How quickly do decide you don't like an author?

[Look_a_Unicorn]

Based on some of recent threads and my own recent personal reading, I was curious as to how many books or portions of a book do you usually read before you decide you don't care for a particular author.

For me it usually only requires reading one of his or her books. In rare cases, I'll give up if I haven't been grabbed after the first 75 pages.

I'm a sucker for punishment, I'll read a book right to the end unless I find it offensive/physically nauseating to continue.
Case in point, I read the entire Shannara series in a funk of completely mindless apathy just waiting for something interesting to happen.
Nope.
I don't doubt others get something out of his writing- just not me!

 

[WayneLigon]

Hearing everybody praise it up, though, I pressed on, and as soon as I hit 100 pages, it began to click. I ended up loving the book.

That's the way I can be. Some books that I love, I had to start on them two, three times before it clicked with me.

 

[Dr. Talos]

I used to have the misguided belief that if I started a book than I was obligated to finish the book. I have come to realize that I do not have as much time as I used to have and I have a lot of books to read. Oddly though I find that the more books I read the more it seems that a lot of people are saying the same things over and over. Kind of depressing really because i really enjoy reading.

I give an author two chances before giving up on them if I find myself uninterested in a book. I will either try that book again at a later date or pick up one of their other books to see if it is any better. Melanie Rawn and Eddings were two that fell into this category for me. Unfortunately I tried to read Eddings after I had already read a great deal of fantasy litereature. Mievill has one more chance to capture my attention. There have been plenty that have redeemed themselves on the second attempt at reading them. One was Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun. He has since become my favorite author.

I have also given up on authors when they run out of things to say. I gave up on Jordan and Terry Brooks and Feist for that reason. I gave up on Goodkind when he started to sound like Jordan.

 

[LightPhoenix]

An author, usually I'll give a couple of tries, especially if I start reading with their earlier works.

A book, usually I'll only read it until I stop being entertained. Now, entertained has various definitions depending on my mood and such, but I'm pretty well in touch with what I'll like and what I won't, and my time isn't as free as it was when I was younger. I just don't have time to plow through something I'm not liking much because "it will get better." Ironically, I do the same thing with video games now too.

 

[Arnwyn]

Halfway. For me, it always seems I'll go halfway through a book before "passing judgment".

 

[Mallus]

I give authors many, many chances; mainly because I have a short attention span coupled with a real piecemeal approach to literature. I'm less interested in a coherent whole than in a series of discreet, rewarding experiences along the way.

When it comes to books, I like a lot of things; realism, fabulism, pure artifice, pure fanservice ["A space amazon in transparent power-armor, genius!"], great characters, hateful characters, a real challenge, lit-as-comfort-food, social commentary/crit, beautiful sentences [I have a real weakness for lovely prose, oh, and blondes in heels, in case I'm starting to sound poncey], etc. The downside to this is that it can take me a long time to be in the right frame of mind for any particular book, therefore I reserve judgement for a long, long time...

Except when I don't.

 

[Neo]

I have around a thousand or so novels from many many writers and I have to say I have never ever decided I dislike an author only disliked a book. I guess Im just not as harshly judgemental as some folks out there.

 

[milotha]

It really depends. I usually read the first few pages of a book in the store to see if the book at all interests me. Though there have been many that I've gotten about 1-2 chapters into and decided that I just don't care to continue. Usually, if I've made it past the first few chapters, I read the whole book. I feel that this allows me to see the work in whole.

 

[KenM]

With me it depends, if its someone I hardly heard of, I will only give them once chance. But if its someone that Highly praised, i give a few tries too. Tried to read Lord of the Rings a number of times, but JRRT's writing style is really not for me. The EE DVD's do a much better job, IMO. But thats a subject for a different thread.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

When I give up on authors, its based on either content or holding my interest. If it doesn't hold my interest, I just stop reading at whatever point I have something better to do, but if I'm bored might pick at it for a while. If its an author who has been good in the past I might try other books, earlier works or short story collections, but treat new works with skepticism. When authors start to coast, they rarely come back IMO. In terms of content, the first time I feel assualted (for want of a better word) by the story I drop the book and the author completely, usually with a personal grudge proportional to how much time and investment I had put into the story up to that point. The thomas convenant books lost me early and without a backwards glance, while two series (one much beloved on these boards) did it in the third book resulting in great bitterness and a small amount of anger towards the people who recomended each to me.

Kahuna Burger