DNF, for the uninitiated, means “Did Not Finish.”
I’m terrible at it.
There have been several books that I simply couldn’t finish, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t bother me. I’ll try unbelievably hard to push through a book, even when I find myself staring at the same page and rereading the same paragraph over and over again.
Putting a book down feels like admitting defeat. I chose it. I paid for it. I started it. Surely I should finish it.
But should I?
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After reading Stoner by John Williams, I immediately wanted to try another of his novels. I absolutely adored Stoner. It’s now one of my ten favourite books.
So I picked up Augustus, another highly acclaimed Williams novel. It even won the National Book Award. I expected another quiet, intimate story told in the same restrained voice that made Stoner so powerful.
That’s not what I got.
Augustus is an epistolary historical novel about ancient Rome, told through letters, journal entries and official documents. The tone, structure and subject matter were completely different. I was still reeling from Stoner, and the contrast threw me.
I couldn’t make it through the opening pages.
I tried. I really did. Eventually, I put it down and moved on.
That doesn’t mean Augustus is a bad book. It certainly doesn’t mean I failed as a reader. It only means that, at that particular moment, the book wasn’t for me.
I may come back to it someday. Maybe I’ll be in a different frame of mind and it will completely capture me. That happens. Sometimes we’re simply not ready for a book when we first encounter it.
There are too many books in the world to spend weeks forcing yourself through one that you actively dread picking up.
But Some Books Need a Chance
There’s another side to this.
Some books take time to reveal themselves. They need room to build their world, introduce their characters and establish their rhythm. If you give up too quickly, you may miss something extraordinary.
I felt that way about Lonesome Dove.
After the opening pages, I remember thinking, “Why am I reading about pigs eating a snake on a porch?”
I didn’t immediately understand what the book was doing or why I should care about these people. It moved slowly. Nothing seemed especially urgent.
But I kept going.
Man, am I glad I did.
Lonesome Dove became one of the most memorable novels I’ve ever read. The slow beginning wasn’t wasted time. It was establishing the characters and creating the world that would make everything that followed matter so much.
If I had abandoned it after those first few pages, I’d have missed the entire experience.
That’s what makes the decision to DNF so difficult. Sometimes a book genuinely isn’t right for you. Sometimes it simply hasn’t become itself yet.
There’s no formula for knowing the difference.
Sometimes It Isn’t the Book
We also have to remember that sometimes the problem isn’t the book. It’s us.
There are periods when work becomes particularly stressful and my brain operates at near full capacity just trying to process the complexities, personalities and politics of my job. During those times, immersing myself in a complicated fictional world can feel like another task.
It doesn’t matter how good the novel is. I may simply not have the mental space for it.
That’s when changing genres can help.
I’ve mentioned before that I often read one fiction book and one nonfiction book at the same time. When fiction isn’t working for me, I sometimes switch to something analytical, such as Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow or Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw’s Universal: A Guide to the Cosmos.
It’s not that nonfiction is necessarily easier. Thinking, Fast and Slow certainly isn’t light reading. But it asks something different of my brain.
Fiction requires me to suspend disbelief, enter another world and emotionally invest in people who don’t exist. When my mind is still locked in analytical work mode, a book about psychology, physics or cosmology can be a better fit. It draws on the part of my brain that’s already active while directing it toward something far more interesting than whatever happened at work that day.
Sometimes escape isn’t what I need. Sometimes I need to remain in that analytical mode but give it something new to think about.
A genre change can preserve the habit of reading until I’m ready to lose myself in a story again.
Don’t DNF Reading
So yes, it’s okay to DNF a book.
Put it back on the shelf. Return it to the library. Come back to it next year, or never come back to it at all. Not every book is for every reader, and even the right book can arrive at the wrong time.
But before giving up, ask yourself what’s actually going wrong. Is the book a poor fit? Does it need more time? Or are you in the mood for something completely different?
And remember, your next book doesn’t have to be a new one.
Sometimes the best thing I can do is return to a world I already love. For me, that might mean Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles, especially The Vampire Lestat, The Queen of the Damned and The Tale of the Body Thief. Or it might mean another journey with Roland and his companions in The Dark Tower.
I already know these characters. I know the worlds they inhabit, and I know how much I enjoy spending time there. There’s no pressure to get hooked or uncertainty about whether the book will eventually reward my patience. I can simply settle in.
Rereading isn’t wasted reading. You don’t have to make every book an assignment in self-improvement or an expedition into unfamiliar territory. Sometimes returning to an old favourite is exactly what reminds you why you love books in the first place.
And if sitting down with a physical book feels like too much, try an audiobook.
I’ve written before about the joy of audiobooks, and this is another reason I love them. A good narrator can carry you into a story when you can’t seem to get there on your own. Listen in the car, at the gym or while lying in bed. You may find yourself looking forward to the next chapter again.
You can even combine the two approaches: listen to a book you already love. I’ve done that repeatedly with Anne Rice and The Dark Tower. Familiar characters take on another dimension when a wonderful narrator brings them to life.
Try another author. Switch genres. Return to an old favourite. Let someone tell you the story.
If you’re struggling to find that next book, these ten places to start reading again offer different ways back in.
Just don’t let one difficult book convince you that you’ve lost your love of reading, or send you back into hours of social media slop. There are too many worthwhile books waiting for your attention, including a few already sitting on your shelf.
DNF the book if you need to.
Just don’t DNF reading.
Books mentioned
This article contains Amazon affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
- Stoner by John Williams
- Augustus by John Williams
- Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
- Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
- Universal: A Guide to the Cosmos by Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw
- The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice
- The Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice
- The Tale of the Body Thief by Anne Rice
- The Gunslinger by Stephen King (The Dark Tower, Book 1)
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