I agree with you, OP. When reading for pleasure, I’m under no obligation to read every word, sentence, paragraph, whatever. Or to finish the book, for that matter. I read how I like. What I like. When I like.

That said, I generally do try to read as I assume the author intended. But, if a book doesn’t grab me within the first 10-15%, I have no issue with skipping ahead to see if it gets better. Occasionally, I’ll even skip to the very end, just to see how everything turns out (for books where I’m not invested in how we got there).

It’s a little more difficult with books of short stories, but I’ll generally try to give 2-3 stories a try to see if I like the author’s style. Again, I’ll skip through the volume.