Put it Down, it's Okay

I do my best to read.  I am not a quick reader.  My wife and I joke back and forth with the phrase 'you're still reading that book?'.  And when I say it to her, it's because she is reading her third book to my one.  When she says it to me, it's because it takes me months to get through one book.  I only read a chapter or two before bed.  She can read for hours on end. 

I am currently reading Norman Mailer's 'The Deer Park'.  And I gotta tell you, I am struggling.  I am about 120 pages into it and am struggling to stay focused.  I don't know if it's the writing style, if it's the plot, or if it's something else.  I read a chapter, put the book down, and think 'meh'.  At what point, do you think about giving up on a book?  I'm about a third of the way through the book right now.  I have a few books that I have put down because I couldn't get into them.  But it's usually within the first one hundred pages.  I am determined to get through it because there are moments in the book that get me hooked.  It is just followed by a couple of chapters that cannot keep my interest.  

A few of the books have been 'classics' or classic authors.  The two that come to mind are 'Tropic of Cancer' and 'The Dubliners'.  And I know that a lot of people say that James Joyce is hard to read.  But I am determined to give it another try in the future.  I tried reading 'Tropic of Cancer' twice.  Got about fifty pages into and just didn't enjoy it.  You can always make the argument that you have to get to a certain point of a book before you start to enjoy it, but shouldn't that be within the first fifty to one hundred pages?  You need to hook the reader. 

I never want to give up on a book, because some don't start to get really interesting until halfway through.  Like every single Cormac McCarthy book I have ever read.  But with his books, I know that.  And they are all beautifully written so if you aren't hooked by the story line, you can read beautiful prose.  If it's an author I have not read, it's hard to give up on a book.  I want to believe that the plot will get better.  I want to believe the the author is just being an asshole and keeping the reader going.  But sometimes, you just got to walk away from a book.  And that's okay.  There is no shame in not finishing a book.