Let’s Talk Bookish – DNFing Books

Let’s Talk Bookish is a Friday post, created by Rukky @ Eternity Books and hosted by Aria @ Book Nook Bits, where we discuss a prompt about Bookish topics. This week’s prompt was suggested by Mint @ Mint Loves Books.

Today was busy for me, so this is now coming out at 12:07am Saturday. Whoops.

DNF is an acronym that stands for did not finish.

What makes you DNF a book?

I’d probably have to say that my #1 reason for DNFing a book is Boredom. If I’m reading a book and it’s not interesting me at all, then it’s time to set that one aside and start something new. I firmly believe that life is too short to force yourself to finish a book you just aren’t interested in (unless its for an academic reason…).

Boredom isn’t the only reason though, I have a very short list of other reasons why:

Just don’t like it. Everyone has different tastes and interests and tropes they enjoy. Sometimes, I pick up a book thinking it’ll be amazing, and find that I actually don’t like it, don’t feel engaged, and don’t care about the characters or storyline. It happens.
Unnecessary cruelty to animals. Most of the time, when I pick up a book that features animal cruelty, I’m aware of it beforehand and have judged whether or not I will tolerate it for the story, but sometimes it sneaks up on me and I end up DNFing the book shortly afterwards. I don’t like animal cruelty and I don’t like reading about it, even fictionally.
Overly graphic medical horror. I can’t even explain why on this one, I just really don’t like most of it when I encounter it in books. It’s hit or miss when it happens unexpectedly, which can be a bummer because I find it happens in a lot of zombie books and I do enjoy that genre a lot.
Poorly written. If the story is in desperate need of an editor then I’m out.

How often do you DNF books?

I DNF books as often as necessary, which is 19 books in the last two years. In that time, I’ve read 184 books (as of 10/7/22), so what is that…. 10%? Seems like quite a few. Hmm.

A lot of “DNF’d for losing interest” books though end up on my “Eventually” shelf where I intend to pick them up again in the future to try once more. That shelf has about 13 more books.

What’s the silliest or pettiest reason why you DNF’d a book?

Sometimes, I come across a book that is just down right ANNOYING. The characters are annoying, the plot is annoying, it’s cringey, it’s childish but trying to be overly serious, and the dialog seems written by a group of 12 year olds. The book might be universally loved by the masses and praised to the sky, but I will DNF that book so fast the moment it becomes intolerable.

Do you review books that you DNF?

Yes, but only books that I have read at least 30% of. I feel that by 30% complete, you have a good enough grasp on the feel of the story to have solid opinions on it and leaving a review about why it didn’t work out for you can be helpful for others reading reviews.