Reader Mailbag: When Do You Decide To DNF A Book?

In the July newsletter I asked readers when they decide not to finish a book, or if they power through.

Here are the responses:

Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated.

All responses will be listed in the August 2026 newsletter or on the website. Five random contributors will win a $25 gift certificate for Amazon as well – good luck! They’ll be e-mailed just before the newsletter is released and mentioned in the newsletter.

Cheers

Graeme McGaw
https://www.OrderOfBooks.com

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L: I used to be someone who felt obliged to finish a book no matter what. As I’ve gotten older (and I hope wiser), I’m more aware of my time and energy (both lacking), so I have no qualms about quitting a book! For fiction, if I’m not hooked by fifty pages, I’ll consider quitting it. Usually, egregiously bad writing or terrible characters (e.g., if they’re annoying, too quirky, etc.) put me off right away and that makes it easier to DNF it. For nonfiction, I do the same, about fifty pages or 10-20%. I was never quite happy if I pushed through before — there are so many worthier books out there. I don’t need to be motivated to finish a book that I like (it helps that I made reading a habit, so it feels odd to have a day where I don’t read anything at all).
Cheers,
L.

Jenny: I have been reading for over sixty years and I still remember the first time I didn’t finish a book. I was a teenager reading Titus Groan. I had invested many days in this book and just couldn’t take it any more! As I recall – I had finished most of the book and it was still setting the scene. Still describing in detail the location of the story, but where was the story? Giving up still haunts me.

Christine: Hi Graeme –
I rarely find the need to quit a book since I am selective with what I read, however, that being said, I don’t have any problem quitting a book that hasn’t pulled me in by pages 60-100, and then I don’t even bother to go to the last page to see what happens because I really don’t care (so absolutely no motivation to get to the end).

Debbi: It takes a lot for me to not finish a book, but usually it’s because the concept is so ridiculous to me, or it’s not going anywhere that I give up. I have managed to push through on a couple, recently The Turnout by Megan Abbott, and although it’s not a favorite book, I know how it ends and it was a book club selection so I’ll be able to talk about it at our meeting.

Dwayne: Years ago I adopted a simple rule for my reading. I give every book 50 pages. If I am struggling to stay interested at that point I allow myself to put it down. I dont remember where it came from but it has saved me lots of time and let’s me avoid guilt when I give up on a book.

Elsa: I quit cold turkey. I don’t have enough reading hours in my life to waste on “might get better.”

David: If I get to 30 % and my mind begins to wander.

Chrisse: to finish or not, that is the question.

I used to have a rule that I needed to finish a book before I could criticize it. I’m not quite so adamant now. One recent book I had a really hard time finishing though was “The English Patient.” I’d never seen the movie and had heard good things so when the book came across my eye, I gave it a try. One third of the way through I had to google a synopsis of the plot just to figure out what the heck was going on, it jumped around so much. I did finish it, but grudgingly, and decided that the book does not live up to the hype. Meh.

Nancy: I finally decided on the 50 page rule. If a book hasn’t grabbed me and pulled me in by 50 pages, forget it. I have way too many books on my TBR pile to waste time on something the author can’t thrill me with by that many pages. I think a really excellent author gets you in within 3 or 4 pages and you immediately know this is for you. At 86, I’m not wasting time on authors who can’t pull me in early.

Sue: Mostly I push through. Sometimes it’s worth it, most times it’s MEH. I have been pleasantly surprised a few times, and it wound up to be a good book. Not great but definitely worth reading. There have been very few books that I have totally given up on. Actually, I never gave up, but this year I have picked a few doozies and have given up. How do I know it’s the right choice? I never wonder how it ended or what happened to the characters. One of my recent books, I forced myself to finish and was sorry, it was convoluted and so difficult to follow. One of the very few totally bad reviews I have given any book.

Phil: Hi Graeme. Back in 2012 I was in New Orleans, LA waiting for a train to Hattiesburg, MS and I dozed off for a few minutes and someone stole a Stone Barrington novel (I don’t remember the title of it) by Stuart Woods that I had set down on the bench next to me. I was a fan of the series up until that specific book. Woods introduced Barrington’s son and his friends as characters and I found it to be contrived and a real snoozefest. That’s probably why I dozed off in the first place. I was around 3/4 of the way through the book but I never did get another copy to finish it. I could have checked it out at my local library just to finish it but the entitled brat character put the kibosh on the series for me. I checked the synopsis on some of his later books and Stone’s son became a regular character in them too, so I haven’t read any more books from that series since. His publisher is still pumping them out even though Stuart Woods died several years ago. Take care, Phil

Wendy: I am in my mid-seventies. When I was younger I would push through and finish everything I started. Now, I find that as I still have 1700 books in my Wishlist to read that if a book hasn’t grabbed me by the first third, I let it go.
Thanks to Order of Books and Book Notification, the list keeps THANKFULLY growing!

Barbara: I can determine within 3 chapters/ 30 pages if I will continue with a book. If I’m not involved in the book by then, I realize I won’t be. Especially if I nod off while reading.

Joyce: I don’t like giving up on a book but I find myself doing just that with increasing regularity. My rule of thumb is to give it 100 pages but there are times I convince myself the odds are not good enough that I will eventually become engaged so I move on. That decision is made easier if I have one waiting in the wings that I’m REALLY anxious to get to. Moving into my ‘senior’ years has also made putting a book aside easier as my ‘to read’ list gets longer and the road ahead shorter. So many books, so little time!

Ramesh: If the first few chapters fail to hold my interest, I just give up.There are so many books and so little time.like they say if in the first 15 minutes, you don’t strike oil,stop boring,or being bored.

Brian: Hi
I usually give a book about 100 pages, especially if I cannot honestly tell myself I don’t know what’s happening in the story. However if the book is in a series I enjoy I will push through realizing an author cannot always knock it out of the park. If I’m on the fence about a new author (to me) I will read 2 books and decide. I recently stopped reading 2 authors (series) I like because the books got too political.

Nancy: Books Not Finished because…..Several reasons including:
Too many characters introduced in the first 10 to 15 pages,
Misuse of pronouns in support of gender dysphoria – please, please use proper English terms!
Taking overly long to describe trivial moments in the story – 20 pages to describe a very minor event or a description of a location not relevant to story line..
A book that drags on without making any progress to support the story line,
If the book bores me, makes me reluctant to pick it up or doesn’t engage my interest.

Bottom line is “Life is too short to waste time reading something I don’t enjoy!”

Linda: I have a hard time not finishing a book. However, when I can’t force myself to pick it up to continue reading after a week or two I give up. This has happened mainly with books for my book club, so books I hadn’t chosen. Half the time, after the club discussion, I regret it and may finish it. The other half I’m glad I didn’t waste my time on.

Joy: By the time I get to page 50 if it’s not interesting, I ditch the book

Carla: I primarily read mysteries & am a little compulsive, so 99 times out of 100 I finish what I started, even if I’m not enjoying it. The few exceptions have been when the writing has been so bad that I just couldn’t stand it any longer or when the plot is advanced by having the heroine do something stupid–like going into a deserted house that was the site of the murder, alone at night, after her cop husband told her explicitly not to..

Jessy: Hi. I normally push through. Most of the time I am happy to be through with the book. The only book I DNF was a book that I thought it was something to totally different than it was. I did DNF some book series though. I had to stop reading the Fearless book series because it was getting too stupid. The other book series was the Anita Blake book series. There was too much weird sex in it. I have been serious thinking of going back to that series and skipping the sex parts.