When Do You Quit a Book?

At the beginning of the month, I started East of Eden by John Steinbeck. I'm now about a quarter of the way through and can't decide whether I should push through and finish, or just call it and move on.

One thing I've decided to do this year is try to mix a few classics into the mix. I read Frankenstein by Mary Shelley earlier this year and now I've started another classic in East of Eden. Frankenstein grabbed me and kept me wanting to read more. I don't have that same desire with East of Eden. Obviously you can't really read only a few pages and know what you think of it. I certainly wouldn't consider stopping reading if it didn't grab me in the first chapter, but at what point do you consider it's just not the book for you and move onto another book? I'd say say 25% would be a good marker. By one quarter in, you'd expect enough of a draw to make you want to keep reading.

I think part of my hangup in just returning the book to the library and move on is that it's supposed to be a classic. Other books I might be more easily able to just say "meh" and move on, but there's a part of me that wants to understand why this book is so highly rated and thought of. It's like that movie that everyone says is amazing, but when you watch it, you just don't see why it's so great. I obviously can't make that judgement 25% into a book, but there's nothing there so far that has really pulled me in and gripped me in ways other books have. It also doesn't help that it's been a long read so far. Some books are easy reading. This is not one of them.

I haven't decided exactly what I'm going to do. I'll give it a little more time, but I'm still unsure of how much longer I'm going to give it to make me want to keep going.