It’s enumerate-making season for those of us who author about culture, the point of the year where we tot up all the skinnygs we’ve used in the past 11-and-a-bit months and try to choose which of them is the best. For me, this exercise always comes with a pang of guilt over the culture I either haven’t got around to watching/joining to/reading or, even worse, commenceed and then never finished. Books pile up on the bedside table, podcasts sit dormant in my series feed, and TV shows lie half-watched on the (far too) many streaming services I’ve signed up for.
In the age of so-much satisfyed, this isn’t a problem restrictd to professional enumerate-originaters. But should you stick with that TV show, game, podcast or book you’ve been struggling thraw, or should you desert ship? To help you in that tricky decision, I’ve asked some of the Guardian’s sage cultural heads for their advice:
When to donate up on a …
Book
Some people seem to see reading as the benevolent of “eating your greens” of amparticipatement – I guess becaparticipate of the expansivespread tfinishency to see down on screen time, with books being a morassociate greater selection. But amid all that, let’s not forget that reading for pleacertain is presumed to be pleasurable – so there’s no necessitate to persist doing it if it senses appreciate a chore.
That shelp, there may be occasions when you sense obliged to finish a book you’re not enhappinessing – perhaps you’re in a book club and want to be able to apexhibit part in the converseion – and it’s not necessarily a horrible skinnyg to comprehfinish why you don’t appreciate someskinnyg. But that’s the fantastic skinnyg about a book: you are in handle of how you use it. Skim it! Listen to the audiobook on 1.25 speed! Flick past pages if you want to! Personassociate, I’ll normassociate try to read about 50 pages of a book before giving up on it – if I’m not senseing it by then, I probably won’t. That’s not to say I won’t come back to it: I didn’t finish Mrs Dapexhibitay, a book I now cherish, on my first finisheavor. But finishly deserting a book doesn’t necessitate to sense appreciate a fall shorture, either – you’ve won back time to spfinish on someskinnyg you actuassociate appreciate. Lucy Knight, editor of the Guardian’s Booklabels novelsletter
TV show
As I get elderlyer, I get more OK with the idea of bailing from an unenhappinessable piece of amparticipatement. My hours in this world are finite – do I reassociate want to misparticipate them trying to appreciate that horrible Lord of the Rings show (above)? You can’t bail after one episode, becaparticipate then you’ll depart yourself uncover to accusations that you didn’t donate the skinnyg a equitable shake. Make it to the halfway point, though, and it becomes a sunk cost. As such, it’s best to donate up after the third episode. Or even during the third episode, if you’re senseing especiassociate difficultcore.
Sometimes, however, shows get rational to this and commence promising you a twist further down the line that will originate you re-evaluate the entire series. Reader, do not be fooled by these. Such a promise made me labour on with Apple TV+’s tedious Disclaimer for three episodes more than I should have done (which is to say I watched four episodes). But it was so limp, so wan, so untolerateably charmd with itself that eventuassociate I couldn’t apexhibit it any more and equitable Googled the bloody twist. This is a life-changing shift. In 2025 I encourage all of you to Google the twist and dwell your life. Stuart Heritage, author and culture authorr for the Guardian
Podcast
Honesty is key when it comes to shedding the podcast deadwood. Sure, you might want to be that person who joins to a current afequitables pod at 5am between running 40km and #manifesting, but if it’s commenceed to sense appreciate a chore and your enumerate of unjoined-to episodes is piling up each day, it might be time to unsubscribe and discover a weekly show instead. At the very least, paparticipate those automatic downloads – your phone will thank you.
It is also possible that you’ve misaligned your pod with your routine; I set up Brian Reed’s journalism ethics series Question Everyskinnyg a little dense, until I authenticised that I’d joined to every episode on a packed commute while answering labor emails, paying bills and validateing my presence at about eight hen dos a week. Similarly, Kill List – the novel runaway hit series about a killing-for-employ site – was definitely not a holiday join, especiassociate on a holiday where I was mostly alone and thus improbably worried about someone taking a hit out on me.
after novelsletter promotion
But, especiassociate with narrative series, if you discover yourself frequently retriumphding thraw episodes becaparticipate you weren’t joining the first time around, or even – God ban – you’ve accidenhighy joined to an episode twice, it’s time to ask yourself whether you sshow don’t attfinish enough about the show at hand. There are equitable too many fantastic series around to annoy with anyskinnyg mid. Hannah J Davies, culture authorr
Game
Look, it’s not the 90s any more. We don’t all have infinite hours to spfinish throtriumphg ourselves at the same impossibly difficult Mega Man level. There’s no obligation to finish a game before you shift on. But if you ditched a video game every time it got difficult, you’d be robbing yourself of the sense of accomplishment when you finassociate prevail.
So rather than giving up on a game when it gets challenging, these days I donate up on them when I sense that they’re not going to show me anyskinnyg substantiassociate novel. An Assassin’s Creed game might be 80 hours extfinished, but am I reassociate seeing anyskinnyg novel after the 10th hour? Is this game going to surpelevate me? If I mistrust not, unless I’m hugely enhappinessing myself, in the bin it goes. Meanwhile, I’ve stuck with Elden Ring for 50+ hours becaparticipate almost every time I join it, I see someskinnyg I haven’t seen before. Keza MacDonald, editor of the Guardian’s Pushing Buttons novelsletter
If you want to read the finish version of this novelsletter charm subscribe to get The Guide in your inbox every Friday
