Top Ten Tuesday: Spring Cleaning--Give These Books Another Chance or Clear them Out?

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly book blog meme now hosted by Jana over at The Artsy Reader Girl!

This week's topic is:  Spring Clean--Should I Keep These Books I DNF'd?

This week's topic is a "Spring Cleaning Freebie," so I'm taking this as a time to look through some books I've set aside over the years without finishing and try to decide (and hopefully get some feedback and opinions on them!) about whether or not I should give them a second chance. These are books from a shelf I have on Goodreads called "to-be-finished," which is where I put books that I didn't enjoy at the time, but might want to pick up again at a later date. I also have an "abandoned" shelf for books I have no present intention to ever pick up again. Some of these are very tentative and I wouldn't mind trying them again, and some I'm very close to just abandoning forever. 

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

From what I've seen, this book seems to be a pretty divisive one, so I wasn't really surprised to discover it wasn't working for me. I think my main issue was that I just found the narrative remarkably dry and a bit confusing and I just had no interest in the plot, characters, etc. I don't really feel inclined to finish this one and am tempted to just move to the "abandoned" shelf, but if you love this book--make your case for it!

Song of Blood & Stone by L. Penelope

I remember when I started this book I was surprised that it didn't have the greatest review at the time because the beginning was such a strong start! I don't have any bad feelings towards this book and I think the only reason I ever stopped reading it was because it was starting to drag and I didn't feel a major connection or motivation to keep going. If you've read this one, let me know your thoughts! I actually am thinking I'd like to maybe try it again someday, but I'm not overly sold on it, either, so I feel like it's just been hanging in limbo for ages, haha. 

The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter

Okay, so I'll just preface this one by saying that I am about 95% sure I'm going to move this to "abandoned" and not finish because it doesn't sound like my style. The general premise and characters all sound amazing and like something I'd like, but from what I read of it (and what I've heard from others), it's very action-heavy, and I'm really not someone who loves to read a lot of action because I just tend to get a bit bored. Let me know if you think it's something I'd like or if you agree that it's pretty action-based!

The Library of the Unwritten by A.J. Hackwith

I thought that this would be a book I'd love, but I could not connect with the writing style at the time I read it, and I found myself a bit confused about the world and characters. I feel very ambivalent about keeping this one on my list and have no problem moving it to "abandoned," but I'd love to hear other people's opinions. 

The Beginning Woods by Malcolm McNeill

This book was so frustrating because I genuinely loved the first half of this book. I couldn't understand why it had a lower Goodreads rating and why I hadn't seen the best reviews for it.... and then I hit the second half, and things got weird. Not the kind of weird that I like, but a weird that just felt out of place and confusing and didn't match the magical tone of the first half of the book. If you've read this, let me know if the latter half gets better or if the ending is any good and maybe I'll pick it up again, but as it stands I was just so disappointed by the second half that I am hesitant to try it again, haha. 

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

I am probably most open to trying out Black Sun a second time, but I'm also still fairly hesitant because the things that other people loved about it seemed to be the areas I struggled with. I didn't care the world-building and felt that there wasn't quite enough of it, and I also found myself very uninterested with most of the characters. Still, I find the premise extremely interesting and I wouldn't mind trying it again, though perhaps reading it in a physical form and not Kindle would benefit me more next time... If you have any opinions either for or against continuing this one, let me know!

Down Comes the Night by Allison Saft

This one just came out last week, so I know a lot of people haven't read it yet, but I struggled with the copy I got from NetGalley. From the very first chapter I found myself getting annoyed at the protagonist and general setup of the story--it just felt like something I'd read a thousand times over. I read a bit longer into the book before deciding it just wasn't something I wanted at the time. I am leaning towards trying it again if I hear some good things about it, but I'm not sure yet. If you've read it, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu

This is another case of great premise, poor execution. Something about the characters and world-building felt so incredibly dry to me, which is surprising considering how much love I hear people give this series. Is it worth it give it another go, or should I just finally clean it out and put it on the "abandon" shelf?

The Shadow Queen by C.J. Redwine

I started reading this so long ago that I honestly don't really remember why I DNF'd it at the time. I'm assuming I just wasn't connecting with the plot. If you've read this and have any feedback, I'd love to hear your thoughts because it sounds like a really fun fantasy!

We That Are Left by Clare Clark

This is another one that I read so long ago that I hardly remember anything about it or why I stopped. Should I abandon it forever or give it another go? I'm still very undecided and will probably check out Goodreads on it before deciding, but if you've heard of this or read it, do let me know your thoughts.

Have you read any of these books? I would really love your opinions on whether I should give them another chance or not if you have! Are there any books you've DNF'd and can't decide if you should continue? Let me know!

Top Ten Tuesday: Most Recent DNFs and Series I Don't Plan to Continue

This week's topic is:  Most Recent DNFs and Series I Don't Plan to Continue

I really haven't DNF'd that many books recently, so I'm sharing my most recent DNFs since September of 2019 (Let's be honest, though, that's really just because I wanted an even number of books and I've only DNF'd three this year so far!) I also decided to include a couple series that I've read over the past year that have sequels/continuations coming out this year that I also don't plan to continue.

Books I've DNF'd since September 2019:


The Library of the Unwritten by A.J. Hackwith
DNF: September 2019
Why: I love the concept and the humor was pretty entertaining, but it almost felt like the author was trying too hard to be quirky and interesting and left out compelling characters and plot. I didn't make it super far into this, so maybe it got better, but I just found myself very distracted while reading this and I realized that it was because of the writing style.

The Last Human by Zack Jordan 
DNF: January 2020
Why: I think this might be one that I could actually finish one day, but at the time I couldn't get into it. It's definitely a weirder one (which is usualy something I love!), but I didn't really find myself caring much about the characters and I found the general plot and world a bit confusing.


Operation Red Jericho by 
DNF: March 2020
Why: I actually do plan to continue this, but for the sake of this topic I'm going to include since it is one that I chose to put down for a while. I found this randomly at a library sale and knew nothing about it, but it has a really neat little red cloth-esque cover and it's a sort of unique shape that makes it look more like a journal. It's a really fun concept and the book itself has some mixed media formats are really interesting, but at the time I wasn't really connecting with the story very well. I think if I restart it sometime in the future when I'm more focused I should enjoy this one a lot more!

The Beginning Woods by Malcolm McNeill
DNF: April 2020
Why: This had one of the strongest and most engaging beginnings! I loved the first hundred-two hundred pages and was so excited about this book... and then something just... flopped. The story got muddled, the descriptions became overdone, and I was confused about where the plot was going. I'm not sure what happened, but I would happily re-read the first hundred pages or so of this one. It's just the rest of it that didn't work for me, unfortunately. Will I ever come back to finish this? Possibly, but I have no current plans to.

Series I don't plan to continue:



Children of Time (Children of Time series) by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Why: I was really disappointed to not like this book more. I had such high hopes and I had heard some of the most amazing things about this book and series so far, but unfortunately I just couldn't connect with the story. The alternating chapters between the humans and the spiders were interesting, but at the same time I felt bored most of the time. The writing style was difficult for me to get into and the characters were completely forgettable and uninteresting to me.

Wicked Saints (Something Dark and Holy) by Emily A. Duncan 
Why: This was also a pretty big disappointment. I love the cover artwork and the atmosphere that this book has, but everything else was very... mediocre for me. I didn't really care for the characters, their relationships were a pretty big 'miss,' and I struggled a lot with the plot ad world-building. I don't have plans to continue and I'm not sure I ever care to be convinced to continue.

Aurora Rising (The Aurora Cycle) by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
Why: I was really excited for this new series from Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, but unfortunately something didn't quite click for me. It was interesting enough to where I did finish the first book, but the whole time I think I was pretty sure that I wouldn't be continuing it. I found the characters a bit cliche'd and overtly stereotyped in style, and I also had issues with the plot and world-building. I could possibly be convinced one day to continue, but as of now I just don't plan to.



Have you read any of these books? What are some of your most recent DNFs/series you won't be continuing?

Tell Me Something Tuesday: How Do You Handle DNF Books?

Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly discussion post hosted by Rainy Day Ramblings where a wide range of topics from books to blogging are discussed. Weigh in and join the conversation by adding your thoughts in the comments. If you want to do your own post, grab the question and answer it on your blog.

This week's discussion question is:

(note: for anyone who does not know, DNF = 'did not finish')

We've all (probably) been there: you've just started a book and it's not grabbing you yet, so you tell yourself to just hold on, maybe it'll get better -- but it doesn't. Then comes the question: push yourself and finish it or just give it up? Some people have no qualms with putting down a book, and some people hate doing that so much that they just push through. There is no right or wrong way, so I think DNFs are always an interesting discussion!

Personally, I will DNF a book if I am just not feeling it. I definitely try to push myself and give any book as much benefit of the doubt as possible, but sometimes it just doesn't happen. Or it even happens that sometimes a book might not actually be something I don't like, but it just doesn't fit my current mood, so I have to put it down and promise to come back to it later.

Where DNFs gets really tricky is when it comes to advanced review copies/galleys. If you have agreed to read and review a book, does that change how you feel about not finishing it? Do you feel obligated to finish a book? For me, I always try to finish any book that I have explicitly said I will read and review. Fortunately, I've not had many issues where I haven't wanted to finish a book I've agreed to review, and that's probably partly because I try really hard to screen the books that are offered for me to review.

Another area that lends itself to intense consternation regarding DNFs  is whether or not to review them in general. I usually like to leave a review for DNF books in order to explain why I didn't like it or what went wrong. This way others can still see your thoughts and also whether or not this is an issue that might bother them or if it's something that they, in contrast, love to see in a book. However, I also don't think it's vital to leave a review, because if I didn't want to spend time reading the book, I might not want to spend time leaving a review. It really just depends on the situations and reasons why I DNF a book.

But in the end, I think it's important to realize that we can't necessarily love every book we pick up, and that's okay! There are far too many fantastic books to read out there to waste time reading something you don't enjoy.

So now I pose the same question to you: What do you concerning DNF books? Do you have any problems with not finishing a book? Do you review them or feel obligated to finish ARCs? Let me know below!

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