Is Not Finishing a Book the End of the World?

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly series created by Rukky at Eternity Books and hosted by Aria at Book Nook Bits. The full list of October topics can be found here.

This week’s topic is about DNF-ing Books. (DNF is an acronym that stands for did not finish.)

I think most readers will have very different answers to these questions, so I am curious to see everyone’s thoughts this week.

What makes you DNF a book?

I mostly DNF books that I am not in the mood to read. However, I have stopped reading books for a variety of reasons including: not liking the writing style or explicit language being used, crass references to medical conditions, stereotypical characters with no authentic qualities, and inconsistent writing styles. The last few books I had to DNF fell under mostly those categories.

How often do you DNF books?

Not nearly as much as I used to now that I read what I want to read and not what other people are reading/think I should be reading. I used to think it was the end of the world if I didn’t finish a book. I also used to think I should be reading books by certain authors and if I wasn’t, I was lacking in some way. In the last few years I’ve learned that neither of those things are true, and life has been so much easier since then.

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

I don’t think this is silly but a highly anticipated book I was looking forward to reading this year included a extremely insulting description of a serious medical condition not once, not twice, but three times in the first ten pages. It did not sit well with me and gave me an idea of what sort of writing to expect in the pages to come. I put that book down and moved onto something else very quickly.

Do you review books that you DNF?

In the past, I used to post mini-reviews of books I stopped reading. There are still a few of those posts floating around on this website, in fact. I did this with the goal of being transparent about why I stopped reading a book without finishing it.

Now, I don’t give those books the time of day. I think life is too short to spend your time reading something you don’t want to, and then writing about it, too.

To answer my own question at the beginning of this post: No, I don’t think that choosing to not finish a book is the end of the world, and we shouldn’t make others feel bad for it. Everyone approaches reading differently and who knows, you may pick that book back up someday and finish it.

What are your thoughts on not finishing a book? Tell me in the comments?