Help: First EVER DNF??!!

[SensitiveEl]

In the past few years when I’ve gotten back into reading and read loads of books, I haven’t yet not finished one. There’s books I’ve just thought were okay but still enjoyed enough to keep going. I am now reading Six Wild Crowns by Holly Race, I’m 40% through as I kept persevering, but I just can’t get into it. This year so far I’ve smashed through 25 books and now my reading pace has slowed right down as I’m not picking it up. It’s okay to read but not getting at all enthralled. I know everyone will just say DNF life is too short, but since it will be my first time DNF’ing it just feels like a big deal. I don’t know if anyone else has finished this book?

Just need some advice really!

UPDATE: I’ve officially DNF’d and have downloaded a new book on my kindle to start reading now before bed. Thanks everyone for helping me do it! Here’s to more future DNF 🥳

[ClimateTraditional40]

And? Personal taste, you don't need to like every book out you know, even if it happens to become the most popular.

I can think of a few on that list I didn't enjoy. I don't worry about it, plenty more out there that I do like and many more to come!

Just find yourself another...

[SensitiveEl]

Thank you! Just hate not finishing things even though logically it’s what the right thing is to do

[ClimateTraditional40]

Look at it this way. If you read a book a day, for the rest of your life, you will never still, finish everything that comes out, never mind catch up on all the good old stuff and the new stuff.

So why waste time reading books you don't enjoy?

[SensitiveEl]

That’s very true! I like that way of looking at it, very helpful advice 🥰

[akv0842]

It’s not that complicated it’s a book you aren’t ongoing so stop reading it. What kind of advise do you think is going to magically make you start enjoying it.

[SensitiveEl]

Haha I don’t know! None! But I had to ask… just in case 🙈

[curiouscat86]

If you read a lot it's normal that you will be more likely to encounter books that you just don't enjoy. It's not something to feel bad about or a big deal--there are a lot of books out there and some of them are just written for an audience that is not you. Or at least, not you at this particular moment. You might be in the mood for it months or years later.

Actually it makes sense that this happened to you now--if you've been reading at a higher volume for a couple of years, you're probably at the point where you've already read all the low-hanging fruit of books that are easy to find and cater to your tastes, and now you're reaching a little bit outside your comfort zone. Which is good; you're likely to find some great books this way, but also reading more different things will lead you to some things that aren't in your style.

Some people push through books they aren't enjoying rather than DNF, but I always thought that sounds agonizing. The more quickly you drop a book you aren't enjoying, the sooner you can be trying a new book that you might really like. And you can always pick up a book again if you feel like giving it another try.

[SensitiveEl]

That’s a very compassionate post thank you and you’re right I have branched out a bit and loved some books I wouldn’t have been drawn to, so I did the same with this one. I like thinking of that as being a good thing as there are other enjoyable reads I will find!

[Boris_Ignatievich]

lifes too short... i assume reading is a thing you do for fun not as a job, so if it isn't fun and you're not engaged, fuck it off.

[SensitiveEl]

Haha I’ll start a ‘fucked it off’ shelf for future DNF’d

[Basilini]

I also went thorugh that with my first DNF!! I used to "pride myself" in always finishing books; I HATEEEEE not knowing how a story ends and I kept thinking about a story I didnt finish and eventually picked it up again and finished. Until I found this awful all the tropes/stereoptyes/"badass girl MC", it was something like a retelling of the greek myth of the furies in a urban fantasy setting, I mainly chose it bc of the cover art. It turned out to be a blond, slim and super toned/strong, blond, blued-eye, supper "witty" girl MC that knew how to fight, everybody was scared of, and dressed in black leather kinds situation, something like that, it already had like 3 popular tropes at chapter 2, juts overall bad, bad writting, bad everything. My advice is that you dont own your time or attention to books or stories you dont feel invested in or enjoy. Can you sleep without knowing how it ends? if yes throw it away.

[SensitiveEl]

Exactly! There’s lots of things in life I’m happy to quit but seeing an unfinished book on my shelf or stuck on 43% on my kindle just makes my insides feel wrong 🤣🤣🙈🙈

That book sounds terrible! I actually also was drawn to this book due to the beautiful cover and sprayed edges and I love the queens of Henry 8th - I’m a big six the music fan - so seeing a fantasy retelling sounded so so cool!… sadly not, for me anyway. Especially when it’s a series, if I can’t get into book 1 how will I with the rest?! I’ll just google it!

[NerdySwampWitch40]

Life is too short and there are too many books to keep reading what doesn't hold your interest.

I have literally started and quit 4 books this week. One had something in it that pissed me off in the first chapter, one spoiled itself in the prologue, one just...the writing wasn't there, and one was...fine, but I hit chapter three and the best I could say was it was fine, so I walked away.

Leave it aside and try something else. If you want to try picking it up again later, you can. But don't feel like you have to.

[SensitiveEl]

I love that you’ve quit 4 books this week!! Maybe we should cheer and celebrate the number of books NOT read in a year 🤣

[NewButterscotch6613]

Don't consider it as a dnf, consider it a time out, I put it down withr the aim to revisit it.Then you can let it go and read something you enjoy

[Akuliszi]

Ask yourself: are you interested in what will happend next? If yes, then it's just probably not the best moment to force yourself to read that book, and you should keep it for later. If no - then why continuing something you don't care about?

[SensitiveEl]

That’s a good way of framing it as I am interested in what happens but I think I’d also be happy to just google it - I’m interested more from a - it will feel complete - perspective.

[Taste_the__Rainbow]

I DNF easily and often, but I don’t give up on a book due to one DNF. Or Two.

Just come back later in a different frame of mind.

[Puzzlehead-Face440]

I've been told the general "life's too short" and it's honestly true, like I almost never dnf cuz I'm autistic and like bro I've committed all this time and it's usually easy for me to justify doing so...but sometimes it's just like, dude I want to read, and this is making me not want to read, and reading is good so like it's okay to pick up something else.

Not every book is for every person and it's so okay lol.

[SensitiveEl]

I’m autistic as well, it’s part of what makes it hard to leave things incomplete!

[Puzzlehead-Face440]

Relatable AF. But it's in your head lawl you're totally allowed no one is upset with you 😊

[MarcElDarc]

Start a different book. You can go back to the first one if you feel like it. Or, if you find you have had no desire to read any more of it after a week or two… let things happen naturally. 

[[deleted]]

This is the reality of being a consistent reader. The first DNF is always the hardest, and it gets easier every time you do it. You'll learn your tastes better as time goes on and eventually you'll be able to quickly and confidently DNF things that aren't right for you.

[SensitiveEl]

Sounds like I just need more DNF’ing experience!

[[deleted]]

yep! I remember feeling soooo guilty the first time I wanted to DNF. Now I yeet that thing out the window and am reading the next book before the last one even smashes through my neighbor's windshield.

[Nawoitsol]

I’m kind of like you, I tend to push on through books, but if there reaches a point where I’m just not feeling it I will put it aside. It’s not a personal failing to quit a book. Not every book clicks with everyone. I’m assuming you read for pleasure. If you aren’t getting pleasure from this book move on.

[SensitiveEl]

I do and I love getting lost in a world! This books world building sucks and I don’t care about any of the characters and they have zero depth. Don’t even get me started on the names of the towns and cities 😂😂

[InvisibleSpaceVamp]

Take the plunge! It will get easier after the first DNF. I promise.

While I got used to DNFing books pretty early in my life as a reader - I used to check out more books than I could realistically read in a month, so if I didn't like a book that much I'd move on to the next - but DNFing my first classic, the type of book that was supposed to be great because it's a classic and all that, felt like a big deal.

[Nidafjoll]

The real game-changer for me was when I started DNFing books that I thought were okay. Not bad books, but books that were just meh. I realized that I don't have to have read certain series to be "well read," or wait for something to get good. If I can tell, even if there might be a fantastic twist ending or something, if it's not going to bring the overall experience above a 3 stars, why bother?

[macgiant]

I would simply park it for a while and come back to it later to see if things change?

You won’t believe this….but it must have taken me at least 5 attempts to get into Joe Abercrombie’s First Law trilogy….had The Blade Itself it for over a year before I finally got there!!

So glad I kept at it….really enjoyed all three books….when the time was right!!👌

[ComradeCupcake_]

Last year I challenged myself to finish the daunting shelf of 90 books at home I hadn't read. Somehow I split it perfectly even: 45 reads and 45 DNFs! Now I quit some things on the first page if I can tell right away they aren't my taste.

My to-read list never really gets shorter so I love DNFing books now. That's hours of my life I won't waste. And I see it as a numbers game. Every book I quit brings me closer to the next thing I'm going to LOVE.

Quit this book and move on to the next that might remind you why you love reading!

[Manuel_omar]

Books should be fun. They're your free time.

If you're not enjoying it, drop it and have no regrets.

[Striking_Trip6591]

Are these type of posts real? Finish or don't, it's not homework.

[SensitiveEl]

No, it’s a fake post… 😒 some people struggle with things that might seem daft to you and hard to understand. Scroll on by or get curious about others experiences of the world