30 Signs You Should DNF Your Current Read

Back in January, I made a New Year’s Resolution to DNF (Did Not Finish) more books. I used to be the type of person who would never DNF a book and lived by the principle that I should always finish what I started. Before this year, I had only ever DNF’ed one book in my entire life. I won’t name the book, but I will say that it’s that book where all adults disappear and only the children and teenagers are left to deal with saving the world. If you think I am giving you a sarcastic description of a YA book, I am not; that is the actual synopsis.

The fact of the matter is, our life is too short and our TBR’s are too long to sit around reading books we don’t enjoy. And it doesn’t stop there. One thing that I have found to be even worse than reading a book I don’t enjoy is falling into a slump and spending weeks, months or even years not reading anything all because of a book I refused to call quits on. This year I have added two more books to my DNF list. That is an increase of 200% and I don’t plan on stopping there. For the first time in years, I am finally on track for hitting my annual reading goal.

Still can’t decide whether it’s time to move on from your current read? Here are 30 signs that you should DNF.

1. You keep telling people you’re in a reading slump 
2. Picking up your current read feels like a task 
3. You find yourself skimming/skipping through the pages
4. You have picked up your phone more times than you have restarted the same paragraph over again  
5. You are more than 100 pages into the book and are losing interest
6. Saying you are reading [insert book title] is more exciting than actually reading [insert book title]
7. You are only reading it to please/impress someone else 
8. The book hasn’t left its spot on the bedside table for more than a week 
9. The thought of picking it up makes you feel dreadful or stressed 
10. You are triggered by an event that takes place in the book  
11. At some point you wonder what all that hype was about 
12. Watching the movie/series adaptation sounds more appealing than finishing the book 
13. You can’t see yourself writing a review for it, not even a negative one 
14. You keep looking over at the other books in your TBR pile (and in some cases more than just looking) 
15. You are struggling through a heavy read but you are really in the mood for a light read 
16. The opposite of the previous statement: You are feeling irritated at your current light read and are craving a more thoughtful or intellectual read. 
17. You have had to look up the intended target audience age group while reading it
18. You’ve had to fact check the author more than once. Nothing worse than a poorly researched book. 
19. You have been responding to the Bookstagram QOTD: “What are you currently reading?” with the same book all month, but you haven’t really made any progress
20. You “accidentally on purpose” checked spoilers on Goodreads 
21. You are questioning whether you should DNF your current read 
22. You would feel absolutely no guilt/regret about never picking the book up again 
23. You daydream about other things you could be doing instead of reading this book
24. You are more than 100 pages in and are not experiencing the “one more chapter” syndrome 
25. You are more than halfway through and honestly have no idea what is going on 
26. Face palms, eye rolls and heavy sighs are frequent reactions to your current read 
27. You have used the words “mediocre”, “okay”, “alright”, or “not bad” to describe your current reading experience
28. You have referred to reading as “powering through” your current read 
29. You feel motivated by the phrase “I can stop reading at any point if I want” as opposed to “I can’t stop reading this book!!”
30. You get excited when you see someone give your current read a negative review on Bookstagram, Goodreads, etc.

If you are experiencing one or more of these signs, please consider putting that book aside for another time. You only get so many hours in a day. Your time is more valuable than having to spend it reading a book you don’t enjoy.

And if you can’t shake that guilt, just remember that there will always be an opportunity to pick it back up again when you are in the right mood for it. It doesn’t have to be goodbye forever but rather a see-you-later.