The Book Wench

This probably seems like a silly question but I think it’s an interesting topic to discuss. Do you DNF books? I know a lot of people that can’t, won’t, refuse to DNF a book, even if the book is, to them, terrible. I have also met others that DNF at the first sign of trouble: a poor edit, a character named similar to an ex, a slight hint at a disliked trope like insta-love, a love triangle, or pregnancy. What do you do?

For those of you who are unfamilar with the term DNF, it stands for “Did/do not finish.” As in, I did not finish that book because I realized it was going to be an insta-love trope heavy novel. Or “I DNF’d because the MMC (Male Main Character) had a J name.”

I, personally, fall in between the two extremes. I will try my absolute hardest to not give up on a book, even if it is painful for me to read. In fact, I have only ever DNF’d two books with the intent of never returning. Sometimes, I will stop reading a book with the expectation that I will one day try again. But only twice have I stopped reading a book with the expectation of never trying again. The first book was The Magicians by Lev Grossman and the second, I am somewhat ashamed to say, is The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King.

Now, I had my reasons for DNF’ing both books. For the former, I hated the main character. So much so, every action he performed just left a foul taste in my mouth and I couldn’t stand having to read from his point-of-view. The latter book, King’s book, I couldn’t get into the groove of reading from the point of view as a child. The young POV absolutely fit the premise of the book, of course, but it was so hard for me to empathize with the character as a fully grown adult (yes, despite the fact I was a child once too). It kept putting off reading The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon so much that a year passed before I finally decided that I needed to DNF it. I felt bad but I just couldn’t get into either book.

This is not to say either book was bad. They just weren’t for me. Trust me, I have actually finished some bad books. Some books I have hate-read out of spite (I’m looking at you, Haunting Adeline). but these two I just couldn’t put myself through putting off reading them any longer.

I do feal bad about it sometimes. But I have so many books that I have yet to read. My TBR is literally over 5,000 books long. If I want to make a dent in that before I die, I have to make some sacrifices.

So I DNF.

Do you?