Abandoned book.

[momckee]

Got a book on Kindle by an author I have always enjoyed, Quintin Jardine's Last Resort. Not very far into the book about Big Bob Skinner who had been a Chief Constable in Edinburgh and someone who could tackle all comers, now deciding whether to retire or not, lots of mixed up relationships and now he is going over to Spain to a house he has there for a visit, encouraged by his wife, second time around with her. Not long there when he gets a call from a friend also in Spain wanting help. Suddenly there are many more characters, also mixed up relationships, Spanish names, etc. and I began to feel I would need to write notes on who was doing what. It was too much for me to relax and enjoy so abandoned it, really disappointed. I realize that I need a modicum of simplicity when it comes to caste of characters, get too impatient with too many people involved in the plot.

[Meg]

I've 'abandoned' quite a few books lately. I've learned if I'm not following or enjoying the story then there's really no point in continuing. The few times I've forced myself to continue I've been disappointed & felt I wasted my time. It is disheartening though when it's an author you've enjoyed before.

[Gismo]

Always takes longer to read a book that is not liked, for me, i need to drop a book more often when i find one

[Deanie]

I abandoned two books recently. Vicki Pettersson's "Swerve and S. J. Watson's "Second Life."

I had thoroughly enjoyed Watson's first book, but his latest didn't do it for me. Pettersson wrote a fantasy series that I really liked. This new book is a standalone modern day story and when I "figured" out real quickly what was happening I stopped reading. Why continue reading something I'm not going to enjoy. Reading for me is all about enjoyment and being enthralled in/with the story.

[Meg]

Watson wrote 'Before I Go To Sleep"?

[Katie]

I've quit a couple recently, too--and had to finish another I would have ditched. Found myself doing housework instead of sitting down with it--always a bad sign. (It's usually the other way around for me.)

Sorry you guys have run into the same thing.

Mo, I always find it harder to keep track of things on my Kindle. I got it with the intention of reading mostly nonfiction on it, but I can't--kinda drives me crazy. :-/

[Meg]

Kindle is harder for me to keep track of where I'm 'at' in the book. And harder for me to find something...with 'real' books I usually remember about how far into the book it was, left or right page, where on the page...which makes it easier to find! Loved open book tests in school.

[Gismo]

Mo, I always find it harder to keep track of things on my Kindle. I got it with the intention of reading mostly nonfiction on it, but I can't--kinda drives me crazy. :-/

Kindle is harder for me to keep track of where I'm 'at' in the book. And harder for me to find something...with 'real' books I usually remember about how far into the book it was, left or right page, where on the page...which makes it easier to find! Loved open book tests in school.

I don't have a Kindle, but, surely the Kindle allows you to bookmark? that way you never lose your place

[4AMNTN]

bookmark ... it leaves off where you turn it off. I'm sure there are lost of things the Kindle does that I don't use. I don't like that you never know WHAT you're reading. & Like Mo said, it's hard to mentally know where you're at.

[Katie]

Yeah, Giz--just like 4AM said, it opens to where you left off. It only shows one page at a time, though--and it's fewer words than on a page in the paper version.

I've noticed that when I'm reading a "real" book, I glance back--a lot--which I'd never realized before. Even just--oh, they mention Jefferson's Secretary of State, say, and I think, Who was that again? And my eyes flit to the previous page, I catch the name, and read on--and never even realize I did it.

With the Kindle you have to scroll back a few pages to find what you were looking for, and it rises to the level of being consciously aware of it.

Wow, does that sound whiney. Some people are refugees, and I have to scroll back through my Kindle. :-/ (Still, it does affect how a person wants to use it--I find mine works great for fiction on the treadmill at the Y. And it's fabulous when you have to have a book immediately.)

[Deanie]

I just have the Paperwhite Kindle for reading books. When I first got it I spent a lot of time on Amazon.com Kindle Help Forum. Found out that the battery doesn't have to be recharged as often if you go to Settings and turn off Airplane Mode while you're just reading. Turn it back on to order books. After the book has downloaded turn it back off. Also it's best not to turn it completely off unless you're not going to be reading for several days. The experts said it took more battery power when you turned it off and on all the time. My bookmark usually works okay, but when it doesn't I too have a hard time finding where I'd left off.

[momckee]

Funny thing about my Kindle, occasionally I'll find a title in my present list of books which has been brought out of the archives (not by me) so I think there's a ghost in my machine. If I want to backtrack quite a ways I have to make a note of the percentage read on the bottom of the screen, go back, then click back again to where I was. I think maybe the Kindle can do things that I just haven't bothered reading up on, just like my IPad, I have Apps on there I have never used but for me the Kindle is the best, can't hold a heavy book in my hands now for any length of time.