The DNF, and why it’s ok

Search For A Review:
Reviews are in order by last name of author.
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G| H | I | J | K | L | M |
| N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |
| Books of the Year | About Me |
| ARC Reviews | Recent Posts |
| The Den (Home) |

DNF’ing SUCKS! Most people reading this know what that acronym stands for, but for the ones that don’t, it means DID NOT FINISH. For authors, it’s something they never want to see or hear happen to their books, and I hope that they understand that as readers and or reviewers, the last thing we want is to not connect with a book that we are reading wether it be the story, the characters, the writing or even the narration. But there comes a time, when it happens and we have to make a decision to power through something we aren’t enjoying or plant the ugly three letter acronym and move on.

I’ve only been reading since 2018 and blogging since August of 2021, so my catalog of books read isn’t close to what other bloggers might be, that started reading at a younger age. Since I started, I have read over 300 books, and have only DNF’d three. Three doesn’t seem like much, but I also make a yearly TBR of books I want to or plan to read, which makes helps keep that number down. It’s such a difficult decision to make, especially if it is a middle book or even worse, the finale of a series.

Fellow readers, fellow bloggers, it’s ok to put down that book you’re not enjoying and pick up another one! Life is too short to waste time reading something you’re not enjoying when there are billions of books in the world just waiting to be read.

My buddy David, aka BookMeanderings of FanFiAddict made a post (link here) that changed my life when it comes to DNF’ing books. There are MILLIONS of books published every year, sometimes you’re going to find something that you don’t like, and I want to tell you: IT’S OK TO NOT FINISH THAT BOOK OR SERIES!

FOMO (Fear of missing out), is one of the biggest reasons we as readers continue to go through a book that we may not be enjoying. But have you ever thought that maybe you’re missing out on something else that you may actually enjoy rather than powering through something, just in case you might finally enjoy reading whatever it is that you are reading? It’s a hard conversation to have with yourself, but one that you must ultimately have when you aren’t happy. It’s good for your mental health to walk away! Choose wisely, and may you never have to DNF, but if you are struggling with this decision, I sincerely hope this helps you the way it once helped me.