Those who know me know I'm an obsessive reader. Ever since I can remember, I have had my head in a book. And I have always been a 'finish what you start' kinda girl when it comes to books. Granted, I may be reading 15-20 at a time, but I have always come back and finished every one of them. Even when they were no longer interesting to me or had inside them what I needed. I always followed the rule, "I've started, so I will finish." But I have come to realise that life is too short to finish books just for the sake of finishing them. As James Joyce puts it, “Life is too short to read a bad book.” And so I began following [the 50-page rule](https://www.ablueskymind.com/blog/how-to-read-more-books-the-50-page-rule). Kylee Lessard says that the 50-page rule states that you pick a book that interests you, and you commit to reading the first 50 pages. For someone like me, this is the easy part. The rule continues, stating that "If you aren’t compelled by the book after 50 pages, you’re done with it." Ah, now this is the part that I need! So if 50 pages in, I have not found a reason to continue, then I can just 'finish'. No guilt. No shame. Just stop. (On ebooks, I follow a 20% rule). I can't say that this was easy to do. And still, I struggle at times to quit something. But when I read [James Clear's advice](https://jamesclear.com/reading-comprehension-strategies) recently, I couldn't help but appreciate that this is exactly what I need to do: ![[start more books.png]] %% > "Start more books. Quit most of them. Read the great ones twice." %% That said, it doesn't ways have to be a 50-page rule, especially if you are over 50, according to Nancy Pearl. She says, > “If you're 50 years old or younger, give every book about 50 pages before you decide to commit yourself to reading it, or give it up. If you're over 50, which is when time gets shorter, subtract your age from 100 - the result is the number of pages you should read before deciding whether or not to quit. If you're 100 or over you get to judge the book by its cover, despite the dangers in doing so.” Other people tell you to quit at any time, and maybe one day, I will be able to do just that. But for someone who struggles to let go, I'm sticking with my 50 pages.