Ill speak from personal belief, because I don't know a better way to explain. Whenever I pick up a new book (physical, electronic, or audio) I gave myself between 3 – 6 chapters to decide if I like it. If during that stretch I am not engaged or interested I move on. But I do not consider this not finishing a book. I think about it more like watching episode one of a TV show. Ive barely started, just enough to know I won't enjoy it. To me actually not finishing a book comes when I have invested and then actively decide to stop engaging with the story. Its rare for me to engage in a story and then suddenly not want to finish that story.
Thoughts? Do you have an exit ramp for books, and if so when? When is your point of claiming not fininshed vs not interested?
by TheGreatGena
9 Comments
i don’t differentiate this. for whatever reason, at whatever point, i was no longer interested in picking up that book again.
Feels very much like splitting hairs. If i dont finish a book I did not finish a book. I dont see the difference between doing it 10,20,50,70% of the way in
I do same thing but with like 50-100 pages instead of chapters since some books have weird chapter lengths – feels more fair to judge by actual content amount rather than arbitrary breaks the author made
They are the same.
It’s a moo point. Like a cow’s opinion. It doesn’t matter
No. You DNF because you’re not enjoying the book. I think that’s actually the only reason to DNF. If you lost the book, you didn’t DNF it. You either replace it and finish it or you decide you don’t care enough about it to replace it and finish the story so you DNF it. Whenever you decided you don’t enjoy it enough to finish it, whether that’s page 9 or 90 or 900, you DNF it
You’re way overthinking this.
Regardless of your motives or interest levels, it’s not a DNF until you die, at which point it matters very little.
Let me ask you one question to clarify.
Did you finish the book?