Wisdom from a Starbucks cup

Years ago, whenever I started reading a book, I felt obligated to finish it — whether I enjoyed it or not. As a result, I read a lot of crap to the bitter end and missed out on a lot of great novels. In the years since I turned 40, I’ve left more and more books unfinished.

This afternoon, I found a quote on the side of my Starbucks cup that details perfectly my current personal reading program. It’s from librarian Nancy Pearl, author of Book Lust:

“Life’s too short to read a book you don’t love. At age 50 or younger, give a book 50 pages to see if you like it. Over 50, subtract your age from 100 and that’s the number of pages to read before you bail on a book you’re not enjoying. And when you turn 100, you get to judge a book by its cover.”

Good advice.