Do you finish reading every book you start? If not, do you feel guilty when you quit before the end? I used to try to finish every book even when I felt the book wasn’t worth completing. Somehow, somewhere along the way when I was young, I came to believe that if you start a book, you should finish it. On those occasions when I quit early, I felt guilty. Now I know better.

I find that for every book I buy and start to read, I somehow also acquire two or three others that I mentally designate as “to be read someday.” It’s a fact of my book life I cannot escape: The more I read, the farther behind I fall in my reading because I keep buying books. So, I’ve asked myself: why waste my limited leisure reading time finishing books that do not live up to my expectations?  

What’s my solution? The “page 100 rule”. When I encounter a book that might not be worth completing  I apply this rule: If I’ve reached my negative conclusion before I’ve read to page 100, I keep reading until I reach page 100. Then, at this self-imposed marker, I make a decision. If my feelings about the book have changed, I continue reading. If I still feel the book isn’t worth my time, I quit, guilt free, at around page 100. This is arbitrarily, I admit, but my leisure reading time must be carefully husbanded it is so precious.  

Now that I’ve accepted the “page 100” rule as a fact of my reading life, I am more willing than ever to experiment in my choice of reading topics and authors, and I have no qualms – no guilt – if I quit a book before its end.

The benefits have been many. No guilt, for one. Finishing only those books I feel are worth finishing, for another. And, best of all, more time to read more books over the course of the year.

So, tell me: Do you finish every book you start? If not, how do you decide when to quit and move on?

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