Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge discussion

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What if you don't have books you didn't finish?

I don't have a DNF book ... might just do the next book in a series that I haven't finished yet, instead

Julie wrote: "I don't have a DNF book ... might just do the next book in a series that I haven't finished yet, instead"

That's a good idea. I never considered that.

Uuuuuuugh. UUUUGH. Fine. I won't name names, but at least my pick is a graphic novel, and only 128 pages. Surely I can struggle through that.

The Historian, I'm looking at you....

Honestly, thank you to the library for forcing me to DNF books so I don't have to return to a book I DNFed because I hated it. WHEW.

I'm going to take advantage of the fact that the dialect of English that the challenge is written in doesn't distinguish between between singular and plural 'you'. I'm going to treat this challenge as in the plural, and read a book that someone else doing the challenge has DNFed. After all, Book Riot tends to play fast and loose with their own definitions (plus, DNFing books is self care).

So, please, name names.

If anyone else wants to do the same, here are some books I've DNFed:

Life After Life
The Unbroken
The Children's Book
Prospero Lost
Escaping Exodus

I cannot recommend any of these books, but they may appeal to people with different tastes.

So I use a "paused" shelf for books I didn't finish but would like to come back to at some point, but if I'm being honest it's just a dnf shelf. So here are some I'd like to come back to.

My Soul to Keep by Tananarive Due
American Baby: A Mother, a Child, and the Shadow History of Adoption by Gabrielle Glaser
Perfect Little World by Kevin Wilson
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

I have literally only dnf’ed one book in my entire life and it was vile so I’m definitely not going to finish that.

I’ve chosen to go with the creative interpretation of reading a book I ‘did not finish’ in 2022. I’ve just started a fairly long book so I’m sure I won’t finish it before New Year’s Eve, and it will be a nice way to tick of my first prompt for 2023 😇

I have so many DNF books that this one'll be easy 😂 I think I'll go for Circe, Crying in H Mart, or Yolk

Julie wrote: "I don't have a DNF book ... might just do the next book in a series that I haven't finished yet, instead"

I may do this as well. The very few books I've DNFed have been for a reason, but there are a lot of series I've loved the first book(s) of but never got around to finishing.

I rarely DNF a book, and when I do it's because I never want to see it again. So this is definitely not going to work for me. I like the suggestion of reading the next book in a series I never finished. That is like DNF'ing a series, so I'll do that.

The Starless Sea is one of mine, too.
The YA book about the girls that were being trained to be ladies, and/fight vampires? It's on my kindle, and I wanted to finish, but this has been a hard year, and I couldn't focus.
I have too many others that I could finish for this, too.

I’m going to do (and don’t hate on me) One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I tried reading it a few years ago but I was in a very stressful phase of my life and couldn’t really commit to it. Time to try again!

I've only DNF'd a couple of books, and I've already finished those from other times this prompt showed up. But, when I visit my niece and nephew we read a lot together, and last visit we didn't finish one of our books, so Big Shot (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) it is!

Stephen wrote: "...I'm going to treat this challenge as in the plural, and read a book that someone else doing the challenge has DNFed."

Thank you, Stephen, for an excellent idea! I came here to say "For the first time, I'm specifically skipping a Book Riot challenge prompt because I DNF for a reason! And I will not waste precious reading hours finishing a book I DNF'd! "

So, I'm going to take your idea, look at your titles that you DNF'd, and watch for others mentions of books they DNF'd.

Books I've DNF'd that others may enjoy:
To Fill a Yellow House
Just a Guy: Notes from a Blue Collar Life
Talk to the Hand: The Utter Bloody Rudeness of the World Today, or Six Good Reasons to Stay Home and Bolt the Door
A Sudden Country
The Library of the Dead
The House on Vesper Sands

Viggo wrote: "Julie wrote: "I don't have a DNF book ... might just do the next book in a series that I haven't finished yet, instead"

I may do this as well. The very few books I've DNFed have been for a reason,..."

Also an amazing idea! I love the idea of working my way through a series that, for whatever reason, I never went past the first volume! Excellent suggestion.

Elizabeth wrote: "So I use a "paused" shelf for books I didn't finish but would like to come back to at some point, but if I'm being honest it's just a dnf shelf. So here are some I'd like to come back to.

Every time I try to create another non-standard shelf in GoodReads, and add books to them it automatically marks them as complete. Any suggestions on how to create alternate shelves and add books without this happening?

I definitely have books that I've DNF'd for time reasons, or because there was another book I wanted to read more and then I never got back to it. (And one very long audiobook I DNF'd because my car's CD player wouldn't play the discs anymore, even though they were perfectly fine--I took that as a sign I wasn't meant to finish it.)

For those who plan on taking the collective route for this prompt, here's a few of my DNFs from the past few years:
Bellweather Rhapsody
Little Did I Know
A Room with a View
Christmas in Austin (it turned out this was a sequel and I hadn't read the original)
The Talented Ribkins
Vernon Subutex 1
I Think You're Totally Wrong: A Quarrel
Questland
The Daughters of Ys
Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall
Life of Pi

Okay, for those wanting to do it this way, here are my DNFs.

Little Fires Everywhere
The Mother-in-Law
The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois
So This Is Ever After

Traci wrote: "I've only DNF'd a couple of books, and I've already finished those from other times this prompt showed up. But, when I visit my niece and nephew we read a lot together, and last visit we didn't fin..."

I downloaded Library of the Dead, when it was on sale recently, for a really low price. I'd wanted to buy the paperback, when I was in a bookstore, but couldn't afford to. I'm going to see if it fits one of the prompts.

Also adding that I think the book I mentioned earlier, was girls killing zombies. I learned of the book here.

I tend to DNF books I'm not in the mood for and revisit them later anyway, so there's a fair few that would work for this. I'm going to see what I'm in the mood for in the new year and go from there I think.

Don't remember why I DNF this one, but I'm going to give another shot to The Carnelian Fox

Julie wrote: "I don't have a DNF book ... might just do the next book in a series that I haven't finished yet, instead"

I'll probably do something similar because I've only ever DNF'd one book and it was truly atrocious, I'm not going back. I think I'll continue a series where I hated the first book so I never continued it, so technically it kinda works.

Stephen wrote: "I'm going to take advantage of the fact that the dialect of English that the challenge is written in doesn't distinguish between between singular and plural 'you'. I'm going to treat this challenge..."

I'll supply my own books for this prompt, but I think I'll re-attempt one of mine.

Off the top of my head, I only have two come to mind:
Gone Girl (I was reading it around the time the film came out, had already passed the major twist, but then found out what the ending was going to be and was so angry at the ending I stopped reading it)

The Girl on the Train (I just lost interest, but the last book I lost interest in, when I eventually went back to it, I smashed through it and loved, so I think I'll try rereading this one)

Emily wrote: "Elizabeth wrote: "So I use a "paused" shelf for books I didn't finish but would like to come back to at some point, but if I'm being honest it's just a dnf shelf. So here are some I'd like to come ..."

It's a bit hidden, Emily, but easy to do. Just go to My Profile > Edit Books and click the "edit" button next to "bookshelves" at the top of that first column on the left.

You'll then get a list of all your shelves with a bunch of checkboxes; you want to make sure to tick the "exclusive" box. (That means books on that shelf won't show up anywhere else, even "read.") You can create a new shelf or use an existing one!

Hope that helps.

Stephen wrote: "I'm going to take advantage of the fact that the dialect of English that the challenge is written in doesn't distinguish between between singular and plural 'you'. I'm going to treat this challenge..."

This is a fun approach! I have a full shelf of books I started but didn't finish, but not because I didn't like them (I have another shelf for those). So here are 43 possibilities for those who are deciding to read someone else's DNF: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

I have several unfinished 2022 reads to choose from myself, as I marked them with my new "NFN" - not for now - designation, and perhaps their time will come this year.

Hidden Figures
We Have Always Lived in the Castle
A Memory Called Empire
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry
Fingersmith
The Wolf of Oren-Yaro
Divergent Mind: Thriving in a World That Wasn't Designed for You
How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse

I have two for this one:
Great Circle
Fleishman Is in Trouble

I'm a mood reader so I have a lot of books that I have DNF'd.

This one came up though so I figured I'd do it:

Still Mad: American Women Writers and the Feminist Imagination

Think I’m going to double dip for this one and #7 (with the audio book prompt) by saying I’m finally going to finish How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi. The book is ok, but the author’s narration so bugged me I didn’t finish. I would like to though! It’s either that or We Were the Mulvaneys and I REALLY don’t want to finish that one.

Elizabeth wrote: "So I use a "paused" shelf for books I didn't finish but would like to come back to at some point, but if I'm being honest it's just a dnf shelf. So here are some I'd like to come back to.

[book:M..."

Love this! I have a lot of books that I've started but they just weren't what I was in the mood for so I've put them down and never picked them up again. I've always had the intention to, but never got around to it! Also books that I start in the wrong format (audiobooks with narrators I don't like or physical books that need to be listened to to get the voice). Didn't think to consider them as DNF'd because most things I list as DNF are things that upset me for one reason or another

I've been pausing Crime and Punishment way too many times - maybe it's time to read all of it?

I find it ludicrously difficult to carry on books I paused, for that a lot of the content has been removed from my brain ( or at least I think so ).
And me personally, I can't go back and read what I have read before even if I don't remember most of it. I seriously need some help!!!

I like the idea of substituting a variation for any prompt that feels counter productive to your efforts to "read harder."

If you never DNF books, you might try a book that other people DNF'd. https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/dnf

If you never DNF books, you might be holding yourself back from starting books that seem harder, longer or just different from your normal fare. My reading is more adventurous and challenging since I started giving myself permission to DNF a book after 50 pages if I don't like it. (It's like the 5 minute rule for exercise - I almost always keep going.)

I might substitute - Try a book you find too intimidating. Or
read 50 pages of a book by David Foster Wallace.

I'm also a mood reader and have several books VERY high on my TBR that either I wasn't in the mood for at the time, or my library checkout ran out, etc. These include Gilead, Braiding Sweetgrass, Before the Coffee Gets Cold, The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration Into the Wonder of Consciousness, and My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, Vol. 1. I'm so torn about what to pick.

Alex wrote: "I have so many DNF books that this one'll be easy 😂 I think I'll go for Circe, Crying in H Mart, or Yolk"

Ooh, you just reminded me that I left Circe gathering dust somewhere... since September 2019 :')

I'll be finishing Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present which is a DNF book for me ONLY because it is so painful to read this history that it is taking me over a year and I have to rest between chapters. Human history is too full of hate.

I like to call it my DNF...yet list but I'm going to finish The Air You Breathe which I started when it was first released but then I got distracted. I'm finishing it as part of a larger challenge to myself to read all of my unread Book of the Month books this year before I renew my subscription.

I'm going with The Book Thief. Every time I try to read this book, I get distracted or busy with something else in my life. I meant to read it last year and put it down again. This year I'm going to start it over from the beginning and get it read!

I tried to listen to an audiobook version of Guns of August a few years ago based on a recommendation by Doris Kearns Goodwin but decided it would be better visually because of all the French words, so I'm going to read the ebook.

For you looking at other's DNFs, Quichotte by Salman Rushdie was mine. It got great ratings but I thought it was insufferable.

Melissa wrote: "I'm also a mood reader and have several books VERY high on my TBR that either I wasn't in the mood for at the time, or my library checkout ran out, etc. These include Gilead, [book:Bra..."

I loved Gilead. It changed my perception of what a good book can do for me. I didn’t last 10 minutes with the audio for Braiding Sweetgrass, but I’ll try again when I’m in the mood for a slower paced book.

I also loved Circe, and the Book Thief. The Air You Breathe was quite memorable too.

I'm going to go with Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, which I was assigned to read in college, but I'm very sure that I didn't read the whole thing (and might have skipped a couple of assigned readings too). We were reading the original Middle (or Old?) English, which is where I got hung up.

So, can anyone recommend a good modern English translation? (Audio or print is fine.) I remember liking the parts that I did read and comprehend.

Robin wrote: "I'm going with The Book Thief. Every time I try to read this book, I get distracted or busy with something else in my life. I meant to read it last year and put it down again. This yea..."

Hi Robin - I listened to this one on Audible. I actually found that the narrator added so much necessary color and emotion to the story. That might make a difference here if you initially started it as a physical book!

I have quite a few on my DNF list but there are some that I know I just can't go back to. I'm considering finishing The Sympathizer, which I'm reading right now but I'm very tempted to DNF it. The other book that I keep meaning to get back to (and since it is winter, it feels like its keeping with the mood of the times) is Wuthering Heights.

I got up to page 50 a couple months ago when I started but lost track and ran out of time.

Now though I'll be able to get back to it which I'm glad since I've come to like this book.

The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture

Last year for my book club we read The Good Neighbor, the book about Fred Rogers and made into a film starring Tom Hanks. Now I love Mr. Rogers as much as the rest of the world, but I just couldn’t finish the book. I found the author’s style too similar to a high school student’s 500 word essay, the one where they fill up the page with nonsense trying to meet the requirement.

I have plenty in my "on hold" shelf because I have this bad habit of reading multiple books at once. The ones where lose interest, forgot the plot/content, etc... this is where they wind up.

I think I'll go for Hakumei & Mikochi: Tiny Little Life in the Woods, Vol. 1, since I have collected the other volumes in the series (so I can binge if I have the itch, lol) and loved the anime.

I started Don't Look Behind You and Other True Cases and didn't get to finish it. This is the chance to get back to it.

The list of books I've DNF'ed is possibly longer than books I've finished, but I decided to return to The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski.