The term ‘DNF’ is known widely to bookstagram, booktubers, book podcasters, and book bloggers.
It simply means ‘Did Not Finish’.
For the longest time, I ALWAYS finished books. Always. Even if I hated them. My sister tried to convince me to STOP FINISHING BOOKS I DON’T LIKE (but in a nice way ha ha).
But I resisted….I felt like I had already invested so much time into these books, so I should just power through in the hopes that it would get better.
Well, a couple of things happened and something ‘flipped’ in my head and I decided to STOP FINISHING BOOKS I DON’T LIKE.
The first thing: I was FORCED to ‘DNF’ two books on my shelf because of the content (zombies, ghosts). Obviously, I did not know that these books contained zombies or ghosts because I never would have picked them up. One of them I was more than halfway through before I found out! But I found it shockingly easy to stop reading it and throw it out. Like….REALLY easy.
The second thing: My husband. I had this discussion with him and asked him ‘how long do you give a book if you don’t like it’. His answer? One chapter. ONE CHAPTER. He said that he can tell within the FIRST chapter if he’s going to like the book or not.
I think my sister gives a book 50 pages or so.
So here’s what I decided. I’m going to give a book at least 30% - 50%. If I don't like it after 30% - 50% of the way through, I'm going to DNF it. This probably still seems like a lot, but hey, this is a HUGE step for me!
My reasoning is this. If I don’t like a book after 30% - 50% into the content, it's not going to get more than 2 stars from me, no matter how great the 2nd half of the book is. And my goal is to only read books that are 3, 4, and 5 star reads.
Now, I realize this won’t always work because there are MANY books that start off soooo strong but then end terribly or fizzle out after the halfway point. So I’m sure I will still have many 1 and 2 star reads. But that’s okay. At least I’m willing now to DNF books that just aren’t doing it for me.
(Amy, are you proud of me?)
