Hmm. This is an interesting prompt, but I honestly don’t remember many of the reasons I’ve purposely DNFed a book. Most of the time when I don’t finish reading a book it’s either because it just didn’t grip me, or because I got distracted and forgot to come back to it. Honestly. I’m not that deep. But I’ll see if I can come up with anything!
- Love triangles. Just ugh. I’ve also finished books with love triangles, but eventually I learned that it’s probably not worth the effort.
- Cheating. I’m not a fan. Again, sometimes I’ll keep going, because it’s not always framed or explored the same way, but it’s not a great trope for me.
- I didn’t like the audiobook narrator. This doesn’t happen that often, especially now that I speed up my audiobooks to around 2x speed, so annoying reading habits make less of an impact, but it does happen sometimes.
- The book wasn’t well edited. This shows the importance of the editing process – if the book is riddled with spelling or grammatical errors, if it’s not well formated, if it has inconsistencies in the text or doesn’t organize information well and that takes me out of the story or the flow, then it’ll be hard for me to keep going.
- Repetitive phrasing. If the characters are always blushing or biting their lips or saying the same annoying thing over and over or something like that I’ll get annoyed quite quickly.
- Toxic relationships. If it’s the point of the book and being dealt with as part of the plot, okay. But if they’re just passively accepted and never addressed it’ll be hard for me to stick with it.
- Now, I know that books are written in their time and that means that there will be views expressed that don’t fit into our current views. That said, I can only take it to a point. If there are a ton of racist, sexist, homophobic etc. words or views expressed in the book, it will likely become hard for me to take. It would have to be a book I really wanted to read for another reason for me to keep going.
- I don’t like the characters. Now, sometimes there are characters you’re not supposed to like or ones that are necessary for the plot. That’s all fine. But if it’s a character who you’re supposed to like who just rubs me the wrong way it’ll be hard for me to spend time with them. Or even if they’re supposed to be unlikeable but it’s just too much (I’m looking at you My Year of Rest and Relaxation) I will struggle to keep going.
- The writing is too drawn out. I have a really hard time if the writing is so dense that the book just feels like it’s crawling or limping along. I am fine with books where not a lot happens if it feels like the plot is moving forward. I don’t need my books to be plot heavy page turners. But if they are just dragging along with nothing happening and nothing else to hold my interest like character exploration or great internal monologues, it will not last long for me.
- If the book is fantasy or sci-fi and the world isn’t built to be consistent and make sense. I can suspend disbelief to a point, but I need there to be a way in which things make sense. Have magic, that’s fine. But then don’t have a spell that’s used in one scene ignored in another where it could easily fix the issue. If you want the drama of not using it, find a reason. Explain it. Don’t just pretend you didn’t just use it a few chapters ago.
Turns out that wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be! Apparently I’ve got a lot of opinions and can be a little petty and picky about my reading! Who ever would have guessed that? (Said with the utmost sarcasm.)
What about you guys? What makes you DNF a book that may seem petty or unimportant to other readers? Are any of my reasons on your list today? Any that weren’t but now that you’re reading them you totally feel the same?
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.
The narrator definitely has an impact on my enjoyment of a book, I’ve switched to physical books for a couple because I didn’t like the voice acting
Oh, absolutely. I can’t handle listening to a voice I don’t like. Some I can handle – if it’s mostly okay but I don’t like the voice they put on for a character, I can usually manage. But if the whole thing is hard to understand or listen to, I’ll switch for sure or just give up.
A lot of these are on my list too. I get especially annoyed with love triangles or with stories where EVERYONE is in love with the hero/heroine. I mean, c’mon, that’s just annoying!
Happy TTT!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
OMG yes! Both of those are huge irritants to me.
Narrators can make or break an audiobook. And pacing can make or break any book! If it’s dragging along, odds are I’m not going to finish it. If it’s speeding along, I’ll probably finish it quicker than I expected to.
Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
https://readbakecreate.com/reasons-why-ive-stopped-reading-a-book/
Absolutely! I’ve been putting off reading a book I know I’ll love because the author reads the audiobook and I have trouble with the voice. There’s nothing wrong with it, and I know I’m going to enjoy the book…. but I just have trouble sinking into the words because the narration pulls me out. It’s so hard! And yes, pacing is absolutely VITAL!
I hate cheating plotlines too
Yep, not much to enjoy there!
I especially agree with your #7, it’s important to keep the different historical and cultural differences in mind when reading a book but when they clash so much with my values and aren’t explored in any meaningful ways it’s hard to stomach.
Yes. I won’t think that a book is necessarily worth my time and reading effort just because it’s a “classic.” If it’s a great book with important discussions and topics handled with some thought, an occasional -ist word or phrase won’t necessarily make me give up on it, but it can’t be the pervading perspective or theme of the book. It’s not something I want to immerse myself in, nor is it a perspective I really feel like I need to understand any better than I do.
Bad editing is the quickest way to make me give up. It’s hard to focus on the story when I’m distracted by a ton of mistakes.
YES! This is exactly the thing. I can’t lose myself in a story if I have to pay attention to the words. If that makes any sense at all.
Repetitive phrasing! I didn’t think of that one but that one bugs me too.
The Fifty Shades books had a lot of issues, but this was the reason I didn’t make it through the first one!
Definitely agree on that latter one. Fantasy and SF universes have to have consistent world-building!
Right?? Like I don’t mind if they’re completely different from our world and full of random abilities and creatures and things that break our laws of gravity etc. but it has to make sense in that world, and it has to be consistent. Otherwise I can’t sink into it! This is also my issue with time travel. It tends to create inconsistencies and frustrates me.
Love triangles drive me nuts too-does this ever lappen in real life
My TTT
https://seriesbooklover.wordpress.com/2024/04/30/top-ten-tuesday-petty-reasons-ive-dnfd-a-book/
Yeah, I don’t find them exciting or interesting. It’s three real people. They all have feelings and in this situation at least one person is going to end up hurt. That’s not fun for me!
Toxic relationships make me want to throw the books against the wall.
YES. I’ve had a lot of social navigation issues in my life, and I’m just done. I don’t put up with toxic people in my life if I can help it, if I’m stuck with them I don’t give their opinions or words any weight, and I will not lie about how I feel about someone if I think they’re horrible. I don’t owe anyone anything if they’re shitty to me. This is harder when it’s parents of kids my kid likes or goes to school with, so I have to navigate that, but I do my best to just get out of those interactions as fast as I can. Not only do I not want to have people like this around me, but I also don’t want to have to be the person I am when I feel threatened or manipulated. I want to feel like I can be open and trusting and mask a bit less. I can’t do that with toxic people!