Let’s Talk Bookish: DNFing Books

Hey, everyone! I hope you’re all doing well. I know I’ve been a bit spotty in posting lately. I’m trying to make it more consistent but school has been eating up my time majorly. Today I have an LTB post, which is being posted a day late. Better late than never, right?

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme created by Rukky @ Eternity Books and hosted by Aria @ Book Nook Bits where we discuss various topics and share our opinions. Today’s topic is DNFing Books (suggested by Mint @ Mint Loves Books).

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Prompts: DNF is an acronym that stands for did not finish. What makes you DNF a book? How often do you DNF books? What’s the silliest or pettiest reason why you DNF’d a book? Do you review books that you DNF?

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I hardly DNF books. I’m the kind of person who, once I start something, I want to finish it. I feel bad DNFing books because I always wonder if the book will get better and I’m just at a boring part. In the past six years, I think I’ve only DNFed two books.

If I do DNF a book, it’ll be somewhere near the beginning. It typically happens well before the 50% mark. The main reason I’ll DNF a book is if I’m really not enjoying it and I don’t think it’s going to get any better. Some things that could lead to this are:

• Bad writing
• Unlikable characters
• Tropes I don’t like being unbearably annoying

I’ll sometimes come across a book with one of these aspects and it’ll be annoying, but I’ll still read the book anyways. When I do this, it’s mostly because I want to know how the story ends and maybe see if the characters do something redeemable in my mind. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. It’s a bit of trial and error.

The last book I DNFed was in April: Orphans of the Tide by Struan Murray. My mom and I started it on audiobook while we were on a long drive. I liked the concept and the plot, but the characters were annoying. The main character, Ellie, was a bit too stubborn. It seemed like she didn’t take other people’s opinions into perspective–like she couldn’t put herself into someone else’s shoes. Ellie’s friend, Anna, also annoyed me. She was so convinced in her opinion, she didn’t give any room to change it. It made the story hard to listen to and I wasn’t enjoying it very much.

I don’t review books I DNF. I feel like I don’t have enough to say about them and it feels like I’m not being fair because I haven’t read the whole book. I’ll mention it on the blog at some point though, when it arises.

Overall, I don’t DNF books unless I absolutely despise reading a book. This doesn’t happen very often, fortunately. I have pretty good judgement on whether or not I’ll like a book. And I mean, why waste my time reading a book I dread? There’s too many other good books out there to do that.

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How often do you DNF books? Are there certain reasons to make you do so?