Too hard, too boring, too long, too weird - 10 books I DNFed
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- Опубликовано: 1 окт 2024
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I’m 59 and have been a reader all my life. I’m getting too old to waste time finishing books I don’t like when there are so many to still read!
Agree 💯!
Well said!
Amen
Absolutely!!!!
Amen to that - don't feel guilty for putting a book down if you don't enjoy it - move on.
Embrace that DNF! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 I have a “To Finish” as well as a “Never to Open Again” shelf on GoodReads. 😂
Ha ha love that
🙂
Life is too short to read books that aren't holding your interest! I never used to DNF, but now I do it whole lot more often. No shame in it lol
I personally love the feeling of DNF’ing multiple times only to then *Finally* have the moment you pick it up and are ready for a book.
Controversially probably I had this issue with Dune of all things. I was in my biggest reading drought in my adult life, with way too many distractions for almost a decade. Books for birthdays and Christmas just kept building, but finally I got into Dune properly on the 4th attempt and it rekindled my reading completely.
YES! That's a great feeling!
I didn't like The Blade Itself either. The writing was only OK. Dan Brown is terrible. Ducks is overhyped.
I just can't with Outlander. I've tried a few times because my mother is a mega-fan, but it's not for me.
I think the story and characters are fun, but the show seems a better way to experience them
War and Peace is beautiful. Give it another go some other time. It's daunting because of the sheer length and number of characters, but once you've gone through it, the characters (ik this sounds dramatic) come to life. It's a story about family, friendship, and finding oneself. The characters really stick with you.
For me DNFing is a form of self care. In many instances I DNF a book that has abominable prose (The Maid by Nita Prose most recently) or characters that are just too much (Grady from Wonder Boys was a bit much)
Interesting. THE WONDER BOYS is one of my all-time favorites.
Reminds me. for some weird reason I decided to read some Christian erotica. I felt well I am still young and it was an interesting concept. How would it be presented. Let me tell you it was pretty frustrating . I was waiting for the big sex scene, after 400 pages or so the main female character lifted her shirt and showed off her ankles. Groan.
C. Robert Cargill wrote as a film critic for ten years and now he's a successful screenwriter but inbetween he wrote a pair of books that I found uniquely satisfying works of "fantasy" fiction, Dreams And Shadows, and Queen of The Dark Things. Engaging characters. Unusual plot. Well-constructed twists and turns. But I also DNF Sea of Rust. I guess I don't care what happens to robots in a post-apocalypse. Sorry future overlords.
Same!!
You DNF'd the First Law? Wow. I absolutely love that series. I think if you pus through the first book you might end up loving the series so much.
I absolutely loved Shogun...except the ending. Reading over 1000 pages only to have the battle you've been preparing for all book end up being a "the battle happened and everyone got exactly what they wanted" ending is infuriating.
That does sound a bit crap!
The Shogun mini-series is fantastic. A real shame it’s been forgotten, because it holds up. Beautiful to watch and great characters.
I should watch that
I can't agree with you on this one. I tried to watch the mini series last year and DNFed after the first episode. I found it poorly acted and hokey. Maybe further episodes got better but I will never find out.
I am glad that you liked it.
You have to go back to "The Blade Itself" trilogy. It delivers from front to back.
One of the books i couldn't finish was WILD ANIMUS a book apparently was printed and given out for free,
one of the worst written books i couldn't understand it. not alone on it actually.
I can think several books I dnf, one particular is Catch 22 by Joseph Heller, I keep hearing great things about it, that's it's one of the funniest anti-war book ever written. I tried twice to read this book but I gave up qaurter way through. I have seen the movie.
The other is It by Stephen King, I think I got as far as 400 pages, then surrender maybe it's massive length at over 1000 pages, I just didn't have the patience for it. My daughter read it and finished it, and she enjoyed it.
I've actually read and enjoyed both of those! One of the things I love about reading is that every book is different for every reader
I absolutely loved It. My favorite Stephen King book. Read it in 2 days. Despite the fact I'm the king of arachnophobia.
I have DNF’d Dune twice. I love sci-fi and many sci-fi readers rank this book as one of the best, but I can only make it 100 pages in before I put it down. While I will try it again someday, the book currently gathers dust on the shelf.
It is a pretty heavy book, world-building wise
I think it took me three times to read "Dune." Recommended to me by a friend in high school. Once I did finish "Dune" I read the next two books and then I think two more in the series over time. Never did get back to the series, but I would like to read "Dune" again. Never read any Dickens, except a play in high school of "A Christmas Carol." I am attempting to read "David Copperfield" over the next few months.
I got through the first two but sheesh the third one… thank goodness we can just watch the wonderful films and not bother with the books, sometimes films are actually better 😂
I also had this problem with Dune, although to be fair it was me climbing out of a reading drought for the better part of a decade. But I stuck with it and it rekindles my love of reading eventually. I think It was a ‘me’ problem, rather than the book itself.
You should consider trying The Blade Itself again on audiobook. The narration is hands down the best I've ever heard in the entire format and really makes the books come alive. The series itself is excellent and worth trying again. All the best, Ollie!
Cheers - I might check that out
I love knowing what folks have DNFed. I think it says a lot about a reader. I actually rarely ever talk about my DNFs and this video has me thinking of bringing them up more!
You should do a video!
SPOILER Imaginary Friend
Wise choice to DNF it, after all the build up and atmosphere, to find out it was all some religious nonsense was so disappointing and anticlimactic. It was also way too long, he really dragged out the last half for no reason
Someone else said that! Sounds like I had a lucky escape
Believe it or not, my last 2 DNFs were Stephen King. I can love him, or hate him. Billy Summers and The Outsider I just couldn't get in to.
I have DNFed King many times!
For me, Interview With the Vampire is just impossible to get through. I have made 8 or 9 attempts in the past 20 years. I finally just accepted that I hate it and gave up forever.
8 or 9 attempts feels like it's probably enough. I'd walk away!
Interesting, I loved Interview with the Vampire when I read it as a teenager (as well as the sequels) but I wonder if I would feel the same way if I were to pick it up now, decades later…
There are times when it gets so sloggingly conceptual, particularly when it comes to Louis, and later Lestats deep depressions that you just end up reading through this kind of word/image/concept syrup. I did finish and enjoy them, but I can absolutely understand DNF’ing.
There's too much good stuff to read to waste your time reading junk . I'll give a book 20 pages or so. If I don't like it, out it goes. (Library book sale)
Agreed!
I DNF all the time... I don't have time nor reason to drag along reading something I don't enjoy. I can do that at work 😁 for renumeration
It is actually 'remuneration' (tricky one, that), just so you know...😉😊
We should star a we hate Russian Novelists Club.
I am 100% down for that
👀👀👀 A YA book where the characters are bees? So like angsty, self obsessed moody bees that make questionable choices 👀
Yes I understand about Shantaram although I enjoyed it. Shogun is definitely worth another shot it is a great book and moves quickly. I have to confess I have never heard of any of the others but I guess that is not surprising :)
You must go back to War and Peace! Amazing! Try the Pevear/Volokhonsky translation .
I don't dnf, I just set aside for months or years. That's how I deal with it. Sometimes I forget about them or store them away somewhere.
I think that might be the same thing....
Right before lockdown I checked out book with both A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. When everything shut down three years ago those were the two books I was reading. I won’t go so far as to say I love Dickens, but I remember despising his work when it was assigned to me in high school. As an adult I didn’t think they were too bad.
I DNFd Raintree County for the same reason you did Ducks, Newburyport.
The Brothers Karamazov is on the very short list of the best books I've ever read. For a REALLY HARD book to finish -- I never did and never will -- I give you Wings of the Dove by Henry James.
I used to DNF a lot (lack of discipline) but these days I try harder to finish what I start. But that’s made me hyper-selective about what I’ll pick up next. If a book seems like it could be too dated or potentially dull I won’t even give it a try. 😢
I couldn't get on with Dan Brown period. Oddly, his success spawned a flood of books that had, "In the tradition of Dan Brown" type blurbs, of which I've read a god few... and every one of them was much better than Dan Brown!
Expectations are a huge issue. I've had the same experience with films. The best way of going into a book is cold, but if we don't take note of reviews, and opinions of others, we may never find them.
DNFed Ulysses twice.Joyce!!!
Too Russian? Dude, read Chekov or Tolstoy short stories
4 minutes into the video and you haven't even started - in danger of DNF this video.
Left the video at Shogun which is an absolute page turner for me. Also DNF War and Peace, Karamazov and Great Expectations? I guess we don't have the same tastes in books at all...
Well none of them are crime, pulp or horror....
Finnegan's Wake by James Joyce. Someone said Wings of the Dove by Henry James. Hard to read, like all James. I got through it, but honestly his prose so convoluted that his books are not worth the effort required to finish them.
I've never even attempted Joyce beyond Portrait of the Artist.... which I DNFed
The one Henry James you really should read if you haven't, is The Turn of the Screw. It's short and has a whole different tone (though I love all James' fiction).
I read "Shogun" as a child. My mom had it and I pretty much would read anything I could lay my hands on! Thank you for bringing it up! I want to read it now as an adult from a different perspective. I remember reading "Sybil" at this time too. That disturbed me to no end. But I loved to sneak my moms books.
Wow that's a big book for a kid to read!
The book I DNFed was The Black Prism. The bridge is burned! I'm done with it. I hated it so much that I quited on novels for a while. I'm just reading novellas and truly enjoy it. That's how much I hated that book.
Wow, that's an extreme reaction!
Another one I forgot. The Autobiography of Aleister Crowley. I got partway through that, but the author so irritated me that I just threw the book across the room in contempt.
As a huge Perks of Being a Wallflower fan, Imaginary Friend was SO disappointing. I only pushed through because I liked POBAW!
Glad I didn't persevere with it then!
Interesting video.
I would advise giving the Blade Itself another go, it's definitely not hero fantasy 😂. The audiobooks are amazing also. But book 1 is very character driven (the plot only really kicks in during book2) so if you don't like the characters, it might not be for you.
I also struggled with Shogun and it's introduction of 240,000,000 characters every chapter. But, I'm still reading it, it does settle down just after part 1.
For me the only book I can really remember DNFing was The Well of Assention (Misborn book2)
I’ve yet to try any Sanderson!
Of these the only one I've read is The Bees (which I enjoyed, but I can understand it's not for everyone.) Of the others mentioned, Great Expectations is my favourite Dickens but Dickens isn't everyone's cup of tea. I enjoy Wolf Hall for the history but the style was utterly insufferable.
It's amazing how much influence mood has over reading - I remember thinking Agatha Christie's Sparkling Cyanide was an absolute drag (though I love Christie) and then going back to it months later and finding it a breeze to read. I recently saw someone describe some DNFs as 'this was a lovely meal, but I'm full up now' which is a great way to describe why you can enjoy a book, and get a lot out of it, but then reach a point where you just don't want any more.
Yeah completely agree about the mood thing - it makes a huge difference
I should have DNF'd Brothers Karamazov. I definitely DNF'd David Copperfield. Can't stand Dickens at all.
Dickens is one of the worst authors I've ever read.
I’ve long been a fan of DNFing. I spent my most avidly reading years with my ADHD unmedicated; I simply don’t have the focus to stick with a book that I don’t find absorbing.
Thank you for admitting you didn’t like Wolf Hall. I went through an historical fiction obsession and I wanted to like it so much…but didn’t. Same with Outlander.
Great Expectations was required reading in my junior(?) year of high school. I’m so sure: what 16 year old American can handle Dickens? Why not Jane Eyre? I’ve loved the classic/Victorian TV miniseries (Bleak House, Vanity Fair, Great Expectations, Anna Karenina, etc.) were so good-but too many details to read.
I loved The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Secret History (though the character development was weird: I never did really connect with any of them).
You’ve helped inspire me to get back into reading, though I cursed you throughout Hogg. The Pillowman was practically a tropical vacation in comparison! 😂. I need to get away from disturbing for a while.
Cheers!
Wonderful that you're reading again! I still have to get to The Pillowman but am looking forward to it
I felt that way about Dan Brown after I read The Lost Symbol which seemed to be a mix of all his previous books but his last book, Origin, is really different and really good. It is totally not predictable and doesn't follow the formula of his other books. Just a suggestion but I thought I would let you know.
Oh interesting!
For anyone interested in Shogun they have to be ready for all the sequels. Even you may have to devote a whole year or more to them. All but one are doorstops. I never even started for that reason.
@@Snailslow69 Well, thankfully the Asia novels are more or less standalones. I think I've read three, Shogun, Tai-Pan, and Noble House, and, as I recall, Shogun wasn't really connected to the other two in any way. My personal favourite of those is Tai-Pan.
I fell over laughing when you talked about Dan Brown..... OMG are you ever right, if you look (or cared enough to look) his formula even tells you how many pages you can expect before the next thing happens. I, too, am over DB !!
Oh wow, I didn't know it was that tight a formula!
I DNF'd The Fireman by Joe Hill. And I love his stuff. When I start excessively rolling my eyes, I know the moment has come. Life is too short.
2666 is a great book. I read it about two years ago. But it is big, and I’m with you on how that can make you reticent to start. You’re right, you want to pick the right time for it. It’s a weird book, but really kind of fascinating. Definitely dark and morbid in many parts.
I do really like the sound of it
Not meaning to be a vocabulary n*z*, but reticent means not wanting to speak, while the word you want is reluctant. Just so you know... 😏🥴😊🖖
So glad you mentioned Wolf Hall, I’ve been slogging miserably through the audiobook on and off for months and I felt like I was the only living human who couldn’t get into it. You gave me the kick I needed to finally DNF it 🙂
Just found your channel and really enjoying it, thanks!
Any day I convince someone not to read Wolf Hall is a happy day!
I have the Ducks Newburyport on my shelf since it was published but the size intimidates me. And I have some books that intimidate me I don't even start them 😅 (Infinite Jest, Love in the time of cholera, Don Quichotte etc.) But I will step by step conquer my fear! Thank you for your videos! I am currently reading Cypher thanks to you!
Ah hope you're enjoying the Cipher! I thought it was great!
Give Babel a read. Not overhyped but a gorgeous read set in Oxford University with a little bit of Fantasy but doesn't overdo it. I loved it and will re-read. I don't feel Guilty for DNF'ing a book anymore.
I think I might have that one on my kindle
One relatively recent and well regarded novel I didn't finish was 'Never Let Me Go' by Kazuo Ishiguro, first published in 2005. I had seen and appreciated the 2010 film adaptation (Mark Romanek directing a screenplay by Alex Garland), so already knew the premise and story, but the novel felt padded to me, with the essential narrative revelation needlessly deferred, to the degree that I grew impatient with the author's pacing. I still own my copy, but haven't returned to it since that time.
Hmmm I've always meant to read 'The Remains of the Day' as I've seen the movie several times. Never tried the other.
@@dianevanderlinden3480 I know that's another highly regarded work by Ishiguro. I've neither read the book nor seen the film version, though a late friend of mind found the movie moving.
OMG I didn't know Romanek directed that movie - I'm a big fan of his now disowned first film, Static.
Some people say War and Peace is a great novel, I wonder if people read it for bragging rights though, since not many people have gotten through it? I have lots of books on my dnf list - I am sure there are many I'll come back to eventually.
It's a great novel, no question about that.
I do wonder that sometimes.
I remember reading Shogun when I was perhaps 20, really enjoyed it from memory. Have had an interest in ancient Japan ever since.
Just a few days ago I DNFed The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah-- a very popular book-- after 12 pages! It seemed overwritten & the flowery language annoyed me. I was thinking of skipping passages when I went to Goodreads to see if it was worth continuing. Came across a long, detailed review that convinced me it wasn't worth it & wld only frustrate me further. Feeling both good & bad abt DNFing... Bad bc I had heard great things abt the book & was really looking forward to reading it... Good bc my local thrift store was having a half off sale & I got it for only 25 cents!
Managing to realise a book isn't for you after 12 pages feels like a huge win to me
Yeah, I’ve DNF’d a few books over the last few years. I complete MANY more books that I put down, of course, but every once in a while there will just be that one book that I cannot do. And I’m not that picky of a reader. The main genres I reach for are Horror/thriller and fantasy, though I’ll read some science fiction and dystopian and occasionally even some contemporary stuff from time to time. YA I’ll also read every once in a while as well because it’s fun and easy. But more and more I’ve just been embracing the fact that life is too short and I should’ve be wasting time on books that just do not connect with me. Harvest Home by Thomas Tryon, Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons, and the Devil in Silver by Victor Lavalle are a few that I’ve put down within the last 1-2 years or so. I got a fair way into each one, except Harvest Home, that one is just darn near impossible to actually read, but that’s just me, and I know a lot of people enjoy that one.
*shouldn’t be wasting my time. D@mn autocorrect.
I read Shogun 30 years ago on a vacation to Portugal. It was the only book I took on this trip. That's why I did finish it, because even when it was difficult or dragged at times, I had no alternatives. Nowadays with having a kindle and audiobook apps everywhere with me, I would have never made it through, the temptation to skip to another book would be too big.
💚🖤
Anytime I have a hard time getting through a book reading it myself I will sometimes give it a try on Audible especially if it’s and author I love or a book that a lot of people have said is really great. I have quite a few that I found quite enjoyable through Audiobooks but just couldn’t get into them reading myself an good example is Duma Key I couldn’t read it tried 3-4 times but as an audiobook it’s now one of my favorites.
That's a great idea!
I use the rule of a 100 for all genres except fantasy for which I use the rule of 150. Take my age and do 100 minus that and give it that many pages to hook me. Too many to read and not enough time to slog through boring/uninteresting books. Fantasy takes longer to build up so I do 150 minus my age.
That seems a good rule!
I'm definitely in the camp of DNF'ing books. Only DNF'ed two this year and for very different reasons. Tess of the d'Urbervilles was great, but I just wasn't in the mood for it. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstein on the other hand bored me so much I'd forgotten I'd DNF'ed it two weeks later. One I'll return to, one I'll certainly not.
I liked the fifth season and I've read the entire trilogy, but I'm pretty sure I didn't understand half of what was going on. In the end I just decided to roll with it, and I'm glad I did. It's a good series, but I imagine it will require several reads to fully understand.
Ha! I do think sometimes we just need to let ourselves not understand what the hell is going on
I DNFed Stones of Summer even after special ordering it. While the style is very enjoyable and relaxing, it's also a nostalgia piece for folks who grew up in the 1960's, so a huge portion of the emotional communication was lost on me as a 90's kid. Some of the character's reactions (ranting in non-sequitors, laughing to the point of falling over at literally nothing, reacting as though something profound happened when someone climbs on a shelf, did I mention the non-sequitors? So so many) but the tone is just so pleasant that I'll definitely be trying again sometime.
Keep in mind that how you find a book at one point in time changes with time. And you must get back to Great Expectations! The book is so bizarre and the characters are just fascinating.
I do completely agree that books can be different at different times
I DNF Infinite Jest, but may give it another go one day, super thick and wordy book but had some good scenes. Not my usual cup of tea, either.
I've DNFed that one too!
In the past I felt guilty when I DNFed a book - like I failed or something. I often forced myself to finish some books (which certainly doesn't improve my opinion of them!). Now if a book just isn't working or it's just not the right time for me, I'll DNF. Sometimes I revisit and sometimes not. After all there are a lot of books out there that won't read themselves!
I wish I'd DNFd The Secret History. I dutifully finished it and then wished I hadn't wasted my time.
Ha! we’re all different I guess
I have also tried and failed to read The Blade Itself, many times in fact. Ithink it's partly one of the characters at the beginning, the barbarian one, that I found totally uninteresting.
Yeah it was the same one that I didn't like
I have a few series that i have bought multiple books and have given up halfway through the first book.
Yeah I have done that so many times
When it comes to reading translated works, you might consider the effects of different translations. Older translations can make Tolstoy sound like a middling English novelist with a good education, for example. That style is very distinctive, but it doesn't stand the test of time unless the writer is a genius, like Forster, Hardy, or Conrad. It really muffles Tolstoy's genius. And the first time I tried The Count of Monte Cristo, the archaic style made me give up within three pages. But when I got the recent Robin Buss translation, it changed the experience completely, and it became one of the best reading experiences of my life.
I DNFed Brothers Karamazov when I attempted to read it in my early 20s and somehow it put me off Russian literature in general. I think if I were to try another book by a Russian author, I would have to start with something relatively short. I did enjoy Russka by Edward Rutherfurd although I know it has nothing to do with Russian classics and it is over 1000 pages long so book length is normally not an issue for me.
I do have that Rutherford book (and some others by him) on my kindle
@@CriminOllyBlog If you have ever read James Michener and enjoyed it then chances are you'll like Russka too. It's a similar, historical epic type of book.
Oh, you must try The Master and The Margarita
I have 62 books on my Goodreads 'abandoned' shelf but i admit it took me many years to actually stop feeling guilty about not finishing a book, especially library books, lol
I don’t DNF often. A couple that were not for me: White Noise by Don DeLillo (the style rubbed me the wrong way), and Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (just not into it).
I like to make bespoke shelves on Goodreads. I have an “abandoned” shelf, as well as a TBR shelf for books I own. Helpful at the bookstore.
Yeah having a list of books you have that's easy to access is a great idea
I do DNF books, though I have an interim step I sometimes take. If I'm reading away and find that I've now done 4 pages without the least idea what was on them, but I now have worked out my grocery list, and this sort of moment is occurring often during this book, it's a dnf candidate. If it's a long book, I'll generally set it aside at that point to think of again on another day, maybe. If it's a shorter book, or if I kind of have a wish to know how it works out but no accompanying drive to slog on through, I will start to skim. I'll read with less care and attention, and slide past long paragraphs of description, etc. Sometimes I'll read for a bit more normally if it catches me for a while. I don't credit myself with finishing these, unless I get to the end and decide that justifies my going back and doing it properly, which does sometimes happen. But if I just slide and glide through, I tend to drop that one into the pass-along-somehow box, and not enter it into my "read" listing, and there's - hopefully - an end to the matter. Unless I get truly and deeply stupid and buy the damn thing again ...
Yeah I've had some people talk in the comments about a soft-DNF, where you technically finish the book but the later sections of it are a blur that you whizz through to get it done
One of the books I wasn't sure I'd finish was "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" by Victor Hugo. However, I got into a car ride lasting several hours traveling home, and I had brought the book with me. That was a good setting and incentive to finish the book.
The way the book is set up, you follow three or four separate characters whose stories don't seem to have anything to do with each other for the first hundred pages, or thereabouts. However, about halfway through the book their stories begin to intersect and it is fantastic. If you stick with it it's a rewarding read.
Those are my least favorite type of book like you are reading 3-4 unfinished stories that eventually come together. But…I just read Bull Mountain by Brian Panowich and his side story still held my attention then it merged into the main story in a big way.
Long before the Outlander series, I randomly picked up a library book called "Household Gods" by Judith Tarr and Harry Turtledove.
Same idea of a modern woman taken accidentally back in time, but to ancient Roman occupied Europe. She has amazing adventures and the book is fascinating, also much shorter...
Oh that’s sounds quite interesting! Cheers, Joan
@@CriminOllyBlog you're welcome, hope you get to read it!
go for shogun. One of those books you have to stick at, then are drawn into.
Cheers!
I first read Angels and Demons of Dan Brown’s work. I loved it. Then many years later read The DiVinci Code which I really liked. I think putting years in-between the two probably helped as I did not see the similarities. I read Inferno and do not remember it. Deception Point I really liked as well.
Disappointed that i finished Shogun, it has no ending. Loved War and Peace. DNFed The Stand....it was so full of pointless exposition.
I’ve DNF’d around 10 books in my life. They fall into three categories:
Lost, and not worth getting another copy: Living with the Dead by Rock Scully, and The Rise of Silas Lapham. Neither were terrible, but once I lost them I decided it was fate.
Put down, but might come back to at some point: Finnegan’s Wake, Tristram Shandy. These are both books with basically no forward impetus. You could pretty much open them at random. Enjoyable for a few pages, and then I start wondering what it’s for.
Almost certainly not getting another shot: The Yawning Heights by Zinoviev, a Soviet dissident. It’s a huge satire that went entirely over my head, and was both incredibly dull and incomprehensible. The Adventures of Angie March by Saul Bellow - a book where the writing itself seems to be the hero, and it just got too annoying. Phenomenology of Mind by Hegel - bad philosophy that tries to cover up how bad it is by being terribly written. And Insurgent by Veronica Roth, the second of the Divergent series, which is so stupid that I could feel myself getting dumber with every page.
LOL at Divergent!
I walk out of movies, theatre productions, and dnf books. I've not enough time on this planet to be bored which I consider to be the cardinal sin of entertainment.
Well said!
I couldn't bring myself to walk out of a live theatrical performance, unless some kind of emergency necessitated it. I would be too anxious about hurting the feelings of the performers and disturbing fellow audience members. Of course, I very rarely attend live theatre, so I'm not faced with the dilemma on any regular basis to begin with.
@@barrymoore4470 I walk out only at intermission so not to disturb those around me. But I have had friends upset with me for doing so on occasion when they are in the show. I don't want to but some productions are just too dreadful to waste time with them.
@@Jesterdoggie That clarification was certainly reassuring.
I have a friend who described a stage production he once attended, directed by a friend of his, and starring the director's wife, that my friend found embarrassingly bad. He cringed at having to go say hello to his friend the director after the performance, and feign some kind of appreciation that wasn't sincere. He doubtlessly would have preferred to have left that one early himself.
Old paperback books should've been called pocketbooks. We think of them as inferior, but they were a write style. People could put one in their pocket, an pop it out in their free time out of the house. Lunch, the bus ride home? Sure. Funny thing is, they were always engaging.
Yeah there is something wonderful about a book you can fit in your pocket
Millions of mass market paperback books have been printed in the US under the publisher imprint “Pocketbooks”. Their logo is a kangaroo (because, pocket 😉).
DNF is fine if if the books are not part of the Canon. Some books deserve the effort. Much like running a Marathon you cannot progress if you refuse to put in the effort.
I agree--not all great literature is necessarily easy reading, or even pleasurable in the usual sense. But these are works that have become integral parts of the larger culture, and we gain a keener understanding of that culture by becoming acquainted with them.
Do you have any books or authors that everyone else seems to like, but you don't?
Hmmmmm, I'm not sure!
I don’t DNF as often as I should. I have 19 books on my DNF shelf on Goodreads. There are other books I’ve picked up and the timing was wrong or I couldn’t give my full attention- Wolf Hall, The Secret History. So I’m grateful for March of the Mammoths which relooks at how we tackle big books and the pressure to get out reviews or thoughts on popular books. For slower readers, the pressure to read x books in a week is often unrealistic. So now I’m all for reading bigger books and taking my time, can give updates as I read whilst reading books with faster pace.
Good luck with March of the Mammoths!
It took me 3 attempts to finish The Blade Itself. I’m more of a sci-fi reader. However, I then blasted through the two sequels. I’d recommend revisiting.
Good to know!
@@CriminOllyBlog I tend to be more of a 'will revisit when in the mood' rather than outright DNF sort of person.
Great video. Half of all the books you DNF are some of my favourite books 🤷🏻♂️. I do love a really chunky book though.
Ha! We're all different - and I am pretty sure I'll get through at least some of them one day
Still struggling with Stangers on a Train. I try to read it every night and I pick it up with dread in my heart. I've never felt this way, but I can't quit. I just cannot quit.
Wow - sorry you dislike it so much!
Awesome video. Great hearing you go through these books. I liked Fifth Season but I definitely found it hard work. I think it’s at the limit for me; something I may have DNFed if I hadn’t have persevered. I didn’t get the point of the 2nd person style either in some of it. Funny that The Blade Itself was one of the few buddy reads I’ve done. For me, it took ages to lock in but was rewarding by the end of it. I loved Sea of Rust hahaha genuinely loved it - but I struggled with a fantasy book of his.
Cheers Gareth - I think I'll definitely try SOR again
I totally agree that readers should DNF when a book isn’t working.
2666 is magnificent. It is possible to read it as five shorter novels.
Maybe I'll try it that way!
I read Angels and Demons shortly after reading The DaVinci Code.
Definitely a bad idea. I can't speak for any of his other books, but those two are basically the same book and TDC was the better version, imo.
If you do get your fantasy sea legs back, it might be worth giving The Fifth Season another shot.
From what I've heard about The Blade Itself, I'm not sure "heroic" is a good descriptor.
Yeah I think I got my fantasy sub-genres muddled up!
Maybe it’s me but I get scared of DNF. I try to finish every book. Also because I have FOMO lol
But think of all the books you're missing out on while you finish that book!
@@CriminOllyBlog Fair point.
I don't give up on books easily enough, unfortunately, and thereby waste quite a lot of time persevering with stuff I'm not particularly enjoying (most recently 'The Electric Church' by Jeff Somers). I did give up on Richard Laymon's 'Dark Mountain' the other week though, and I've returned S.M. Stirling's 'Conan; Blood of the Serpent' to the shelf to (hopefully) be revisited later.
omg Lauline Paul is amazing. Her book POD was a brilliant read.
Idiot Gods about orcas was also brilliant. Its published under a different title now. Can't remember the author.
It's funny... Around 20 years ago, my wife went into a Barnes & Noble, looking for something to get her interest in reading back. Some nosy and overexcited guy that worked there kept trying to talk to her and was asking what she was interested in. Whatever it was she told him, he excitedly recommended The Secret History as just what she was looking for. It was not. It bore no similarity to anything she had described being interested in. (Years later, it turns out she was really interested in reading urban fantasy and light female detective novels, followed by a descent into the bowels of shitty reverse harem and enemies-to-lovers garbage romance fiction.) This was before she too began to DNF books.
Anyway, "The Secret History" is still a shorthand for something unbelievably shitty for her.
Apparently, people like to hype up that book and give the wrong impression about it, to its detriment.
I have a private reading blog (well, one markdown file for each year), where I note what books I bought, what books I started reading, and what books I finished reading (dates for each), and then notes for each book I finished reading (what I liked, didn't like, knew about it before, thoughts it sparked in me). I should probably do that for the books I start and never finish, because often the reason I don't finish a book is "wasn't in the mood for that kind of book, not that it was terrible.
The Fifth Season is interesting. I read it recently, and I did not love it, but I finished it, and some of the reason I didn't love it was that a lot of the plot didn't land for me. I persevered and read the second book, and within a few chapters much of book one started making sense and my memory of it flipped, and then I loved it. It was weird, because I know I didn't care for it when I had just read the first book. The author took a gamble on world building where you tell about the world from the point of view of people living in it, no cheats or asides, and this failed to hook some of us enough. I respect that attempt, I'm really tired of "here's a whole world but somehow the people living in it know exactly what to say to people that didn't grow up inside it". And yet I was frustrated a bit with Jemisin for doing exactly the right thing, or at least the thing we as readers say "I really wish the author would do this".