I have never dnfed a book.
No matter how much I struggle to read a book, I will always finish it. Once I start I either feel obligated to finish the book or I convince myself that it may get better. Other times it’s because the book is popular and I feel like I should read all of it or I wont be ‘on the in’.
But I’m working on this. I’m trying to be better at cutting off the books that aren’t working for me. I’ve come up with the rule that if it’s not working once I pass 100 pages, I’ll stop and not force myself. When I force myself to finish a book, I set myself up for the daunting book slump and I hate that feeling of not enjoying or being able to read books I’m excited for.
So, I decided to dnf my first book and it’s a book I’ve been really liking.
I decided to dnf Radio Silence by Alice Oseman. I think part of the reason I’m deciding to dnf it is because I’m struggling to read it. I connect with the characters very well and I absolutely love how it’s written. There’s nothing wrong with the book that’s making me put it down, it’s more me.
It’s my mental state. My mind isn’t in the right place to be reading a heavy book (or at least it is to me). I push my self through chapters and it’s just not healthy, even if I do enjoy it.
So I’ve decided to put it down for now and focus on reading something light and fluffy until I’ve dragged myself out of this slump. But I do plan on picking it back up in the future and finishing it because these characters, I love them. And the book is so life like, I can relate to it on certain things.
Now I feel able to move on since I got it out of my system. It’s not easy for me to admit that I’m not in the right state to do things, usually I push through them, so this, it feels good.