Hey Bibliofriends,
Happy Tuesday! This week’s Top Ten Tuesday prompt is Petty Reasons for DNFing a Book! I have to be super honest here, I’ve only really DNF’d two books in my life. Those books which I’m finding a bit of a drag, I seem to abandon in a pile on the floor until I get too annoyed with the pile and then eventually pick them up to finish them off. Therefore, this post has been quite difficult to compile – however here’s some reasons (I may not get to a full 10!) for why I might put a book down for a bit of a break, or why I’m inclined to give the book a quite low rating. If you don’t already know, Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly, list-themed book prompt hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.
Petty Reasons for DNFing a book, putting it down for later, or giving it a low review score!
The main character is grating on you: Sometimes you come across a character that no ability on this earth can make you bond with them. It could be that their narrative seems whiny or sycophantic or their whole personality and perspective just jars on you. I find it incredibly difficult to plough through a read if I’m not bonding with the MC.
The story isn’t going anywhere: Have you ever read one of those books which seems like you’re reading the off-air parts of a reality TV show where nothing actually happens? This is one of the biggest reasons I’ll give it a low score, especially if the dialogue is meaningless drivel and the plot is minimal.
Books that try too hard: Somewhere along the line you come across that book that seems to be yelling “PICK ME, LOVE ME!” right into your face. Then the storyline is filled with millions of tropes, none of which are original or stylishly interwoven into the story and the whole thing ends up making you roll your eyes with the turning of every page – I find those books particularly hard to persevere with.
Catfish Books: These are the books that say they’re one thing and then they’re not… You’re expecting tons of thrilling history references, links to an exotic country and an ancient civilisation – yet when you get there it turns out all you’re getting is a romp in the jungle…
The writing is overly complicated: We can’t all be Tolkien, expertly winding juxtaposition through our narratives, but sometimes using tons of fancy words to describe the most basic of things just disrupts the reading pace of the story and interrupts my reading flow. It’s a slog to wade through all of the garble.
Copycat Reads: Rarely (but sometimes) I’ll be reading a book and get this sense of deja vu – as if I’ve read it before. Then it twigs that I haven’t actually read it but the story is so similar to a book that I devoured I begin to question whether I’m reading someone’s fanfiction from the story I loved so much.
The ending let-down: If you’ve ever read a brilliant book which keeps you on the edge of your seat but then catastrophically unravels all of that good work in the last 30 pages – you’ll know what I’m talking about!
That’s it! I can’t quite get to an out-and-out 10 reasons to DNF a book or give it a low rating – sometimes if you just don’t gel with it, you just don’t! What are your main reasons for DNFing a book or giving it a lower rating? Feel free to leave me your link so I can visit your own TTT post! As always, drop me a comment to chat!
T xx
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