It’s taken me a long time to finally be as okay as I am with DNF-ing. It was always a tie between worrying that I wasn’t in the right mood and that it really wasn’t the book’s fault and between simply giving up *right* before it finally got good, of course. Occasionally, there are even instances where I’ve listened to the audiobook and it’s possible it would have gone over a lot better in physical. Those are the ones that really bother me (there are a good number of those).
Honestly, it’s really quite simple: we all read for the enjoyment of reading. If you’re not enjoying yourself then what are you even doing? But despite my new (yet still occasionally rocky) outlook on reading, there are some that I can’t help but wonder if I quit too soon.
The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air #1) by Holly Black [Purchase]
Six of Crows (Six of Crows #1) by Leigh Bardugo [Purchase]
Written in Red (The Others #1) by Anne Bishop [Purchase]
A Promise of Fire (Kingmaker Chronicles #1) by Amanda Bouchet [Purchase]
The Last Adventure of Constance Verity (Constance Verity #1) by A. Lee Martinez [Purchase]
Authority (Southern Reach #2) by Jeff VanderMeer [Purchase]
Wolf Hall (Thomas Cromwell Trilogy #1) by Hilary Mantel [Purchase]
The Lake House by Kate Morton [Purchase]
Rotters by Daniel Kraus [Purchase]
Winter’s Tale by Mark Helprin [Purchase]
Alright, so are there any on here that you’d like to convince me to give a second chance to? 😉
Dani
Six of Crows, Seven of Crows, all the crows. Ditto.
I’ll keep you posted on Cruel Prince…whenever I get around to it 🙂
Dani recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday: DNF Too Soon?
Bonnie
Yes, please do. Or maybe print would be better. Who knows.
Bonnie recently posted…Audiobook Sync: Week 7 Titles | Everland & The Just Men of Cordova (June 7 – 13)
Chrissi Reads
I did enjoy Six of Crows, but I haven’t continued with the series. It might e worth giving another go?
Chrissi Reads recently posted…Ten Books I DNF (Did Not Finish)
Bonnie
I might someday. Definitely in print instead.
Bonnie recently posted…Audiobook Sync: Week 7 Titles | Everland & The Just Men of Cordova (June 7 – 13)
Kate @ booksaremyfavouriteandbest
Snap with Wolf Hall. I think I got about a quarter of the way through before stopping. It was a book group selection so naturally I had doubts about stopping when other people in my book group said it was one of the best books they’d read!
Bonnie
It was one of the very first audiobooks I tried listening to so I’ve always blamed it on that. I might try it in print someday… maybe. 🙂
Bonnie recently posted…Audiobook Sync: Week 7 Titles | Everland & The Just Men of Cordova (June 7 – 13)
VikiT
I loved Promise of fire but the rest of the series wasn’t as good also liked Written in red but I can undrestand why someone would DNF it, has quite dry and strange writing and atmosphere.
Struggled through Winter’s take before the movie came out, what I would give to get that 4 days back, was horrible and the movie wasn’t much better either.
Planning on reading Six of crows and The cruel prince but the mixed reviews don’t help much.
Great list!
My TTT: https://fantasyraiders.wordpress.com/2018/06/05/top-ten-tuesday-books-i-shouldhave-dnf-ed/
Bonnie
Written in Red had a really strange narrator and I think that was the nail in the coffin for me. I love Urban Fantasy so I might have to give that a go in print someday.
haha I have heard that about Winter’s Tale the movie too. The book was just so huge that I kept getting easily distracted since it took me so long!
Bonnie recently posted…Audiobook Sync: Week 7 Titles | Everland & The Just Men of Cordova (June 7 – 13)
Olivia
I did not enjoy Six of Crows all that much but seem to be in the minority. I did finish it though. I did love the Cruel Prince. It just clicked with me 🙂
Olivia recently posted…TTT (27) – Top Ten Books I Need to try Again
Bonnie
Hey! You’re one of the few I know that didn’t. haha I really love Holly Black’s stories so I think that’s one I’m going to try in print (I first tried it on audio).
Bonnie recently posted…Audiobook Sync: Week 7 Titles | Everland & The Just Men of Cordova (June 7 – 13)
Tammy @ Books, Bones & Buffy
I loved The Cruel Prince, but you’re not the only one I know who didn’t like it. Anyway, I bow to your ability to DNF, I wish I did it more!
Tammy @ Books, Bones & Buffy recently posted…BEFORE MARS by Emma Newman – Review
Bonnie
I really think I’m going to give Cruel Prince another shot, this time in print. It’s gotten easier to DNF, but the guilt still lingers. 🙂
Bonnie recently posted…Audiobook Sync: Week 7 Titles | Everland & The Just Men of Cordova (June 7 – 13)
Barb (boxermommyreads)
So The Cruel Prince…it was an okay read for me but I think I only have it 3/5. I am curious about the next one though. However, I will say it took me over 100 pages to get into it and I talked for DNF’ing it a lot in those first 100 pages. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Written in Red and think everyone should read it so I’m probably no help on that front. If it wasn’t working for you – move on. But man, I secretly think everyone should love it as much as me 🙂
Bonnie
I think if I remember correctly I DNF’d Cruel Prince within the first 100 pages.. or 100 pages worth since I listened. The more I talk about DNF-ing it the more convinced I am I should give it another shot. haha And man, I wanted to love Written in Red because everyone loves it! I love Urban Fantasy too… I think it was the audiobook for the most part.
Bonnie recently posted…Audiobook Sync: Week 7 Titles | Everland & The Just Men of Cordova (June 7 – 13)
Jo
Ah I thought Six of Crows was really good! The beginning is a bit slow, but once they get to the Ice Court it really picks up.
Jo recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday #162
Bonnie
Yeah, slow beginnings aren’t the best way to convince me to continue reading something most of the time. haha
Bonnie recently posted…Audiobook Sync: Week 7 Titles | Everland & The Just Men of Cordova (June 7 – 13)
Cholla
I rarely DNF a book and will give it a second chance. But if I can’t get into it the second time, I dump it. Too many books out there to waste on a bad one.
Here is our Top Ten Tuesday. Thank you!
Cholla recently posted…Cloud Whispers by Sedona Hutton
Bonnie
I’ll definitely give a book a second chance if I realize I picked it up when I wasn’t in the right mood but for the most part, I’m done.
Bonnie recently posted…Audiobook Sync: Week 7 Titles | Everland & The Just Men of Cordova (June 7 – 13)
Eve
Oh I love Six of Crows! I would vote for a 2nd try on this one! I haven’t started the Cruel Prince yet but it is on my TBR
Heidi
Give Six of Crows and Written in Red another chance. I loved both. I know that it took me a little bit to get into both of them though especially Crows.
Bonnie
I might someday. In print. The audios clearly didn’t do it for me. 🙂
Bonnie recently posted…Audiobook Sync: Week 7 Titles | Everland & The Just Men of Cordova (June 7 – 13)
Joann
I have The Lake House on my TBR, I am surprised to see Six of Crows, that was very popular!!
Bonnie
Very popular yes. Must not have been the target audience. 🙂
Bonnie recently posted…Audiobook Sync: Week 7 Titles | Everland & The Just Men of Cordova (June 7 – 13)
Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies
The only one here I’ve read is Wolf Hall, which I absolutely loved (and its sequel). The writing definitely took me a while to adapt to, but once I got into it, I thought it was brilliant. As for the Southern Reach books… I couldn’t even really finish book #1 — I ended up skimming the last 30 -40 pages just to see if I cared. I didn’t. A friend keeps insisting that the trilogy is amazing and that I need to give the books another try, but I kind of doubt I ever will.
Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies recently posted…Shelf Control #124: The Story of a Marriage by Andrew Sean Greer
Bonnie
I actually really loved the first Southern Reach book. The ending was bizarre but it was really interesting.. the second one just didn’t make sense. I picked up a physical copy of Wolf Hall so I think I’ll try that again someday. The audio was hard to follow.
Bonnie recently posted…Audiobook Sync: Week 7 Titles | Everland & The Just Men of Cordova (June 7 – 13)
Jessica
I’m honestly so surprised to see Six of Crows on here! And The Cruel Prince. I feel like I hear so much about those. Alas, not everything is for everyone, right? I always feel like we don’t finish things for a certain reason. Either we come back to it, because the first round just wasn’t our time, or we don’t and that’s okay.
Part of me wants to say to give The Lake House another chance but I’m pretty biased towards that book and Kate Morton’s writing in general. But, I won’t! 😉 At least not today. *Slides a copy over to you* kidding. Mostly.
Great list! It’s always so fascinating to see how everyone’s taste varies.
Jessica recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday (#11) Books I Decided to DNF too Quickly
Bonnie
Quite right, not everyone is going to love the same thing.
Oh man, I love Kate Morton too. I think it was a mood thing. And a lack of patience. I went through quite a reading slump around that time so we’ll blame it on that. 🙂
Bonnie recently posted…Audiobook Sync: Week 7 Titles | Everland & The Just Men of Cordova (June 7 – 13)
Katrina Southern
I liked The Cruel Prince – didn’t love it. I’m shocked to see Six Of Crows here because I adored it, especially compared to the Grishaverse series which I found only okay in comparison. The others I haven’t read!
Here’s my TTT 🙂