Top Ten Tuesday: Ten books I did not finish (DNF’d)

/ Lisa R. Howeler

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

Today’s prompt is: Books I Did Not Finish (DNFed) (feel free to tell us why, but please no spoilers!)

My reasons for not finishing a book are rarely because the book is bad or not worth reading. Most of the time it is completely related to the fact the book and my personality don’t mesh. Also, in some cases I don’t finish a book at one time but go back later and finish it. That’s most likely going to be the case with many of the books here, so if you loved one of these books on my list, know that adding them to a DNF list doesn’t mean I hated them.

  1. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

I tried! I tried! I wanted to read a Dickens. It about killed me. It was so wordy! Worse than I expected. I read part of this book in high school and enjoyed it but for some reason I could just not get into it now that I am an adult. I do want to try again someday, however.

2. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

I don’t know if it is fair to mention this one since it was just a DNF for me and I might go back to it but for now it is a DNF and I’m reading some other books. I wanted to read this with my son for his British Literature class but…it was just so heavy. I couldn’t get into it. I have an audiobook with Dan Stevens and I’m really enjoying his narration so I am going to try to get back into it.

3. Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography by Laurie Woolever

I wanted to like this book. I did. It was just so choppy and dull as watch sap harden in the winter. The stories about Anthony could have been interesting but they were all chopped up and some of them were from people who truly didn’t know him that well. I skipped to the end and read a couple quotes from his daughter but for the most part this was just a chopped-up mess of stories. I didn’t get it at all. I have heard there are other, much better biographies out there so I will try them in the future.


4. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

I did not hate this book. I just couldn’t get into the style of writing, the tiny little chapters, and the bouncing back and forth between character in every other chapter.

5. Little Men by Louisa May Alcott

I will go back to this one but it just didn’t pull me in like Little Women did. I am a mood reader so I think I was simply not in the mood for it when I tried to read it.

6. The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency Alexander McCall Smith

I think this one just didn’t catch me at the right time. I could not get into it at all but I am willing to try again sometime in the future.

7. A Fatal Footnote by Margaret Loudon

I didn’t even make it through five pages of this one. The author kept changing the name of her character and repeating the name over and over. She’d write, “Penelope didn’t know why Millie was looking at her that way but Penn was uncomfortable with it.”

What? Why keep changing her name and in the same sentence or paragraph? She seemed allergic to using pronouns instead of the names she kept using too. It would have been one thing if a character said to her, “Hey, Penn!” instead of Penelope but for the author to be changing it in the prose….it was weird.

8. Anne’s House of Dreams by L.M. Montgomery

This was just not my favorite book of Montgomery’s. It was so sad and depressing to me. I might go back someday and finish it but it was a slog for me. I skipped ahead to the end but really didn’t go back and read the rest so I consider it a DNF.

9. What’s the Worse That Can Happen by Donald Westlake

My husband is a huge Westlake fan and I read one book by him, Call Me A Cab, and liked it but so far I haven’t really been able to get into the rest of his books. I do plan to try this one again at some point.

10. Death At A Scottish Christmas by Lucy Connelly

    I know we cozy mystery readers have to suspend belief at times but this one…well, it was a bit too much suspending belief. I couldn’t finish this one at all. I don’t plan to try again.

    What books have you not finished? Will you ever go back and try them again?

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    22 thoughts on “Top Ten Tuesday: Ten books I did not finish (DNF’d)”

    1. Pingback: Sunday Bookends/Chat: Losing a tree friend, giving Dorothy Sayers another try, and getting ready for Springtime in Paris – Boondock Ramblings

    2. I know it’s hard to abandon a book, but sometimes, we just have to say, “I didn’t like it.” And, that’s OK. I remember trying to read A Tale of Two Cities and hating every minute of it! I do think the 19th century authors were a bit verbose (says the blogger who will use 15 words when 2 will do) so their books seem endless. That being said, it seems like books are getting longer! At least, the ones I’ve been reading sure have been!

      https://marshainthemiddle.com/

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    3. I understand what you mean about some books not meshing your personality. I feel that way sometimes too. I did enjoy Frankenstein, but I enjoyed grim tales when I was younger. Now, not so much. I had to read The Tale of Two Cities for English literature in high school. I ended up kind of liking it, but I don’t think I’d have waded through it if I hadn’t been forced to. In recent months, I DNFed two books I expected to like – The Great Gatsby and The Portrait of Dorian Gray. I hated every character in both of them.

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    4. I DNF’d Frankenstein too. I DNF’d A Tale of Two Cities many times – and then I FINALLY read it last year! I would not do it again LOL!

      I love the #1 Ladies’ Detective Agency books! I’ve read about 5 of the series, I believe. I just fell in love with the characters. Give it another go some time!

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      • I am going to try to give the series a go again. I think I had too much going on and just wasn’t focusing on it well.

        I don’t know that I will ever make it through a Dickens book and I have to accept that. lol.

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    5. I have Dickens in my book cabinet, but have never been brave to even start them. All I read was “A Christmas Story”. The same goes for “Frankenstein”.
      I have watched “No.1 Ladies Detective Agency”, but never read it.
      I’m sure I have all Anne books, but to be honest, I remember the first two well, the other ones vaguely at best.

      There are not that many books I haven’t finished in the past because I always felt it wasn’t right not to finish them, but some of them were so hard. I only learned recently that sometimes it just isn’t worth pushing on.
      Two I can remember DNF’ing from recent times are “Crooked River” by Preston/Child (again, why do you two not leave the dogs alone??) and “Extinction” just by Preston.

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      • I have never read anything by Preston and Child and had to look them up!

        I always felt it wasn’t right to not finish them too but then I realized that life is just too short to read something I do not enjoy. I am, btw, enjoying my second go around with Dorothy Sayers. I don’t know what i thought I read before that I didn’t like — I think I must have been half asleep — because I am enjoying it now.

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    6. I have tried to get into the No.1 Ladies Detective Agency several times over several different books. I have given up, Lisa. And yet I love this author’s Isobel Dalhousie series.

      I did finish Death at a Scottish Christmas, but it is definitely not one of her better books.

      Life is too short to read books we don’t enjoy!💖📚

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    9. My copy of The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency just arrived from the library. Hope I like it more than you did. 😂

      And, yeah, the majority of my DNF books are due to that same reason.

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    12. I feel like I could have written your #1; in fact I just tried listening it to on audio thinking I might like it that way… but I don’t! I did love All the Light We Cannot See but I am so used to that jumping back and forth in so many of the historical fiction books I’ve read.

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    13. Well, you have mostly kind reasons for not finishing those books. When I don’t finish a book, it’s almost always because I hate it because it’s not clean or has plots or characters that are offensive or it’s just very poorly written.

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      • I have those too but actually didn’t remember which ones until after I wrote the post. Ha! So years ago I didn’t get what 50 Shades of Gray was. I started it. yes, me. I did. I was horrified from like page three and skimmed ahead and was more horrified. Even more than the sex for me was the idea of domination being a turn on and then realizing that woman across the world thought that was wonderful. Just…what!!?? So, yes, I have had my share of those shocks too. Yes, I was naive about 50 Shades of Gray but it opened my eyes to an entire section of books that are just disgusting and now I know what to stay away from !

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          • Right??? I had purchased it on a kindle and sent it back for a refund in horror. I felt so stupid. I really wasn’t paying attention back then and not in online book clubs at all so I just didn’t get what it was! I felt so stupid and then bewildered to hear so many women praising it!

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