Book Blogger Hop: July 1st

The Book Blogger Hop takes place every Friday and is a great way for Book Bloggers to connect! This weeks question asks:

“What keeps you reading beyond the first few pages of a book, and what makes you want to stop reading a book and put it back on the shelf?“

Generally, I’m not too quick to judge a book. I like to give every book a chance. There are a couple of things that will keep me reading no matter what.

First, characters – good, realistic characters. I have a tendency to get emotionally attached to the characters in a book, it’s simply the kind of reader I am. The more attached I get, the less likely I am to put the book down, even when I might not be a fan of the story itself.

Second, an interesting story will always keep me reading. When I am guessing what is going to happen next in a mystery, or a world of epic proportions is created, or a characters life is turned upside down I’ll keep turning pages until the book is over.

I also have a list of what I’m going to call fool-proof reading. If any of these things are in a book I’ll read it regardless of how good or bad the book is overall. If a book has zombies in it, I’ll read it no matter what. If a book has any reference to Star Wars, or is a Star Wars book, I’ll read it no matter what. If a book is B-horror movie material, I will read it and I will LOVE it. If a book has anything to do with mythology (regardless of fiction or non-fiction) I will read it no matter what. If a book has any combination of the above I will read it no matter what and I will probably praise it to the stars.

As for what will make me put a book down… That’s not something that happens very often. I always like to find out how things turn out in the end, so I pretty much always finish books. There are only two things that I can think of that would make me put a book down. First is if there is something that causes an intense dislike for the characters – to the point that it gets in my way of enjoying or fully experiencing the book. The other thing that would do it is if I’m really offended by what is happening in the book, though it is near impossible to offend me, so it would have to be pretty extreme for me to stop reading.