Reading – Page 16 – Lyndsey Hall

To DNF or not to DNF

For those of you who haven’t come across the term, DNF is short for Did Not Finish. I don’t tend to stop reading books without finishing them very often, but that might be because I’m pretty selective about what I read. I don’t read hundreds of books per year, my Goodreads challenge this year is set to 36 books and that will probably be a record for me, except for maybe when I was a kid and books were less than 100 pages.

First of all, I’d like to say there’s no shame or failure in putting down a book you’re just not enjoying, or not in the mood for. There are millions of books in the world, and thousands more being written and published every year, don’t waste your time slogging through 350-500 pages of a story that bores you or characters you hate. Life’s too short. Put down the classic or literary fiction book you thought you should read and pick up the romance or YA contemporary you really want to.

Reasons you might DNF a book:

You’re not into the plot – boring? Cliche? Put it down and try something else.
You hate the MC – you don’t want to spend hours or days stuck inside the head of someone awful, DNF it.
The genre isn’t doing it for you – not your usual bag? Drop it and read your fave genre, don’t feel like you have to love crime thrillers or erotica if you just don’t.
Not in the mood – we all have book slumps, hangovers and times when we just really fancy a specific kind of story. If it’s not doing it for you right now just put it down and come back it another time.
It’s offensive/triggering/contains bad or zero representation – if you genuinely feel like continuing to read this book could be harmful, or you don’t want to support the book or author, please just DNF it.

Books I Did Not Finish

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

I loved the film when it came out, it was so moody and atmospheric. There’s just something about the South that makes it the perfect backdrop for stories with magic and witches and mystery. That said, I found the book so boring I had to give up halfway through. I tried, I really tried. I kept it on my bedside table for about a year but every time I picked it up and read a few pages I just couldn’t get into it, it wasn’t pulling me into the story or the characters’ lives.

This should have been exactly my cup of tea, I love YA, especially fantasy, anything with magic, curses, historical back stories and star crossed lovers. Sadly, it wasn’t to be.

Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey

I was bought this one for my birthday because it was getting a lot of hype at the time, it isn’t at all my kind of thing but I gave it a shot because so many people had said how good it was. It wasn’t the worst, but it was sort of slow and I struggled with the MC as she’s an old lady with dementia.

Apparently, the author has a relative with dementia and it’s very well researched and depicted (I know someone whose mother has dementia and she read this book and said it was exactly like her experience with her mother). I think it’s great that mental illnesses like dementia and Alzheimer’s are being represented in literature, but I couldn’t really get on with the story due to it jumping about all over the place. I might return to this one eventually, my Mum is borrowing it right now (she’s had it months and hasn’t finished it either), but it’s definitely on my DNF pile for now.

Like I said, I don’t DNF books very often, there are probably one or two more, but I tend to persevere to the end, even if it takes me months. Sometimes, when I come back to a book after a break I find I actually enjoy it, and it was me rather than the book that was just not quite right at the time.

My one piece of advice for you would be that if you DNF a book because you’re not feeling it right now, or not enjoying it even thought it would normally be right up your street, come back to it later. Read something else, or take a break from reading for a while – it’s easy to get overwhelmed by our TBRs and end up DNFing every other book because we weren’t hooked by page ten, but if you pick it up again later you might find yourself enjoying it.

One of the more controversial sides of DNFing is whether to write a book review or not. Some say you can’t review a book you didn’t finish, or didn’t even get halfway through, others are happy to learn from your bad experience and not waste their money. I can see it from both sides, as an author bad reviews, whilst part of the job, can be a huge blow to both confidence and reputation, and one where the reader didn’t even read to the end, where you might feel all their complaints would have been resolved (unlikely, and probably means you should have worked harder on the first half), might just feel like a slap in the face. As a reader they can be interesting and useful, if the reason the person didn’t finish isn’t something that bothers me I might still read it, but if I was having qualms about a certain book anyway I might now not.

Basically, DNF reviews have their place, and can be really useful, but explain your reasons for not finishing so that others can at least learn from your experience, don’t just shout about how much you hated it without any constructive criticism.

Which books have you DNFed? One series I think I’m going to DNF is Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard, I’ve read King’s Cage and just have no interest in continuing so I think I’ll call that one DNFed and maybe check out the spoilers for the next book so I at least know what happened.

Until next time!

Lyndsey

Ten book covers I need on my shelf

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday meme is a cover themed freebie, anything and everything to do with book covers!

As always, TTT is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, go check their blog out and join in the fun!

I’ve decided to do the ten book covers I’m coveting right now, so get ready for some major eye candy. I already have some gorgeous covers on my shelf, so these are only the books I don’t own or don’t have physical copies of.

1-3) A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas

Just look at these absolute beauties! I can’t get over how gorgeous Feyre’s outfits are on each cover, especially A Court of Wings and Ruin – the dress was designed by Charlie Bowater, whose fanart is just exquisite.

I haven’t got physical copies of these books because I listened to the audiobooks on Audible, and I’d love to have them sitting pretty in my shelf.

4-7) The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

This is one of those massive series that everyone else is obsessed over and I just haven’t gotten round to yet, but I’m going to change that this year! The covers are so cool, but I’ll probably borrow them from the library if I’m honest, only because it’s a long series and I’d have to buy them all, and that’s a lot of money.

8) Caraval by Stephanie Garber

I can’t wait to get my hands on this book, but I’ll probably get the audio book, it just seems like the type of story I’ll enjoy listening to more than reading. I just listened to The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and adored it, so this is right at the top of my list for my next Audible credit.

9) Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

This is one book where I don’t care which edition I get hold of, both are equally stunning. Just take a look!

I think the left one is the US version and the right one is the UK, but I’m not sure. Again though, I’ll probably get the audio book, as Laini’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone was the first book I listened to on Audible and I loved it, her writing is so lyrical and beautiful and just a joy to hear on my daily commute.

10) Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst

This one is just beautiful, and it has an LGBT romance at the centre, so that’s two huge boxes ticked. It sounds right up my street – elemental magic, a princess betrothed to the prince of an allied kingdom, it’s like a modern day fairy tale.

Well, that list turned out to be very fantasy heavy! I might do a YA contemporary version at some point because there are so many absolutely stunning contemporary covers out there right now, and I’m desperate to read more of it. It seems I like my fantasy covers moody and atmospheric, with quite simple designs and rare pops of bold colour. When it comes to contemporaries I definitely prefer pastel colours, cutesy designs and preferably some kind of food or adorable creature, so that will be a fun list to put together!

Which covers are you coveting at the moment? And what did you decide to do with your cover freebie week? Leave your TTT link in the comments, I’d love to check them out!

Lyndsey

What I read on holiday

Earlier this month, we spent a fabulous week in Turkey, at the Sensatori hotel in Fethiye. Yes, in April. Right in the middle of Camp Nano. No, I didn’t write a single word while we were away, I relaxed and recharged my batteries after a crazy few months.

I did, however, read a few books.

First up was The Song Rising by Samantha Shannon. You might remember I attended an event at Waterstones in Orchard Square, Sheffield, where I met Samantha and got a signed copy of the book.

I haven’t done a review of this one yet, as it’s part of a longer series and I haven’t reviewed the first two I’m going to wait and review the whole series at the end. If you haven’t read The Bone Season though, I highly recommend it! It’s billed as adult fantasy, but Paige, the MC, is nineteen so it’s sort of on the cusp of YA, NA and adult, and if you like any kind of fantasy you’ll probably love this.

It’s set in a future version of London with an alternative history since the 1800s, resulting in a neo-Victorian, steampunk kind of world where clairvoyance is real, and illegal. An oppressive, anti-clairvoyance regime has taken power in London and several other cities across the world, and as a result a vast underworld of clairvoyants now exists in the shadows.

If that sounds like your cup of tea then pop down to your local independent bookstore or library and grab a copy, you won’t regret it.

Next, I read Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence, and you can check out my book review here. This one was a recommendation from Cait @ Paper Fury, whose taste in books is exemplary. I absolutely loved this book and can’t wait to read the rest of the Broken Empires trilogy, I’ve already put them on hold at the library.

It’s set in a medieval sort of fantasy world, where a teenage prince is on a mission to take revenge on the man who murdered his mother and younger brother years earlier. It’s really dark and stabtastic, so if that’s your bag you’ll definitely love this series.

Also, Mark Lawrence retweeted me and replied, so my life has been made.

@lyndleloo Very many thanks! He’s actually 14 for 95% of the book, but yeah, pretty young.

Red Sister is entirely unconnected, so also a good start.

— Mark Lawrence (@Mark__Lawrence) April 26, 2017

Finally, I also listened to the audio book of The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, my review of which you can read here.

It’s an absolutely enchanting, beautifully written book about a circus that is only open at night, real magic posing as illusions, and two star-crossed lovers locked in a lifelong competition with the circus as their stage.

So those are the books I managed to finish this month, what with work and Camp NaNoWriMo. Today’s the last day of Camp and I’m still 6k words away from winning, so it’s looking unlikely, but tomorrow is a Bank Holiday, so if I stay up late and write until midnight I might just make it. It would be the most I’ve written in a day – if we’re not counting last minute essays for Uni! I am the queen of cutting it fine on deadline day.

I’m now listening to the audio book of The Dream Thieves, book two in The Raven Cycle series by Maggie Stiefvater. I’m really enjoying this series so far, it’s got a great ensemble cast of characters and a really intriguing sense of suspense throughout.

In a nutshell, Gansey is on the hunt for a dead Welsh king whose body is rumoured to be buried in Henrietta on a ley line, and if you wake him he will grant you one wish. The rest of the gang all have their own motivations for helping Gansey in his search, and they’re not the only ones looking. It’s a very moody, intense read, with lots of humour thrown in, and some pretty strange goings-on.

I’m also reading Black Ice by Becka Fitzpatrick, a YA thriller, which is something I don’t have much experience in. I’ve only read a few pages so far, but I’m hoping it’ll be a fun read.

So, that’s everything I read in April on my holiday in Turkey, and what I’m currently reading! What have you guys been reading this month? Let me know in the comments.

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Lyndsey