Reading in Public No. 40: My complicated thoughts on DNFing

This one might be controversial...

I have never been opposed to not finishing books. Even as a kid—even as an English major!—I never had a problem setting books aside. Whether because I didn’t like the book or simply didn’t have time to read everything I wanted and needed to, I have abandoned books regularly throughout my life as a reader.

So I was surprised upon entering the public reading space that so many readers struggled with this. I had never considered that other readers feel compelled to finish every book they start! It’s no surprise, then, that championing the DNF (did not finish) has become a rallying cry—and let’s be honest, good viral content—for many bookish creators. It seems like every week I see people sharing reminders that it’s okay to DNF books. That life is too short to read books you don’t love. That DNFing will reinvigorate your love of books. Many readers need these reminders!

And as a lifelong DNFer, I want to validate these points. We are grown-up readers in charge of our reading lives—of course it is more than okay to DNF a book for any reason at all. Reading is a hobby! You should not feel pressure to read books you don’t want to read or struggle through books you simply don’t like. More than anything, you should never let your reading get stuck behind a book you don’t want to read. If you’re not reading at all because you don’t want to pick up the book you’re in the middle of, drop it now!!

At the same time, I sometimes wonder if the pendulum has swung too far in the direction of the DNF. Again, I am a frequent DNFer! I do not admonish DNFers! But…but…BUT…there are reasons to push yourself through a book. And in a time when nuanced discussions about anything are hard to come by, I don’t see many readers sharing about this side of the equation. So today, at the risk of being shunned by the bookish internet, I’m going to be that person.

Because, yes—I’ll say it again—there are good reasons to push yourself to finish a book you aren’t loving. Do I recommend doing this all the time? No. Would I recommend this to every reader? No. Is this entirely dependent on the person, the situation, the season of life? YES!

But to add some nuance to the narrative, here are some reasons I push myself through I books I don’t love and how this has benefitted my reading life:

1. I am a professional reader and sometimes it is simply my job to give books their due. Reading as a job means I probably DNF or sample more books than the average reader, but, for me, it also means that I feel a responsibility to give the books I do read my best effort. Of course, I focus my content and reviews on books I love that fit squarely within my personal taste. I know this is largely what my audience wants to hear from me and that people follow my content for specific types of books and recommendations. But I also like to read and review books that are outside of my wheelhouse and that sometimes means pushing myself through books I might otherwise set aside.

2. I read for reasons other than and in addition to finding books I love. I’ve written previously about why I like to read books I don’t love, and I know this is largely a product and privilege of the fact that I get to read so many books. Reading is part of my job and when you read 100+ books a year, you’re more likely to be okay with some duds in the mix. But another factor in this is simply about who I am as a reader—finding books I enjoy is only one of the many reasons I read. I also read books because I want to learn about a specific literary movement or genres. I read to make connections between books and see how different authors work through similar themes. I read to consider what makes a book work. I read to become familiar with books and authors that other people think are great and to figure out my own opinion of them. When I’m considering DNFing a book, I often consider why I’m reading that book in the first place. If there’s a reason beyond pure enjoyment, I’ll likely keep going.

3. It expands my taste. One of the ways I’ve been able to expand the types of books I’m into is by finishing books I don’t initially like. It took reading a handful of romance novels all the way through even though I was uncertain the entire time I was reading them for me to learn that romance is a genre I can enjoy. The same is true for science fiction, young adult, and—believe it or not—Westerns. Finishing genre books that didn’t immediately grab me allowed me to understand the conventions of these genres and appreciate what they were doing. Only from there could I begin to understand the specific tropes and styles of these books that suited me. Now I can appreciate books from a much wider range of genres, which means more books to read and love.

4. I can appreciate components of a book in isolation. Sometimes I really struggle with the prose style of a book but I keep reading because I find the plot compelling. Sometimes I don’t care at all what happens in the plot, but I love being with the characters. Sometimes I’m only continuing to turn the pages because I’m unbelievably impressed with the sentence-level writing or the structure of a novel. Sometimes I find a thematic question so compelling, it’s enough to keep me reading an otherwise mediocre book. For me, personally, I read so many books that I don’t need to love everything about a book to really enjoy the experience overall.

5. The types of books I like often contain surprising turns or mind-blowing endings. Of course I can’t predict when a book will take a structural turn, introduce a new perspective, or contain an ending that makes me want to start the book right over again. But there are a lot of great books that do these things! Sometimes, in literary fiction especially, the entire book clicks into place in the last few pages and I don’t want to miss out on that. Some readers might not care about this if the rest of the reading experience was just so-so, but, for me, this can completely elevate a book. If I have a tingling suspicion that the book might make a late-act shift, I will absolutely keep going.

6. Some books might not be “for me,” but are excellent books. As a straight, white reader, my life experience is largely treated by the world of books as universal. As a straight, white, woman reader, I am largely perceived by the publishing industry as the assumed audience for a wide swath of fiction releases. This means that I have grown used to having my identity and experience centered in books. I may also be used to being pandered to (having things outside of my experience explained to me so that I can better understand) in my reading life. But I don’t want to only read books where I am the target reader! By finishing books that I don’t immediately click with, I’ve realized that I can engage with and connect with books in different ways than my early-in-life reading taught me. Not every great reading experience is the same experience—and that’s a good thing.

7. I’ve learned that craft is a construct of expectations. The book that has most intensely impacted my reading life is Craft in the Real World by Matthew Salesses. This book taught me that what we consider to be “good” writing craft is simply a series of expectations that have been developed through our educational and reading histories. This doesn’t mean that there’s no such thing as craft or no such thing as well-done or poorly-done books, but it does mean that the way we define those parameters is impacted by cultural constructs and genre expectations. Completing books that I initially thought weren’t well-crafted or that include “flaws” that typically bother me has shown me that there are many many ways to tell a good story and write an effective book.

8. I want to talk about the book with other readers. This one’s self-explanatory—often I finish books I don’t love because I want to talk about them with all my book buddies! I also find that discussing books almost always helps me appreciate them in new ways even if I don’t necessarily like them more after the discussion.

You may resonate with some of these reasons or none at all—again, your reading life is your own and you get to choose! So keep on DNFing because life is short and there are so many good books in the world. But let’s also acknowledge that there are also plenty of good reasons to keep reading a book. Some of my very best reading experiences have happened when I finished books that didn’t captivate me from the start.

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Happy reading!

Sara