bluhrig@inct.net
I have stopped reading a book because of content:  The Painted Bird by Jerzy N. Kosinski.  I got rid of the book, so I can't look into it for specifics.  It deals with WWII and abandoned children, subjects about which I have read in the past, but in a way I couldn't stomach.

AuntLara@aol.com
I stopped reading American Psycho at the part where he tortures and kills the dog.  I just couldn't go on reading it after something so cruel.  It really upset me.

JGB41056@aol.com
The book I read was fine for the first 10 pages and then I saw some expletives and the use of my Lord's name in a derogatory manner and since I will buy only inspirational fiction.

MTK12345@aol.com
Yes, The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield (I think that's his name)

DCCJ1@aol.com
No!

Whimsey03@aol.com
Extreme violence and gore will make me end a book before its time. I love to read mysteries and some thrillers so I'm accustomed to the bloody, harrowing aspects of, for example, Patricia Cornwell's books or the violence and pathological behavior of characters in Jonathan Kellerman's novels. I do, however, have a limit. Two books I read (neither by Cornwell or Kellerman) crossed the line. One had a scene where male genitalia was stuffed into the mouth of a dead body, the other a severed breast was in the mouth of the murder victim. That level of gross I just can't handle.

Lynscho@aol.com
As a social worker whose career has been devoted to child protection, it's not surprising that violence perpetuated on children is the one thing that will cause me to drop a book cold.  Fiction or non-fiction - it doesn't matter.  I started to read: A Child Called It and just couldn't get further than the first few chapters.  I read for pleasure, fun, escape, learning and professional development.  I hear horrible stories firsthand about what people do to children, but that book was more than I could handle emotionally.

Cipsi2@aol.com
Although I try to pretty carefully screen books for too much violence, occasionally I am pulled up short by violence to animals.  Most recent example is deciding to try Lisa Scottoline for the first time - picking out her new "The Vendetta Defense."  I did fine until page 78 when the birds are found killed and maimed.  I shut the book and it went back to the library.   

VIRGST4@aol.com
I don't believe content has ever stopped my reading a book - boredom yes. Sometimes I just can't get into the topic of the book, but pick it up a week/month later and I may find I can read it very quickly. I don't know what causes that, it could just be my state of mind at the time and where my interest lies.

CaptCarole@aol.com
Yes.  But so far, the only objectionable thing I have ever found in any book is the fact that it bores me.  And I can't think of any titles --- I guess I've blocked out the boring ones. I cannot, however, say the same thing for movies, particularly the ones that invade my TV without being asked--if there is too much gratuitous violence, or repeated non-sensical cursing for cursing's sake, then I switch it off.  Perhaps I'm just a lot more careful and pro-active about my reading choices.

GlendaMrle@aol.com
I will occasionally stop reading (or not start) if the book contains as a main theme the death of a child, or the abuse of a child.  Recently, I was reading Anita Shreve's book - something about water - when I realized the child in the book was going to be washed overboard from a boat.  I stopped at that point.  I hadn't realized this was coming, and was not prepared.  Too tough on me.  

Kj090152@aol.com
Yes there are certain authors I do not read...any that focus on child abuse, incest and the death of children... My personal history and experiences can not tolerate these topics. Mary Higgens Clark and a few others. Thanks for asking.

Conwarn@aol.com
As much as it pains me to say this, I bogged down badly with the Evan Hunter/Ed McBain novel "Candyland." In the first part of the book, Ben is involved with finding a woman and the book goes on and on and on. It is their/his presentation of Ben's ruminations and confrontations that turned me off. A case of a little going on and on. It is the only case with an Ed McBain book that I have walked away and I have read every book he has written. How disappointing.

NGroves@aol.com
Several years ago I picked up a mystery that had gotten excellent reviews. Since mysteries are one of my favorite genres, I was eager to discover a new author. However, I was put off almost immediately by what I consider pointless sex scenes. As I recall, the detective walked into a school classroom to interview a teacher, and within minutes they were having sex on her desk (before classes started, I hasten to add). Maybe that kind of thing could happen, but I thought it was ridiculous (the male author's wishful thinking, perhaps?). There were similar examples in the book, and since I also found it hard to get into the flow of the narrative, I gave up before too long and have never read any of the author's other work despite critical acclaim.

ldsnes@gs.verio.net
Yes

PNormart@aol.com
I've never stopped reading fiction because of objectionable content. And I figure if I can get through Bret Easton Ellis' "American Psycho," I probably never will. However, nonfiction is a different story. Brutality toward children and animals just tears me apart. I'm currently considering buying a book about how we need to change the way our society treats food and lab animals, but I'm not sure I can handle the descriptions of how we treat them now.

Sblokzyl@aol.com
Yes, I have stopped reading a book because of content. Twice one of Tami Hoag's books because of foul language. I am always disappointed when an author has such a limited vocabulary that he has to resort to profanity to get a point across. I think of books by James Grippando, and William Bernhardt that deal in crime, unsavory people and do not find the need to use a four letter word in every sentence. I think Baldacci is another author that has a good command over the English language, and that he doesn't have to resort to 4 letter words. I don't mind an occasional outburst, but it is like some authors just like to use dirty words. Thanks for letting me get this off my chest!

Purpleyb@aol.com
Yes. I was reading Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell and I had to put it down.  The open disdain and bigotry shown to she slaves distracted me so that I could not get past the second chapter. I guess I will just have to keep watching the movie.

BSchoentru@aol.com
I have not stopped reading a book for any of these reasons...much learning, insights can come from reading these things ...however, I have stopped reading a book because the author has used one or more of these as 'hooks' to get the reader or just to write a book using sensationalism as the plot...the author being too lazy, or, perhaps, untalented to come up with an orginal plot...or, the author thinking this is what reader's want...fluff...or, the worst, that the reader is stupid and will accept this drivel as true literature.

pkmiller@att.net
I stopped reading Stephen King's Gerald's Game in the middle of the first chapter. The actions of the characters (him tying her up on the bed, etc.) made no sense. I didn't know who these people were (usually King is famous for tons of expository materials-a la The Stand and you hang in there with him through reams of this materials because you know it all comes together in the end. In this case we didn't know who these people were, what made them tick or why he was tying her up. I decided I didn't care!

Indeed, nothing will make me stop reading a book than utterly uninteresting characters. Sometimes I will hang in there in the hope that it all makes sense in the end-in the case of Armistead Maupin's Night Listener, we were left as bewildered and befret of closure as the hapless narrator. But I did care very deeply about these people. In the case of Stephen King's Queen of Hearts I actually read all the way to the end in the hope that it would come together but it never did. I just gave up on a book called Clerical Errors (forgot the author) because, here we go again - I didn't care about this renegade priest or that he was copulating his housekepeer or even that someone totalled his precious car and made it seem that HE was driving. I tried, Lord knows I tried with apologies to Scarlett O'Hara - I think - but if I want a renegade character of a priest their number is legion in my area!

Sometimes I will hang in there intrigued a la a sci fi book ages ago wherein the principal characters spent most of the first chapter discussing the myriad types of excresence. It proved to be worth the wait! I don't usually care about violence, sex, etc, per se. But if the author doesn't make me interested in, doesn't make me CARE about his/her characters I will discard it and never go back!

RSteele124@aol.com
Books I stopped reading:
Backroads...simply awful; poorly written , bad plot. White Teeth...What was the point here; complex convoluted plot line,unreal characterizations. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius..boring, self-indulgent crap!!! GOOD  READ... I know This Much is True by Wally Lamb.

DRMOLSEN@aol.com
It takes a lot to make me stop reading. I read one Steven King, but will not read another.  It was too horrid. Total sex is boring, tho some is fun. Violence is not entertaining or relaxing.

cleas@earthlink.net
Yes! I've stopped reading books (usually thriller/mysteries, which I usually inhale without thought) when the authors write the female characters with no sense of humanity. It's not just the sexism, though that gets my goat, it's when the female characters make no sense -- the usual nonsensical mix is that they're conniving, but also dumb. I get so angry at the author that I can't go on. Drugs, sex, violence -- they're all part of life, but lazy (overwhelmingly male) authors who can't get it together to create three-dimensional women should be pistol whipped.

pnichols@woodruffelectric.com
I Know This Much Is True (Wally Lamb); The Fourth Hand (John Irving).

JebMar@aol.com
Other than boredom, complete stupidity of content will make me put a book down. Your poll is meaningless since it does not allow the voter to reject all of subjects you list.

SUSAN909@aol.com
I have stopped reading a book on more than one occasion because of the content.

Linpeace1@aol.com
I do not object to the subject of material covered. I am offended and turned off by bad writing.  Any subject is open to provocative and meaningful discussion.

mjanderson@qtm.net
No.  There are books I have chosen not to read, and there are books that bore me, or are so poorly written that I do not finish them. And I would have taken your quiz, but you didn't have a NO choice included. How can you possibly know how many of us there are who had to skip the quiz this week, for that reason?

ConnieDonovan@webtv.net
I will stop or not read any books that have expletives, child abuse, explicit sex, violence of any kind.  So I guess my answer to the question is "all of the above".

DPDanae@aol.com
Once a coworker slipped me a religious right book replete with cowtowing women and self righteous men. Couldn't handle it. Can't even remember the title.

Nana1248@aol.com
Absolutely.  There are just so many wonderful books out there, why waste time on something that is not for you. That's also why I like to go to Amazon. Com and get synopsis and reviews.  Saves a lot of money and time.

Mlgong@aol.com
I have never stopped reading anything because of objectionable content. Personally, I find racism and all the world's prejudices the most objectionable reading material. Yet I do read racist fliers I find on my car. One must know one's enemies for two reasons. First, knowledge is power and second, knowledge is understanding. Explicit sex or violence does not bother me. I am sure any abuse against a child would offend me, but I could read about it. In seventh grade I tried to read Mein Kampf, but it made me physically sick. I hope my reaction would have been the same, even if I were not a Jew. I am 46 now. I still hope to read Mein Kampf someday.

DCCJ1@aol.com
No.

burnzy@voyager.net
The Blood Countess by Codrescu was entirely too bloody and violent for me! I guess I thought because the author was often on NPR the writing would be in good taste, but definitely not the case!

Britadon@aol.com
Expletives - for no good purpose - only shock effect.

Katbanshee1@aol.com
Nope! The only thing that will stop me from reading a book is pure boredom or death!

ClouderMom@aol.com
Yes, I stopped reading books by my 'once-favorite author, Robert Heinlein because he began to present incest as a natural and appropriate part of life.

croths@isys.ca
Hello, I very recently gave up on "Ash" by Mary Gentle --- a kind of history\fantasy. I was less than 50 pages into it, I believe, when the foul language, explicate anal sex, and rape descriptions sickened me and I literally threw it aside, and I love books!!

JoyZoo@aol.com
I stopped reading Stephen King's Firestarter when the little girl's mother was killed. I just couldn't bear for anything more to happen to the child.  I am also still mad at Stephen King and Peter Straub for killing off the werewolf in the Talisman although I did finish the book!

Sharnsharalike11@aol.com
Since I know I'm not a prude, most of the material that I find objectionable tends to be unnecessary violence, graphic descriptions or humiliations.  Some of my coworkers have called me a walking P.C. meter. I was raised to have better manners than to continue to watch anyone - fictional or not - be degraded. When I encounter a large number of four letter or foul words, I assume that the writer didn't have a dictionary nearby to look up the big words and give them the benefit of the doubt. Once.

Since I am a bookseller at a HUGE national chain, I can say with absolute certainty that graphic sex scenes, lurid violence and profanity are responsible for many returns.  I have also overheard many customers commenting to each other on content.  The average consumer - be they farmer or lawyer respects a well turned plot and resents insults on their intelligence.  Even your basic bodice ripping romance novel has to have some reason for being on the shelf other than to make the publisher money. Trust me folks. It won't sell like it could have without a coherent storyline. I will stop reading, I have walked out of movies and so have my customers.




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