If you want to split a room of bookworms in half, just ask them who is happy to DNF a book and who sees every read through to the end. For those of you who don’t know, DNF stands for ‘Did Not Finish’ and this blog post is about why I have no issue admitting defeat with my current read.
By clanging the gong of DNF you are not forever condemning your book to remain on your bookshelf, never to be read again. There are two main reasons I will DNF a book:
I wasn’t enjoying the book
This is the most common reason, if I’m not loving a book then I don’t see the need to continue reading it. If you look at the current Marie Kondo trend of only keeping things that bring you joy, we can apply this to our reading to. Only read things that bring you joy and if your current read doesn’t, then what are you actually gaining from reading it?
I know some books we read because we have to, be it for studies, a review or a personal challenge. But if you are just reading for pleasure and you aren’t loving your read after maybe 100/150 or so pages, then just put it down! Delete it form your Goodreads shelf and think nothing more of it.
It wasn’t the right time to read this book
Another popular reason I will put a book down, is if I know I will like it but I’m not enjoying it at this point in time. There are plenty of books I have picked up that I know everyone has loved and I probably will too, but perhaps I’m not in the right mindset to read at the moment. This situation does not mean I’m not enjoying the book, but that I want to be able to give it my full concentration and I just can’t do that at the moment.
An example of this is The Seven Deaths and Evelyn Hardcastle, a book I know a lot of you are raving about and is hard to find a bad review for. But it is a book that requires my brain to really sit down and read it in chunks at a time. I am very busy at the moment, so I just don’t have the time to do this, there forever (for now) I’ve decided to put it down until I know I have the time to love it fully.
Don’t feel bad about DNFing a book
I have seen a lot of people say they feel they owe it to a book, an author or themselves to see it through to the end. Or that they’ve spent their hard earned money on the book so why shouldn’t they finish it? I do understand that, I really do, but sometimes we need to remember why we actually read. Reading is meant to be fun, it’s meant to make you happy and excited to pick up a book. If you aren’t experiencing that feeling, you have to think about why that is.
Let me know in the comments you thoughts on DNFing books.
Thanks for this. I try not to feel guilty about DNFing books but after really not enjoying The Datk
Days Club from the library and forcing my way through it, I said I’d never do that again. I battled through
An Ember in the Ashes at the same time.
It’s just not worth it, read books because they spark joy, not as a chore. You’ll probably then find you read a lot more and enjoy the experience a bunch more too!
I try to avoid DNFing books – I have only done it to a handful of books – but I don’t feel bad when I do it. If I get to that point then the book wasn’t for me, usually because I just wasn’t enjoying the book at all.
I think that’s the best attitude to have!
I feel there is a difference in DNFing a book & putting a book down. I will definitely DNF a book I don’t enjoy, can’t read, whatever but I will also “put down” a book I’m not in the right head space for ATM, I’ll come back when I’m ready, I think ppl are to quick sometimes to lump the two together. Your thoughts?
This makes me feel better about the books I’ve DNF’d. I try not to DNF books because I know I’ve read a few where it took half the book for me to get to a point where I started enjoying it, but sometimes you just have to!
I know the feeling, sometimes though, the writing just isn’t for me.
I was like this for a very long time and only started DNFing I think last year or the year before. I always felt bad b/c I held out hope the book would get better or the author would add a twist but I started DNFing books like this b/c I believe what you see is just what you get sometimes.
I agree, sometimes it just isn’t worth it. Books are to enjoy!
I have no problem DNF a book (ARCs or otherwise if I need to) There are too many books and too little time. What I WONT do that I see done (and this is just my personal guideline) is post about it. If I DNF a book I don’t write about it. If it isn’t an ARC it doesn’t really matter. If it is an ARC then I will post on NetGalley or Edelweiss depending on where the ARC came from (or directly to the publisher if it came from them, just so the publisher knows it was a DNF and why. However, I will not publish it publicly anywhere else. The *only* exception to that is if there is something that bothers me on such a fundamentally ethical level that I feel I need to put it out there. There has only been one case of that which was Rule. Other than that I have DNFd probably about 6-10 ARCs and haven’t written about any of them publicly. So I agree with you on not forcing it.
Well said Susan. I wouldn’t highlight DNFing any unless someone else was talking about it, or they asked me what I thought of the book. I never feel great about marking a book as DNF, but sometimes it has to be done.
I buy so many books that I think it’s normal if there are some of them that I don’t fully enjoy. I don’t think it’s bad to leave a book halfway through. As you said, there isn’t enough time to read all the books that we would like to, and if a book it’s taking me longer to finish because I’m not enjoying it, it will only waste my time.
Thanks for your thoughts.
I do, but I am very hesitant to do so. I tend to give books the benefit of the doubt more than I should. I MAY DNF 1 or 2 books a year.
Some perfectly valid reasons! I definitely agree with all these points – even if you feel bad doing it, you shouldn’t force yourself to read something that just doesn’t sit right with you. It’s counterproductive! Great post, thanks 🙂
We usually don’t but we’re realizing that sometimes we have to. It’s hard not to feel bad at first, but reading a book you can’t connect with is a waste of time.
I am a ruthless DNFer! Life’s too short! I actually do have DNF shelf on GoodReads and I will write a few lines about why the book wasn’t working for me (often it is just case of “It’s not you, it’s me”) but I don’t rate books that I don’t see all the way to the end.
I couldn’t agree more Emily!
I think DNFing a book is important. If you are reading something you aren’t enjoying, why suffer through it just to say that you read it. Sure, sometimes it sucks, especially when its a book you have been looking forward to reading, but it needs to be done. For the most part, I don’t return to a book I put in the DNF pile, but every now and then I give them a second chance, sometimes it works out and I read and enjoy it, while other times it very quickly gets the DNF again.
I get flack from my book club for DNFing books, but I have so many on my TBR. I want to get to books I’ll enjoy. I don’t beat myself up about it. I also agree about your point about it not being the right time.