Books I actually DNFed
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
The New Couple in 5B I thought was a thriller, and it sounded promising. Then I started it and the protagonist ends up in the basement when the lights go out and follows a movement to find a small boy… when he looks up his eyes have been gouged out and his throat is slashed. In short, he’s a gruesome spectre. NO. I do not do horror, and I’m kind of annoyed that it wasn’t clearer from the cover etc. that this book is not suitable for people who like thrillers but only with real live people or actually dead bodies populating them! American Gods I just didn’t get into at all and found hard to read, so I decided not to. Now with all the scandal around Gaiman, I have no qualms about just not bothering ever to try again. Honestly his solo work has mostly disappointed me other than the kids’ books anyway, so I don’t think he’s an author I’d want to read even if I didn’t feel icky about the author. Eat Pray Love I tried years and years ago, and it just annoyed me. There was the obvious thing where a woman who decides to travel around the world because she’s having trouble with her break-up rather than just having to deal with it like normal folks irritated me. Then just the whole pseudo-spirituality stuff doesn’t jive with me, and I’m not that into naval gazing self-discovery in book form. All power to her if it’s something she was able to afford and that made her feel better, but I don’t really need to hear 350+ pages about it, thank you very much. Since then I’ve seen some reviewers say that they found there to be a more self-aware tone to it than I remembered, and that she pokes fun at herself, too, especially for the privilege she enjoys. Maybe that’s the case and I missed it. But either way, I just don’t think I’m going to bother with it. There are plenty of other books to read instead, including others by this author (I read City of Girls and liked it).
Books I accidentally didn’t finish…. but probably still vaguely feel like I’m reading even if I haven’t picked them up in years at this point!
How to Tell When We Will Die by Johanna Hedva
The Book of Joe by Jonathan Tropper
I’m Wearing Tunics Now by Wendi Aarons
Mother-Daughter Murder Night by Nina Simon
The Bookshop that Floated Away by Sarah Henshaw
Most of these I started and vaguely put down and forgot to pick up again. A couple I had a hard time getting into, and a couple others were good but not what I was in the mood for at the time I started reading them. But none of them turned me off and made me feel like I don’t want to read them… at some point!
That’s it for this week! What about you guys? Anyone better at making an official DNF decision than I am? What’s your criteria for choosing not to read a book? Anyone else sort of kind of just put a book aside… sometimes for years?
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly link-up feature created by The Broke and the Bookish and hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. Every week TTT has a different topic, and everyone who links up has to create a link of ten items that fit that topic. To see past and upcoming topics, go here.