I Am Not the Audience for Some Books.

Well obviously I know some books aren’t for me and I never pick them up. Horror for example or anything scary!  But sometimes I think a book is for me but then…

Sometimes I don’t finish  the book. I found a way of marking them for myself on Goodreads and then they don’t go on my read shelf, nor do they sit in my TBR. These are all books that have been well acclaimed by other readers, but they just didn’t hit me for one reason or another. It was interesting to go back, and see how others found them and what ratings they stand at, at this time.  It was also interesting to reflect on why they didn’t work for me and why I am not the right audience for these books.

I fully expected to like this one, (library book) but I just found myself not able to get into it. I think possibly it was the first person point of view with the constant train of thought process. Another day it might have been for me, but I just wasn’t in the mood. So a good book – a 3.84 rating on Goodreads with over 11 500 ratings.

 

PS I Love You, I gave it longer than I should. While it had an important issue, the tone of the book felt odd and I got sick of the pubs and the drinking so in the end I couldn’t hang in there. I sent it on by donating it to the book fair.  Another good book, it has a rating of 4.2 on Goodreads and over 355 000 have rated it.

I know this one is regarded as a kind of classic, and again I really wanted to like it. But it was just a little too serious and long and dusty for me, so after awhile I decided to donate it to the book fair as well and declare defeat. On Goodreads it has a rating of 4.48 from over 146 000 ratings.

And here is another book I crashed and burned on. On being a little way in I have decided I am not the audience for this book. So far the heroine is whiny and first person narrative has to be really good to hold me. I also don’t appreciate the language, so I am not prepared to commit valuable reading time to it. I am sure though other audiences will possibly be quite happy to read it.  It has a Goodreads rating of 3.85 with ratings from over 1380 readers.

I didn’t write my thoughts at the time about this one so I think I didn’t get very far into it and returned it to the library for more appreciative readers. Maybe I didn’t give it enough chance or could have been too literary for me. Goodreads rating is 3.74 from almost 32 000 ratings.

So books that are first person, chatty style books aren’t for me most likely, nor are some more literary books. They might be suited for you as a reader but they are ones I’ve put down. Possibly for ever, or for another time.

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How Often Do You DNF a Book?

Until recently I have been reluctant to DNF a book, I’d struggle through or speed read (that is skip huge chunks) and call it read. But just this month a couple of things changed my mind about this. I am going to take on a new attitude towards books.

Firstly I read a post by Anne Bogel at Modern Mrs Darcy encouraging readers to not finish books that they just weren’t into.  She argues that five or so hours reading a book is time investment from a reader and so the books should be worth that investment. I’d always thought of the hours spent by the author writing it!

However I can now see that some books just aren’t for me. It’s not that the book is bad, but rather just not to my taste and I made a mistake in choosing to read it. This happened to be with Turning the Pages by Penelope Janu. I liked the idea of it involving the book world and the main character was an author. But… what I found and can own was the writing was very upbeat chick lit and the main character seemed to ditsy around.  I closed that book I am not sure how many pages in and returned it to the library. There is a queue waiting for it on reserve and readers that will just delight in it, but not me. I felt relieved and moved on.

When I have a book that I am counting the pages or looking to see what % I have read, it may be a sign that I am finding it not to my taste. Anne Bogel says to learn from the books you DNF. So I’ve learned and I sort of knew that I don’t enjoy upbeat chick lit romance and to leave it alone to those who do!

It hurts when I’ve bought the book (big OUCH) although Amazon and Audible are pretty good about returns although sometimes I don’t read them for so long after buying I wouldn’t do it.  But I have until now struggled on with the REVIEW  book! However from this day forward I have decided that they too will hit the DNF slot and I will just let the publisher know that. That’s fair feedback I do believe.

I will count the DNF books for 2019 and feel successful if the list is longer than other years because that means I have moved on to books more to my taste and most likely avoided a reading slump. I will be happy to be guilty as charged and be a happy DNFer.

How about you? How often do you DNF a book, how do you feel about that? What was the last book you DNF’d and why?

I am linking up with Nicole at Feed Your Fiction Addiction and It Starts at Midnight. Check out all the discussions for January.