BRITTANY HOFMANN | Photo Courtesy

Are “bad books” worth struggling through?

Being an avid book-reader I have read my fair share of really good books that are hard to put down, but I have also read plenty of crummy novels where I have struggled to stay focused on a storyline that is clearly going nowhere.

For me, and I can assume that this is the same for all book lovers — once I start a book, I must finish it. No matter what.

But is it worth it? Why waste my time reading something that can’t hold my attention for more than five minutes when I could start a new book that is actually worth turning the pages of.

Currently, I’m reading “The Night Ocean” by Paul LaFarge. The teaser for the book led me to take it off the shelf from the library. It grabbed me with the promise of the mystery of a man gone missing from a psychiatric ward after he becomes obsessed with H.P. Lovecraft, but halfway through the book, I wish I had left it behind.

My inner bibliophile has kept me from calling it quits and returning it because I keep hoping it will get better.

I began to question my own sanity and wondered if I keep reading this horribly boring book for my own self-satisfaction just to say I finished it. Am I the only one who does this? I can’t be.

I’ll continue to struggle through this book that I could care less about and hope that the mystery is solved. But for now, the reason I am choosing to put myself through such misery remains a mystery.