I generally can tell ahead of time if I'm going to like it. I'm too cheap to buy anything other than airport fiction that I haven't pretty well researched. Ultimately, it depends upon why I'm reading.
Certainly, if I'm not enjoying a piece of fiction, I'll bail early like Michael unless it's something I "need" to have read, e.g., my occasional (I shoot for annual) foray back into Maugham, Austen, Wilde, Tolstoy, etc. Except for Joyce, I find him unreadable.
If it's non-fiction, then it is less about enjoyment than utility. So much the better if I can get both. I've been reading Liberal Fascism for two months now. It is taking a long time, not because I'm not enjoying or because it is overly difficult, but because I find myself in a really slow reading period. I'm usually good for your puny 2-3 per month. Don't know what's up with me. Too much religion and guns I guess...just kidding.
If I'm reading because Michael told me to, then I....must.....finish. Actually, of the two most recent recommendations of his that I've read (Roth's The Plot Against America and Buckley's Little Green Men), I enjoyed both.
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