To Read or Not to Read? That is the Question

DNF-ing books isn’t as bad as it may feel

By: Srihita Raju

As much as I love reading, I may be the worst person I know at actually starting a book. It doesn’t matter if I saved it to my “want-to-read” shelf on Goodreads, marked its release date on my calendar, and woke up early on the release date to get my work done so I could get in my car and drive to my favorite bookstore to pick it up. I could start that book right away—there’s nothing stopping me. But odds are that it’s going to sit on my already overcrowded shelves for anywhere between a month and several years.

But eventually, I flip to the first page and get started. There’s nothing that compares to getting immersed in a story: the character’s thoughts flowing along the stream of your own, your physical surroundings being replaced by the ones you’re reading. But what about when that doesn’t happen? What about when you’re fifty pages in and you find yourself staring at a wall of text, feeling nothing besides the strain of your wrists from holding up the hardcover that you’ve just spent $27.95 on, the book you spent an hour at the library looking for, or the tablet you’ve been waiting to charge so you could use your Kindle app? 

First off, there’s nothing wrong with calling it quits on a book. Most people don’t have a problem with turning off a movie they think is boring or annoying, so there’s no reason to treat books any differently. And maybe it’s not that you’re not enjoying the book—maybe it’s just not the right time for that book. But on the other hand, there can be something to gain from finishing a book you’re not enjoying. You can take note of the type of writing that doesn’t resonate with you or the plot devices you find boring. Sometimes I’ll do this when I’m close to the end of a novel and feel too committed to call it quits. Personally, I’ve found that I’ve learned just as much from writing I can’t stand as from writing I admire. 

But if you don’t feel that the rest of a book is worth your time, at least not for now, there’s no shame in putting it down and moving on to something else. There are so many books out there and so many better things to do with your time than forcing yourself to read something you’re not enjoying. And if you do decide to finish your book, you’re sure to learn more about writing and yourself. Any time with any book is rarely time wasted.