I used to be 100% for I will finish a book. Even if a book was not for me and I was sure it was going to not be for me, if I started it, I would end it.
However I started to DNF books this year after I discovered how much of a mood reader I am and will base my rating on it.
I DNF'd Mary by Nat Cassidy originally I thought I would like it and I did. Yet the writing style just was not for me and I feel like it was taking too long to build up to the big suspenseful plot point so I DNF'd.
I also DNF'd American Gods by Neil Gaiman. I will revisit this book I loved the TV Series it's just when I started it I had to re-read the first few chapters a few time and nothing was sticking. I think I will really like it, I just have to be in the right mood for it.
by Uninhibitedrmr
21 Comments
I feel a big discomfort when I DNF a book, I feel like I am missing something. But I have to say I didn’t finish some books. Which are
Jane eyre
Lolita
The pianist
The bridges of Madison county
Maybe I will revisit them at some point but not any time soon
I usually power through but there are few I wish I didn’t finish.
I DNF’d Where The Crawdads Sing. I tried a handful of times and could not get into it. So many people recommended it and I just couldn’t do it.
7 Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo. I tried hard to stick with it but was to tears reading it.
My book club has a 20% rule but sometimes you just know when something is going downhill early. If I make it past 50% I’ll hate read til the end. So I only feel justified in rating things I’ve finished…
Books I wish I DNF’d:
• The Haunted Forest Tour by James A. Moore – No plot, useless carousel of characters. Needed much more editing.
• The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris – The story has potential, the author does not. Such a waste of good source material on someone that couldn’t handle it.
The House in the Cerulean Sea. It was just boring as hell.
Infinite Jest. I came, I tried, I failed. Still bothers me…but not enough that I’ve given it another chance. Yet.
A book about mermaids for getting basic facts wrong. Like, the protagonist was longing for the sea, hadn’t seen it in a year, was looking at a painting of the sea she was missing it so much. She was in Boston. I know with fantasy you’re supposed to pretend, but pretending Boston isn’t a port city was a little much for me.
Woman Eating because a depressed vampire is a little too close to home. I keep a diary, although it’s not as well written.
I DNFd Ninth House a few months back at 200 pages in. It felt like too advanced fantasy for me being still new in my reading journey. I plan to revisit it in the future once I have some easier fantasy under my belt.
I will probably DNF Circe soon, at about 20% completion. I like it but I’m not feeling excited by it right now and have been avoiding reading it, but I will give it another try when I’m in the mood for it down the road
Kafka’s The Trial. It’s like a fever dream, and the writing style is so dense and hard to read.
Also Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep – I just hated the prose. Felt like a piece of bad high school English homework.
i’m the same way lol. a book i DNF’d was the minds of billy milligan by daniel keyes. it was really interesting, and all the different personalities were unlike anything i’ve ever read or heard of before, but around halfway through i stopped reading it for about a week and then just wasn’t able to pick it back up.
i tried to get back into it, because i really wanted to find out what happened, especially since it was based on a true story. however, i just found that i wasn’t able to get back into it.
I haven’t DNFd it yet, but i’ve come very close with Lolita.
It’s just not enjoyable to read? And I know that’s kinda the whole point, and we should try stuff that makes us uncomfortable too. But this is just not entertaining to me in the slightest. Yes the writing is great, but I just have no desire to pick it up.
I’m over halfway, so maybe i’ll push through, but idk.
If I’m at least mildly enjoying a book I’ll usually finish it. Most books I DNF’d were in the first chapter because either I wasn’t vibing or the writing was awful. The only one I actually got a good chunk through before giving up was Gunslinger. I wanted so badly to like it and about two thirds through I realized I was dreading picking it up.
Recently gave up The Fireman by Joe Hill because my main gripe with the other book I read of his, N0S4A2, was all the weird mommy stuff, and this one started doing that right at the beginning. Noped right out of there.
It’s very rare I DNF, I have to absolutely hate a book to do that. Usually it’s the writing style that does it for me.
Project Hail Mary – page 50
All the Colors of the Dark – page 21
I wish I DNF’d The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams
I used to power through, especially if I paid for the book, but life’s too short to waste my time AND my money.
The Picture of Dorian Gray. It’s just wasn’t for me
The Passage, Brave New World. I need one or two main characters and I need the story to move on.
I can’t stand The Passage because of the expectations I had.
1984 is a perfect fit for me.
The Midnight Library because while the concept was promising, the execution was just so repetitive and draining almost. I think the depiction of depression was also so surface level and lacked any depth. I’m thankful I didn’t finish it knowing how the book ended.
The Book of Daniel, by E.L. Doctorow
Hated characters..didn’t give a rip what happened to them.
The It Girl by Ruth Ware. Overly stereotypical portrayal of college life and characters.
I love Kim Stanley Robinson, most of his books are awesome (Red Mars trilogy, Aurora), but some of his newer stuff I just absolutely could not get through. New York 2140 being the worst. Also could not finish the Science in the Capital series that he wrote.
It’s very uneven – Aurora and 2312 are newer from him and they were excellent.
I didn’t even bother with Ministry for the Future- the premise is completely absurd.
I have DNF’d over 150 books mostly out of boredom, but there were 3 books I DNF’d because of cringey-ness.
1. Pages for You – Sylvia Brownwiff. IIRC, MC in chapter 2 was describing how attracted she was to this woman she sees drinking coffee at a cafe and the chapter ended with a line saying how she wished she was the coffee cup. I remember a time on the internet where people would say I wish I was [insert object] whenever they see someone attractive interacting with said object. So how the phrase sounded like some kind of internet meme turned me off completely.
2. Winter’s Orbit – Everina Maxwell. In the 1st chapter, I think, there was a line that pointed out the MC was non-racist, non-sexist, non-homophobic, etc….just why was that necesary?
3. Fangirl – Rainbow Rowell. Perhaps it’s because the MC is supposed to be cringey but I immediately dnf’d it when she called the main male character rape-y for wanting to go inside her dorm to wait for his girlfriend (who’s the MC’s roommate). They were already in the dorm together once before, so what’s the problem now?