Do “DNF” count as finishing books ?
After publishing my DNF review of ghostheart, It made me think of something..
Do books we DNF should count in our books we have finished this year?
It might be a wierd question, as it does say it “did not finished”; as in haven’t read it cover to cover, when however we are being done and won’t be reading it anymore and pass to another call.
I am thinking about the Goodreads reading goal for exemple, or even anywhere where you could recap which book you would’ve gotten to this past year..
° How many of us do count them in there?
° Do you see it as cheating?
° Shall we put out reviews for ones we DNF aswell as the finished?
Usually, What I would do is not publish the DNF review on my blog; only put it over NetGalley (for that %.. you know..), or email the author with my reasons if I’ve gotten it that way. Next, I will move that book from my “currently reading” to my “Dnf” shelf on Goodreads.
However, thoses I Dnfed before I had my blog, were to be put back on my shelf with the means to get back to them later. Which is not the case anymore – the three I added since are definately “NOPE!” that I shall not go back to.
I kinda feel like it would be cheating to include them ?? but that being said i’m still in the “early stage” of accepting books can be dnfed, so I still have a bit of progress to do ahah – I’d love to hear other’s imput !
What do you think?
Are you more okay than me of DNFing books – and if so, what do you do with them?
I started DNFing books last year, and I don’t include them in my finished books pile/list solely because I never finished the book. I low key think it would be cheating to say I finished when really I never got to the last page. But as for me my typical DNF moments happen around 25-40% into said book, so I really can’t say I finished it, lol. As for what I do with them, I just stick them in my DNF list on Goodreads and call it a day lol
Yep, same !!
i’ll probably end up saying ” I finished X numbers of books and had to dnf 1″ or something in my BuJo post.
Yeah, that is what I do in my wrap-ups at the end of the month. I just list the books i DNF’d and how far I got.
I made a DNF exclusive shelf on Goodreads so they don’t count, because I feel that they shouldn’t count as read. I’m pro DNF’ing books- there’s just so much out there to read, and you shouldn’t read what you don’t enjoy (unless you know, it’s like required reading for school or whatever, haha). I usually do post DNF reviews though- if I’m reading something and I don’t enjoy it, I feel like explaining why, instead of just brushing it under the rug, so to speak. I try to be professional in my reasoning though, especially because I’m only judging the book on what part I did read.
Great question & post!
yep yep, I agree.
I am just now starting the DNF reviews, which mostly ended up like “well, this is where I lost it – and why I couldn’t keep going”. I also added that if the reader liked a different genre or had more knowledge, maybe they couldve enjoy better.
I started DNFing few months ago . I DNF more. I just leave some books abruptly if I dont feel like finishing . But they shouldn’t be counted for goodreads challenge. I dont post a review. I dont want my fellow bloggers side tracked because of my negative review . I have a seperate shelf for DNF so they dont count.
I don’t DNF that much just because I pick books that I’m sure I will like or that will be okay😂 It has only happened once this year and all I did was move it to my DNF shelf on goodreads! I don’t count it as finished because I didn’t finish the book, I barely read 100 pages haha
Im usually fairly good too xD but sometimes things endup.. not as expected. or the mood reader hit and you just really really wanna read that other book instead.
It depends on how far I got into them. I read the first book of a series recently that I hated and was struggling to get through, but people kept telling me that the rest of the series was great so I kept on. I made it 80% until finally calling it quits, so I added it to my read shelf since I felt like I was basically there.
If I’ve barely read the book though, I just remove it from Goodreads entirely.
Good point, usually I drop it around the middle or before – i however keep a dnfed shelf, just in case i pick them up again or just to see how many ahah
I DNF books but I don’t count them as read books since obviously I didn’t finish them 😀
Me too haha i was just suddently wondering what other readers did with them, ahah ! I felt like some may just click the « i finished reading » anyway?
but why? I just don’t know what to do with them in Goodreads because I want to keep them in my “on hold” shelf but also take them out from “currently reading” and “want to read” shelves
Most of us has created an exclusive dnf shelf – so they stay out of the way. Bonus the % you were at remains the same as the last time ithink, so you can retrack where you were if you wanted to go back
I DNF books that don’t grip me – luckily I haven’t had to do this very often. There are only a couple of “Read” books on my Goodreads account that I DNF’d, because that’s the easiest way for me to keep track of what year / month I tried reading them. I would like to create a shelf for books I DNF’d just for better clarification, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet. 😛
Ohh gotcha!
Most of us end up doing the same thing it seems, interresting !
I do have a DNF list on my goodreads that I would move books to rather than including them in ‘read’, but luckily there aren’t that many books that I have actually actively made the decision not to finish! I usually try and power through because I spent all that time starting to read it and it would feel like a waste otherwise, although very very rarely I physically can’t read any more of it. I’m with you though – counting it towards my yearly reading goal would feel a bit like cheating!! Maybe if you get most of the way through the book it should be counted though.
Yes, then thats a bit different; though I dnf within the first half too! So it’s not like ive seen lot of it..
i used to power through, but when it goes to the point where I dont even know whats happening anymore AND have to plop a review … ithink its better not 😂 ending up way too confusing than needed
Interesting so what I have done for ages is have a DNF shelf but it’s not exclusive. So any books I read but DNFed would go onto the read shelf AND my dnf shelf and I used to count them towards my goal haha. Just because I had read some of it, maybe not all of it but I included it for the sake of the pages. Now…I’ll probably fix that for this year and sort it out. I think my DNF shelf is exclusive now? If not I’ll have to change that at some point.
Love this post girl! <3
Yeah! Mine is exclusive too
I can’t actually remember the last time I DNFed a book, but that’s because I’m incredibly stubborn, and once I’ve started I feel like I have to finish, which isn’t good. I think it’s a waste of time reading books you don’t enjoy, but I just don’t like not finishing! Thankfully this doesn’t happen too often though, so it doesn’t cause me major problems.
I get what you mean though about the dilemma of whether to count them or not. Because if you’ve spent time on the book then it seems a shame that you can’t count it towards your Goodreads Challenge, especially as it isn’t really your fault if you just weren’t enjoying the book. It’s an interesting question!
yes, I was like that too !! theres one I got in particular this year that was just a major “what in the world..” a god-like narrator, AND an over and over pressuring for sex. I was like NOPE. I dont … i cant.
Some might say we need to read diverse and different and all .. but if you just dont like it, then you dont !
I mostly decide before the half, so it’s not like if I read most of it or anything … but if you do and you choose to dnf? in this case, maybe id count it, cause hey. that’s not fair otherwise
i don’t review books i DNF because technically i didn’t finish reading it (tho i hardly ever DNF books, I power through), i can’t really judge a book unless i read the whole thing. i don’t think i would like it if i wrote a book and had people 1 star it when they hadn’t even finished it, esp since a lot of the good stuff tends to happen at the end. still, i do think that writing a “why i DNFed it” would be a good alternative on goodreads, granted if it’s written politely. i’ve never done that bc i’ve never left a DNF book on my account. unless i plan to go back to it. in that case i put it in my shelf “started not done”. i also don’t count them towards my reading goals bc i technically didn’t finish it so i guess i would count it as cheating (not that i go around checking ppls shelves, it’s just something i wouldn’t feel right towards myself)
i noticed a couple ppl mention that they do count them but since i can’t count a lot of what i do read (fanfiction, unpublished stories, articles from school that would probably amount to 10xs what I DO read) i don’t feel like i’ve lost anything by not adding in a book i didn’t finish. i do think that a good alternative would be to have an exclusive DNF shelf if you just want to keep track of what you tried and didn’t like
nice post!
Yep, i agree! I feel like itd be cheating and wouldnt do it either.
I wouldnt give 1stars, more 2/3 so like – not as bad but just wasnt for me. And yes, always be polite! Tell the truth, but dont attack the author.
I don’t count DNF books as read books, I read over 50% of the book because it feels like cheating. I write a little blurb why I DNF it on Goodreads and leave it at that.
Yep, same for me!
Most of the time, I try really hard to get through books. I hardly ever DNF books, mostly because I don’t want to waste time and effort on a book without being able to review it. I personally don’t post DNF reviews, but I do have a shelf on Goodreads for them. My policy is generally if I make it through at least halfway through the book, then I count it toward my Goodreads challenge. At over halfway, I gave the book my best effort, and probably spent a lot of time struggling with it, so I think it is fair to count it. But I don’t like to count books that I give up on after 10% or so. Thanks for the great discussion!
If I DNF at 60% or more I add it since I got more than half way done. If it’s less then I don’t
Oh this is an interesting question you’re asking! I don’t personally DNF a lot of books – I can’t remember the last book I DNF-ed, ahah. I think, though, that I wouldn’t count a DNF book as a book I have finished, nor count it in my total book count at the end of the year. It would feel like cheating a little bit, in a way, haha 🙂
Yes, i do feel the same! But then it depends when you DNFed it … if its within 30%, you barely read anything but if it’s between 50-75%..
Yeah… I guess you can count it as half a book? hahaha
To me, it somehow boils down to how much time I spent trying to read that book before I gave up. If I read 50-100 pages, and it took me less than half an hour, I won’t count it. However, if I spent over two hours reading 50 pages, I have spent almost as much time as I spend reading a 250 page book, and that’s not good.
I do sometimes write DNF reviews – it really depends on why I stopped reading. If what happened to make me stop reading is something I feel very strongly about, I will definitely write a review about it – just to point out that something I just can’t deal with in books happened. I might not review on my blog though, just on Goodreads and on NetGalley if I got an ARC.
Great post, Kristina!
It all make sense !
Yeah i used to only review on NetGalley and not my blog most of the time
Hmmm this really made me think… I personally DNF very few books so I do not have a lot of experience,. I just put them on my DNF shelf on goodreads and then erase them from memory (kidding). But I guess it depends on the book – if you read 80% of it but just can’t finish it because it is a very bad and annoying book and you choose to review it, then maybe it should count as finished book? But if after the first 5% you realize the book is simply not for you, then maybe it shouldn’t because you only read a chapter or two…
ahah to be fair alot of books ended up wiped off my memory xD not on purpose though ..
But yep, that make sense. I usually dont reach that far though ahah usually before half of it.. so it kinda feels like cheating
Oh, I wonder in which category half of it falls… but I never get that far. It’s either give up after 3-5 chapters or read most of it hoping “it will get better at one point, I am sure of it” then being so annoyed with the book that I give up.
Id say before half doesnt count, but after it yes ?
Yeah – last time I dnf it was at 27% xD
Agreed! But on NetGalley it counts no matter what 😅🤣
Actually no! If you put like you dnfed it, it lower your %.. i just dont tell them ahah
That’s what I was saying – I review any book on NG no matter what stage I left it :)) ha ha!
I sometimes thing about taking the DNF book off my shelves entirely. If I’m not going to read it, I’m not going to read it. I have an ‘abandoned’ shelf, but I’ve rarely put anything there.
Ive only really removed book I have unhauled, which was only one this far. I dump them in a dnf shelf otherwise ahah