I rarely don’t finish a book. I always read to the end — and don’t peek at the ending before I get there! — from the beginning.

I do the same thing with television series. Even if the story wears thin, or they drag it out a few seasons too long, I usually stick with a series I grew to like in the beginning. I want to see where the characters go, where they end up! I want to know how it ends. This even extends to (some) spin-off shows.

It’s interesting, given these, that I don’t really have a problem shutting off some movies. Now, I don’t do it all the time, so maybe this isn’t really an anomaly.

Maybe it’s more in the definition of start.

Let me explain: I do put books down, sometimes. I never got past the first two chapters of Wuthering Heights. I remember trying to start A Separate Peace several times, but I never made it far. Recently, I didn’t get even a quarter into Complete Stories by Flannery O’Connor before I gave up.

But once a story has captured me, or once I’m into a tale, I’m hooked and must continue to the end even if the writing deteriorates or it becomes less interesting.

Probably the movies I turn off fall into the same category of story as the books that never captivated me.

My husband is different than I. [This shouldn't surprise you.] He has no problem setting aside a book that’s become uninteresting over time, and he also can quite easily cut ties with television characters. Does it make a difference that most of the books he reads are nonfiction, whereas by far the majority of the (far more numerous) books I consume are fiction? I don’t know.