To DNF or Not to DNF?
Some folks online are very open about the books they just can’t finish – the DNFs. Here at AAR, if we’re reading a book for review, we have to finish it. I’ve had a few that were almost physically painful to finish, but I made it to that last page. In my own offline life, though, there are plenty of books that are DNFs for me. Heck, some of them become DNFs for me before I ever leave the bookstore! In case you wonder, I’m one of those people who lurks in the corner reading the first chapter or two of my books before hauling myself up to the register.
I used to make myself finish every book I started because I just couldn’t make myself quit something midstream plus I knew the author had put time and effort into writing the book. It took me years to get over the guilt. I don’t know what changed my mind. Partly, I felt better after seeing so many people confess their DNFs online and also, I came to realize that the TBR mountain range was going to take over my house if I didn’t watch myself. So now, if I start hitting a point where I just can’t make myself pick the book back up, out it goes.
What makes me consider a book a DNF? Obviously, the usual wallbanger issues would take me there. Poor writing, too much purple prose, overly TSTL heroes and heroines and well, overbearing jackass heroes are a special pet peeve of mine. I know that sounds strange from someone who reads Harlequin Presents, but there’s a difference between being alpha and being disrespectful. And the disrespectful guys are the ones who get the boot from me. I read romance because I want to read a love story. If I get the feeling that the heroine’s spirit is being crushed and that she is losing some crucial part of herself to a selfish creep who is only(or mostly) out for his own pleasure, it doesn’t put me in my happy place. There are any number of blackmail/forced marriage plots that have landed in the DNF bag in this category for me.
And then there’s the ultimate jerk – the rapist hero. I still remember starting to read The Flame and the Flower because I knew it was supposed to be a romance classic. What I didn’t realize is that it featured a rapist hero – and some truly hilarious purple prose. The idea of forgiving your rapist and staying with him forever just doesn’t sound romantic or even healthy to me, so I couldn’t take it. And lest one think that older romances are the only ones featuring these princes, I’ve found a few in modern books as well. Just recently, I picked up the latest Sara Craven (I’ve liked some of her fairly recent books) only to discover that the plot of The Innocent’s Surrender centered on the hero forcing the heroine to have sex with him or else her family would be ruined. I couldn’t do it, just couldn’t read it.
Aside from the utter wallbangers, dullness can get me, too. How many times have you started a book and enjoyed the beginning only to find it sagging terribly in the middle? If the slog through the middle becomes too interminable, I’m now inclined to simply move on to something that I am happy reading. I don’t mind reading a densely plotted book that keeps me thinking hard as I read or that requires me to read slowly and carefully. However, I do mind those books whose middle chapters feature an endless parade of Big Mis, “Oh, I’m not worthy!” or “I love you, no I hate you, no I love you, …..”. Ugh.
Life is too short for me to read everything out there. So, I figure I may as well devote my time to the books I truly enjoy.
So, what about you? Do you finish every book you start or do you have DNFs, too?
– Lynn Spencer
Like so many others, I finally reconcilled myself to so many books, life’s too short. I too have my DFNs, but sometimes they become SnFs. I was accused of using foul language by one blogger until I explained that’s my short for Skip and Flip. Then I may just have found a way to enjoy the author. As to the PINK CARNATION, I have never ‘read’ it..however, I have ‘Listened’ to it several times and have enjoyed it that way; so much so that I am in the process of accumulating the entire series on CD. It’s Kate Reading reading.
OTOH, I have read and enjoyed all of Stephanie Lauren’s Cynster Series ( altho the earliest are the best); listening was awful. I had no idea, or didn’t remember, the ‘tedious’ sex scenes…a la It’s been 20 pages, MUST HAVE SEX! That could be a sign I’m getting old. And the same with Christina Dodd’s books..just can’t listen to them, but love to read them.
I am an avid listener and have 100s of audio books, mostly all UnAbr.
Sometimes, I just love the reader’s voice.
Any body remember the movie WHEN HARRY MET SALLY? He’ s reading Robert LUdlum and skips to last page as S calls to ask him what he’s doing, and he says just finishing a book.
Right now, I’m slogging through Anne Stuart’s Rhan series, and I do mean slogging…Got from the library, Thank God! Might not be rape with violence, but the ‘seduction ‘ c0mes awfully close. However, I am enjoying Anne Gracie’s latest 4 part Devil Series.
Cait
The darkest hour is that before the dawn
Some books that would be DNF for other people are what I call speed reads. That would be the shocking ones like the Flame and Flower (haven’t read it) that disgust people but also make me wonder how someone can turn what is so obviously bad into good. I read them as fast as I can so I don’t waste too much time on them sometimes I skip pages if nothing seems to be going on, and sometimes it turns out to be a good read, even if I end up with a disgusted feeling towards the characters. It’s books that are just dull or contain characters that are blah which I can;t finish. They may be the nicest people in the world and do nothing bad, but if nothing is going on I’ll just have no incentive to read.
Ha! I made it to page 48 in Flame and the Flower about a week ago and haven’t picked it back up. This post is definitely inspiring me to let it go.
I will usually give a book about 50 pages and 2-3 weeks. If I have read that much and then am completely uninterested in picking it up again within a few weeks, then I move on.
The trainwreck books are almost as compelling as the well written ones. I may throw them against the wall or roll my eyes, but I still go back for more.
I may as well put it here as well, some authors pages I have visited have scorned the beginning of their writing careers, styles have changed so much that they may consider their first books DNR. I like to look at the older books cause they can show you as well as new – hey this is how I’ve grown. you can pick styles sometimes what people writing in the 80’s, 90’s
I think I feel guilty when I don’t finish a book, because I eventually move it so far down in a pile that I talk myself into forgetting about it. Or else I sell it a UBS. Out of sight, out of mind. In the last few years, I have not finished more and more books probably because, I have so much to read, want to read, plan to read. Who has the time to waste on a book that is just not working? I don’t. Then again, I have slogged through several books to the halfway point only to have the book pick up and turn out to be a good book. That is one reason I don’t care for DNF reviews.
very interesting topic. I have a few DNFs, but I can’trecall the names – just SO forgettable. I call them my SnFs which someone on another wed site accused me of using cuss words…It stand for Skip and Flip, pretty much explaatory…Then there are the Hurls as HUrl against the wall (for wasting my time and the ending is so unsatisfactory/disappointing that I hurl the book, use a little ‘flowery language, and VOW never to read that author again eg Anita Shreve) About AS, At my age, I want HEAs only please and not a lot of crying between the covers.
One quick thing that will stop me dead – historicals where the author has mixed in 21/20th century language/coloquialisms. I have forgotten what I was reading lately, but I stopped and read to a co-worker the words they were using. We both agreed they didn’t fit.
Cait
ps where is the AAR Audio link on the website? please.
@RobinB Interesting point about the trainwreck books. I had that happen to me as well. There are definitely some books that are awful on so many levels that they’re almost entrancing.
And I’m glad to see there are so many others who DNF books as well! I’d never post a review of a book I hadn’t read to the very end, but offline, I’m…er…triaging more and more.
I also think that the more GREAT books that I read, and the better SUPER GOOD, TOP QUALITY authors I find, that my reading material selections gets better and I get more discerning and critical.
I do definitely DNF. My reading is mostly for entertainment and if I’m not entertained then why waste the time? I would no more finish a bad/boring book than I would finish eating a bad meal (burned, soaked in grease, whatever). I do give it a little more of a chance than bad food though . If a book is annoying me I skim the last 3/4 to see if it is going to get better. If not, back to the library or book sale it goes.
Life’s too short and there are great books out there that I need to spend my time finding and reading. Why waste time on sub-standard stuff? My time is valuable as is my pleasure.
I do need to point out that many of my DNF are just not good matches for me. They may be fine for someone else, just don’t work for me. I will usually note that in my review.
Also, many of my DNF are books that were put aside because they were boring me and I had newer, fresher, more exciting books at hand. Then since they never ‘called out to me’ enough to pick back up, back to the library they went…DNF.
I think we were brought up to be ‘nice’ so we often feel we are hurting the author’s feelings if we don’t finish something we don’t like. But as I get more books under my belt and less leisure time to spend, I’ve found that my priorities changed. My enjoyment is more important to me than the feelings of the author who I’ve never met, nor probably ever will. If I’m not enjoying it, then why continue?
I consider it triage!
My main DNFs are usually the 4th, 5th, or so on, in a series, where I really liked the first couple, but they went downhill fast after that. Other than that, I, more often than not, finish whatever I’m reading because the recs on line or reviews I’ve read steer me toward the type I really like. But I do like that 50 page guideline.
I still feel compelled to finish some books even if I’m not enjoying them. As I get older and less tolerant of TSTL heroines, bad plotting that sags in the middle of the book, etc., though, I’m more apt to put the book down and not pick it up again. Often it’s not a conscious decision of, “”I’m not finishing this; forget it!”” I’ll put the book down to do or read something else, and then I’ll look at it later and just sigh inside my head. “”Do I HAVE to keep reading this? Euwww.”” And it sits around unread until I either take it back to the library or pass it on to the next vict– er, reader. ;)
I understand and appreciate how much hard work many authors put into their craft, but unlike at a play or performance where the actors will know if I fall asleep halfway into it, at least the author will never know that their book was one that I couldn’t finish. :)
I am all about the DNFs. If I buy a book, I have try to get through it (especially ebooks, since I cannot resell them). Lately though I have run into so much bad (to me) stuff that I have just accepted and embraced my DNF pile.
I think if a site maintains a certain standards then they need to be kept.
I am a casual reviewer. For my reviews, I know what works and what does not work–for me. All reviews are subjective and a DNF review is often kinder then having to slog through something you loathe and attempting to write a neutral (yet negative) review of it. This being said, I also tend not to write reviews of DNF books.
DNF—did not finish!
Thanks-I got the acronym stood for D Never Finished and I couldn’t figure out what the D stood for. The closest I could figure was Damn but Damn Never Finished didn’t make much sense.
I’ve become one of those who will toss a book aside if it doesn’t interest me. Life is too short and there are too many good books out there. No guilt either for me anymore. LOL.
PS What does the D stand for in DNF?
I have a bunch of books from the library that I tend to put on my queue by habit (Harlequin and Silhouette to be precise), and if I don’t like what I read on the back of the book, into the bag it goes to be returned. I recently went through two books where I read up to 75 pages, and then I went to the back to finish off the last few chapters. One of them, surprisingly, was by Linda Howard, and I went to the precise point in the book where it fully explained the villain’s motives and gave you the HEA ending. If I’d read the entire book, I would have kicked myself. I still have the figurative bruises from reading the latest Anita Blake story, Flirt. My eyes, my eyes!
I’m a big supporter of the DNF. I have SO many books as yet unread. My TBR pile numbers in the hundreds – and still I keep buying more. So if a book isn’t getting my attention, I have no problem not finishing it as there are so many more to go.
I do realize the authors put a lot of effort into them and even if the are DNF’s I appreciate their time. But we all have different tastes and while work has been done, their tastes differ from mine and I don’t feel bad about that. Because as sure as I am that for me a book may be a DNF, the next person may love it.
When I was living overseas, I finished EVERYTHING, because English books were scarce and expensive.
Now, I do DNF sometimes. Generally not because it makes me angry – those books I finish so I can have “”closure.”” A DNF for me is a book that fades away with a whimper, a book I forget I’ve started or can’t be bothered to pick up again. Basically, DNFs are too boring, My most recent DNF was Secret History of the Pink Carnation, because I just didn’t care what happened to anybody.
I often don’t finish books. But it does drive me a little nuts to read a DNF review. I think reviewers should have some standards–read the book seems like a low bar.
I don’t write reviews, but I do judge contests and I ALWAYS finish the book, no matter how dreadful. What I find is that sometimes, if I force myself to finish, I realize it was my bad mood or other subjective factor that kept me from liking the book. Often, I hate the cover,or the subject matter, or have heard bad things, or have even mis-read a crucial detail that I need to understand to make the hero/heroine work. I’m not always glad I finished, but I always feel like at least I gave the book a chance.
When I was a young child I read thru every book until the end. It worked well for me then because I tackled some books that maybe were beyond my years. I still remember two in particular that I had to force myself to finish but that paid off in the end.
But once I was in my teens, I had no problem recognizing a DNF and could put a book down without any guilt or regrets.
When it comes to books that are basically light entertainment, if it isn’t working then I move on to something that does. As several people have noted in their comments, life is too short. Why make myself miserable over a novel?
Like many before me have said. if a book does not grab me i just put it aside. I have too many other good books in my piles to read to waste my time with one that I am not enjoying. Sometimes its a book theme that I do not like, others its a book that is too slow for me and other times its my mood that needs a totally different book.
One thing that I find happens sometimes is that I’ll get a book that received some great reviews–either here or on Amazon–and when I read it, I get annoyed that it’s incredibly mediocre (to my mind, anyway). It’s not AWFUL–the writing may be decent, the dialogue passable, the plotting showing some logic and planning. But if it’s just the same old, same old rather average presentation, it’s a DNF.
This happened recently after I read a DIK review here at AAR. I won’t name the book because I don’t want to be mean, but when I downloaded it to my Kindle and started reading, I was very disappointed.
Again, it’s not that the book was awful, but I felt like it was nothing special. Heroine with something to prove, guy who resists commitment, guy immediately lets the heroine know with lame double entendres that he’s attracted to her, heroine is beautiful and well-meaning but a bit of a flake, and it goes from there. I made it about 60% through and I just no longer cared what happened to these people. Total DNF.
I’ve some DNF, but not that many since I tend to gravitate towards stuff I’m reasonably sure I’ll like. I would hate to turn reading into a chore so I’m sorry but if I don’t like at least SOME aspect of the book within the first three chapters (if it’s an author I have faith in I might give it up to five chapters), then so so sorry, but I’m done.
Like Tee I once believed evry book I picku up HAD to be read…what a schmuck!! And then I turned 50 and realized I had a more years behind me than I did in front, and that the ones in front had better be all that I could make them, and a lot of things that I HAD to do got re-evaluated. I am an avid reader! I love books!! I love to read, anywhere and anytime. and I came to realize that I owed myself good reads. I donate to my loacal UBS and library books I cannot or will not finish. And if I have nothing in my TBR pile I go back to an old fave until my next book comes in.
The DNF is a very popular topic on AAR’s message boards, and I suppose it’s because rants are more fun to read (for the most part) than raves!
Like Karen, I follow the “”50 pages”” guideline; if I’m not interested in the story or the characters by then, the book goes into the “”donate it to the library or take it to the UBS”” pile! For me, 50 pages is the marker because it was at that point that things started getting really interesting in both first books in the Outlander series and in “”The Lymond Chronicles””!
As for really bad books, I must confess that I did finish two really dreadful ones; they were a couple of early bodice-rippers (literally!) by Karen Robards. Why did I finish them? I suppose it’s for the same reason that people slow down to look at automobile accidents on the highway! Nowadays, I just don’t have time for “”bad”” novels, and I imagine that most people who post here are in the same situation!
As a reader, I have too many DNF to count. If I’m bored (and I bore easily), I will drop a book very quickly. So quickly in fact, I almost missed out on one of my all-time favourite romance, It Happened One Autumn – Lisa Kleypas, because it had this slow start in a perfume shop.
As a reviewer (and I don’t review much but my blog does post reviews), I encourage my reviewers that a DNF has to be the last resort. The writing has to be poor, the plot absurd or too disturbing for a typical reader. Sheer boredom doesn’t even cut it.
I try to give a book about 50 pages to draw me in. Some books are slow starters but I think 50 pages is reasonable (sometimes a bit more depending on the book). If it’s not doing it by then, then I’ll give it up. Sometimes I’m just not in the right mood, and I’ll put the book back on my TBR pile and read it again some other day. If the book just isn’t working for me, then it goes on the trade/donate pile.
Sometimes DNF books are just bad, but that’s pretty rare these days. I buy most books because they were recommended to me, so I don’t buy that many really bad ones. More often, it’s because it features something that I don’t like (such as a super-alpha hero or a cutesy-poo baby) or it just feels blah. I don’t have a lot of time to read these days, and my TBR pile is overflowing, so I don’t want to spend the time reading something that’s not going to be enjoyable to me. Every now and then, I wonder if I’m missing a book that’s great because I gave up too soon, but I think that any really wonderful book will come up in discussions and comments from other readers, and I can always try it again later. It’s not like books vanish from the earth if I don’t read them on the first try.
There was a time, Lynn, when I too felt that every book picked up and started had to be read to the end. As if I didn’t have enough guilt in my life from other things, I actually believed that. When I look back, there were some truly wasted moments and days and maybe even weeks spent on books that did nothing for me. No more. If it isn’t working for me after a reasonable amount of time (and that can differ from book to book), then back it goes to the library. Hopefully, there are other books waiting to be read. However, that’s not always the case. When there is no TBR pile, then I find other neat things to do. And they are there. Many times that brief respite from reading works to the good. We need breaks in our routines, even the good ones.
Good column with good advice, especially to anyone out there who has the thought that they can’t abandon a novel. They can; and knowing that others do this, too, can be incentive for them. Whether it’s following the reading of one chapter or ten, if one has the inkling to pitch it, maybe that’s the advice to be followed.
I find DNF’s too subjective so I don’t post them on my goodreads pg. Unless the writing is horrendous… then it’ll find it’s way there. Most of the time it’s personal choice.
I have recommended books I haven’t finished to others that I know will enjoy them. So blasting them… isn’t the right thing to do.
Since rediscovering the romance genre, I’ve discovered so many good and even great books that it seems a waste of time to finish a book I don’t like, even if I discover that when I’m halfway or even further down the book.
Someone on this board once advised to go straight to the last chapter when a book threatens to become a dnf to see if things get better. When it’s a case of a sagging middle, I sometimes do that, but hardly ever go back to reading the rest of the book. In all other cases a book becomes a dnf straightaway. Life’s too short!
I am a firm believer in the DNF-always have been. Too many books, too little time! I don’t look on it as reader failure or reader lack of stick-to-it but as a failure of compatibility between author and reader.