A reading club of journalists is examining the psychological and social reasons why people fail to finish books [1].
The group's discussions highlight a common struggle with reading endurance and the social pressure to appear well-read, even when progress stalls.
Gathering in the basement of their company, the members of "Issue's Library" used the third episode of their series to openly declare a "give-up" stance on completing certain texts [1]. The participants, known as "독서가," shared specific examples of their unfinished reading lists to illustrate the gap between intention and completion [1].
One member said they stopped a short story by Chekhov at page 190 [1]. Another participant discussed a "brick book"—a term for an exceptionally thick volume—that reaches 1,300 pages [1]. That specific book has remained unread for three years [1].
The journalists discussed the tendency to bluff about reading progress within book clubs [1]. This social performance often masks the reality of abandonment, creating a cycle where members pretend to have finished works they have not [1].
Despite the club's efforts to certify 20 books this year [1], the group revealed a stark reality regarding their current featured works. No participant has fully completed any of the books currently being highlighted [1].
By centering the conversation on failure rather than achievement, the group aims to dismantle the guilt associated with unread books. The basement meetings serve as a space to acknowledge the difficulty of engaging with dense material in a distracted era [1].
“No participant has fully completed any of the books currently being highlighted.”
This shift toward acknowledging 'reading failure' reflects a broader cultural trend of moving away from performative intellectualism. By validating the act of abandoning a book, the group challenges the traditional expectation that reading is a linear task that must be completed to be valuable.
