Play Book Tag discussion

Are there any books you haven't been able to finish? Why not?

What is key to your decision to put a book aside?

I very rarely DNF a book, never to return to it. Part of it is that I can generally grab enjoyment on some level, enough to finish it, or I am halfway through and given how quickly I read, I can easily finish. Usually it ends up surprising me in a good way and I feel rewarded.

Some books get put aside early because they are wrong for that moment and I will eventually read them through.

There are a couple books I should have abandoned but didn't:
Wolf Hall is top of that list. The Left Hand of Darkness only got finished because of Feminerdy and needing to discuss it - then was glad I did because last third was great, only part I liked.

And those I abandoned never to pick up again:New York Exposed: The Police Scandal That Shocked the Nation and Launched the Progressive Era - excrutiatingly boring ..someone's poorly written dissertation perchance. Longest 25 pages ever read...and remember I have read Proust.

The Maple Murders - YA that was just horrendous.

I just abandoned The Lost Apothecary - not much there. I have better things to do. But I did check out the review by Lisa of Troy. It is better than the book. peace, janz

I started to abandon books quickly when they're just not right - either right now, or right for me at all.

This was a big change for me that corresponded almost exactly with the library becoming my primary source of books. So much easier to drop a book when I didn't spend any $$ on it.

I have become better at dropping books as I have gotten older. Sometimes I am just not in the right mood, but mostly if I am not interested, or am actually repelled by a book, I never will like it. I have DNFd books where there was endless suffering but also books that were just too sweet.

Are there any books you haven't been able to finish? Why not?
-Yep, I have 3 books I haven't been able to finish and that's the one and only bob, little house in the big woods, and Sadie. I haven't finished reading the one and only bob because it's a slow read. But I like the writing. Little house in the big woods is what I read halfway through it but the story is going kinda boring. And the Sadie is I really wanted to love this. I’m just sad this book wasn’t made for me and my taste.

What is key to your decision to put a book aside?
-I put the books that I didn't finish reading on the DNF shelf.

Three or four years ago I made the decision to no finish a book if I was getting any enjoyment from it. Changed my reading life!

A book that lands on my DNF shelf one I have gotten more than 1/4 of the way through and then decided "no thanks". Books that I only get 3-4 chapters into and I am not liking are just thrown back and returned or donated to the library.

Popular books that are on that shelf Wolf Hall , Gone Girl The Light Between Oceans

Like Sue, I get my books from the library and don't feel compelled to finish every book that I start. I actually sample many books that way.

"DNF" for me is when I make a greater commitment to a book and read a substantial portion of it. In checking, I see that I have relatively few books that could be called "DNF".

My reasons vary: A stalled plot, boring (and I keep falling asleep), or the book's issues may cut too close to what I'm experiencing in my own life.

I actually very much enjoyed the Lost Apothecary. I know there were many people that didn't. But I rather liked it. My best friend from childhood who is not a reader in the least, went wow over it! Its funny she said it made her think of me and recommended it to me. I had already read it. Tastes can be so different. I think of the Lincoln Highway and of Cloud Cuckoo Land. Both books that are getting one and five star reviews recently. And one from the past, that was all over the map. Cutting for Stones? Something like that?

Anyway, I know this thread was meant for the DNF discussion, but I rarely to ever DNF. I have to know. The one that came closest to a DNF for me, and I kept skimming the pages to see if I was missing anything. Anything to happen in the plot, and sense of writing or meaning or thought, or anything to pull out of that uselessness, it was Lev Grossman's the Magicians. I shudder when I think of it. Now that was a truly useless waste of time. I do think there are certain plots, I just won't pick up. To be perfectly honest, and I may be thrown out of the group for saying this, (Joanne please continue to love me - please), I saw the summary of the Curse of the Last Chalion, (Lois McMaster Bujold) and I was turned off. A little "I just can't" about the plot. I still might pick it up because people love this author so much. But I might not. Because the best way to avoid a DNF or the failure to achieve a DNF, is not to pick something up that will likely piss you off. But i also want to be open. I did not think I would like His Majesty's Dragon, and I did. I enjoyed Archangel. There is hope for me yet.

I do DNF and for two reasons. One, I am wanting to read something else more and the book too slow for me, in which case I put it aside until, I want to continue it, which really can't be quite a while.

Two, I reach the conclusion that I just don't care. I have put some fairly big name books on this category. Shadow of the Wind which started out well, but developed into this long dark pathway designed by Gaudi (sorry, Amy) and I really just couldn't bother to travel there, The Historian, bleah, A Conspiracy of Dunces, no I don't want to read about an obnoxious fat man in a flannel shirt.

Three(I forgot about this), if i find it repellent in some way, The Secret History, I just can't get behind a story line like that (sorry Anita.)

I loved Cutting for Stone. But to address the question, I generally don't DNF books. There are two that I did stop reading. One was She's come Undone by Wally Lamb. The other was a James patterson book I can't even remember the name of that was really badly written. I think there may have been one more for the same reason. If I've only read a page or two I will abandon a book.

Very tempted to DNF All Adults Here. I cant stand the characters but I'm too far in.

I put books aside and tell myself that I'll get back to them. Sometimes I do, but the truth is that many are simply DNF.

After 3 tries at Anna Karenina, even though I got 500 pages into it at one time, I decided that since I already knew the ending, there was no reason to spend more time with characters that I didn't like.

I read Game of Thrones and I thought I was totally hooked on the entire series. But, halfway through A Clash of Kings, I became annoyed with the way George Martin was manipulating me. It's still on a shelf with a bookmark sticking out of it. I haven't felt any compelling reason to return to it.

There are books that I truly do intend to finish at some time. (Soon?)
This Tender Land and The Widows of Malabar Hill are at the top of that list. Something always seems to get in the way of completion.

I just thought of 3 more books in my tiny DNF list:

A Confederacy of Dunces - made it about 40 pages and loathed every word. Totally don't get that one. Should never have picked it up.
The Hobbit - mind you I have read LOTR 3 times so it might still get fully read some day. No idea why it just does not keep my interest.
Finnegans Wake - since 1975 - could not figure out how to read it. That could still be read some day. I mean, I figured out how to read Proust, which is far longer.

One DNF I am in process of reading now is Ulysses - it too was 1975 and I just did not have time to finish before class discussion and moving on to next book. Always planned to return to it and now is that time.

@Amy - there is plenty of other Bujold that just may suit you better, be more in a genre you cuddle up to.

On thinking about it, I keep reading a book, or might put aside to come back and usually do, because I always find nuggets that enchant or interest me, and sometimes that nugget is to rip the book apart - I think of Gone Girl, or State of Wonder - Patchett's shockingly awful book. Or even Shadow of Night which primarily pissed me off because it really did not carry on the plot set up in A Discovery of Witches but had them playing house in Elizabethan times with a couple of paragraphs thrown in at end relating to the plot. I will claim up front that bashing them with the authority of having read them gives me great pleasure! Nor were they slogs or unreadable.

But then, I spend my days reading corporate by-laws, leases, contracts, and case law. Even a mediocre book is thrilling engaging reading by comparison.

I only remember for sure that I DNF'd one book:
The Mill on the Floss / George Eliot.

There is a maybe (I don't remember):
Frankenstein: The 1818 Text / Mary Shelley.

Both of these would have been either when I was in university or just after.

Another classic I should have DNF'd (but didn't) was Wuthering Heights / Emily Bronte. I hated the characters and I hated the book!

As someone earlier mentioned, I DNF books from the library for various reasons - mostly do not hold my attention. I find that in retirement, since I am getting more books from the library, I am more willing to DNF. I haven't paid any $$ so have less invested. Just recently took three books off my shelf and put them in the TBR stack. Why do I buy fewer books? It is not that I am a cheapskate and I know we have to support the free press as much as possible. I retired and moved to a retirement community and have half the space that I used to have. I have so many books that I own and plan to read but when I see a review of a book that looks interesting, I try to get it from the library. I pay taxes to support the library, I used to volunteer my time there, and I annually give a book box (12 books exactly alike) to our "book boxes for reading groups." I am going to give a Dickens book this year as a book box - any suggestions? So, yes, it is easier to quit a book when I can easily return it and hope that someone can read it. peace, janz

I rarely DNF. My reasons are similar to Theresa's - I am a fairly fast reader so they go quickly, I keep thinking they will get better (and some do), and I always try to finish books I have committed to read. I also do what Amy does - I am pretty careful to try to select books I will like. I am getting better at this over time. I often put aside books I'm not enjoying then come back and finish them later.

There are a few exceptions, and it usually has to do with content - such as child abuse, cruelty to animals, or multiple overly graphic sex scenes. I tend not to read books about serial killers but those would also be a DNF if I happened to get one without screening it out beforehand.

I have few DNFs recently. I skim-finished Leviathan Wakes once we met the vomit-zombies. I'm just not into supernatural and it would have bothered me too much.

As far as books I probably should have given up on:
- The Old Devils
- Everything Is Illuminated
- The Holidays
- Identity Crisis
I knew early on that they weren't my cup of tea, and I can't remember now what drove me to finish them.

As an aside: I loved Wolf Hall so obviously everyone has a different idea of what works and what doesn't.

Theresa wrote: "But then, I spend my days reading corporate by-laws, leases, contracts, and case law. Even a mediocre book is thrilling engaging reading by comparison. ..."

LOL!

I will DNF if I find the writing and/or subject matter excruciatingly bad. The exception ... if it's for book club I really try to finish it, even if I'm not enjoying it. But then, I'm usually reading / listening to a minimum of 3 books at a time. So if one of them is a slog, I can always pick up a more engaging / interesting book that day. Of course, this means it may take me 6 weeks to finish a book I find boring.

I like the Nancy Pearl Rule:
If you are 50 or younger, then read at least 50 pages of the book before deciding it's not the book for you (at least not right now).
If you are 51 or older, subtract your age from 100 and that's how many pages you should read before deciding to abandon. (For me, that's 29 pages now.)
Nancy even says: "If you are 100, you may judge a book by its cover."

Recently, I DNF The City We Became, which surprised me, because Theresa loved it. On the other hand, I loved Confederacy of Dunces, on audio. Some book group books I didn’t finish were A Visit from the Goon Squad, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, and years ago, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. I felt like I had been reading for hours about one tree, and I was only on page 29 or so. I hated Gone Girl but finished it because I wanted to see how the author got out of the crazy plot.

Books I finished but wish I hadn’t include Beautiful Ruins, All the Light We Cannot See and Outlander (sorry, fans!)

My resolution for this year was to not finish any book I am not enjoying, even if it is for a book group. I might just skim the rest so I know what happens.

Ha! Robin, I should not have finished Outlander, either, but I was reading it for WPF. I need to probably adopt a more lenient abandonment policy.

BC, I am with you - if the writing is extremely bad, I will abandon it. No need to torture myself.

Really bad writing was why I DNF The Maple Murders.

Outlander - I did finish the first but by skimming through the last 3rd...and never read another.

I generally am very careful in choosing the books I read which helps, as does my general interest in many genres, styles, and formats. That doesn't mean I don't find books in my TBR Towers that I look at and wonder 'what was I thinking?' Or that reflect a topic - say cozy mysteries set in academia - that I picked up after reading a couple I really liked, then when I get around to reading tbem, look at them and say 'no way'. I never start them, just pass them on. Thus they are never DNF.

I DNF books for many reasons- boredom, bad writing, a point of view that I don’t share, child or animal abuse that is gratuitous, the list goes on.

I also try to pay attention to what I choose to read. I have learned that timing is everything for enjoyment of a book. For instance, I liked On the Road when I read it in college, but I suspect I’d have trouble finishing it now.
And when my kids were teens, I threw Lolita across the room. After they grew up, I was able to finish it and appreciate the writing, though I still find Humbert Humbert reprehensible.

Recently, I got most of the way through Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother before deciding that I had enough. I don’t care where you’re from, the way that woman raised her kids is abuse.

I pretty much DNF books when I run out of time to finish or can't fit them in. I have a DNF shelf in Goodreads and it is not books that are bad necessarily but I couldn't finish. Most book club books I finish. Some I will DNF if I am bored.

It has been freeing allowing myself to DNF and I think overall I am getting more reading done that way instead of committing to slogging through something I am not engaged in.

I do hate to DNF though because there have been books I decided I would stick it through and end up getting something out of. If I simply DNFed that would be lost.

But I fully support DNFing. Life is too short and there are too many books to be slogging through something you are not engaged in.

Like @Tracy, I find timing is everything for me as well.

One thing I've found that works for me is reading several books at once. That way, if my mind starts wandering or I cannot seem to focus or if I'm not in the mood for a particular book, I switch to another one. I tend to eventually make it through. It greatly reduces the number of DNF.

Joy D wrote: "One thing I've found that works for me is reading several books at once. That way, if my mind starts wandering or I cannot seem to focus or if I'm not in the mood for a particular book, I switch to..."

I stopped reading multiple books at once for a while there, no particular reason, and recently got back to that method. I've got a few going right now. Like you said, it is nice to switch gears sometimes.

I agree - since I retired, I can keep 2-3-4 books going at once. I always have a pad of paper in the back of each book - listing people's names and defining them, i.e., John - younger brother, Sue - neighbor, etc. so I do not have to search back when I come across a name that I do not remember. Notes also for my brilliant thoughts for written reviews or bookclub - note then page number where I got it. The brain is better when we switch modes, models and go on to something else - not my idea, from valid research on real people. peace, janz

Joy D wrote: "One thing I've found that works for me is reading several books at once. That way, if my mind starts wandering or I cannot seem to focus or if I'm not in the mood for a particular book, I switch to..."

LoL Joy, because as you know I, like you, read multiples at a time. however, this has expanded my DNF list.

Joanne wrote: "LoL Joy, because as you know I, like you, read multiples at a time. however, this has expanded my DNF list...."
Haha, I think I have a high tolerance for books I am not enjoying. But I also think I could benefit from DNF'ing more.