Talking Point: The Addictiveness of DNF

A little while ago I wrote a post about how much trouble I had not finishing books, because I felt like I had to finish what I started. At the time, I had only added two books to my DNF list. I wanted to get better at it, because life is too short to read crap books.

Well, I can report today that I did get better at DNFing books. Probably a little too good, because since the start of the year and my post-Lumatere hangover, my patience has disappeared and I find myself giving up on books ridiculously easily. In fact, there's been a few books I've had to force myself to finish, just so I had actually read something rather than collecting a bunch of half-reads. Since my last post on DNFing, I've completely given up on:

• The Sweetest Thing by Christina Mandelski, because I felt no connection to the characters
• Ever by Jessa Russo because it was incredibly bland and exactly like a zillion other paranormal romances I've come across. Yawn.
• Time Between Us by Tamara Ireland Stone, because it just seemed like a watered down version of The Time Traveler's Wife.

I've also stopped reading, with the intention to come back to them at some point:

• We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver. It was too intense for my mood at the time, and also quite slow.
• The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling. I got 50 pages in and was sooooo bored. I was on summer holidays and needed something fun, so I gave up for the meantime.
• Life of Pi by Yann Martel. So many people told me this book was amazing but I found the small part I read incredibly tedious. I'm very impatient at the moment so I thought it best to try again later.

Right now I'm reading The Woman in Black by Susan Hill and even though it's a small book and I'm enjoying it enough when I do read it, I find I can only read it in small bursts and I'm not compelled to pick it up very often, so it's slow going for me. It's not a particularly hard book to read, but the other day I found myself considering DNFing it. Then I realised I have a problem. Like I said, I've gotten too good at giving up on books, and it's kind of addictive now I've started. The thing is, there are so many good books out there that I have less and less patience for the bad ones. With that said, I have pushed through two very ordinary books lately, when I was incredibly tempted to DNF:

• The Romance Diaries: Ruby by Jenna Austen.
• Splintered by A. G. Howard.

Some books you just have to persevere with, I guess, because in the end they might really be worth it. I've just got to learn when to stop and when to keep going, and find the happy medium between never giving up and being addicted to the power of the DNF.

Do you ever DNF books, or do you force yourself to read to the end, even if you're not enjoying it? How do you balance giving up too easily with not wasting time on bad books?

Talking Point: The Did Not Finish

I like to finish what I start, especially when it comes to reading. I'm one of those crazy people who feels like have to see a book through to the end, even if I'm not enjoying it. I contemplate stopping, but I always thing "What if it gets better? What if I miss something amazing by stopping? At least I can say I've read it. At least I'll get some closure... "

I think I can count the number of books I haven't finished on one hand. Or with one short list:

• Possession by A.S. Byatt.
• Elliot Allagash by Simon Rich.

Yep. A sum total of two. There are a couple of other books that I've started reading and couldn't get into, but I intend to go back to them at some stage so I don't count them as official DNFs. They're books that I can see the value in but for whatever reason they weren't working for me at the time. Those two up there? I can safely say I'll never pick them up again.

As you can probably tell from the limited list, it takes a lot for me to abandon a book. I have to really, really hate it. Otherwise, I struggle through. But with an ever-increasing TBR pile, this seems like more and more of a waste of time. So I've decided that I'm going to *try* to be more brutal and DNF books that really aren't worth it. There are two main factors that would make me DNF, judging from the (two) books I've given up in the past:

-Time. If a book takes too long to read, I start to resent it. Even if it's not particularly bad (it's just not particularly good), I start to dislike it, just because I want it to be over already. There are so many books that I want to read, it feels like I'm wasting valuable time if I spend too much on one book that may not be worth it. It's the main reason I gave up on Possession. It was taking waaaay too long and I just didn't care where the story went. It was tedious and felt like a chore - not how reading should feel. So I gave up, and felt relieved (and just a bit guilty). The book I'm reading at the moment, Vulpi by Kate Gordon, is also taking me forever - though the current hectic state of my life means it's not completely the book's fault. Still, Vulpi hasn't really grabbed me enough to make me find the time to read it, if you know what I mean. OK, OK, I'll finish it, because I am interested in how the story turns out, but I can't help but be slightly frustrated with it - as well as myself!

-Characters. I don't believe that all characters need to be likable, but I do think there should be something about them that you can connect with - in the main character, at the very least. If there is not one likable character in the whole story and you can't empathise with any of them, it's just no fun. Especially if there's no indication that they're going to grow or change. This is why I gave up on Elliot Allagash.

So, do you ever DNF a book? What makes you stop reading?