You wanted to read the book, you were excited to crack it open, you came into it with good faith and anticipation… but you ended up dnf-ing it. Which book and why?
Mine was The Maid by Nita Prose. It was for my book club and looked like a fun murder mystery. Instead I got instant manic-pixie-dream-neurodivergent-girl vibes, and I noped out before the crime scene was even found.
I can’t remember the exact title, but it was a non-fiction book titled something like “Why America is Mad About the Wrong Things”
I stopped early in chapter 2 when I realized it was going to essentially be the same chapter over and over.
While I was taking business classes for a short while, I learned that business books are almost all based around a really cool idea that can be explained in one chapter, that is then stretched into 20 so that it can be sold as a whole book.
The Guest List by Lucy Foley. Approximately 20 pages in, I returned it. The characters, literally every single one, were the most annoying, insufferable people I’ve ever read. I’ve been told that’s the point, and I’m sure it is, but at the time I just wasn’t in the mood to wait to see them to their inevitable ends. Perhaps at some point, I’ll give it a shot again when I feel I have more patience for it.
Sounds very like another of her books, The Paris Apartment. Every character was so unlikeable and every plot point seemed so daft, I got about a third in and quit because I realised I could not care less what happened to any of the pricks in it
The ending was so ridiculous. If you ever wanna laugh hysterically at absurd writing, finish it 😂
So, I can get dnf is did not finish, what is the last d for?
I was in high school and from a garage sale bought an old book on archeology in the middle east. I was skimming the author’s introduction and noted:
“There are several sources for what we know about history. We have written records from those who lived during and after the events. We can, through archeology, study what they left behind. And finally, we have the bible, which is the most accurate source because it is the literal word of God on what happened.”
I rolled my eyes, closed the book, and regretted not being able to return it.
I would read it! Books like that are good for reasoning out sociology. You know, going in, that biblical accounts are at best allegorical. It’s not like you’re at risk of being brainwashed or something
Almost any time I start to say, “it’s interesting,” or “that’s actually interesting,” or similar in conversation it’s like my subconscious has warned people (and me now that I know I do it,) that I’m about to say something that’s interesting to almost nobody but me!
My mom raved about All the Light We Cannot See so I picked up a copy and read a few pages whenever I could. I was about 100 or so pages into it and was thanking her for the suggestion and telling her I really liked it. And then she told me the ending.
NO! This book is so beautifully written and has such a unique story. I’m a big fan of WWII historical fiction and this is one of the best I’ve read. I would recommend still finishing it just because it has such lovely prose.