Quitting can be difficult to do, whether it be leaving your job or kicking a bad money habit.

We’ve been conditioned to think that quitting something means that we’ve failed and it’s even worse as women, given the perfection we’re expected to attain all areas of our life. The ascendance of Instagram, with its shiny selfies, has made it harder.

But I’m a firm believer that quitting can be good for our mental and physical health, as well as our careers and relationships.

While working out whether it’s time to quit your job or break off a friendship can be a minefield, there’s one area of life where quitting should be easy: books we don’t like. It should be simple to stop reading books we’re not enjoying, but most people continue struggling through even if they don’t like the characters, plot or style.

Why we need to stop forcing ourselves to finish books we hate