I used to finish ever book I started, whether I was enjoying it or not. But life is short. I’ve realised that I don’t have time for books I’m not full involved in any longer so if I don’t like something or don’t connect with it as much as I want to, I’ll put it aside. It still makes me feel guilty though, especially if I received them for review so I still want to talk about them, explain why I didn’t like them. Here are the most recent books I DNF-ed.
Diamonds are a Teen’s Best
Friend, Allison Rushby
I loved Allison Rushby’s
previous novel Shooting Stars so I
accepted a request for this, even though it goes against my rules about
self-publishing. I didn’t get very far with it at all. I found the main
character, Nessa, really quite irritating. She was mean to be quirky and cute,
but she just got on my nerves with her preoccupation with celebs and herself.
It was also a lot younger than I thought – Nessa was only 13. I don’t read MG
too often, and it has to be something special for a female MG protagonist to
hold me.
The Snow
Child, Eowyn Ivey
This is
one of those books that I heard rave after rave about so when I finally settled
down with it, I expected pure awesomeness. Though I thought the writing was
stunningly beautiful and the setting and imagery is gorgeous and atmospheric,
we didn’t click. I usually love
character-driven novels, but there just wasn’t enough of something in The Snow Child. I
felt nothing for Mabel or Jack, and that’s what made me put it down in the end.
I have to feel something for the characters I’m reading about, even if that
happens to be hatred – there has to be something there.
Just One Year, Gayle
Forman
Book one, Just One Day, is gorgeous and I loved every page of it, but I couldn’t
get past chapter two of the second instalment. I finished the first book with
an overwhelming need to find out what happened to Wilhem, but it virtually
disappeared as I began reading. I just couldn’t get involved with the
characters again. It was pretty gutting as I loved Just One Day so much.
I’ve begun to recognise the
signs of a DNF book: I don’t care about picking it up again, I find other
things to do, and I often won’t read for three or four days and only think
about what I’ll read after this one.
What have you not been able to
finish lately? Do you finish everything you start? What are your signs of not
getting on with something?
Sophie
Oooo, I have The Snow Child and have been putting off for a while and now I'm not sure.. I usually like imagery and beautiful writing, but there has to be a interesting plot for me. My only DNF this year has been Anything To Have You and I just wasn't clicking at all, I was leaving it for around a week and it annoyed me when I did read it. I used to finish everything I started, but I don't now; if it's not gripping me, I leave it.
ReplyDeleteYes, I gave up on The Snow Child too!
ReplyDeleteI've been getting better at doing this lately. The last book I put down was Anything To Have You - just couldn't click with the main character.
ReplyDeleteI find now that generally I know within a few chapters if I'll finish the book - and a big sign that I won't finish is if I'm not rushing to pick the book up when I normally read.
Great idea for a post!
Most recently, it was Vampire Diaries. I gave up page 68, I found Elena the most annoying girl on Earth and Stephan was a bit boring. Nothing much had happened yet but I didn't read a thing for two days which meant the book had to go!
ReplyDelete