Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Fewer than half of readers finished bestselling novels

Fewer than half of readers finished bestselling novels

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well that was certainly the case with my and GONE GIRL. In fact, 50 pages was about my limit.

Jeff

Deb said...

I have a 50- page rule: best seller or not, if it hasn't grabbed me by page 50, it's on to the next book in the pile. There are too many good books to waste time on ones that don't appeal.

Rick Robinson said...

I notice that the article seems to refer to DOWNLOADED e-books, though I suspect print books suffer the same fate. I'm amazed GOLDFINCH was finished by that many, and I wonder how honest readers were about finishing, and how many skimmed their way through a lot of these books.

Jeff, Barbara really liked the GONE GIRL film, but didn't read the book.

Rick Robinson said...

I also would note that a great many of these respondents to the survey probably only read a dozen or less books a year...

Steve Oerkfitz said...

I thought Cuckoos Calling and Gone Girl page turners. The Goldfinch which I haven't tried yet is a rather long book which can account for readers giving up.
The message here is crap novels by talentless romance writers(are there any other kind?)are more popular than other books.

Rick Robinson said...

Right you are, Steve, yet Danielle Steel and others like her sell a hell of a lot of copies.

Dan said...

When I visit someone's home for the first time, my eye is immediately drawn to the bookshelves. If I see nothing but best-sellers I draw my own conclusions.

Cap'n Bob said...

I never start them.

Tom Johnson said...

The Page wouldn't open for me, so I don't know what books were discussed. However, I can say that I've never been able to read through a Steven King novel, although I've enjoyed the movies and mini-series made of his books. The same with Larry McMurtry. Yet their books are best sellers, and they all go to movies. Maybe it's just me..

Anonymous said...

LONESOME DOVE is one of my favorite books ever, so...

Jackie tried to read a Danielle Steel book - once - and found it so appallingly badly written that she quit long before 50 pages. And yet she sells millions and her fans (my mother was one) love her.

Go figure.


Jeff

Unknown said...

Chacun à son goût, as we say in Alvin.

Gerard said...

Re: bestsellers. I read THE MARTIAN and really enjoyed it.
NOS4A2 was good, that may have been a bestseller.