Left to Rust?

Sadly, I have done it too many times to count. We start a book with the best of intentions and a few days, ...weeks, into it, it gets laid aside - usually through neglect or perhaps the rush of the urgent. Now, six months (two years!) later said book is exposed from under the pile in which it was lurking. What do I do now?

It depends, but think it through. Should this just be relegated to the unused pile and leave it at that? Should we start over? Or just pick up where we left off? Usually I would never start over - that is so boring! Just because I don't remember the details doesn't mean that the kids are clueless. They usually remember much more than I do. We make a game of remembering - the kids almost always "win".

I have on a few occasions just not finished. Oliver Twist is one such example. It just got to be too much time and I lost interest. If the kids really want to know the story then they will some day pick it up and finish it on their own.