Discussion: Finishing Books, and the Importance of First Pages

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The other day, fellow bloggers Jamie, Jess Lawlor, and I met up to hang out at a nearby Barnes & Noble. As we were browsing the shelves, we pointed out or mentioned books that I had to admit I couldn't finish. I say "I," because it turns out that Jamie and Jess are total book finishers: when they start a book, they have to finish it, even if the book turns out to be only so-so. Whereas I declared that I usually knew whether or not I want to finish a book by the end of its first chapter. I also do not have qualms about not finishing a book even if I am, say, three-fourths of the way through the book.

I can understand both reading habits. Reading a less-than-impressive book is a learning experience, too. If you're a writer, it helps you figure out what elements of a story work or don't work for you, in order to decide what you'll want to incorporate into your own writing. If you're not a writer, you can still figure out what things you like or dislike as a reader, which will help you in future reading selections as well as when you give book recommendations to a variety of readers.

Generally, I'll read the first chapter or two of a book to see if I'm interested in reading the rest of it. If I'm in a particularly unforgiving mood, or if I reach that oft-reached point of being overwhelmed by the sheer number of books I own that I have yet to read, I might read only the first page or two in order to sort the book into "keep" or "don't keep." I do this several times a year, and unfortunately, because I acquire soooo many books all the time, I also have to give many away, often without being able to read them first.

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There are problems with my method, I know, but let's be honest: as much as we'd like to say that writing is an art, the fact of the matter is that it is also a business. With the sheer volume of books out there that are available for us to read, one can't afford to have a crappy opening. Gone are the old days when writing was a specialized profession that only a small number of people would do. Today almost anyone can write a book. Seriously. Even if you suck at writing. Even if you don't realize that you suck at writing. You can still write a book that can be read by people.

I realized the other day that no matter how little we understand about ourselves or our identities--for instance, no matter how many journal entries I write about the fact that, at almost 22 years old, I still don't think I know enough about myself, how I work, what I want, how my experiences have shaped me, etc.--no matter how little we think we know about ourselves, we are still a solid entity to people who know us. Everybody has their individual quirks or philosophical outlooks or manners of speech that will make others say, "Yup, that's him/her. That's something he/she would say."

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Applying this concept to reading, we avid readers have a fairly strong grasp of what we enjoy reading. We have a pretty solid conception of the field--if not specific knowledge on every single title out there, then at least an understanding of overarching trends and tropes. So, for me, the first page of a book already tells me so much about what I can expect from the rest of the book, and whether or not this book is for me. Writing style, characterization, and setting in particular are recognizable from the first page, and very rarely does the rest of the book deviate from that. Because as complex as a book can be, it is also one entity, and (generally) a randomly chosen one-page excerpt from any part of the book (yes, even the beginning) is a legitimate sample of what a reader might be able to expect from the rest of the book. (Or it should be. I see no reason why certain sections of a book should be allowed to be weaker than others.) And thus, I should be able to figure out whether or not a book is for me from its first pages.

So that's why I'm comfortable with not finishing a book. Along the way, I also ended up talking about why I think the first page of a book is so essential and representative. I'm curious now as to your policies when it comes to finishing a book. Do you make it a point to finish every book you start? At which point will you stop reading a book? And how important are a book's first couple of pages to you? A ready, set, aaand...answer!