There are two types of readers in this world: those who read every book they ever pick up from cover to cover, and those who can easily set what they are reading down after a few pages and never look at it again. The acronym “DNF” is widely used in the book community when one does not finish the book they are reading. It’s controversial, it’s a little unsettling, but it’s a necessity that must be done every now and then.
The same can be said for other highly debated reading habits. Whether it’s highlighting in a physical copy, cracking a spine, or dog-earing the corners of pages, some reading habits just make life easier. Does it feel wrong? Maybe a little, but it is not the end of the world. Are some worse than others? Absolutely. Because I know for a fact that purposefully cracking a book spine is much worse than deciding to DNF.
Like many readers, I used to be very opposed to the idea of DNFing. I needed to finish each book I started or else it just would not feel right. And I wanted to steer clear from any book staying in my Goodreads “currently reading” library– if you use the site, you know how annoying that is. Even when I hated a book, I would push through to the very end. I thought I needed my focus to be solely on a single story. I did not want to possibly offend the author by not appreciating their work. Over time I realized I was wasting so much time and missing out on reading books I could genuinely enjoy.
It usually does not take long before you know you want to DNF. If you do not care about where the story is going and are not meshing with the characters it is more than okay to say goodbye early. While you might fall in love with the book later on, the chances of that happening are pretty slim especially when your heart is not in it in the beginning.
Books range anywhere from 50,000 to 110,000 words. That can be a lot to take on. DNFing one book does not mean you have to do so with every book you read. Sometimes you just need to move on and that should be more accepted in the reading world!