💬 The Reading Room: Let’s Talk About Not Finishing Books

Hello!

I hope your Friday is off to a good start! Apologies for getting this out late, we had WiFi issues among other things. I’m excited for today’s question because it’s one I've never asked before—when do you decide to not finish a book? The oh so dreaded DNF. Or, on the flip side, I often say dnfing (because us readers do make it a verb) sets me free. I can’t wait to find out more about how you approach not finishing books. Or are you a reader who finishes every book you start? Tell us why! This is my mom and I’ll share the reasons she gives me.

This week the New York Times put out an article titled “When Is It OK to Give Up on a Book? Our Readers Have Thoughts” (gift link). This is a fun read and the comment section is even better—there’s currently 1100 comments! Readers have BIG thoughts. I laughed several times reading people’s DNF opinions about books I LOVED. The Goldfinch did not fare well haha.

I’m a firm believer that readers can talk about why they quit books in ways that are respectful to the writers who worked so hard writing them and also in ways that help other readers decide if a book might actually be a good fit for them. That’s what we’re doing this week.

In the comments let’s talk about when you decide to give up on a book… do you read for a certain number of pages? Is it vibes? Is it certain content that if you come to it you will automatically quit (me)? And what books have you DNFed this year or this summer? I’ve given up on 15 new release books this year and I’m going to share a few of those. Oh and when we share our DNF’s be sure to share why—this is the helpful part to other readers!