Sunday, December 28, 2014

Say Hello, Wave Goodbye: The DNF Files 2014


I gave up on a lot of books this year.  For some reason, there's no longer that primal urge to hang on and keep reading until blood is popping from the pores on my forehead just for the sake of finishing.  Now, if my brain says it's time to pack up and go, I start putting on my shoes.

None of these books is necessarily bad.  It's true I did some flinging (tree books) or "Delete from Device" with a heavy finger (Kindle), but most of the time, it was just a mismatch of reader/mood/book/timing.

Whatever the reason, I can say with confidence that we are never ever getting back together.

In no particular order, here's my DNF list for 2014:


1. The Enormous Room - E.E. Cummings. (novel)

2. The Biography of a Prairie Girl - Eleanor Gates. (novel)

3. Babe: The Legend Comes to Life - Robert Creamer. (biography)

4. The Wife of Reilly - Jennifer Coburn. (novel)

5. Inside of a Dog: What Animals See, Smell and Know - Alexandra Horowitz. (nonfiction)

6. Effi Briest - Theodore Fontane. (novel)

7. The Mill River Recluse - Darcie Chan. (novel)

8. Godric - Frederick Buechner. (novel)


5 comments:

Sam said...

2014 was the biggest DNF year for me in a while. I quit on 17 books this year...and don't intend to give any of them a second chance. Too many books...too little time, etc. I was so frustrated by most of them that I didn't even bother to keep a list of titles discarded. On to 2015.

Bybee said...

Sam,
I didn't keep a list, either...there might be more. I went back through my Kindle and looked at the things I shuttled off to the cloud.

Janet said...

I haven't kept a list either. I do know I didn't finish the Mill River Recluse either. I set it aside thinking I might pick it up again, but haven't as yet.

Susan said...

I have to say, I don't know any of the books you gave up on! Not that that means they are good or bad or not, just they aren't titles I've come across before. I always feel a little sad when I give up on one, even if I don't like it. I always wonder if it's me that's got it wrong. So kudos to you for walking away and going to get a book you like :-)

Sue F. said...

Interesting to read this post. I don't track books that I have given up on, either. However, I am currently reading Transatlantice and if I wasn't reading it for book group, I would have given up on it by halfway. Since hitting halfway, I am totally taken with it! Go figure.