What’s the last book you DNF’d, and why did you decide to abandon it?
That would be Stephen King’s The Green Mile in audiobook format. I wasn’t enjoying it all that much to begin with, in large part because it featured a sadistic prison guard. Then, when it appeared that a very intelligent pet mouse was going to become a victim of this said guard, I decided enough was enough.
I sometimes check out books from the library that I don’t get to before the due date or pick up a book I own and put it down because I’m just not in the mood for it, but I don’t count those as abandoned. I don’t totally walk away from many books, but A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness was a no go for me. I’ve had the series downloaded to my Nook for years, but when I finally started it I knew within the first 10 pages that it wasn’t for me.
1 Like
As I posted in the “what are you reading this week” thread I dnf’d The Complex by Kiran Marhajan. It started out feeling very similar to The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny which I was not enjoying. Trying to read and listen to two books with very similar settings didn’t fare well. I would like to go back and try The Complex once I get Sonia and Sunny out of my system.
1 Like
Lady Tremaine - Slooooooooow, lacked creativity, boring. I gave it far more pages than it deserved.
1 Like
Really! Very interesting. That surprises me, @Gabi_J! It’s long been on my TBR pile (she says, as she surreptitiously moves it to the bottom of the virtual stack…).
Onyx Storm.
The first book, Fourth Wing, was a fun and exciting fantasy romance book with some really cool themes like dragons and magic. But the second book had terrible pacing and could have been 200 pages shorter. By the time I started the third book, I had really started to loathe the main character and the fact that she had become the only character (in a very diverse cast of interesting characters) that did anything of value. She solved every problem, figured out every riddle, strategized every plan ad infinitum., all without help from ANYONE else.
That coupled with just tons of plot holes made it feel like a chore to get through so I temporarily have put it down for a while.
1 Like
lol! You may not want to lose Lady Tremaine too far down in your stack. Lots of people have enjoyed the book. And while I enjoy fantasy, the book was not my cup of tea.
1 Like
Never Whistle at Night. Started pretty well then hit a story that was very sexually explicit and it shut me down. I am not a prude but this was dreadful.
Earlier today, I DNF’d Liturgies of the Wild: Myths that Make Us by Martin Shaw at 20%.
I didn’t know what to expect (I didn’t do much research into the author or anything) but the title had intrigued me – thinking it had to do with spirituality and nature, wasn’t thinking too much about myths. I quickly found it to be tedious and wasn’t enjoying it at all. (What’s his point, what it’s all about? I don’t know.
) Plus, some of his anecdotes put me off. 
This month, I did something I rarely do. . . DNF a book. “Into The Blue” started as a Jenna’s Pick with good reviews and high expectations, but it simply didn’t make it for me. The premise was strong, and the connection between AJ and Noah was powerful. By the time I finished Part I, was hooked, or at least I thought I was, however, as I started Part II it changed. Filled with the art of making a rather strange movie, the “slide” began, and my attention deemed. The more I read, the more frustrated I became. Finally, having decided enough is enough, I simply closed the page and marked it on my reading list as DNF.
I bailed on The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny. I slogged through The Inheritance of Loss (which I didn’t really enjoy) but since LSS was getting such stellar reviews, I thought I’d give Desai a try again. Obviously, her writing style just isn’t my cup of tea. I also threw in the towel on Paul Murray’s The Bee Sting. He’s a really good writer but the story was grim, grim, grim, and I knew it was going to get worse. I just couldn’t stomach it!
OMG I could tell such a story of The Bee Sting. I hate read that book. Worst characters and by the end of the book I wanted to throw it as hard and far as I could. I finished it for book club and pretty much everyone felt similarly.
1 Like
oh that makes me feel so much better! So many people I know loved and raved about the book and I thought I must be crazy!
1 Like
It is probably my age but ALL FOURS by Miranda July. It was a popular read last summer, but it was definitely a turn off for me.