Weekly FAQ Thread September 06, 2026: How do I get through an uninteresting book?

[u/AutoModerator]

Hello readers and welcome to our Weekly FAQ thread! Our topic this week is: How do I get through an uninteresting book? Sometimes we want to read something because we're "supposed to" and want to say that we did. Or, it's something that needs to be read for a school assignment. Either way, how do you get through books you find uninteresting?

You can view previous FAQ threads here in our wiki.

Thank you and enjoy!

[u/Teri-k → u/[deleted]]

This. I also make myself read the "chore" book first, before anything else. So I'm not tempted to skip it.

[u/YakSlothLemon]

I used to set a goal, like a chapter, or 20 pages a night.

Now I am old and I don’t read uninteresting books! Mwahaha.

[u/THEDOCTORandME2]

I power through it, or just DNF it.

[u/servicetellers]

Unless it's mandatory, you don't. 😂 Life is too short to be putting yourself through things you don't enjoy for no reason.

[u/FatRascal_]

Don't fall into the "sunken cost" fallacy with reading, if you've put several hours of your time into a book, and it's just not gripping you, then feel absolutely free to DNF it.

[u/Fancy-Animal7704]

You don't! Unless you were assigned this book for school, you genuinely do not need to finish every book you start.

There's no guarantee that you are going to like a book simply because you selected it. It's impossible to think you could truly enjoy 100% of the books you picked, even if you tried to be selective about them. You just don't know until you've started it, really. Accept the randomness of the universe and just set aside what you don't like.

[u/Particular-Treat-650]

Pretty much always by powering through it.

Sometimes audio helps by enforcing forward progress. I'm listening to "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" ATM and I 100% would have bailed if it weren't on audio. It's still taking all my willpower (and an acknowledgement that my retention is going to be worse than normal because his presentation is pretty scattershot) to make it through.

[u/Recent_Hospital_4243]

I just did this, I made it a point to read 15 pages every day to get it over faster

[u/Anxious-Fun8829]

If it's a book I can hold with one hand or set down on the floor I read it while doing my stretching/core/balance exercise- like I challenge myself to hold the plank or wall sit position for the duration of reading one page.

[u/RiSz-Turtle]

If it’s a long uninteresting book, you save yourself the time and energy and drop it.

If it’s short and uninteresting, I swap to audiobook and speed it up a little. Don’t speed it up so much you’re not retaining Info, but a bit won’t hurt.

[u/poisonouspossum]

If you can get your hands on the audiobook version, I'd recommend immersive reading: you read the book while having it narrated to you. It's hard to zone out with the narrator in your ear and the words right in front of you.

I've been trying to read more non-fiction and this is truly the only way I've been able to manage it.

[u/Ranger_1302]

For books that I want to read but can't delve into for long periods, I keep them in the bathroom and read them in the bath. Then I have another book that I read elsewhere at home and take with me.

[u/Ninja_Hedgehog]

My method is often to set the mini goal of just reading a page / five pages / a chapter (whichever of those actually feels doable).

If it's the "just a page" goal, it often comes with the bonus of finding I read a few extra pages.

When I near the end of the book, I often find that I want to power through the rest just to get it done.

[u/LTJ81]

Ambience always works for me. Depending on my mood, background classical, horror movie, or synthwave playlists work great to get through uninteresting books. LoFi has also been great to help the cause.

[u/ToastAndASideOfToast]

For more mental engagement sometimes I read aloud.
To spice things up sometimes I'll add some mustard.

[u/ImLittleNana]

I would read an uninteresting book for an assignment, but that’s the only reason. There are no ‘supposed to read’ books. I don’t read performatively.

[u/Mundane-Shame333]

If it's a personal read and it just isn't doing it, I'll usually just walk away. Maybe I've missed out on some good books, but I have a finite number of years on this planet and there are far too many books out there I want to read.

If it's for class, obviously I have to read it for a grade so that's enough external motivation. Book group is similar - I try to get through those for discussion sake, even if I don't love it.

[u/monday_thru_thursday]

For me, it's just going back to my childhood mindset. As a child, I was generally not dismissive of others' interests -- instead, I just wanted to understand and interact. To see from more perspectives.

For a seasoned reader, I think it's as simple as thinking about someone who would be interested in whatever you're reading, and then (if need be) imagining that person as being a bit closer to someone who you'd actually want to talk to. Approach it exactly like a naive child whose parents have told them that 1) making friends is as easy as sharing interests and 2) most people are reasonable.

[u/Paquets74]

I recently finished The Midnight Library and dreaded finishing it. It took me two weeks to complete it because I found it extremely dull. But I kept reading the book mainly so I could thoroughly hate it, knowing everything about it. I want to be an informed hater. This helps me read the most uninteresting books.

[u/Pleasant_Reward6318]

I read the boring parts out loud to myself. Not the whole book, just whenever my eyes start sliding over the page without anything landing. Something about hearing my own voice say the words forces me to actually track what's happening. It works better on the kind of book where nothing happens for pages at a time.

[u/TitanApps_Alek]

I usually put in place a goal of reading at least 20 pages of that book per day. It works really well for me.

[u/_Alaxel_]

I generally read books by "getting lost in them". I let myself be taken by the story and usually only analized what I read AFTER I read it. I feel like that keeps reading more fluid and, to me, more enjoyable.

That said, when a book fails to grab my attention and I lose immersion, but still want to finish for whatever reason, I actively engage my analytical mind while reading. I try to analize the language, themes, characters, etc as they appear. Where is this going? What is the author trying to say? Is this a chekhov's gun? A red herring? I've noticed that while it doesn't necesarily make the book more enjoyable, it makes the process of going through it a bit more interesting.

I had this problem with Parable of the Sower, where I couldn't stand any of the characters, the protagonist in particular, and it kinda soured the experience, but I was doing a buddy read and wanted to commit. It was very interesting to analyze my own reaction to the text, what it was that I didn't like and why.

[u/razzjazz244]

If it’s for school, no way out other than through, so just power through it. For personal reads i just put it down if i don’t vibe with it anymore. Maybe in the future i’d want to reconnect with it because there are books i dnf’ed years ago that i still think about from time to time lol

[u/Budget-Coast-7864]

If it was a school assignment, I dedicated a bit of time to each chapter and eventually wore it down. Now if I need to read something uninteresting, I give it some time in hope that it becomes good. If it doesn’t, I drop it.

[u/KhloJSimpson]

Yesterday, I picked up The Covenant of Water after getting half way through 750 pages earlier this year. After 60 more pages, I decided its a DNF. The reason I made this decision is because I feel like I was scammed by its popularity and good marketing. It's over written, underedited, one dimensional characters (especially the women) and patronizing. I dont consider it a sunken cost because the act of reading is so beneficial to my health and wellbeing.

[u/grewprasad]

I'm new to reading and I like to read physical books than pdfs. I've a set of books with me but they have quite complex vocabulary and I need to google stuff often which breaks the purpose of having a "mobile-free time before going to sleep". I read books to improve my knowledge on history, socialism/communism mainly, spend time without mobile and leftist literature are really complex but yet those are the ones I'm very interested in. I do have a dictionary with me but that sometimes doesn't have the words I'm looking for or doesnt have examples for me to understand. I have OCPD so without understanding the part it's very hard for me to move on to next line/word. Have you been in this situation and how did you solve this? TIA

ps: english isnt my first language but I want to read the books in english/english translation so I can improve my fluency and vocabulary too

[u/Nice_Jaguar5621]

If it’s required for something specific, I just slog through. Underline important parts to keep me engaged. If it’s not required, just dnf.

[u/le_fromage_puant]

For personal reading, I don’t. I’ve learned to abandon books that don’t catch my interest after 4ish chapters.