DNFs of 2019

2019 has been unique to me - one reason being that I have been skimming and just outright not finishing more books than ever before. I used to hate not finishing anything. But I suppose that since reading War and Peace - and since I'm getting older - I've come to fully realise that life is too short to read books that you don't enjoy. Don't torture yourself and waste time with something you'll clearly not like and never will. Reading should be fun, not a chore.

There is no shame in not finishing a book, I realise that now. I won't feel guilty about it again in the future.

There is a kind of reading that makes me hate reading, and the books on this list are indicative of that. So here they are, the slogs, the drains, the not-for-me's. Totalling thirteen(!), here are my Did Not Finish's of 2019.





13. The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins

Couldn't keep my interest, sadly - and this is historical fiction about an LBGTQ slave girl. Didn't like the writing style. A less interesting version of Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace, in my opinion.


12. The Vagabond by Colette, Enid McLeod (Translator)

I just didn't care for the characters and setting. Where was the feminism and the fire of the older female protagonist? Three strikes and you're out: Sadly, Colette, we will have to part ways.


11. The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling

I managed to read this through until later on, unlike the other DNFs where I gave up quite early. I skimmed some of it, and I... don't care. The author's pro-imperialism definitely shows through his writing, and I am having none of it. Well written and researched for its time, though.


10. Moroda by L.L. McNeil

I was looking forward to reading this self-published fantasy book by a kind and involved modern author. The beginning is engaging and makes you want to find out more about what's going on. But it loses steam quickly. I got very bored. The writing isn't great and that it is self-published painfully shows. I skimmed through it and found that it contains cliched YA high fantasy tropes. Like, masses of people are stupid enough by themselves without actual mind control influencing them, writers! Look at the last few years as proof of that! Politics are a cesspool! Oh yeah, Moroda has dragons in it as well, doesn't it? Oh well, still bored. Sorry, L.L. McNeil.


9. Emma by Jane Austen

An attempted reread from years ago, and after one hundred pages I gave up and skimmed...


8. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

...and with this I gave up after about thirty pages. I barely bothered skimming. Why is this so popular? It's so dull and bland. How is it entertaining? Emma is more entertaining in its beginning. The boring writing and the obsession with women getting married to rich and handsome men in society is so irritating. I hate costume dramas! Nothing happens in Sense and Sensibility, and there is internalised misogyny going on as well. Of course there is. But I didn't give up on Jane Austen after this. In fact she managed to pleasantly surprise me with another book of hers, which I will talk about on another 2019 list...


7. The Illiad by Homer, E.V. Rieu (Translator)

Read my review here.


6. The Odyssey by Homer, E.V. Rieu (Translator)

See above. My review of The Odyssey can be read here.


5. The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

Everybody loves this book. Everybody. It has won countless awards. It is an adult fantasy diversity goldmine. And I couldn't finish it. I'm sorry, I truly am. I am not a fan of the second person perspective narration, the intertwining POV narrations, and the all-around confusion. It is rich and deep and vastly detailed high fantasy, and I'm sure very original, but I couldn't get into it. I couldn't follow which POV and time period I was supposed to be paying the most attention to. The depictions of child abuse disturbed me and put me off as well. Too horrific, overwhelming yet underwhelming at the same time, and weird for me. I am so sorry. A diverse and critically acclaimed fantasy book by a POC author which I didn't want to continue with? What kind of fantasy fan am I?


4. Miss Garnet's Angel by Salley Vickers

Very, very, very boring - I could barely reach thirty pages. It should have been a little interesting to me since I have been to Venice this year, but I guess not.


3. Dimsie Goes to School by Dorita Fairlie Bruce

Dreadfully dull. And it's a children's book! Something as short as this shouldn't be a DNF, but there you go, it is that bad.


2. Watership Down by Richard Adams

On the flip side, we have a ridiculously long children's book. How can a book about rabbits for kids be 656 pages long?! It certainly didn't keep me invested for long. Or at all, but I endured it until I couldn't any longer. Just...why do so many people love this huge bore? How do kids manage to read it without being bored to tears? A classic status shouldn't be an immunity against criticism. The writing is overly dense and overly descriptive, and the rabbit characters are almost nonentities. Not interesting to me at all, sorry.


1. The Arabian Nights by Anonymous, Richard Francis Burton (Translator), Haralambie Grămescu (Traducător), Lilly-Ferrari-Accame (Translator), A.S. Byatt (Introduction)

A travesty; a large, bloated, badly written and badly translated mess. It is practically unreadable. I hated the misogyny, slut shaming, and double standards of times past as well. Definitely not to be read to be enjoyed. It is the worst endurance test imaginable. I regret nothing.





Thew! With that out of the way, time for the positive reads of 2019! Next up...