Play Book Tag discussion

What are your thoughts on DNF'ing books... do you add them to your overall book count? I'm half way through a book I've been struggling to read and while I don't want to finish it, I also don't want to not give myself credit for reading as much I did!
Do I mark it as read with 1 star?
Do I DNF it and not count it toward my books for the year?
How do you all handle books you want to DNF?

I DNF books because I don't like them or I'm not in the mood for that particular book.

If it is a trim book, I will note on thread that I did not finish it.

I've set up a DNF shelf.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

In my mind, I always feel that I may go back to them someday.

I used to cull DNF books, but now I have a dedicated DNF book since more than once I've inadvertently borrowed book I didn't like in the past.

I only rate DNF book I think I've read enough of to give a rating, and never do it if the book just isn't my style or I'm not in the mood. How much I need to read to rate it depends on why I DNF it.

I finish all the books I start. I suspect I have some sort of OCD about this and about not checking how a story ends while I'm reading it. I think my last DNF was three or four years ago. but sometimes I read a couple of pages from a book I'm interested in and put it back on the TBR until a better mood comes for it.

I very rarely DNF a book. Just not in my nature, and I've only regretted persevering a handful of times in my life - lookiing at you, Wolf Hall.

But I did create a shelf called DNF that I made the same as Read, Want to Read, etc. If I tag it DNF, it's on a shelf but not counted with read books. I also use the DNF for books I can't finish at the time for some reason, but intend to return to.

I don't track my DNF books. Usually I am not far into them when I decide they aren't for me. So I don't enter them in GR at all. If I am farther along, I will kind of skim to the end, then count the book. For audiobooks, I sometimes get the print book so that I can skim. Recently most of my books are for challenges so I am obliged to finish them or find something else that fits.

Sometimes I'm just not in the mood for a book but I know I can come back to it and might like it fine.

There's some kind of rule of thumb about how many pages to read before putting a book aside and it gets shorter as you get older!

I didn't DNF books until after I had children when I had limited time to read. I regret to say that at times I still finish books I don't like, particularly if I play a competitive reading game, but try to only finish books I don't like if there is a compelling reason.

I have a DNF shelf. But mark as read. If I DNF I know I most likely won't be going back to it. AND - I have read enough of it to know my thoughts on it. I have rated some as high as a 3 if I can appreciate the book - but it just isn't for me.

I have A DNF shelf also. I only put books there that I am at least halfway through. I have never rated them. Books I only read a few chapters of, I just toss aside, and take off my shelves if I know I am not going to enjoy the book.

I also have “pause”and “partial read” shelves. Pause is for books I intend to come back to, and if I don’t I might delete them or mark them dnf. Partial read is good for nonfiction or short story books I found useful but didn’t feel the need to finish. For most of my life I used nonfiction books as references for papers and to prep for lectures, and I rarely read the entire book. When I started reading memoirs and narrative nonfiction, I was able to get into the habit of reading the whole book.

I don’t capture DNFs in my reading stats (I just shelve them as DNF so that I don’t forget that the book wasn’t for me). I very rarely rate them - the only exception is where the book is plainly ghastly and I figure people should be warned!

I’m happy to pause books but that’s usually with a degree of optimism that I’ll get back to them. Of course by the time I do, I usually have to start again because I’ve forgotten what happened …

I do not rate my DNF, but do want a list of those I DNF hence the shelf like Read, Currently Reading, & Want to REad

I write a review for every book I read. I like crystalizing my thoughts in them.

For books that I read a good chunk of and DNF, I write reviews too. I don't post these here on PBT, but they do go out to my GR friends. Many times, they generate comments and discussion.

I seldom rate the books, since I haven't finished them. Like others here, I do have a shelf for them.

Robin P wrote: "There's some kind of rule of thumb about how many pages to read before putting a book aside and it gets shorter as you get older!.."

The "Nancy Pearl" rule.

If you are age 50 or younger, you should read at least 50 pages before decided it's not the book for you and DNF'g it.

If you are over age 51, subtract your age from 100 and that's the number of pages you should read before DNF'g. (I'm 74, so I only have to read 26 pages before DNF'g.)

Nancy Pearl jokes that if you age 100 or older you may judge the book by its cover.

Thanks, BC, that's it!

I DO record any DNFs and usually write a "review" ... or at least my thoughts on why I DNF'd. Most of the time I leave the "star" rating blank and just write the review. If you do this for a book in GR, the "blank" rating will not affect the book's average score.

Occasionally I DNF for what I think is such a good reason that I'll give it a 1-star rating (so it DOES affect the average), and explain in more detail what I felt was so wrong about the book.
For example: see THIS review
(note book still has a 3.7 average rating ... go figure)

I should say that I don't rate most of my DNF books; I have to a. read enough and b. the reason I DNF has to be something I want to write about and rate. But keeping it on my shelf under DNF (or Delete if I barely start it) helps me from taking it out again later because with all the books I read, I forget I didn't want to read it.

I used to empty my dedicated Delete shelf because the purpose of that was to be able to delete the entire shelf without the painfully slow process of deleting one book at a time. It's either books I borrowed and realized I don't want to read, books I hated on the first page or two or book on my Want to Read shelf that I don't remember why they went there and realize I have no desire to read. Note that there should be more books on it.

Now I keep the Delete shelf and find it saves time when I look at shelves for PBT.

I hardly ever DNF books. The only time I do is if I’m only a few pages in. It’s a compulsion with me as well

I hate DNF books but I have a few times.

I often battle with this, do I want it in my read statistics? Do I want to keep track of my DNF? I don't think I've been very consistent in my choices

Thanks everyone of the feedback!

Since I've been using GR more regularly to track reading I want to find more consistency in how I track my books.

I love the "Nancy Pearl" rule!!! Thanks for that! It's definitely true. I used to NEVER DNF books, but as I get older more and more I want to enjoy what I'm reading. While it is still rare - if I DNF my current book it will be the third for me this year -a a record!

43. Pages for me! I’m laughing. I think that’s a great rule of thumb. I don’t know if I’ll use it but I love it.

Kristen wrote: "Thanks everyone of the feedback!

Since I've been using GR more regularly to track reading I want to find more consistency in how I track my books.

I love the "Nancy Pearl" rule!!! Thanks for that..."

I was right around the age on your profile page when I started DNF'ing books and for the same reason.