How long to prove it's worth it?

When you pick up a book it’s interesting to see how long you give it to prove its worth. I usually let things go until around 100 pages and if by then it is failing to grab you in any way you grit your teeth and start to think of the gruelling task ahead or abandonment.

I have never really abandoned a book just put it to one side and waited for the mood to come that will help me reengage with it but it is a prospect that is becoming more of an important question to consider.

The reason is that if a book has lost you then does it deserve to be read? I’d like to believe there are lessons to be learnt as a reader and a potential writer one day from every book but sometimes they can be slim in the extreme.

As the end of this year draws near and it ranks as one of those with the fewest books personally read the question of when and if to bail out on a book is one that is going to demand an answer to avoid a repeat in 2010.