All My 2020 DNFs

It’s the end of the year! Well almost. Enough that I’m just hoping to finish the 4 books I’m currently reading! But I wanted to talk about all the books I chose not to finish this year. This is specifically about books I put down and plan on not picking up again (so The Bear and the Nightingale will not be on this list!)

I’m pretty open about how I DNF books, because I don’t want to waste my time and be disappointed that I spent time reading something I didn’t like. But there’s always a part of me that wonders if I should’ve given it a bigger chance.

So I’m handing it over to all of you! I’ll list out the 7 (or 8?) books that I DNF’ed this year, and you guys can let me know if I should pick any of these back up!

1. The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware

I was listening to the audiobook of this and got 60% in. I found I was just bored, and realized the “smart house” plot was not the source of the thriller aspect.

2. City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare

Yeah you read that right. I’m just going to hide behind a couch now! This one could be because I genuinely wasn’t interested in the story anymore, or because I burned myself out of Clare’s book this year. I read the last two books in the Infernal Devices trilogy right before this one. Then I got 100 pages into this book, was so incredibly bored that I read the plot online lol. Is it worth it to try to pick up again??

3. The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon

Honestly I don’t know what happened with this one. I started it, realized I didn’t remember ANY of The Bone Season, so I decided to reread that. Then the writing style just start to feel like a cheese grater against my skin. I couldn’t do it for some reason, so I DNF’ed it. I would potentially pick this back up, but I’m afraid.

4. Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

Honestly, I’m not surprised by this one. I’m not a historical fiction reader, unless it’s in a fantasy setting. I had hopes this book would be similar to Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood, but it wasn’t. It felt like walking through molasses and I couldn’t do it. I heard it’s very atmospheric, but I wouldn’t know.

5. The Queen of the Night by Alexander Chee

I thought this book was going to be MY book. It sounded so good with a mystery and an opera. But I couldn’t get over the lack of quotes. But honestly the tipping point to me was that an opera singer was smoking a cigar. I read that line, and noped out. But I’m wondering if I left too early?

6. Wolf in White Van by Josh Darinelle

So I’ll admit I DNF’ed this book at 50 pages, but in a like 200 page book, 50 pages is a considerable amount. But nothing interesting was happened, and I wasn’t jiving with the writing style. I looked at the ratings on Goodreads as well, and everyone seemed to hate it so that also swayed my decision.

7. The Fireman by Joe Hill

This again might be the case of wrong book, wrong time. But I fell asleep trying to read this book TWICE. Like I was full awake, read a few pages and fell asleep in the middle of the day. Which is kind of disappointing because I want to love Joe Hill. But I felt like falling asleep was a sign it isn’t for me. I have no idea.

8. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

This one isn’t official by any means! So before all my comments are saying I shouldn’t give up on this one, I haven’t yet. But I might. I’m on page 221, and I’m still kind of bored. I’ve complained many times about my feelings on it, so I feel like I don’t need to mention anything. But yeah in the next few week, this could easily turn into a finished or a DNF.