Piper Nuelle

I saw a question being asked in a reading group I follow on Facebook, and they asked whether people finish every book they read, or if they have books they did not finish, otherwise known as DNF’s! And if they do have any DNF’s, did they or do they feel guilty about it? And it got me thinking… Am I weird because I do in fact have some DNF’s?

There were quite a few people in the group that admitted that they did sometimes not finish a book and they would throw it to the side and leave it in a pile to be donated so maybe someone else could love or enjoy it. But the majority of people said that they usually always finish a book, even if they couldn’t stand it. I didn’t go back to see which side won by the end of the poll, but it was interesting to see how some people were really offended that some people won’t finish a book some times and that it is unfair to the author who wrote it because maybe the ending would have been amazing!

But what do I personally think on the matter?

I do personally have a small DNF book pile, sometimes I keep them around and I try to read them again at a later date, especially if a friend recommended it or it’s popular and I want to see what all the fuss was about. But sometimes I just cannot make my brain struggle to read something I just cannot get into or like. With my DNF’s I do put them in a box and every so often I will either donate them to my local Tesco store where they have a charity book shelf, so at least the books can be sold on to raise money for charity but also can potentially find a new loving home, or I donate them to my local Tip / Waste disposal centre because they have a second hand tip shop where they sell anything and everything. It is literally a place where the motto ‘One persons trash is another persons treasure’, or however it goes rings true.

With the aspect of feeling guilty, the answer is, no not really. I mean yeah the author worked hard and spent pain staking hours writing it, but at the same time you can’t please everyone and some books and genre’s just don’t click with certain people or minds. Plus, I know if it was my own book someone couldn’t get into, I very much doubt they would feel bad for me and continue on. It doesn’t happen often for me, sometimes if a book has an annoying character I can deal with it, if it has a few mistakes, I can look over them, but sometimes the book is just too hard for my brain to deal with so I have to just give up, I don’t see the point in making myself miserable just to finish a story I am not enjoying.

For example, here are a few books on my DNF list; (don’t come for me lol)

• The Handmaids tale by Margaret Atwood – I just couldn’t grasp what was going on and it made me feel quiet depressed. Maybe because it does have a sense of realism to it, that women would be made to be baby making machines if the worlds birth rate dropped below a desired amount and only so many could carry. But I found it confusing, I remember there being the Handmaids I think, and then tourists that were women too, looking all glam and it just confused me. So unfortunately I never finished it, yet a work colleague I knew who leant it to me loved it!!! She had the whole series on DVD, she had all the books, she had everything to do with it. Even one of the weird creepy outfits that is totally depressing for women and was a tad tasteless to say the least… But she never wore it out so I guess that is saying something lol.
• The convenience store by the sea by Sonoko Machida – I found this book on holiday in the airport and I liked the cute front cover. But again I found it a little disjointed in the beginning. It started with a girl on a car drive and then it went to someone else… I think the meaning behind it is probably nice, it is about community or from what I could grasp. But for me I just couldn’t keep up or grasp what was really going on. I struggled to connect with any of the characters. I was feeling ill that week when we got home and when I tried to read it, so maybe it was that making me feel off. But at the moment it is in my DNF pile, but maybe I will try it again one last time before shipping it off.
• Powerless by Lauren Roberts – This books cover looked stunning and it had the Fore-Edge painted / printed and it just looked amazing. I think I struggle with the fantasy genre as a whole, which is weird because I love playing fantasy games, but I just struggled with this book. It’s weird in my ripe old age of ’35’ I find I really struggle with things that are not ‘realistic’ sometimes and I have to be in the mood. So, although it looks beautiful and stunning, and for someone else it’s probably the best book, I just couldn’t settle into it.

So as you can see I don’t have a huge DNF pile, I actually read a lot, so I do read and finish more than I don’t, and it is not very often I struggle with loads of books. But I think it is perfectly normal to have DNF’s and it is perfectly normal to also not feel guilty about it.

What’s your opinion? Do you have DNF’s? Do you feel guilty? Let me know.

(The DNF image was generated by AI using the WordPress AI image maker)

xo Piper xo