Page 2 | What were your last few DNFs? And why?

IceIceBabyBump · 2025-06-21T13:08:55+00:00

> The Witches of Vardo by Anna Bergman. I got to a point in the book where the characters were just walking between building every day. I could also feel heroics brewing which I hate in books. > Atonement by Ian McEwan. I got 60-pages in and nothing had happened yet. Dense description of bugger all. Boring.

FranticFrankie · 15/08/2025 14:25

Latest DNF- Shuggie Bain. Dreadful
DH liked it though

Bonden · 14/08/2025 10:15

Dappy777 · 13/08/2025 18:33

Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain. The whole time I was reading it I felt I was missing something. I could sense that it was meant to be comic, and that I was meant to be finding certain passages humorous or absurd. The problem, of course, is that you lose so much in translation. I'm not a fan of translations tbh. So much is lost. It's sad, because it cuts you off from much of the world, but it's just a fact. Think of English-language books. How could you translate a line from P. G. Wodehouse like "what ho my old crocus," or a line from Dickens like "what larks Pip" into, say, Russian or German? You can't. You lose the essence or feel of the words.

I'm told that Mann does great dialogue, and that the novel is full of interesting debates on philosophy and politics and so on. But there are plenty of English-language writers who play with ideas and write clever and interesting dialogue (Oscar Wilde, Aldous Huxley, Iris Murdoch). I don't need Mann.

Ah yes I DNF that either - but relished Buddenbrooks

weareallcats · 14/08/2025 09:52

Quite a few recently!

The Safekeep (agree, dull)
The Lamb (cannibalism not for me)
The Modern Fairies (too many characters)
The Mourning Necklace (did not like the writing style)

Also The Sundial by Shirley Jackson, who I usually love, but I couldn’t get into this one.

EssentiallyDecluttering · 13/08/2025 22:23

Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton. Waterstones were pushing it last month and our book club picked it. Boring, boring, boring. I am just not that interested in hares.

StanfreyPock · 13/08/2025 22:21

IceIceBabyBump · 30/06/2025 08:01

I trie to read Shantaram years ago. I didn't have a bloody clue what was happening, so much drivel. I gave up on that about 100 pages in. It's absolutely gigantic too!

Ugh, Shantaram, like being cornered by some hideous hippyish bore insisting on telling you the story of his life, yawn...

My most shameful DNF is Hilary Mantel's A Place of Greater Safety. I've read all her other books many times over and love her writing, but just get overwhelmed with all the characters and complicated events. I suppose it was the French Revolution after all!

Peggydragon · 13/08/2025 22:17

EllatrixB · 29/06/2025 23:14

I enjoyed Still Life! Also liked We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves.

I think my last DNFs were Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisey and Regeneration, by Pat Barker. I didn't dislike either, but just sort of had no impetus to keep going with them, which I guess is basically the same thing 😁

I did quite enjoy a book I can't remember the name of by Michelle Zauner (the singer from Japanese Breakfast) and also the prequel to We Were Liars - also can't remember what that was called. God it's no wonder I struggle to get through a book!!

The worst book I've ever read was Shantaram by Gregory David (Michael?) someone, and that was SO awful that I finished it out of fury alone.

You've reminded me that Shantaram is sitting unfinished on my Kindle.

I just don't understand how books like this (and The Salt Path ) garner such glowing reviews and recommendations.

Peggydragon · 13/08/2025 22:02

InTheCludgie · 21/06/2025 22:57

All Fours by Miranda July. Felt sure i would love it but I gave up about 100 pages or so in as it was getting progressively weirder and weirder.

I would never DNF books and would see them through to the bitter end but with a wishlist over 600 books long, life really is too short

Oh no, I'm reading this now and enjoying it!

My most recent DNF was The Salt Path - before the Observer investigation was published.

I was stumped by the huge hype around it - poorly written and even in her own book Raynor Winn comes across as unlikeable and an unreliable narrator.

Newgirls · 13/08/2025 22:01

I gave up on butter too! So slow.

Sid9nie · 13/08/2025 21:52

DNF The Safekeep. Predictable and slow. Loved The Gods of the Woods by Liz Moore.

TwistedKeys · 13/08/2025 21:28

TwistedKeys · 29/06/2025 22:27

The department of sensitive crimes by Alexander McCall smith. I found the characters unlikeable and didn’t care what happened to them or if the murder was solved. Felt a bit too ‘try hard’.

Yes! I got to chapter 4 and thought ‘I don’t like anyone in this book’ and I felt like I was being lectured. I returned it to the library with much relief.

Dappy777 · 13/08/2025 18:33

Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain. The whole time I was reading it I felt I was missing something. I could sense that it was meant to be comic, and that I was meant to be finding certain passages humorous or absurd. The problem, of course, is that you lose so much in translation. I'm not a fan of translations tbh. So much is lost. It's sad, because it cuts you off from much of the world, but it's just a fact. Think of English-language books. How could you translate a line from P. G. Wodehouse like "what ho my old crocus," or a line from Dickens like "what larks Pip" into, say, Russian or German? You can't. You lose the essence or feel of the words.

I'm told that Mann does great dialogue, and that the novel is full of interesting debates on philosophy and politics and so on. But there are plenty of English-language writers who play with ideas and write clever and interesting dialogue (Oscar Wilde, Aldous Huxley, Iris Murdoch). I don't need Mann.

EmpressaurusKitty · 13/08/2025 11:18

IceIceBabyBump · 13/08/2025 10:08

I've recently given up on "Jude the Obscure" by Hardy. Just boring.

I don’t blame you. Hardy is really depressing.

I gave up on Evelina by Fanny Burney. It could have done with a good editor.

DoctorMarten · 13/08/2025 10:11

Little Fires Everywhere was sooooooo dull.

Original poster

IceIceBabyBump · 13/08/2025 10:08

I've recently given up on "Jude the Obscure" by Hardy. Just boring.

OP posts:

Original poster

IceIceBabyBump · 13/08/2025 10:08

Bonden · 12/08/2025 18:55

I DNF that absolute pile of drivel, Hamnet.

I hated Hamnet too. Drivel is a very good description.

I just don't get the love for it on here.

OP posts:

Honnomushi · 12/08/2025 19:07

The Library at Hellebore by Cassandra Khaw. So much chopping about between time lines made it very hard to follow the plot or relate to the characters. For something which was really gory it was really dull.

Bonden · 12/08/2025 18:55

I DNF that absolute pile of drivel, Hamnet.

Bonden · 12/08/2025 18:52

EverythingIsComputer · 27/06/2025 11:52

I couldn’t finish ‘The Safekeep’ by Yael van der Wouden, found it so slow and dull. Saw it’s won yet another prize. Did anyone else read and enjoy it?

My personal book of 2024 - absolutely loved it. The OP may too as it meets her criteria.

Hellohah · 12/08/2025 18:51

@alloutofcareunits I think I'll pass on the focus on a mother's breasts haha!

alloutofcareunits · 12/08/2025 18:17

@Hellohah it’s very popular so maybe you’ll like it, I was having to force myself to read it, I always look forward to going to bed and reading but found myself phone scrolling because I didn’t want to read it, that’s when I decided to just quit it!

Hellohah · 12/08/2025 16:40

alloutofcareunits · 12/08/2025 15:25

I very rarely give up on a book, but I hated A Prayer for Owen Meany I simply had to stop about 1/3 of the way through. I keep reading that the end is worth it, but it just couldn’t be! The descriptions of his voice, the focus on the mother’s breasts …. Just awful

I ordered this from the library and then forgot to pick it up. I don't think I'll bother now haha!

alloutofcareunits · 12/08/2025 15:25

I very rarely give up on a book, but I hated A Prayer for Owen Meany I simply had to stop about 1/3 of the way through. I keep reading that the end is worth it, but it just couldn’t be! The descriptions of his voice, the focus on the mother’s breasts …. Just awful

swampwitch0 · 12/08/2025 14:20

Reconstruction by mick herron.
I love the other Slough house books but I just couldn't get into this one.
I also dnf mort by terry Pratchett - this is thd 3rd book of his I've tried to read (sorry, I know he has many fans!) but I just don't find them funny.

QueenoftheTambourine · 12/08/2025 14:16

Wafflefinder · 12/08/2025 11:14

I’ve just given up on Villette by Charlotte Brontë after reading about a fifth of it. I adored Jane Eyre, but I don’t speak any French and such a large portion of the dialogue being in French is the reason I’ve given up.

It's my favourite novel (and, IMO, far superior to JE)-- but as I speak fairly fluent French, I'm not even sure I registered that enough of it was in French to put off a non-speaker!!

Wafflefinder · 12/08/2025 11:14

I’ve just given up on Villette by Charlotte Brontë after reading about a fifth of it. I adored Jane Eyre, but I don’t speak any French and such a large portion of the dialogue being in French is the reason I’ve given up.