There are people out there who chose to suffer through a book they are not enjoying.

I am not one of those people.

I will chuck that book into the donate/resell pile.

But why do I choose to DNF a book? What criteria does a book have to meet to be ding dong ditched?

The Writing. I’m not a big fan of overly flowery prose or frantic, chaotic writing. Those are really big warning signs for me. I may try to listen to flowery prose as an audiobook, but sometimes that doesn’t even work and the book ends up in the DNF pile.

The Plot. My goodness, this can be terrible. Is there anything worse than getting 100 pages into a book and still not knowing anything about the plot? I hate it when that happens. That usually leads to a DNF. Usually. If the characters are great, sometimes, sometimes, I can forgive it, but that’s very, very rarely.

Speaking of Characters. Weak characters in a book. Ugh. And I don’t mean can’t hold a sword or even a pen. No, I mean they can’t hold the weight of the story. Just no. There is no redeeming a book like that. Not even for a good plot.

Bad art style. This one is a bit niche, but it has a place. I like graphic novels, but if the art style is bad, I won’t make it through. Or, maybe I will make it through, but I’ll hate myself a little afterward.

But what if a book has everything and I still DNF it? Well, it must not be fun. I like having a good time while I read, and a book can have everything I’m looking for in a story, and lack that fun factor. I do make exceptions to this rule, for example when a book deals with serious subject matter or non-fiction reads, but for the most part, it has to be fun!

And there you have it. My list of reasons to DNF a book. Why do you DNF a book?