Is it Okay to Not Finish a Book?

In my life there have been several books that I started and did not finish. Usually, I would abandon a book because of school work, other priorities, or simply loosing interest.

My reading habits have greatly varied over time. I’ll let you in on a secret; when I was five, I told my parents that “I did not need to learn how to read.” I would just memorize the words to the books they read aloud to me. Clever, but ridiculous. Eventually, I did in fact learn how to read and got into it pretty quickly. Once I learned how to read, I loved it. I read a lot of books and would beg my mom to take me to Barnes & Noble every time the newest “Katie Kazoo” was released. I loved to read… until about sometime in middle school. In secondary school, they start assigning you entire books to read, whether you like them or not, and you must finish them.

As a person who does not like being told what to do, this was my nightmare. No longer could I choose the books I wanted to spend my time with. Some of the books I genuinely liked; Great Expectations, Pride and Prejudice, The Lightning Thief, Watership Down, and Anthem. And there were several others that I absolutely struggled through; Jane Eyre, Heart of Darkness, The Scarlet Letter, and Animal Farm to name a few.

Over time, I lost sight of the joy I once held in reading, and once I hit college and was tasked with reading hundreds of pages of textbooks a week— game over. Reading for pleasure was no longer a hobby that filled my free time.

I became an avid writer in college; all of those assigned essays were great practice. I will admit that I love to write more than I love to read, but I am also of the philosophy that great writers read.

After I wrote and published Beyond the Halls, I was feeling inspired by the great fiction writers that I worked with at New Degree Press and decided that if I wanted to be like them, I needed to get back into reading.

I have had trouble resurrecting the passion and finding books that I love and can’t put down. My last passion read was The Glass Castle. I read that book from cover to cover no problem when I was about fourteen. But now that I am free and graduated from standard education— no one is forcing me to read. It’s a double-edge sword because 1) no one is holding me accountable to the habit BUT 2) no one is forcing me to finish books I am not enjoying.

I have been freed from the habit of feeling that I “must” finish a book. It is okay to DNF! (Do Not Finish).

The Female Persuasion was the first book I actively DNFed. Without spoiling it for you, things for the main characters got way too grim. I was straight up not having a good time. So I reshelved it.

I’ve been in a book club reading with some friends since May, and even some of those books I DNFed. I still have a great time having thoughtful discussion about the book and the themes it addresses.

TL;DR— If you’re not enjoying a book, don’t waste your time or make yourself miserable. Reshelve it and pick up something new.