Top Ten Tuesday || Books I DNF’d

Happy Tuesday, readers! Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, and features a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Recent Books I Did Not Finish. I’m actually a big DNF person, but the problem is that when I don’t finish a book, I rarely keep track of it or review it so it’s not the easiest to remember. 😂

Let me look back through my books and try to find some though! I also have two categories of DNF – those that are DNF forever (will never attempt to read again) and DNF for now (might attempt again in the future). 💖🤗

Let’s jump in!

1. The House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward. DNF forever @30%. I just absolutely couldn’t stand the characters and narration in this one. Two of the three POVs were so annoying and difficult to enjoy that I ended up giving up.
2. Brutal Prince by Sophia Lark. DNF for now @35%. This was my first ‘mafia romance’ read and it was just giving me big corny energy. I wasn’t hating the writing or anything and I don’t mind spice in books; this one just wasn’t hitting right at the time.
3. Night by Elie Wiesel. DNF only for now @50%. This is obviously such a great and important book. It’s one that I had to work my way through so slowly because Holocaust memoirs are so emotionally difficult. This one ended up feeling claustrophobic when I tried to read it because what happened was such a tragedy. I’ll absolutely go back and finish this one once I’m in the read headspace for it.
4. NOS4A2 by Joe Hill. DNF forever @20%. I’ve realized I just don’t like Hill’s writing much, which is a shame because I love horror and I’ve enjoyed several Stephen King books. Hill’s writing feels incredibly dated to me and it’s like watching someone write with only the style quirks that I don’t enjoy about King’s writing. Also, nearly 700 pages… yikes!
5. The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas. DNF forever @25%. I tried this one with my book club and several of us ended up DNFing. Just incredibly disjointed and such a slow burn book, heavy on the slow.
6. Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. DNF possibly forever @10%. I wanted to like this one because it was recommended to me by so many bookish friends, but it just was not hitting right when I tried it. I was so confused and the ‘humor’ of the main character felt cheesy. Might try again later, might not.
7. The Secret History by Donna Tartt. DNF @5% and absolutely will finish later. I love dark academia and there’s no way I won’t love this book. It’s right up my alley. Unfortunately I tried to read it while I was super busy with work and gave up really quickly before I could even get into it while my book club went on to enjoy it. I’ll read it soon!

Well, I got to 7 out of 10, not too bad. When I DNF a book it’s usually almost immediately, like the writing style is just not going to work with me, or I read 20-50% of it before deciding to give up. If I read only 5% or something, I never review or rate it. If I read a third or half of it and can’t finish it, I may or may not rate and review depending on why I DNF’d.

⁉️ Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Be sure to share your post in the comments too if you have one!

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