This video is gold for the reluctant dnfer. I've struggled with dnfing in the past, but, earlier this year, I made a determined decision to embrace it. Life is short, but my tbr is not. Also, accepting that dnfing is an absolutely valid option allows one to be much more adventurous with their reading.
If I get at least halfway through a book, it’s nearly impossible for me to abandon it. Feels like I’m on the downhill slope at that point. I’m far more likely to DNF in the first 20 or so pages. Great video!
That is an excellent point! I wish I had thought of that. It is much harder to dnf a book when you're farther into it. All that time invested. What's a few more hours right?
Love this video concept! I usually soft DNF books, with the idea that I will eventually come back to them. My hard DNF’s are usually due to foul language or gratuitous imagery - the latter usually meaning sex scenes, although I have stopped the rare book due to graphic violence. The German fantasy book “Dwarves” had a scene that actually made me feel ill due to the too-well-described casual violence of a villain. The author was very good at making the scene come alive, in spite of the book being a translation from the original German. As I recall, I muscled my way through the rest of the book, but I didn’t read any of the other books in the series.
I'm like you in the soft dnf's and the reasons for hard dnf'ing books. But I'm more "tolerant" of nonfiction. for instance, the Hate Crime Hoax book had the wording of the hoaxers and some of it was rough, to put it lightly. But I'm currently reading James (the slave Jim's story in Huck Finn), and there are curse words that are not necessary to the story and I'm very close to dnf'ing it. Thank you for the warning of Dwarves. I've never heard of it, but if I come across it, I'll know not to pick it up. 👍
I didn’t dnf for so long. Now I do it whenever I feel like it. Like you said- there are too many books to read to spend too much time on a book I’m not caring about. I think the point that stood out to me the most is if you care about the ending. I’ve enjoyed books where I hated the characters for example. But I care what happens. If I find myself saying I really don’t care what happens here- I’m done with it. 😅
Hooray for dnfing. It really is a personal decision and the reasons might be different for each book. Do you think it's harder for readers to dnf if they're not confident in themselves and/or confident in their reading?
@@BookZealots maybe so. I think for me I am a finisher. I don’t like to give up. So for a long time I looked at it that way. I started this book, so now I have to finish it! I’m not even sure what the turning point was when I realized it wasn’t quitting but rather choosing to save my time for something else
Hi, hello and what a topic! I do NOT have a hard time quitting a book lol, I learned my lesson a long time ago if it's not for me then it's outta here. I'll give it about 20% and if it's still not for me I'll be done. However! If I do make it past halfway and it's still lame, I'll just rush to the ending and be done with it. Thankfully it doesn't happen much, I think off the top of my head the last book like that was The September House. Started off so strong then just got worse and worse
Hi, hello~ I think it's harder to dnf a book when readers are past the halfway mark. What a bummer about The September House. I wonder what happened with the author. I wonder too, how much indecision a reader has regarding dnf'ing, are not confident in themselves as a person and/or as a reader?
Interesting discussion, and sound suggestions. I rarely DNF a book. I try to finish what I start as a matter of principle. It paid off with The Catcher in the Rye. That was a very unpleasant book to read, because the main character is a HUGE brat the entire novel. However, it wasn't until the end of the novel that I learned why the character was such a brat. It doesn't justify his behavior, but it makes the character more sympathetic. Fortunately, it's a short book. Had it been longer, I probably would have DNF'd it. I do occasionally encounter a book where I start it, but don't have the interest to continue past the first few pages. I'll generally put those books to the side with the intention of trying them again later. I don't talk about these books in my wrap up videos, because I don't want to give an unfair negative opinion on the book when it may just be bad timing. I try to get 200 pages in before I "formally" DNF a book. I know some books are slow burns, and I try to be patient. Since I've started my channel, I've only recorded 3 DNF's on Goodreads (compared to over 250 completed). Two of them were very long (800 & 600 pages), and I wasn't invested enough to continue. The third was by an independently published author, and it was simply terrible.
Hi John! So good to see you and wow! You read a lot of books. You also have a lot more patience in reading 200 pages before dnfing a book. I dnf about 1-2 books each month. One was a "christian" book and another was a popular booktube book, but I didn't realize it was chick lit when I put it on hold with the library, about a year ago. ??? It was a long time ago and I completely forgot about it. It's one of those lessons of which booktubers to trust in giving information in a review and what they leave out. I don't like books that have affairs. Trying to branch out and read books I normally wouldn't read, well, there's a reason for that. LOL And this same book was the one with excessive cussing between two female friends. It wasn't necessary. And I don't have a problem giving the book a negative opinion for the choice the author made. I refuse to lower my standards just because it's popular and everyone else loved it. imo marital affairs will never be acceptable. it would be more challengin for independently published authors, especially if it's a first book, I'd be more delicate in the review. Do you do that?
Years ago I would not dnf a book. But now I have so many books and so many more I want to get that I will dnf. If it’s boring and my mind wanders I will dnf. If the writing style I don’t like I will dnf. I tried to read wolf hall a book that everyone loves. I dnf’d it pretty fast because of the writing style. If I am reading a book and there is any cruelty to an animal I’ll dnf. I use to read dean kootz years ago and every book had some death of an animal. Nope no reading him anymore. I tried reading war and peace last year I got to page 100 and couldn’t handle it. Everyone says keep persevering it’s worth it. I haven’t attempted again but I will with a different translation. I recently finished the Josephine trilogy. At first I was bored and not interested. I kept reading and flew through the book. It was over 1200 pages but didn’t seem like it. It was written in diary entries which I don’t really like but it was so good. I read several books at one time. I’ll be reading a book and a booktuber talking about a book and I get that one and start reading it or I see one in a used bookstore and start reading that one. I want to read them all at once. The short story is I don’t have a problem dnfing a book.
Dnf'ing is very freeing and I like that you're able to do so. There are a lot of people who struggle with it. I used to read Koontz in high school, because that's what my parents had. I don't recall animal cruelty in them, but it has been ages. I think the last book I read of his was about Frankenstein. Did that one have animal cruelty?
@@BookZealots I don’t remember very much about his books I read him about 40 years ago. One I remember was a flood and a dog was trying to get out of the water and an alligator got him. I remember thinking the story would have been fine without that in it. I never read another book by him.i love Kevin Costner and I was watching dances with the wolves when it first came out. He befriended a wolf and the wolf was killed I think by deserters of the army. I’m not really sure. That ruined the whole movie for me.
Do they yell at you Linda? "how dare you set me back on the shelf? I'm worthy to be read!" LOL back to the end of the line book, you must wait your turn, and next time impress me. (this is me talking to anna karenina, because I really didn't like her. )
@@ThisLittleLightLife LOL Some books are really bossy. Which books are giving you the stinkeye? They might need to go in the corner of the bookshelf. 😉
I dnf books for many of the same reasons. :) I definitely give more leeway to books by authors I respect. Also sometimes the payoff doesn't come till near the end. It should be somewhat possible to anticipate it though. It took me 2 or 3 tries to get into Nostromo by Joseph Conrad, but by the time I'd got halfway it was clear to see the payoff was coming (and it did). Whereas there have been other books I gave up on because I couldn't imagine anything exciting ahead 😅
It's hard to tell when a book will be worth the time and effort put into it. I've only read one Conrad book, Heart of Darkness and it was such a strange book, but the ending ruined it for me. Was he feeling especially sentimental over a girl when he wrote that book? I kept thinking, no, don't do it, no. And he went and did it anyway. I guess the...you have read it right? I think I recall you talking about it in one of your videos. Did you like the ending?
With the contradictions, it depends on how it's done. If it seems like the author made a mistake and it doesn’t happen repeatedly, then I don't mind. If it's the character, I usually think of it as a natural human failing. I know I have contradictory thoughts a lot.
Hi Courtney~ We read a lot more nonfiction and so a contradiction is less forgiving, than we would be with fiction. And if it's just the character growth or character change, we are also more forgiving, unless, like you said, it keeps happening. Because then I can't trust the character. And when it's nonfiction, I can't trust the author. Have you ever recorded a video of your contradictory thoughts?
@BookZealots that's very true with nonfiction and I find it more likely to DNF in that case. Unless the author is presenting known contradictions about a specific person, then I could understand that more so. And no, I don't think I have.
I will DNF a book in a New York Minute! At my age I have no time to waste reading books that I do not enjoy. One of the reasons that I stopped reading Stephen King is because of the bad language. I'm not opposed to bad language but he seems to use bad language as a shock value. I have an issue with one of my favorite authors. Louis Lamour recommends that you read X amount of non-fiction books each year and yet he made his fame and fortune on Fiction? Thanks for sharing. -James
Hi James~ I don't read King for the same reason. If he's such an amazing writer he should be able to write a fantastic book without the bad language. Interesting about Louis l'amour's recommention. Did he have suggested nonfiction books or just a generalization of reading nonfiction. Maybe he knew that it's a good idea to not be a fictional only reader? And I don't think all writers are cut out to be nonfiction writers.
@@BookZealots Definitely more than just a clock! Yes, lots of reason to DNF and with each year that goes by I worry less about carrying on. Goes list of the reasons why.
@@ReadingIDEAS.-uz9xk LOL Thank you. I had to give you a bad time. It's sometimes challenging to get that across in type. I'm like you. The pushing through a book while I was young didn't bother me as much as it does now. There are just too many better books to read, knowledge to be gleaned, and time is more precious. I was talking with my son the other day about your books. I hope I'm smart enough to understand them. If not, he's going to help me out. they should arrive this month.
I am also participating in a read along of Peter the great by Robert k massie hosted by John David. I thought I’d let you know in case you want to participate. His voxer group is massie “Peter the great” group
@@BookZealots I know me too. This is a book that I’ve had for awhile and haven’t gotten around to reading. I be wanted to read it and this prompted me to start. I don’t know if I’ll keep up since I reading other books too. 📚
@@user-iz6cc6lz3j-Vickie That's wonderful. If you have had the book for awhile, this sounds like a perfect readalong for you. I do not own it and I need to cut back on my book buying for a little while. I have plumbing and electric work I need to budget for. Keep me posted on how you're enjoying the book.
This video is gold for the reluctant dnfer. I've struggled with dnfing in the past, but, earlier this year, I made a determined decision to embrace it. Life is short, but my tbr is not. Also, accepting that dnfing is an absolutely valid option allows one to be much more adventurous with their reading.
Excellent point about dnfing frees up the reader to become more adventurous. You are right. I'm glad you like the video and find it helpful. 🤗
If I get at least halfway through a book, it’s nearly impossible for me to abandon it. Feels like I’m on the downhill slope at that point. I’m far more likely to DNF in the first 20 or so pages. Great video!
That is an excellent point! I wish I had thought of that. It is much harder to dnf a book when you're farther into it. All that time invested. What's a few more hours right?
Love this video concept!
I usually soft DNF books, with the idea that I will eventually come back to them. My hard DNF’s are usually due to foul language or gratuitous imagery - the latter usually meaning sex scenes, although I have stopped the rare book due to graphic violence. The German fantasy book “Dwarves” had a scene that actually made me feel ill due to the too-well-described casual violence of a villain. The author was very good at making the scene come alive, in spite of the book being a translation from the original German. As I recall, I muscled my way through the rest of the book, but I didn’t read any of the other books in the series.
I'm like you in the soft dnf's and the reasons for hard dnf'ing books. But I'm more "tolerant" of nonfiction. for instance, the Hate Crime Hoax book had the wording of the hoaxers and some of it was rough, to put it lightly. But I'm currently reading James (the slave Jim's story in Huck Finn), and there are curse words that are not necessary to the story and I'm very close to dnf'ing it. Thank you for the warning of Dwarves. I've never heard of it, but if I come across it, I'll know not to pick it up. 👍
I didn’t dnf for so long. Now I do it whenever I feel like it. Like you said- there are too many books to read to spend too much time on a book I’m not caring about.
I think the point that stood out to me the most is if you care about the ending. I’ve enjoyed books where I hated the characters for example. But I care what happens. If I find myself saying I really don’t care what happens here- I’m done with it. 😅
Hooray for dnfing. It really is a personal decision and the reasons might be different for each book. Do you think it's harder for readers to dnf if they're not confident in themselves and/or confident in their reading?
@@BookZealots maybe so. I think for me I am a finisher. I don’t like to give up. So for a long time I looked at it that way. I started this book, so now I have to finish it! I’m not even sure what the turning point was when I realized it wasn’t quitting but rather choosing to save my time for something else
Hi, hello and what a topic! I do NOT have a hard time quitting a book lol, I learned my lesson a long time ago if it's not for me then it's outta here. I'll give it about 20% and if it's still not for me I'll be done.
However! If I do make it past halfway and it's still lame, I'll just rush to the ending and be done with it. Thankfully it doesn't happen much, I think off the top of my head the last book like that was The September House. Started off so strong then just got worse and worse
Hi, hello~ I think it's harder to dnf a book when readers are past the halfway mark. What a bummer about The September House. I wonder what happened with the author. I wonder too, how much indecision a reader has regarding dnf'ing, are not confident in themselves as a person and/or as a reader?
Interesting discussion, and sound suggestions.
I rarely DNF a book. I try to finish what I start as a matter of principle. It paid off with The Catcher in the Rye. That was a very unpleasant book to read, because the main character is a HUGE brat the entire novel. However, it wasn't until the end of the novel that I learned why the character was such a brat. It doesn't justify his behavior, but it makes the character more sympathetic. Fortunately, it's a short book. Had it been longer, I probably would have DNF'd it.
I do occasionally encounter a book where I start it, but don't have the interest to continue past the first few pages. I'll generally put those books to the side with the intention of trying them again later. I don't talk about these books in my wrap up videos, because I don't want to give an unfair negative opinion on the book when it may just be bad timing.
I try to get 200 pages in before I "formally" DNF a book. I know some books are slow burns, and I try to be patient. Since I've started my channel, I've only recorded 3 DNF's on Goodreads (compared to over 250 completed). Two of them were very long (800 & 600 pages), and I wasn't invested enough to continue. The third was by an independently published author, and it was simply terrible.
Hi John! So good to see you and wow! You read a lot of books. You also have a lot more patience in reading 200 pages before dnfing a book. I dnf about 1-2 books each month. One was a "christian" book and another was a popular booktube book, but I didn't realize it was chick lit when I put it on hold with the library, about a year ago. ??? It was a long time ago and I completely forgot about it. It's one of those lessons of which booktubers to trust in giving information in a review and what they leave out. I don't like books that have affairs. Trying to branch out and read books I normally wouldn't read, well, there's a reason for that. LOL And this same book was the one with excessive cussing between two female friends. It wasn't necessary. And I don't have a problem giving the book a negative opinion for the choice the author made. I refuse to lower my standards just because it's popular and everyone else loved it. imo marital affairs will never be acceptable.
it would be more challengin for independently published authors, especially if it's a first book, I'd be more delicate in the review. Do you do that?
Years ago I would not dnf a book. But now I have so many books and so many more I want to get that I will dnf. If it’s boring and my mind wanders I will dnf. If the writing style I don’t like I will dnf. I tried to read wolf hall a book that everyone loves. I dnf’d it pretty fast because of the writing style. If I am reading a book and there is any cruelty to an animal I’ll dnf. I use to read dean kootz years ago and every book had some death of an animal. Nope no reading him anymore. I tried reading war and peace last year I got to page 100 and couldn’t handle it. Everyone says keep persevering it’s worth it. I haven’t attempted again but I will with a different translation. I recently finished the Josephine trilogy. At first I was bored and not interested. I kept reading and flew through the book. It was over 1200 pages but didn’t seem like it. It was written in diary entries which I don’t really like but it was so good. I read several books at one time. I’ll be reading a book and a booktuber talking about a book and I get that one and start reading it or I see one in a used bookstore and start reading that one. I want to read them all at once. The short story is I don’t have a problem dnfing a book.
Dnf'ing is very freeing and I like that you're able to do so. There are a lot of people who struggle with it. I used to read Koontz in high school, because that's what my parents had. I don't recall animal cruelty in them, but it has been ages. I think the last book I read of his was about Frankenstein. Did that one have animal cruelty?
@@BookZealots I don’t remember very much about his books I read him about 40 years ago. One I remember was a flood and a dog was trying to get out of the water and an alligator got him. I remember thinking the story would have been fine without that in it. I never read another book by him.i love Kevin Costner and I was watching dances with the wolves when it first came out. He befriended a wolf and the wolf was killed I think by deserters of the army. I’m not really sure. That ruined the whole movie for me.
Good considerations for DNFing. I have no trouble DNFing a book. It is the books I stall on (soft DNF) that haunt me.
Do they yell at you Linda? "how dare you set me back on the shelf? I'm worthy to be read!" LOL
back to the end of the line book, you must wait your turn, and next time impress me. (this is me talking to anna karenina, because I really didn't like her. )
@@BookZealots 🤣Love this! Obviously, I need to be more assertive with my books, especially those giving me the stinkeye from the shelves!
@@ThisLittleLightLife LOL Some books are really bossy. Which books are giving you the stinkeye? They might need to go in the corner of the bookshelf. 😉
I dnf books for many of the same reasons. :) I definitely give more leeway to books by authors I respect. Also sometimes the payoff doesn't come till near the end. It should be somewhat possible to anticipate it though. It took me 2 or 3 tries to get into Nostromo by Joseph Conrad, but by the time I'd got halfway it was clear to see the payoff was coming (and it did). Whereas there have been other books I gave up on because I couldn't imagine anything exciting ahead 😅
It's hard to tell when a book will be worth the time and effort put into it. I've only read one Conrad book, Heart of Darkness and it was such a strange book, but the ending ruined it for me. Was he feeling especially sentimental over a girl when he wrote that book? I kept thinking, no, don't do it, no. And he went and did it anyway. I guess the...you have read it right? I think I recall you talking about it in one of your videos. Did you like the ending?
@@BookZealots the ending is strange for sure! I do like HoD but I think it's more of a character study of Kurtz and Marlowe than a proper story
@@marianhreads Interesting. I didn't look at it like that, but it makes sense. Thank you.
With the contradictions, it depends on how it's done. If it seems like the author made a mistake and it doesn’t happen repeatedly, then I don't mind. If it's the character, I usually think of it as a natural human failing. I know I have contradictory thoughts a lot.
Hi Courtney~ We read a lot more nonfiction and so a contradiction is less forgiving, than we would be with fiction. And if it's just the character growth or character change, we are also more forgiving, unless, like you said, it keeps happening. Because then I can't trust the character. And when it's nonfiction, I can't trust the author.
Have you ever recorded a video of your contradictory thoughts?
@BookZealots that's very true with nonfiction and I find it more likely to DNF in that case. Unless the author is presenting known contradictions about a specific person, then I could understand that more so. And no, I don't think I have.
I will DNF a book in a New York Minute! At my age I have no time to waste reading books that I do not enjoy. One of the reasons that I stopped reading Stephen King is because of the bad language. I'm not opposed to bad language but he seems to use bad language as a shock value. I have an issue with one of my favorite authors. Louis Lamour recommends that you read X amount of non-fiction books each year and yet he made his fame and fortune on Fiction? Thanks for sharing. -James
Hi James~ I don't read King for the same reason. If he's such an amazing writer he should be able to write a fantastic book without the bad language. Interesting about Louis l'amour's recommention. Did he have suggested nonfiction books or just a generalization of reading nonfiction. Maybe he knew that it's a good idea to not be a fictional only reader? And I don't think all writers are cut out to be nonfiction writers.
Great clock.
LOL 😁 random, but thank you.
And the content? Because I want to be more than just a pretty clock. 🤣
@@BookZealots Definitely more than just a clock! Yes, lots of reason to DNF and with each year that goes by I worry less about carrying on. Goes list of the reasons why.
@@ReadingIDEAS.-uz9xk LOL Thank you. I had to give you a bad time. It's sometimes challenging to get that across in type. I'm like you. The pushing through a book while I was young didn't bother me as much as it does now. There are just too many better books to read, knowledge to be gleaned, and time is more precious.
I was talking with my son the other day about your books. I hope I'm smart enough to understand them. If not, he's going to help me out. they should arrive this month.
I am also participating in a read along of Peter the great by Robert k massie hosted by John David. I thought I’d let you know in case you want to participate. His voxer group is massie “Peter the great” group
Thank you for letting me know. I have too much going on to participate on this one. =(
@@BookZealots I know me too. This is a book that I’ve had for awhile and haven’t gotten around to reading. I be wanted to read it and this prompted me to start. I don’t know if I’ll keep up since I reading other books too. 📚
@@user-iz6cc6lz3j-Vickie That's wonderful. If you have had the book for awhile, this sounds like a perfect readalong for you. I do not own it and I need to cut back on my book buying for a little while. I have plumbing and electric work I need to budget for. Keep me posted on how you're enjoying the book.