DNF – meaning “did not finished”, the art of starting a book and purposely choosing not to continue any longer and therefore, not seeing how the book will end.
As many other people in our community, I was first on the fence about Dnf-ing. I didn’t even knew that was a thing before I join book blogging – It had just never crossed my mind that one could just put a book down to never picking it up again.
I still feel a bit iffy about doing so, for my own self rather than “I owe it to the author’ kind of thing, in some particular cases it is just needed.
So why do I feel the need to not continue a book ?
First and foremost, reading shall be an enjoyment and not a chore. So I will DNF anything that :
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- Is confusing to me.This was a huge thing that is now more rare, as what made my reading difficult is now better; and used to be where the fantasy genre usually ended up in the past. So a book with lots of huge chunks of descriptions, more than two POV in a kind of a messy way, etc.
- Not what I sign in for.This one happened more recently with a review request. I thought the book would be a certain way, so I accepted it, to turn out being more dark and having like 5 sex scene in the first 10pages (may be exagerating a tiny bit..). Now if I had wanted to read an erotica, sure, but that was not the case and was too pushy and not natural.
- Something I don’t agree of.One of the book I didn’t finished for NetGalley was supposed to be a “fun” romantic love story between a 18 and a 25 years old. This can be different for everyone but to me, this is a big no. The gap is WAY too much and our “adult age” where I live is 19 .. and the younger out of the two guy was acting in such a baby way while having lots of sex scene and sexual thoughts … just no, please.
- Just not what I wanna read right now..Thoses I am more nice with, as a mood reader, there’s just something you wanna read right now! And if that book isn’t appropriate for that mood .. i’ll just dnf for now and place it back on my shelf for later.
- Not getting into itI read to have that feeling of getting wrapped in another world and nothing else exist … if I cannot “get” in a book, it just end up plain boring to feel really down on earth : sitting and blattantly read some black words on a page. Now where in a book I decide to dnf is different depending on the book; and as No.4, I just place it back on my shelf to wait as it may just not be the right moment for it
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And that’s all I have in mind for now !
What’s your thoughts on DNF-ing ? Do you have other reasons than me ?
I recently did a post like this. I agree with all of this!
Triggers!! Unexpected as unanounced triggers 😉
right ! I don’t really has any though ..
I totally agree! I don’t think we should force ourselves to finish a book if we’re simply not into it.
Took me the longest time to realize.. i guess I had been lucky before ahah!
Putting down a book is so much better than forcing to keep up and jumping head first in a slump
I definitely agree! At the start of my reviewing “career,” I would force myself to read everything no matter much I disliked it. Now, I force myself to get to 20/25% and if there are triggering things, eg a book stated to be female empowering and yet she is abused throughout, I will stop now. I try not to be as rough with these reviews and leave it open-ended as hey not my thing but maybe it’ll be yours
Yep totally! I dnfed a review request.. i emailed the author, explained i couldnt do it and excused myself; offered i could review but rather not as it would be low… he totally understood and said not to worry about it ! Done deal, next book – authors shall be honest with and not everybody will love their book .. sad reality
Those are the best authors when they understand and don’t try to tell you oh you don’t understand you have to xyz. I esp like the authors that tell you to go ahead with the review, which I’ve had happen once where she said def post the review it’s okay I asked for a review and you said it’d be honest
I go by mostly the same standards when DNF though I’d add 6. found out the author was actually problematic and 7.has a bury-your-gays trope
I completely agree with you! Reading is supposed to be fun, why waste time on a book you’re not enjoying?
Life is too short! . I have spent hours reading books I don’t agree with or don’t even like, not any more!
same ! how about nope, and we put that thing down!
Exactly!
Most of the time I DNF a book because I just couldn’t get into it and the writing style/characters were bland and uninteresting. Meh. It sucks when you were looking foward to reading it too 🙁
I can read books with a badly written plot but I couldn’ read the book if I dislike the MC.
Same, need me some nice characters above anything
I used to read a book all the way through, I kept telling myself ‘what if it picks up later on?’ ya know and that was great and all, only we’re never gonna read ALL the books sadly. So now, I tend to give the book about 100 pages if I’m not super into it or I’m not feeling it etc. If I get to just over the 100 page mark and I still feel like it’s a chore…I’ll DNF it. That’s just a rough approximation for where I try and give the book a shot.
I always felt like I owed it to myself to finish the book I’d started – sometimes though it’s best if we don’t 😉 xx
yes ! it can always turn around.. but what if it never does ? you’ll finish that like damn… if I would’ve known i wouldve stop reading it ..
There’s some books that just isn’t for us; and that’s okay too !
yep exactly which is why I now DNF books cause no time for books I’m not enjoying xD
Great post! I’ve only DNF’d one book since joining the community, and it was such a hard choice. I don’t want to stop reading a book, but sometimes it’s not worth it to continue.
yeah, im getting better at this in term of feeling guilty.. review request or NetGalley or not. If I end up being like “what in HELL is this ?!” im sorry, next !
I try to push through. It does depend on what you are dissatisfied with… slow start, too much info dumping, not what you though, or you can’t get behind the MC (a big one for me!). Triggers would be another. As a writer, feedback is important. Why you DNF would help. Great post Kristina! ❤️
Thank you ! ❤️
Yes, if I do dnf i usually explain why on either Netgalley, email or goodreads.
I’m reading a book now that I feel like DNF’ing and your points are encouraging. A liar is not someone I can get behind. The protagonist is seen as such and I just can’t.
Put that down then! Happy you liked my points
Lol ok. I found out also that it is about lesbians and I’m just not ready for that sorta thing.
I don’t DNF often because I explained in the other comment I find bad books funny and love to rant about them afterward xD So when I do DNF it is just so bad that I couldn’t even find humor in its terribleness xD That could be because it’s really boring and slow and the characters are people I can’t connect to. So I agree with that last point of yours. But these are all good reasons to DNF!