#Blogmas: Books I DNF in 2019

I’m back with another Blogmas post ya’ll!! Okay so I know that DNFing, or Did Not Finishing, a book can be a bit of a controversial thing in the Book community. I know that some people cringe at the thought and push themselves through. Some people don’t hesitate to categorize a book as DNF. Those who DNF sometimes count them towards their book count and others don’t because they don’t feel right about it. I’ve just gotten to the point this year where I’m comfortable officially DNFing a book and still counting it towards my count. Previously, if I wasn’t enjoying a book I would just put it on hold and vow to read it again or push myself through and then throw myself into a slump because it just discouraged me reading wise. The way I look at it, life is too short to read books that I don’t enjoy and even though I didn’t finish the book, I did read some of it, which still counts in my opinion. As far as rating a book that I’ve DNF, it really just depends. If I didn’t finish because the writing was just horrible, it was offensive, or nothing made any sense then yes I’ll rate it. If I recognize that the book itself just isn’t my cup of tea or I just couldn’t get into it for superficial reasons then I probably won’t rate it.

There’s nothing wrong with not finishing a book that you don’t enjoy, that offends you, or that is just plain bad in your opinion. So in the spirit of all of this, I’m going to share with you the books that I’ve DNF in 2019 up until now.

Stalking Jack the Ripper

I had a very hard time getting into this so I’m DNFing. I made it about 30 percent in. I know this is a very popular series, so maybe I’ll try again, but for right now, I’m not very interested.

An Unwanted Guest

I didn’t rate this one because I just couldn’t get into it. It may have been because I had the audiobook, but the beginning was very mundane for me. I’m still going to check out some of the author’s other work though.

Girls Burn Brighter

DNF @ 63%. I really wanted to finish this book, honest I did. I couldn’t bring myself to though. I understand that this was supposed to give a voice to women, specifically girls and women from India, who face abuse and misogyny and shed light on these topics while also telling the story of two girls and their friendship, but honestly it’s too hard for me to finish. I never expected the read to be easy and I certainly didn’t expect things to magically get better for Savitha or Poornima, but this was still a bit much.I ultimately had to stop because of a very graphic incident involving one of the girls and an amputee. I’ll admit that my reaction may have a lot to do with the fact that I was listening to the audiobook during this graphic scene and maybe it would’ve been different if I were visually reading it instead of doing an auditory reading, but either way, that was the last straw for me. I understand what Shobha Roa wanted to do with this novel and I applaud her for taking on such a taboo topic that needs to be discussed more, but for my own personal state of mind and person…I can’t continue this book. I will say that the prose was great and you could really feel the love that Savita and Poornima have for one another. I was honestly rooting for them both and the narrator gave great emotion to Shobha’s words.

Ricochet

I was honestly trying to avoid DNF this book, especially because it’s an ARC, but honestly I got about 20% into it and just kept getting so confused by the entire thing. It has a great premise, but trying I keep the different versions of the MC straight was a bit much for me and I didn’t understand where the story was going. I’m sorry to say that this book just wasn’t for me.

Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging

Yes this is a middle grade (or at least super young adult fiction) but that’s not the problem. It’s been on my list to read for years because I heard great things growing up and also I loved the movie, but this was written 20 years ago and it shows. Too problematic for me to make it through. 1 too many uses of the word “transvestite” and way too many references to being “doomed to be a lesbian” because she’s ugly. I’ll stick to the movie.

The Dark Awakening

DNF. This just wasn’t for me. No rating because I don’t think it’s fair to give this one a 1 star rating when honestly I just wasn’t a fan of the writing style, which is why I stopped reading.

Losing the Field

DNF because I was not in the mood to continuously read about how attractive Tallulah is because she lost wait and how this is her “revenge body” and revenge made her choose apples over cake. No thanks. I read the other Field Party series books with no problem but this one rubbed me the wrong way right from the beginning.

Severance

I finally decided to just officially make this a DNF. I got about 1/3 of the way into this book, maybe more and it felt so draining. The story didn’t seem to be going anywhere, it moved extremely slow, and the writing style left a lot to be desired. This makes me sad because I was really looking forward to this book when it came out and I was so excited to read it, but I just can’t force myself to finish it for the sake of finishing it.

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

DNF at 15% in the audiobook. I just can’t do this ya’ll. I’ve wanted to read this for so long, especially because I love the movie, but this is just a no for me. There’s a crazy amount of detail put into everything little thing. For instance there’s a whole chapter of what Sidda thought of one of the YaYa’s hair when she was growing up and how well she used to know her mother’s body. It’s just moving so slow and most of this stuff I’m not even interested in. If I was reading a physical version of this book I’d probably be skimming at this point. I just….I don’t think I can get through this so I’ll stick to the movie. Not going to rate it because it’s not bad it’s just not my cup of tea.

On the Fence

Wicked Saints

So this was a pretty hyped up book in 2019. I bought it during the hype, but I didn’t try to read it until a little while after it died down. I honestly had the hardest time getting into this. I can understand a book starting off slow, but…..yeah idk. I’m still on the fence. I’m willing to give the audiobook a try and maybe that will go better, but as it stands, I don’t understand the hype and idk if I’ll finish it or not.