Tag Archives: DNF books

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Most Recent Books I Did Not Finish

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Ten Most Recent Books I Did Not Finish.

I struggled for a bit to come up with a list, since lately, I don’t even really consider a book a DNF if I put it down after only a few pages. Finally, though, I came up with 10, from the last couple of years of reading:

1) Camp Zero by Michelle Min Sterling: DNF at approx 20%. The book was bleak and just did not grab me at all.

2) Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty: Such a disappointment! I’ve really enjoyed other books by this author. This book felt like it was trying too hard to be cute, with forced humor and inconsistent plotting. I quit after about 25%.

3) The Only Purple House in Town by Ann Aguirre: It definitely was not clear from the synopsis that this book belonged to a series, or that there was some sort of witchcraft/paranormal element. I thought I’d give it a try anyway, but I just didn’t get along with the writing and DNFd after one chapter.

4) On Rotation by Shirlene Obuobi: This book may have turned out to be fine, but there are footnotes on practically every page, and you can’t really skip them and still follow the story — which made this a nightmare to read as an eARC. DNFd after trying to stick it out, somewhere about 2 or 3 chapters along.

5) The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo: I’m not even sure that this counts as a DNF, since I dropped it almost as soon as I started it. I hadn’t known ahead of time that this would be a Gatsby retelling, and as soon as I realized that, I lost all interest.

6) For the Wolf by Hannah Whitten: I read several chapters, which was enough for me to know that I didn’t care for the story or the world-building.

7) Ghost Eaters by Clay McLeod Chapman: I’ve read a couple of really good horror novels by this author, but I found the first chapter off-putting and couldn’t bring myself to continue. (Terrible ARC formatting didn’t help either.)

8) Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert: Unpopular opinion time! I know people love these books, but within the first two pages of this one, I remembered everything I didn’t like about the first book in the series and realized this just wasn’t going to be for me.

9) In the Garden of Spite by Camilla Bruce: I guess super-bleak books don’t tend to be what I feel like reading these days. I tried, but felt so unhappy every time I picked up this book to read another chapter that I had to stop.

10) The Book of Two Ways by Jodi Picoult: I enjoy so many of Jodi Picoult’s books… and this one made no sense to me at all. DNFd after about three chapters.

What books have you DNFd recently?

If you did a TTT post this week, please share your link!

Shelf Control #299: The Angel of the Crows by Katherine Addison

Posted in Shelf Control by
Shelves final

Welcome to Shelf Control — an original feature created and hosted by Bookshelf Fantasies.

Shelf Control is a weekly celebration of the unread books on our shelves. Pick a book you own but haven’t read, write a post about it (suggestions: include what it’s about, why you want to read it, and when you got it), and link up! For more info on what Shelf Control is all about, check out my introductory post, here.

Want to join in? Shelf Control posts go up every Wednesday. See the guidelines at the bottom of the post, and jump on board!

Title: The Angel of the Crows
Author: Katherine Addison
Published: 2020
Length: 448 pages

What it’s about (synopsis via Goodreads):

This is not the story you think it is. These are not the characters you think they are. This is not the book you are expecting.

In an alternate 1880s London, angels inhabit every public building, and vampires and werewolves walk the streets with human beings under a well-regulated truce. A fantastic utopia, except for a few things: Angels can Fall, and that Fall is like a nuclear bomb in both the physical and metaphysical worlds. And human beings remain human, with all their kindness and greed and passions and murderous intent.

Jack the Ripper stalks the streets of this London too. But this London has an Angel. The Angel of the Crows.

How and when I got it:

I received an ARC in early 2020.

Why I want to read it:

This is an odd choice for me for a Shelf Control book. For once, I’m highlighting a book that I started but ending up DNFing.

So why pick it for Shelf Control? It’s simple. It’s all about the author.

I love, love, love The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison, so back in early 2020, when I saw she had a new book on the way, I immediately requested an ARC, and was thrilled to get approved for it. Then I started seeing reviews, and realized that this might not be a book for me.

What I didn’t know in advance is that this is a Sherlock story (but with angels, vampires, etc) — and I’m just not a Sherlock fan. So when the book blurb says “This is not the story you think it is. These are not the characters you think they are. ” — are they just being coy? Why hide this information from readers?

In any case, once I understood what this book was, I lost interest pretty much right away. So again, why feature this on Shelf Control when I already decided not to read it?

Well, I’m open to being convinced to give it another try, that’s why! I’m interested in hearing from anyone who’s read it: Is it worth reading? Is it worth the effort, especially given the length and that I’m not excited about the Sherlock aspect?

It bugs me to just give up on a book by this author… but we’ll always have The Goblin Emperor!

What do you think? If you’ve read this book, do you recommend it? And if you haven’t read it, would you want to?

Please share your thoughts!

Literary Potpourri


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Want to participate in Shelf Control? Here’s how:

  • Write a blog post about a book that you own that you haven’t read yet.
  • Add your link in the comments or link back from your own post, so I can add you to the participant list.
  • Check out other posts, and…

Have fun!

Another Day, Another DNF

Posted in The Reading Life by

I seem to have stumbled upon a hot-button issue when I tweeted earlier today:

Based on some of the responses I received, DNFing is a thing to be both feared and desired.

So… the dreaded Did Not Finish….

Why do we avoid it? When do we embrace it? When is it just absolutely necessary?

For me, I used to be a big believer in Just Finish The Damn Book. I kind of prided myself (in my young & foolish days) on always finishing whatever I started.

But now that I’m older and wiser (or really, just older and busier), I just can’t justify taking the time when I know — I mean, really KNOW — that a book just isn’t happening for me.

Different emotions apply in different circumstances. Take my two most recent DNFs:

In the case of the first, I was reading a review copy of an upcoming YA novel. It was… just okay. I thought it sounded like fun, but the writing didn’t grab me, the plot wasn’t terribly believable, and by about the halfway point, I realized that I didn’t care. Would it get better within the next few chapters? I peeked ahead about 25 pages. Nope, still didn’t care. Would it at least have a great ending? Skipped to the final pages. Nope, still didn’t care. And what’s worse — it didn’t actually end! On the final page, it became clear that this book was the first in a series. Oh, hell to the no! That was all it took for me to put the book aside.

Still, I did feel a bit remorseful, as I’d requested the ARC and  have been trying my best to read and review everything I’ve requested. I did do what I thought was right in this circumstance: I sent feedback to the publisher explaining that I wouldn’t be reviewing the book because it wasn’t a good fit for me. I have featured the book in a few “hey, look what I’ve got!” type of posts, so in my own meager little way, I have helped spread the word. And, although I mentioned in that week’s Monday Agenda post that I didn’t finish and why, I tried to make it clear that the book would certainly appeal to some readers — it just wasn’t for me.

All in all, I walked away from it feeling a bit let down over not liking a book that I thought would be fun — but I wasn’t at all sorry not to finish the book itself.

In my most recent DNF scenario, my feelings are a bit more complicated. I bought a book by an author I admire — in fact, I preordered the book months ago, and was so excited to get my shiny new hardcover edition as soon as it was released! I’ve read everything by this author, and either loved, really liked, or mostly liked all of her previous books. But this one? Well. Today, I reached page 150, and just kind of sighed and moaned and then realized — that’s it. The plot has gone nowhere. There are so many made-up words that I feel like I need a glossary. The world-building is incomplete and not terribly comprehensible. Really, to be blunt, I’ve come this far, and I just don’t care. So I face a choice: Push onward, or quit?

If you’d asked me 10 years ago, then of course the answer would be: Onward! But I can’t really think that way any more.

I work, I’m a mom, I read tons, and I blog. I also try to have a bit of time for goofing off, hanging out with my family, watching TV, and kicking back.

Life’s too short to read books I don’t like!

So with this current book, I’m afraid it’s going to have to be a DNF, again. This one really breaks my heart a little bit, both a) because I bought the &*^%$ hardcover! and b) because I’d been looking forward to it so much.

I’m putting it aside — for now? — and moving on. Perhaps the mood will strike me in another week or two and I’ll go back to it and finish. But I doubt it. (PS – I cheated a bit and started reading Goodreads reviews once I hit the wall today — and nothing I read made me feel like I should reconsider or give it another go.)

The DNF issue seems to be a big one for a lot of readers. Press on? Give up? Is it failure to DNF? Is it a lack of commitment? Or is it a gift to yourself (as I’ve come to feel) to acknowledge that your time would be better spent on something else?

Sometimes, it’s just the mood. This book isn’t working for me right now, but maybe another time. Sometimes, it’s the book itself: I can’t stand the writing. I don’t like the characters. I realize that I’m just not interested in xyz.

Whatever the case, I always want to feel like I gave a book my best shot… but I’m not too proud (or for me, stubborn is probably a better word for it!) to walk away when it’s time to move on.

Charleen at Cheap Thrills wrote an excellent piece on How To DNF in Two (Not-So-Simple) Steps. If you’ve ever found yourself struggling to finish a book that, in your heart of hearts, you just don’t want to read any more, then definitely check out her advice!

So, how about you? Do you force yourself to finish a book even if you’re not enjoying it? Has your attitude toward the dreaded DNF changed over time? How do you approach the decision to put a book aside, and is it hard for you? And do you find yourself going back to your DNF pile — or are you more of a “if I’m done, I’m done” kind of reader?

As for me, I think I experienced a semi-epiphany the day that I first gave myself permission to stop reading a book that wasn’t working for me, and while I don’t do it often, I do happily feel that DNF is a valid choice… and certainly one that has saved me hours and days of unhappy reading.

And happy reading? That’s what it’s all about.