Yashima > Status Update

My motto is to DNF any books that I put down for longer than 2 weeks. If they failed to hold my interest the first time I've little faith in them managing to do it a second time around! As far as the unread books go I say just start at random from the genre that you are in the mood for and give it 100 pages to see if it is worth your time.

Hopefully you turn up a hidden gem from your shelf:)

I have a hard time DNF-ing before I've sunk too much time in it... maybe because I've discovered that for me a lot of books really only take off after I've read at least half. Especially in my favorite genre: SF.

Often these books stray from formulas/standard concepts and are hard to get into f.e. Baru Cormorant or Too Like Lightning. In a particularly evil twist I really didn't like The Stars Are Legion even after finishing it. But now, thinking back on the story, I think it is kind of awesome.

I wouldn't want to miss out on those things. But often it does feel like reading Ulysses (my first ever DNF I think and I managed to get to around 80%!). So DNF is a really hard decision...

Luckily, this time my problem was mostly that I was excited about too many things at once :) I tackled it by making a list (outside of goodreads) and putting down time estimates how long each would take to finish and then actually prioritizing (it sounds like work when I put it that way -.-)

Then I spent an afternoon finishing my current audio, deciding to spend 2 audible credits on the most difficult sounding (Seth Dickinson & Ada Palmer obviously) and the evening/night I finished the ARC for The Vela which I really felt I should write a review for and which was fun to read but the arc was a PDF that had a pretty small font and was a strain on my eyes...

Now I feel like I have a grip on everything again. Also Hugo nominations are over today...

PS: as for the hidden gem Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach is looking better with each page ;)

I've found that if I'm not enjoying a story by the 100 page (or three hour of audio) mark then then I'm not going to. I do not think I can come up with a single example of a story that has been poor up to that point and then improved to the point where it has become a 5 star read. I've had books that have had a slow 70-90 pages then improve and develop into favourites but nothing beyond that. I have plenty examples of books I read to the bitter end like Snow Crash or The City & the Cityin the hopes that they would improve but that actually managed to get worse and worse and ended up being a total waste of a lot of my time.

Despite all my DNF claims and advice the truth is it is still pretty rare for me to DNF a book. I usually only quit a few books per year. I just think that looking back I'd be better DNF'ing more of the poor and below average books I read and taking a chance on something new that might be a more enjoyable use of my time:)

I've yet to read Baru Cormorant or Too Like Lightning but both books are on my to-read list so I'll get to them at some point. I have especially high hopes for Baru Cormorant for no real reason lol.

I own The Mirror Empire so if I enjoy that one I'll move onto Hurley's other stuff. I've sort of been put off reading it as a few reviews I read shortly after buying it made me fear it might be more misery-porn fiction and I'm rarely in the mood for that.

I'm so out of the Hugo loop this year. It does not help I've not been reading a ton lately as I've slipped into my worst reading slump in nearly a decade. I'm watching more TV's shows than I have in years so I'll be in better shape for the Emmy's lol.

I do love time travel sci-fi and fantasy so I'll live in hope that Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach makes it to audio someday. Tor.Com used to be pretty good with that but they have been terrible getting their stuff to audio in the last couple of years. Which is a real pity especially where their novellas and short stories are concerned.