Dr. Evelyn A. Flory is headmistress of the St. Paul School for girls in Baltimore County. She has served as a teacher and administrator for more than 30 years. She has taught English in private secondary schools and in New York state's public university system.
When I realize my eyes are on the horizon (or the wallpaper) more than on the page, I put the book down for good.
Rev. Brad R. Braxton is pastor of Douglass Memorial Community Church in Baltimore. As a Rhodes Scholar he earned a master of philosophy degree in New Testament studies at Oxford University in England. He is also a member of Phi Beta Kappa National Honor Society.
A book no longer claims my attention when I discover that its argumentation is weak. Since I am primarily a reader of nonfiction, I prefer my literature to present a strong, well-conceived argument with which I can grapple.
Laura Lippman is a Sun reporter and the author of a mystery series set in Baltimore. Her third Tess Monaghan novel, "Butchers Hill," will be published by Avon this month.
Like the Queen in Alice's Wonderland, I am quick to call for the execution of books that displease me. I will abandon a book anywhere from page two to the penultimate page - all it takes is one jarringly discordant line, a sentence so stupid that it burns through whatever good will I have toward the writer and his/her story. (Perversely, I keep their little corpses at hand because life is short, yet long enough to change one's mind.)
Morton I. Rapoport,
M.D., is president and chief executive officer of the University of Maryland Medical System and has authored more than 40 scientific and management publications.
Life is too short, and unfortunately, most books are not. If I am looking at the page numbers, it is a sign I am about to stop reading.
Brenda Becker is a medical writer and editor for consumer and clinical magazines, including Woman's Day and Patient Care; co-author of "Week by Week to a Strong Heart" (Rodale, 1992); a two-time winner of national awards for writing on cardiovascular disease; and a contributor to journals of opinion including the American Spectator and National Reviewer.
As the working mother of a 3-year-old, I put every chapter of a book to a grueling test: Would I rather be reading this, or sleeping? If no literary caffeine kicks in by Chapter 3, or worse yet, if I have begun REM sleep with my eyes open, the book is history.
Beth Kephart is the author or the recently published nonfiction book "A Slant of the Sun: One Child's Courage." She won the 1998 Leeway Foundation Grant in nonfiction, and was also named a finalist in the Pew Fellowship in Arts program.
The averages get read all the way through - the well-enough done books, the books whose characters I fall for, whose structures I learn from, whose seasoned language keeps me in the author's stew. It's on either side of this that I falter - the books dulled down for obvious commercial appeal, the books neither author nor editor took the time to love (give these 50 pages, no more) or, conversely, the books so fastidious in concept, so extrahuman in construction, so heartbending in language that it hurts - a glorious pain - to plunge right in. Full of envy I finish the best of books, but it takes time, time to turn the pages.
Jim Rouse is an artist and the founder and former owner of Louie's Bookstore Cafe. He is president of the Charles Street Association.
Whether fiction or nonfiction, contemporary or classic, a book loses interest for me when it fails to provide insight into either human nature or some aspect of how the universe functions. I do not read for entertainment or distraction. I read to gain wisdom.
Lyle Denniston has covered the U.S. Supreme Court and matters of Justice for The Sun since 1981. Before that he covered the Supreme Court for the Washington Star and the Wall Street Journal. In his 40 years of writing about the Supreme Court, he has covered one out of every four justices to sit on the court.
Life is, in fact, not too short to finish every book I read. Growing up in the Great Depression, in a large, modest-income family in which there were few books so each was in fact a rare book, it was a natural habit to treasure each one, to waste none. Now that I have the option of choosing books, any I opt to read gets a commitment that ends only with the last word on the final page.
Alane Mason is an editor at W.W. Norton and an occasional contributor to Commonweal.
I'm not sure it really makes sense to run a response from a book editor, because the response is: when I know I'm not going to publish it and/or when I have to read the other 25 manuscripts waiting for an immediate response.
Jean Thompson is the assistant managing editor for staff development at The Sun. She has worked as a journalist for 14 years.
As I've grown older, I've found that I have diminished tolerance for a novel upon the appearance of stereotypically drawn or gratuitously pathological characters - especially if the writer has tossed them into the story just to add diversity. For me, the best tales plumb the depths of the characters, and make me care about them enough to keep reading.
Mary Kay Nevius Maurer has taught English at West High School for the past 25 years. She has held the position of department chairwoman for 10 years. She holds a B.A. in English and education, and master's degree in liberal arts, both from Western Maryland College.
Because I am an English teacher and, therefore, a book addict, it is probably harder for me to give up on a book. But if the writer doesn't hook me right away, or I do not do my job well enough as a participating reader, I put the book down.
Reverend Robert Maldonado is mission developer for Iglesia Episcopal de Los Tres Santos Reyes. He has been an ordained minister for 10 years, and holds a master's degree in Divinity from Eastern Theological Seminary in Philadelphia.
I stop reading a book when I can't relate to the topic or it is absolutely too boring to continue reading.
Jackson Bryer, Ph.D., is professor of English literature at the University of Maryland, College Park, and has authored, edited, co-authored or co-edited 31 books, including "The Playwright's Art" and "New Essays on F. Scott Fitzgerald's Neglected Stories."
I usually stop reading a book when I find that I have to reread a page or two because I've forgotten them after reading them the first time; that is a sign either of fatigue or boredom. I decide not to pick up that particular book again when I conclude that either boredom - usually induced by lack of interest in the characters or situation (or both) - or complete bafflement - usually the result of stylistic impenetrability - caused me to put it down in the first place.
Laura Demanski is writing a doctoral dissertation on Victorian novels. She previously worked for Simon and Schuster and the University of Chicago Press.
I am a forgiving reader, but also a promiscuous one whose head is easily turned when a more eligible book comes along. Abandoning a book usually means not a considered decision but a wandering eye; many are the perfectly worthy books in my apartment that wilted in the face of competition and will ever wear their melancholy bookmarks.
William K. Marimow is managing editor of The Sun and was a reporter for 15 years at the Philadelphia Inquirer.
I stop reading a book when the reading feels more like a duty than a pleasure. At age 50, I believe I have earned the right - by virtue of seniority - to avoid slogging through the work of Henry James, Henry Fielding, John Milton and others whose work bogs me down.
Tess Lewis writes essays and reviews for the American Scholar, the Hudson Review and the New Criterion. Her translation of Peter Handke's "Once Again for Thucydides" will be published by New Directions this fall.
Once a compulsive book- finisher, I have struggled through more volumes of bad writing than I care to admit. Even now, fully aware that I am not suited to a particular book or that it is not suited for me, I will still suffer through several chapters. Every year I give up after fewer pages and am working toward the day when I will finally stop trying to read the entire whaling chapter in "Moby Dick."
Terry Teachout is author of The Sun's "Instant Culture" series, music critic of Commentary and a contributing writer for Time magazine. He also writes about the arts for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and other publications.
I read every word of the books I review. When I'm on my own time, though, I stop reading a book the moment I realize that it is written in jargon instead of English; that it seeks to tell me how the world works, rather than showing me; or that the author has no sense of humor.
Donna Rifkind is a former literary agent and magazine editor whose writing has been published by Commentary, the American Scholar, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and the New York Times.
I begin every book with the ardent hope that it'll thrill me. I stop reading when I'm pretty sure there is no thrill. (The exception: when I've been assigned the book for review, in which case I read every word.) I don't think anyone should ever finish a book that doesn't delight, instruct, or change one's mind. Life is short, indeed, and books are long.
Ann Hornaday is film critic for The Sun, and previously worked as film critic for the Austin American-Statesman. Before that she was a regular contributor to the New York Times on documentary and independent film. She has written for Premiere, New York Magazine and the Los Angeles Times.
I stop reading a book when I can hear the author scream, "Look at me!" behind every word. I love a stylist, but I hate a show-off.
Chris Kridler is assistant arts and entertainment editor at The Sun. Her work has appeared in The Sun, the Maryland Poetry Review, the Miami Herald, Premiere and elsewhere.
It took the excruciating prose of James Fenimore Cooper to make me realize that some books weren't meant to be finished. When a writer is more in love with ponderous detail or bloodless concepts than a story, even cereal boxes start to look good in comparison.
Peter Culman is managing director of Center Stage and is in his 32nd season with the theater. He has also served as managing director at the Barter Theatre in Virginia and currently teaches homiletics at St. Mary's Seminary and University.
When I read the first 40 pages of a book with little or no engagement, I then reread the first 20 pages. If there is still no fit, I quit. Like buses and days, there will always be another book. Like returning to the sea or mountains, there is always the rereading of a book.
! Pub date: 8/16/98