The introduction of a Did Not Finish shelf on the popular website Goodreads has given readers a chance to announce — and not just hide — the books they decided weren’t worth their time. After publishing an article on DNFing this week, we asked New York Times readers for their own opinions: when to cut your losses, when to stick it out, and how to make the calculation. More than 1,000 people wrote in; a sampling of their edited responses follows.
I Stopped and I’m Glad
I could not finish “Demon Copperhead.” I love Kingsolver’s other books, but this one was just relentless trauma, bleakness, heartbreak. Several of my friends agree, but have urged me to finish it. I just can’t. — Terri Ann Pollock, Seattle
The only one in recent memory that I’ve had to abandon was Samantha Harvey’s “Orbital.” Booker Prize or not, I thought it was such a boring, glacial slog. — Pal Moore, Austin, Texas
I stopped reading after the very first paragraph of “The Da Vinci Code.” It ends with the worst sentence I had ever read. — Robin Middleman Filepp, Brooklyn, N.Y.
I Kept Going and I’m Glad
I always finish books for my book club. I believe that’s part of the deal, and disrespectful to the group and the one who recommended it if you DNF. This way I have enjoyed and often learned so much from books I would never have picked up myself. — Ann Caswell, Seal Cove, Maine
I struggled through two “classics” lately — “Dune” and “The Crying of Lot 49” — and my opinion of each was a little better upon finishing them. That being said, I still very much disliked both. My reason for finishing? I needed to know for sure. — Matt Sulem, Westbrook, Maine
One book I can remember giving a second chance to is “The Correspondent,” by Virginia Evans. My first thought was that it was a gimmick, which won’t even get me past the dust jacket. But then my friend told me it was book about a woman in Maryland, who writes letters to her friends, and wasn’t I a woman from Maryland who reads an average of 150-165 books a year and who writes an average of 135 letters a year? So I gave it another look-see and oh, my! It was one of the best books I read all year. — Dorothy O’Brien, Walla Walla, Wash.
For those who continue reading to the end of books even when we hate them — especially when we hate them — finishing can be extremely satisfying. We can then expound at length on why precisely we despised the book so. It’s excellent for cocktail party conversation. — Susanna Beacom, Brooklyn, N.Y.
How I Decide
I have long followed a 100 page rule. If I’m not enjoying a book by that point, I’m done with it. Reading is for pleasure, people! (Well, unless you’re in academia.) — David R. Wohl, Tucson, Ariz.
In fiction, I give 50 pages. I also can’t read novels featuring people with dopey names. — Maria Theresa Stadtmueller, Vermont
I have no problem DNFing books I checked out from our library. Books I have bought stick around despite my qualms … like a troubled relationship. — Bruce Rolfsen, Alexandria, Va.
If I don’t like a book I start reading ahead and dipping into chapters, then I always read the final chapter to find out what happened. The latest one of these was “The Jewel in the Crown.” Beautifully evocative writing, but there was a sentence that was a whole page long, and it was describing a bathroom! The whole book was like that. Beautiful, but not for me. — Emily Huntington, Wellington, New Zealand
I’m an author. Please don’t finish one of my books if you’re not enjoying it. It won’t hurt my feelings. I love the rule of 50 by the librarian Nancy Pearl: If you’re 50 or younger, read at least 50 pages. If you’re older, subtract your age from 100 to find your possible stopping point. We only have so much life left. — Michelle Hoover, Arlington, Mass.
If by page 10 I find nothing to like about a book, I quit. Don’t tell me I need to finish. I’m 73. I’ll do what I want. — Diane A. McGuire, Bridgewater, Mass.
I’m Not Giving Up!
Currently I’m debating whether to DNF “The Savage Detectives” by Roberto Bolaño. I’m on page 89, annoyed, bored and disliking the translation. I keep hoping it will get better. — Lynn Nill, Shorewood, Minn.
My most hated book is “The Sun Also Rises.” I hated it in college, then felt I should read it again in my 30s because maybe I needed more life experience to appreciate it. I threw it across the room. I read it again in my late 50s because surely now I would have a more evolved perspective to enable me to appreciate the masterpiece … and created yet another dent in the wall. I have finished it now three times, hated it each time with a newfound perspective of my life experiences. I’ll try again in a few more years. — Cynthia Kessler, Kingsport, Tenn.
OK. I’ll come clean. I did not finish “Finnegans Wake.” But those 20 or so pages that I did read were amazing. Maybe I will read a few more if I’m ever stuck … — David Arnow, Brooklyn, N.Y.
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