As I mentioned in my review of A Stolen Season, I went from reading because I was convinced I was missing the Magic Thing that had created positive reviews for this book, to reading because I just had to find out how the plot was resolved.
As I said on Twitter, there's almost an annoyed affection I feel for a book that I really dislike but am compelled to finish. I just had to know how the ending was going to happen, even if I didn't enjoy the book or the characters – and that's something which has happened to me before.
I figured there had to be a term for that. So I asked on Twitter and Facebook – and wouldn't you know, people had ideas, but not one definitive term. There are, however, really, really good suggestions.
I Storified the Twitter conversation here:
Determined to Finish A Book
What do you call it when you’re finishing a book you don’t like just because you want to find out what happens? I asked, Twitter has lots of answers.
Storified by Sarah Wendell · Mon, Nov 19 2012 09:15:45
Is there a term for when you’re really not enjoying a book but you have to finish it just to find out what happens?Sarah Wendell
@SmartBitches SkimmingKim Baccellia
@SmartBitches According to my mother it’s called “Why I read the 50 Shades trilogy”Cyndy Aleo
@smartbitches I usually think of it as Train Wreck Syndrome. Ditto movies/TV shows.Shae Connor
@SmartBitches SUCKS keri
@SmartBitches it’s “skip to the end to see if you were right in what the mystery was even though all the characters were total gits”Katie Dunneback
@SmartBitches Other than torture?Marg Bates
@SmartBitches masochism?AngstyG
@SmartBitches My mom calls it ‘damned and determined’.Jody Wallace
@SmartBitches Yes, the fourth Game of Thrones.Blanche Beecham
@SmartBitches Throwing good money after bad?Talia Thrace
@SmartBitches Masochism?Anne Holly
@SmartBitches My life? :PSeleste deLaney
“@ilikemints: @SmartBitches Hate-read” YES that is the PERFECT TERM. Did you make that up?Sarah Wendell
@SmartBitches Unfortunately, no! But I love it so, so much.Molly Jo
@SmartBitches curiosity? Pig-headedness?Mary Klaebel
@SmartBitches Baited & hooked.PM Newton
@SmartBitches danbrownesiaMel Johansson
@SmartBitches Dan Brown syndrome? ;)Sara Keeth
@SmartBitches I blame it on OCD… Or book fatalism, I have to know why happens even if I don’t really care.Jo
@SmartBitches @ilikemints I like “hate-read.” What’s the term for not enjoying a book but forging on b/c you feel loyal to the author?Mary Briggs
@SmartBitches I call it the “greys anatomy” factor.Carrie Ann Ryan
@mg_briggs @SmartBitches Obligatoread?Molly Jo
@ilikemints @mg_briggs I like that- or obligareadSarah Wendell
RT @SmartBitches: There’s almost an annoyed affection I feel for a book that I really dislike, but can’t stop reading because I need to find out what happens.Dr. Dan Challis
@SmartBitches I feel that same way about a book I read last night!Andria L. Arnold
@SmartBitches “I don’t even like you! Argh! Why am I not done reading you yet!”Wench
@SmartBitches I’m reading a book like that now.Ashley L.
@smartbitches just read a self-pub mystery like that, but VERY annoyed at last line, “Life isn’t tidy. That’s all. Goodbye.” WTF?Laura Kinsale
@LauraKinsale That’s like, “I’m done writing now. Bye!”Sarah Wendell
@SmartBitches That’s why I love ebooks. I delete those and never notice them again! Unlike physical books which taunt me w/ their awfulnesstxvoodoo
@SmartBitches Completism?Lorena O’English
@SmartBitches @ilikemints I just survived an obligaread…reading on out of loyalty to an author whose series I love…er…loved. Painful.Mary Briggs
@SmartBitches I did this recently with an audiobook. Literally screaming at it in the car. Same feeling as bad reality TV.Shawny Jean
@SmartBitches sometimes i read a bad book because i think ‘this has to get better!’Ba dum tiss
@SmartBitches Torture…? Don’t worry I’m the same way.taina fernandez
@SmartBitches yeah, it’s called being suckered in :/highland hussy
@SmartBitches I kept the worst paperback I ever read because I hated how badly written it was so much that it started me writing as a teen.Jennifer Matarese
@SmartBitches Rage-reading?Deanna Raybourn
@SmartBitches I will finish a book, if it’s just a character that I don’t fully love. Otherwise, I give the book about 100 pages, then done.Chris Alexander
@SmartBitches a bit like series where you know that you didn’t enjoy 1 book but you will read the next because you liked the other characteMarg Bates
@SmartBitches Masobookism. It got me through all 4 Twilight books. Fortunately I don’t suffer from it’s sister syndrome, masomoviesm.Liz Lincoln
@SmartBitches If it’s a dirty book, it’s prolly Cockholm Syndrome.Jody Wallace
@jodywallace Cockholm Syndrome should be when a heroine’s poor opinion of the hero is reversed by his magic sex @SmartBitchesErin Satie
@SmartBitches Book-a-holic, optimistic,Regan Taylor
@SmartBitches I call it tortureLela Whitus
RT @lizlincolnwritr: @SmartBitches Masobookism. It got me through all 4 Twilight books. Fortunately I don’t suffer from it’s sister syndrome, masomoviesm.Sarah Wendell
@lizlincolnwritr I think she’s got it. Masobookism! @SmartBitchesErin Satie
@ErinSatie @jodywallace @SmartBitches Masobookism, Cockholm Syndrome. What do you think we have to do to get these in the next Oxford Dict?Liz Lincoln
@SmartBitches Maybe curi-OW-sity. Not restricted to books…works for TV shows, movies, and much more!Laura Xixi
@SmartBitches Thank you for expanding my vocabulary. This is awesome!Experiment BL626
@SmartBitches Ugh, I experienced that recently, too. Maybe it’s a cauliflower book? Endured so you can have dessert/satisfaction.Cecilia Dominic
It was the Fifty Shades of Grey for me. @lizlincolnwritr @SmartBitchesCamilla
@SmartBitches @ilikemints Dorothy Parker once said “This is not a book to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.”Jessica Banks
@SmartBitches recalcitrant compulsionGlenda Burgess
@SmartBitches Odd how many of us suffer the “good girl syndrome” with bad bad books! Like dating come to think of it….Glenda Burgess
@GlendaBurgess “I don’t want to make the book feel bad for being shitty!” @SmartBitchesRedheadedgirl
@SmartBitches @redheadedgirl Okay, so now we’re all in therapy, lol. Just say “no”! Go with your gut, girl! It will end BADLYGlenda Burgess
@GlendaBurgess There’s a bookI gave up on and finally got to the point where I piled up a down comforter to throw my IPAD at @SmartBitchesRedheadedgirl
@SmartBitches That’s me with most books ;-)Tez Miller
@SmartBitches It’s like a car wreck or train wreck I need to know what happened. Like Twilight or any Danielle Steel movie on LifeTimeRaine_D
More must-finish-book terms: apathetic imperative, via Catherine Wade. And “Sin Eater” from @redheadedgirl HASarah Wendell
@SmartBitches Hate read.thelostdwarf
Torture “@SmartBitches: Is there a term for when you’re really not enjoying a book but you have to finish it just to find out what happens?”Lynda Ryba
@SmartBitches Reading The Last Boyfriend & Clare calls having to choke down a book just to finish a “Brussel Sprouts Read”. Haha using that.Still A Damn Wannabe
And also on Facebook, there were other excellent suggestions, like “Apathetic imperative” from Catherine Wade, or “FTF-forced to finish” from Vanessa Lillie.” Redheadedgirl calls it being a “Sin Eater.”
So which is your favorite? Hate-read? Masobookism? Obligaread? Apathetic Imperative? Brussels Sprouts Reading?
What do you call it? And does it happen to you? Because it happens to me ALL the TIME.
