How can you motivate yourself to finish reading a boring book?

[waht]

For some reason I always associate Mody Dick with captain Picard.

 

[Virtuous]

I don't bother myself with any book that doesn't improve my understand of something or I don't get enjoyment. I really don't care how good other people find it, if it gives me nothing, I am not going to waste my time with it, I can do other things to waste time. I've seen people that look down on other people for not being well read with "popular" literature. Really though, what exactly does it give you besides bragging that you read it. No different than jocks bragging about how much they fornicate, just for the intellectual population.

I still haven't read the origin of species, I respect Darwin for is contributions, that doesn't mean I am going to sit through a whole book with flowery wording so that I can feel enlightened. I can see evolution from any modern textbook.

Unless your vocabulary is bad (like me) and you are bothered by it (not like me) then why read a book you don't enjoy. There is none.

 

[DavidSnider]

For some reason I always associate Mody Dick with captain Picard.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120756/

You're not the only one.

 

[Moonbear]

I liked The Plague, but I can definitely see how it's not for everyone. (I also read it way back in high school, so had a pretty different perspective on reading then, and don't know if I'd still enjoy it now.)

But, if it isn't an assigned reading for a course, why torture yourself finishing a book you aren't enjoying? If you had to read it for a course, then I'd only be able to recommend things like finding a brightly lit place in the middle of the day when you're least likely to fall asleep reading, especially if that brightly lit place came with coffee (i.e., sitting next to a window in a coffee shop) and just plodding through.

 

[turbo]

I liked The Plague, but I can definitely see how it's not for everyone. (I also read it way back in high school, so had a pretty different perspective on reading then, and don't know if I'd still enjoy it now.)

But, if it isn't an assigned reading for a course, why torture yourself finishing a book you aren't enjoying? If you had to read it for a course, then I'd only be able to recommend things like finding a brightly lit place in the middle of the day when you're least likely to fall asleep reading, especially if that brightly lit place came with coffee (i.e., sitting next to a window in a coffee shop) and just plodding through.

Yes! And making notes along the way, so that your book report/analysis will have some semblance of structure.

When I switched from engineering to liberal arts (with a double-major in English literature and Philosophy) I aced all my lit classes by annotating during assigned reading. It might be hard to regurgitate stuff months after reading some works, but if you can refer to the feelings that came upon you when reading a poem by Byron, Shelly, Keats, etc, you'll ace your exams. The profs didn't get into the field for wealth and grandeur - just personal drive. Show them a spark of what they felt, and you will be encouraged.

 

[waht]

But, if it isn't an assigned reading for a course, why torture yourself finishing a book you aren't enjoying? If you had to read it for a course, then I'd only be able to recommend things like finding a brightly lit place in the middle of the day when you're least likely to fall asleep reading, especially if that brightly lit place came with coffee (i.e., sitting next to a window in a coffee shop) and just plodding through.

I'm finished with English, just reading on my own. What I'm afraid of is that quiting will only open doors to quit reading other books in the future. This will lead to hopping from one flower to another flower without really completing anything. I guess I've been reading when I go to sleep, sleepy and tired. Will give it a try on a bright afternoon, never though about that actually...

When I switched from engineering to liberal arts (with a double-major in English literature and Philosophy) I aced all my lit classes by annotating during assigned reading.

I didn't know you were an English major. My former English teacher often talked about rock, he brought electric guitars to class many times and let us see it. After half hour of unloading, he would then begin the lecture.

 

[turbo]

I didn't know you were an English major. My former English teacher often talked about rock, he brought electric guitars to class many times and let us see it. After half hour of unloading, he would then begin the lecture.

Yep! Instead of writing a massive term-paper for a course in English Romantic Literature, 2 friends and I came up with a stage adaptation of Samson Agonistes. The other guy wrote all the stage direction, adapting that to the poem, my girlfriend designed the costumes and sets, and I composed and recorded the soundtrack. We didn't have any money to actually produce the adaptation, but we turned in the written adaptation, sketches of sets and costumes, and a very long tape of instrumental music with voice-over on another track to explain where in the production that particular music would be used. We all got A's on the work, though the professor expressed disappointment that we could not actually produce it so it could be performed live. Most of the soundtrack was recorded with a '60's Telecaster through a Princeton Reverb with LPB-1 power boosters for distortion. Percussion was done with whatever stuff I had kicking around my apartment.