Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.
"Life's too short to read a bad book." --James Joyce
For years, when faced with a book that was either not my cup of tea or a verifiably poorly written one, I would either make myself finish it, or feel terribly guilty not finishing it. This is, of course, a silly mentality-- why waste time reading a bad book when there are so many amazing books out there? Why force myself to read a book that I know isn't for me?
This whole scenario became more complicated when I started to check out ebooks from my library. Now, if I didn't stay on top of a book, if I wasn't motivated to finish it in a timely manner, then the book just disappeared from my e-reader. I no longer had that physical reminder, the book staring at me as I made a conscious decision to stop reading it.
With that being said, I have two categories for books that I did not finish: books that I couldn't finish on time, and books I chose to stop reading.
News of the World by Paulette Jiles
Hidden Figures by Margot Shetterly
These two books are good books-- but I struggled through both of them. News of the World was more literary than I typically read, and Hidden Figures was a tad bit too dry. Since I already have trouble getting through non-fiction, I wasn't able to make progress on the book before it was automatically returned to the library. I want to try both of these books again in the future!
Reader I Married Him edited by Tracey Chevalier
The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest by Melanie Dickerson
These two books are both books I disliked too much to get more than 50% through. Read, I Married Him is a collection of short stories loosely inspired by Jane Eyre and I didn't like any of the stories. The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest was too simplistic of a tale for my taste, and the plot was too predictable. Which is a shame, as the cover was gorgeous!
What about you? Have you recently given up on a book? Was it a time issue or did you not like it?
I rarely give up on books, I used to never DNF, these days I'm trying to not waste my time if I really don't like the start of a book. But I find it hard to just walk away! If you haven't seen the Hidden Figures film, it's amazing and filled with humour, no dryness there!
ReplyDeleteOo I loved the film! That's what convinced me to give the book a go.
DeleteWow, I have heard great things about both News of the World and Hidden Figures. Sorry to here that they were either too literary or too dry!
ReplyDeleteHere's a link to my TTT post this week:
https://captivatedreader.blogspot.com/2017/09/top-ten-tuesday-ten-books-that-were.html
I know, I think that they are both good books-- I just couldn't finish this time. I do want to read them eventually!
DeleteI occasionally DNF, but luckily it doesn't happen too often. Still, if a book's not working for me it's better to DNF because I won't be motivated to read it anyway, and it will sit! Non fiction books in particular I have to be pretty into, or I might drift away...
ReplyDeleteYeah, it makes sense to DNF a book if it's just going to sit and gather dust! Right, there are a few non fiction books that I've really been into, but if I'm not, they are so hard to finish!
DeleteI used to feel the same way about DNF a book. I hated to do it and most of the time I forced myself into finishing them. Nowadays I'll keep pushing just a little bit further and if that still doesn't work, I stop. Life's too short and I have way too many books that want my attention haha. I haven't read any of these but I did see the movie version of Hidden Figures and really liked it!
ReplyDeleteWasn't the movie amazing?? Right, life's just too short for me to waste time on books I don't love.
DeleteI came over to your blog to check out your "Did Not Finish List" but found this post intriguing and besides, haven't read any of your DNF books.. I don't worry about football until after the World Series!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you liked the post! Haha the college football season is so short, I don't want to wait until after the World Series to watch. Luckily there's like 5 baseball games and 1 football game per week so it's not a huge time commitment to watch football.
DeleteThis disappearing ebook is definitely a challenge. I instantly forget all about it! I'm not all that much better about books I've had to return to the library unread either. I've heard Hidden Figures is a bit on the dry side but it's one I think I'd push through with as well. I do agree that life's to short but I have a hard time actually giving up on a book for some reason!
ReplyDeleteI know right? Sometimes when I have a physical copy of a book staring at me I feel pressure to finish it but it's so easy to forget about ebooks! I agree, it's so hard to give up on a book.
DeleteI also have trouble getting through nonfiction reads a lot of the time. I
ReplyDeletehave Reader, I Married Him sitting on my shelf, but I haven't been compelled to pick it up yet. I don't typically have the best luck with short story collections. Sorry to hear you didn't love the book version of Hidden Figures-especially since the movie is so delightful!
You should give it a go! The good thing about short stories is that they aren't a huge time commitment. I know, the movie was so great!
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