old days of community college. :). Now that I am at a different college that is more fast paced and harder to stay on top of the work I'm lucky if I can read or listen to a book once a week. Sometimes it doesnt happen and sometimes Im just to tired to try to read even if its a author or book I know I will love because the whole time I'm thinking about what I should do for class.
Anyway I would usually give a book a try and read all that I can then put it down when i get bored of it or if it is to slow and read something else, i try to read half of a book unless its really racist (but i dont seem to have that problem with urban fantasy and fantasy in general as it usually had paranormal creatures.

I generally finish everything I start, though I am learning to eject from really poor writing. If the story drags, I will leave it to read something better, but will eventually come back and finish the first book. I agree with Chakara--the only thing that really turns me off is hate material.

I give books somewhere between 75-100 pages and if it has not captured my interest it gets on the DNF list. Sometimes I have books that annoy me and I am not in the mood those I will wait a few weeks and try again. Sometimes it works out somethings it doesn't but generally speaking if something is not working for me then I just let it go.

I should have a DNF list. (Acronyms are always cool!)

How valuable are poor or mediocre reviews for people here? Is it worth slogging through such a book so I can post a full review?

Scott wrote: "I should have a DNF list. (Acronyms are always cool!)"

Have one of those! I also have a "sample fail" list. The first list keeps me from trying again, b/c by the time they hit that list I've had multiple tries. The second list keeps me from buying books on my kindle that I could barely survive during the sample.

R.Scott wrote: "How valuable are poor or mediocre reviews for people here? Is it worth slogging through such a book so I can post a full review?"

I ussually read at least one good and one bad review when shopping for a book. I have so many to read, that I often need help keeping my digital book pile under control.

Deva wrote: "I don't have a lot of patience period. Usually if it's a slow start, I give it til about chapter 2 or 3 before I decide if I will continue or not. If I still haven't decided, then I put it away and..."

So do you read the sample before buying?

If the book is 1.99 or less and the description hooked me, I'll download it without reading the sample. If it's more than a 1.99 or I'm on the fence about it, I'll download a sample first.

Samples have saved me from some books and drew me into others, more so than reviews.

I don't usually give up on a book. I may take a break from something to read something else and then go back to it.

I usually stay with it past the halfway mark. A lot of books are only so-so until the second half. Of course those books never get on my will read again list

Lisianthus,

I read page 123 in the bookstore as my gauge to determine whether I'll enjoy or hate the book.

I read the first paragraph and if it doesn't hook me, I'm picking up the next book on the pile.

Shomeret wrote: "I read the first paragraph and if it doesn't hook me, I'm picking up the next book on the pile."

Wow! That puts some pressure on the writer, lol. It's nice to be able to use something like the 'look inside' feature, though, to read the first part of a book and make a decision.

I read somewhere around 30 pages usually. If the characters haven't grabbed me I'll move on. That is one of the reasons multiple POV doesn't work well for me. I don't have much of a chance to get attached to a character if there are 3 POV in the first 3 chapters...

Maria wrote: "I read somewhere around 30 pages usually. If the characters haven't grabbed me I'll move on. That is one of the reasons multiple POV doesn't work well for me. I don't have much of a chance to get..."

I agree. I do like multiple POV's, but at the same time, if there are too many of them, it gets confusing.

Michelle L. wrote: "Maria wrote: "I read somewhere around 30 pages usually. If the characters haven't grabbed me I'll move on. That is one of the reasons multiple POV doesn't work well for me. I don't have much of a..."
I don't like them. One or two, maaaaybe. Three, if the book is really good. More than that and it's a sure way to get me to put it down!

Michelle L. wrote: "Shomeret wrote: "I read the first paragraph and if it doesn't hook me, I'm picking up the next book on the pile."

Wow! That puts some pressure on the writer, lol. It's nice to be able to use som..."

I attended a writer's workshop some time ago where we were taught how to insert a hook in that first paragraph. The writer who taught it used to be a slush pile reader.

With the over-supply of books that I have from the library and on my Kindle, I feel like a slush pile reader. Writers really do have to hook me with some character, event or setting that grabs my attention.

Shomeret wrote: "Michelle L. wrote: "Shomeret wrote: "I read the first paragraph and if it doesn't hook me, I'm picking up the next book on the pile."

Wow! That puts some pressure on the writer, lol. It's nice t..."

That's an excellent point, Shomeret. It's like the slush pile has been moved out of the hands of editors and into readers' hands. I've felt the same way.

I download *a lot* of free and $.99 books from Amazon, but I only do so if I'm hooked by both the blurb and the excerpt. Otherwise, fuggedaboutit.

Novels are meant to be entertaining. If they can't manage that, then why slog along until the bitter end? I'd rather jump ship, even pages from the ending, then hang on until things sink.

It depends on the mood of the book, for me. As a writer, I hope not to have to force-feed a hook to a reader in 3 paragraphs or less. OTOH, I've also been told that a good number of readers aren't willing to wait to be engaged by the writing and want you to blow something up or throw someone off a roof on the first page to make it worth their while.

So I tend to split the difference, and try to start someplace interesting or give a few paragraphs of blowing up the world/throwing somebody off the roof before I go back to the "boring" entry work of setting mood, character and the like.

When reading, I look more at the characters than the action hooks. If you give me an interesting character in the first chapter, I'll give you some time to unwind a story for them. If it's all exclamation points and cardboard, I won't stick around no matter how many people are being tossed like sacks of grain from 30 stories up.

~G

Oh how I love this topic. lol Many books or series have "spoiled" me to the point that sometimes it's hard to read a book, any book after a what I would call a "great" read.

Lori wrote: "Oh how I love this topic. lol Many books or series have "spoiled" me to the point that sometimes it's hard to read a book, any book after a what I would call a "great" read."

I know exactly what you mean! I almost get cranky after a really good book because it can be tough to find a good follow-up!

Blowing up the world or throwing someone off the roof is not interesting to me. There are too many novels that do that sort of thing. Give me something unusual or even unique in that first paragraph and I'll be hooked.

I'm going to feel like a horrible, horrible person for saying this.

Books that are slow to start, drive me INSANE. Like, scream and rip out tufts of my hair insane.

To be honest, I don't know why. But at the same time, I know my tastes haven't changed. Harry Potter didn't grab me on the first chapter. Books that typicall ylay out a scene without giving me something to show movement of a plot, or books that toss me into the middle of a scene with plot obvious by page two, those I enjoy. Clockwork Angel was a great example; the first sentence alone had me curious.

I love a good hook as well. Sometimes, however I am disappointed when the writer doesn't deliver. Getting off to a fast start is harder than it seems sometimes.

If it is the first book of a series or a stand alone by a new to me author, it has to hook me quickly. Too many books, not enough time syndrome.

I am a little more flexible with books by authors I have read before and enjoy, expecting that any author can have a slower start ... and I am more patient with the second book of a series where I enjoyed the first book a great deal. Many times, it seems that the second book has to set additional background before continuing on with the storyline. Can't say I like it, particularly, but I can see the necessity in many cases.