How far along would be a good time to give up on a book?

I believe if you're not enjoying a book, it's perfectly fine to give up reading it. There are so many books out there, no need to waste time on books you can't finish or don't want to finish. So how far along would be a good time to give up on a book? 10%? 20%? Or maybe 40%? I had given up on books at 10%, 40% and even at 70% which some would say, you're almost there so why not finish it? My brain won't let me. There are scenes or things that I just can't get mind over it. But just because you give up on a book doesn't mean you can't go and pick up that book again later on. Here are the books I have given up reading so far this year. 

01 - A Death in Door County (Monster Hunter Mysteries #1) by Annelise Ryan > link
I was over 40% in when I decided I just couldn't continue with the endless descriptions and history of a lot places and things that don't seem to be related to the mystery. Mainly, I disliked the female main character - I think her name is Morgan. She seemed arrogant, egotistic, like a spoiled rich girl even if she claimed she wasn't. The would-be romance between her and the cop was subtle, boring and just unnecessary. There was one scene (not the exact wording as I don't have the book to check) where he said, "I'm attracted to you," and she replied, "I'm attracted to you too." As if he said, "I have a nose," and she replied, "Hey, I have a nose too." There is direct and there is this, whatever it is. There's nothing between these two characters except awkwardness. This cop is the so-called other main character/future love interest but he seemed very much like a side character because she basically bossed him around and he go out of his way to do things she wanted. I thought they would be partners in solving the murders but it was mostly her as she chose to do things on her own and even take evidence without telling him.
    [SPOILER: And they layered on the tragedy - she, the main character, had parents who were murdered by her fiancé, and he, the cop, lost his wife and child in an accident. And there's a third, semi-important character who lost his wife and child in childbirth. Three tragedies is a bit much. I skimmed to the end and was disappointed there's no monster, at least, not the one I expected. So this is a first book in a series but still, expectations. SPOILER ENDS]
    Anyway, it was just so boring. I think the bit about the main character's past was really the only interesting bit of this whole book. And the dog was a nice character. I like a dog who can swim and is the best buddy any pet owner can have.

02 - Miss Pym Disposes by Josephine Tey > link
I may have read about 30 or 40% before I decided I just don't care to continue. The writing is really good but I was just bored with how much mundane things can happen with Miss Pym and a college full of ladies. Miss Pym is maybe a little bit easily persuaded and even prideful because she was to stay at the college for a weekend but kept staying on because people kept praising her or making her feel like she's done a great thing even though she just wrote a book. There is a murder but I never got that far or even far enough to hint at a murder even though the book is 300 pages. I skimmed to the end and found out who was killed and who the murderer was and that's it.

03 - Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang > link
This short stories collection was boring and bland or perhaps I'm just too dumb to understand them. I think I had read at least three stories before I gave up.

04 - Where We Go When All We Were Is Gone by Sequoia Nagamatsu > link
The stories were too weird for me and confusing. You can't tell where one story begins or ends - they are like fragments or puzzles, they fit together but so loosely that they might not. I remember a character who can stretches his neck for miles and he was filming a couple having sex and I supposed he had the camera in his mouth because it was only his head that was there in the room and I just stopped at that story. It's just so weird. I really liked the cover though.

Have you any books you gave up on? How far along would be a good time to give up on a book?

Book Rants - August 2024

 Here are the books I read in August. (Click on link for book info.)

01 - Not Quite a Ghost by Anne Ursu > link
There was a ghost-like character here so the title is not deceiving but that's not really the main plot. It's mostly about a girl that got sick and didn't know why and that messed up whatever she wanted to do. She's searching for answers but getting none, not until the very end but they didn't really elaborate on it or the ending but it was satisfying enough. The part where the main character drank someone's spit as a dare was gross and kind of inappropriate considering they are in the times after covid and I don't see why it should be an issue if someone wants to be careful about avoiding germs by not sharing things but I guess kids are cruel.

Why do you blog?

Back when I first starting blogging, I think (as I don't really remember exactly) the reason to blog is simply to share some thoughts on things. And then other things come along, like sharing my artwork and fiction writing and the things I consume (tv shows/movies/books/music) and whatever else I might talk about.  I am not an especially talkative person. With a blog, I can be talkative, probably a bit too much.
    These days, I blog may be out of habit, out of obligations, out of boredom or just because I can. It may be because I've been blogging so long, whatever I expect or want from blogging is whatever is there at the moment. In other words, I'm so used to blogging, I don't need a reason to do it anymore, I just do it.

How about you? Why do you blog?

Fiction: The truth will set you free, sort of

This months Words for Wednesday prompts are provided by Messymini at her blog here. This week's prompts are: fraud, weak, unaware, wind, cope, morning and/or fusty, prepense, clement.

Fiction: The truth will set you free, sort of
Fraud was a word Gamy Starling knew well. She was once a fake medium, pretending to see ghosts of people's dead love ones and passing on messages from them. Hide in plain sight - that was what Gamy's grandmother, Thelma, had said. If they thought you were a fake medium, then they wouldn't think you're really a psychic. Gamy had thought a medium and a psychic were the same but she didn't argue with her grandmother. Thelma was a ghost whisperer but had worked as a fake clairvoyant before she retired.

The Blogger Freakout Tag - My Answers

The original post with the questions are here.

01 - When you first started your blog, did you freak out and worry you might fail?
Yes, all the time but I just carry on because what else are you to do?

02 - If you share something (on your blog) and then regret it, do you revert (to draft)/delete/remove that post or just leave it? Or do you just freak out, calm down and then pretend it never happened?
I sometimes just revert that regrettable post but most of the time, I just pretend to ignore it but really, I re-read it a couple of times just to decide or re-decide whether to revert it to draft. But mostly, I just leave them because people make mistakes and naturally it's easier to ignore than to point it out but it still depends on what it is I had posted.

03 - Have you ever been freaked out or offended by a reader's comment or a blogger's post?
Kind of. There was one blog I visited where I left a, probably too honest, comment about not really wanting to comment but did it because it was part of a challenge's mandatory task and I may had remarked with some tepid/neutral compliment or something similar (I don't remember the exact words) about that post's content and that person replied with a rude reply. I don't understand why they were offended. I was offended they were offended. Should I apologize for not being able to fake enthusiasm for what they posted? Instead of replying to that rude comment, I just pretended to ignored their reply and buried my ill-feelings toward that blogger. I think if you don't want an honest opinion, don't ask for them.

04 - Do you freak out/get annoy when a blogger leaves short comments that are generic or devoid of any relation to the post? (ie, nice blog or good post)
Yes but sometimes no if they use creative wording or leave a smiley face.

05 - If you cannot access your blog (ie, because of web glitches or wi-fi not working), do you freak out and try to fix it somehow or do you just wait patiently until the problem solves itself?
If I was in the middle of working on a post in the Blogger editor, I would try to find out why it was suddenly not working and try for a fix. If I wasn't in the middle of anything, I would wait it out. Besides, what could you possibility do anyway if it's your wi-fi or if it's on their site (ie, google's blogger)?

06 - Does it bothers you when a blogger changes their blog's direction/starts behaving like a new-to-you blog with nothing like the posts you are used to seeing?
Not if they are posting something I like. Bloggers are free to change their blog however they like. As readers, we should accept their change but we don't have to stick around if we don't want to.

07 - Does getting comments (on your blog) makes you giddy?
Absolutely, though I am not one to jump up and down even when something exciting happens. I am the sit-there-looking-mildly-interested sort of person even if I get struck by lightning - that may be a bad example. But I do enjoy getting comments on what I posted even if I get one comment because it means someone actually read it, not just me.

08 - Was there a time you had freaked out when you made a mistake on your post, ie, got some information wrong or said something that you really shouldn't?
Yes, for a lot of posts but I can't remember because I usually correct my posts if there are mistakes or I would add some update info to amend the mistake.

09 - When bloggers overshare (on their blogs), do you get annoyed or happy that they are willing to share even the most intimate of things?
It depends on what they are sharing. In this modern age, everyone overshares so you kind of have to decide what to ignore and what not to. But I would appreciate it if no one post photos of their wounds or other people's wounds or anything that shows injured body parts. Thank you very much.

10 - Do you sometimes freak out (in a good way) when you get new readers?
Yes but like I said on questions #7, I don't always show my joy so openly. But it is nice to get new readers. I do try to return a visit and leave a comment and to see if I want to be their new reader - this is one way I find new blogs besides through other blogger's blogrolls.

What's your name again?

These days I find very few people are being anonymous or using nicknames on their blogs. Once upon a time I had thought I could be anonymous on the web and used some silly nicknames like 'gumpygirl07' but that never stuck which is a good thing. Who wants be known by a nickname they thought up when they were young and stupid?
    I used the second half of my name because I find I like a little anonymity. (Some may know Lissa is short for Melissa.) It's too late for me to change it to something else since I've used it for so long. So laziness had kept me using the name but overtime I am kind of glad because I might have ended up with a truly silly nickname. But often, it gets misspelled with one less S so that's the downside to this name.
    There was a classmate in college I knew who kept telling people to use her English name because she thought no one could pronounce her foreign name even though it was written in English. I thought that's a bit condescending for her to assume no one can pronounce her name. But I think she was not completely wrong in doing this. She was just protecting her name from being butchered. So I think maybe some of us want to protect our name by not using it or maybe it's just easier to use a simpler name so then you don't have tell people how to pronounce it.
    For me, nicknames and shortened names sound more friendly. I'm not saying you can't use your full name since most people do but it's a blog, no need to be so formal, right? On a blog, you can, maybe, use the name you want and no one has to know whether it's your real name or not.

Do you use a nickname or your real name on your blog? Or does it matter what name you use?

Fiction: A Stranger Comes to Call

This months Words for Wednesday prompts are provided by Messymini at her blog here. This week's prompts are: protest, trap, analysis, confidence, gap, abnormal and/or plaster, way, purse, neighbors, opener, record. Charlotte (MotherOwl)'s colour of the month is Mouse Grey.

Fiction: A Stranger Comes to Call
Joon knew better than to answer his door when the doorbell rang at exactly 2 am. His cat, Loki, an exotic shorthair, protested his discontent by leaping off the bed and blocking the doorway. Joon wound his way carefully around the cat.
    A few months ago, Joon's doorbell kept ringing but no one was at the door when Joon went to answer. After a while, he plastered a sign on his front door: Please only ring the bell if it is a dire emergency. Most people thought it was a joke and children would dare each other to ring the bell and run off.
    Since the age of three, Joon had been making analysis of everything around him especially people. Some had called it an abnormal hobby but Joon's older brother, Gideon, had said not everyone's opinion is worth listening to. Even with a 15 year age gap, the brothers had always gotten along. With Gideon's encouragement, Joon grew to have confidence in himself and to ignore other people's criticisms. Gideon was gone now. Every day, Joon tried to remember his brother's words but he had mostly forgotten them but one: If you believe everyone's out to trap you, then you'll live a very miserable existence.

Book Rants - July 2024

Here are the books I read in July.

01 - The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill > link
I like this but not a lot. It has many sub-stories, back stories, interruptions and I really don't like the narrator - it was slightly arrogant and annoying and it meandered a bit. I like the Orgress who was more like a docile child while the orphans are like responsible adults. I didn't like the Mayor/villain but he's not meant to be unlikable but we spent way too much time in his perspective and he's reptitive, mostly in telling us how lazy he is. The part I really like is the little history about the dragons wearing skins and living as different animals.

Fiction: Black holes and other unexplained fates

This month's Words for Wednesday prompts are provided by Charlotte (MotherOwl) over here. This week's prompts are: alphabet, bookends, careful, devoted, gland, elegy and/or fabulous, island, legend, mirror, yak, violent.

Fiction: Black holes and other unexplained fates
At three years old, Mo was learning her alphabet with the menu at the Fabulous Fairyland Diner when her mother left her there. Later, a woman claiming to be Mo's grandmother took her to live with her for about a year. Then the grandmother left Mo at the Diner. Her father came for her and Mo lived with him for about two years before he dropped her off at the Diner and was picked up by her father's aunt. About eleven months afterward, the aunt left Mo at the Diner's backway beside the large dumpster. No one came for her.
    Adele, the waitress who worked at the Fabulous Fairyland Diner, took Mo home. Mo never understood why everyone kept leaving her but she accepted it as her fate.