Hi all! I hope you are all doing well and have had a good week since I last did one of these. Not much has changed here, we’re still on lockdown in the UK and though some of the restrictions have been lifted this week, none of them are going to make any difference to me, except maybe being able to exercise a little more.
Anyway, as it’s Tuesday, I’m back with another Top Ten Tuesday for you all, courtesy of Jana from That Artsy Reader Girl. Today we’re talking The Last Ten Books I Abandoned, which could be interpreted as any number of things. I’m going to talk about The Last Ten Books I DNF’ed as in the past I’ve never had enough books to do this topic and now I do. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, I’m going to take it as a good thing, since I’ve been trying to allow myself to put down books I’m not feeling into without feeling bad about it. So here we go, the last ten books I DNF’ed:
- The Fowl Twins-Artemis Fowl
I requested this last year because I loved Artemis Fowl when I was a kid, however I just couldn’t really get into the story, probably because I’m now 23 and not 14 like I was when I first read it and so I abandoned it after a few chapters.
2. The Fountains of Silence-Ruta Sepetys
This one hurt. I loved both of the other Sepetys’ books I’ve read and I thought this one would be no different, but I really struggled. I was over 200 pages into the book and basically nothing had happened. It was such a shame because the idea of a story set in Franco era Spain was brilliant but I just wasn’t into it.
3. We Hunt The Flame-Hafsah Faizal
I’ll be honest, I didn’t really read that much of this one, maybe one or two chapters but when I sat down to read it, I never actually felt like it and I took that as a sign that I wasn’t really into it. Maybe I’ll try it again someday but for now it’s on the DNF shelf.
4. Wonder Woman: Warbringer-Leigh Bardugo
Again, this one hurt because I love Leigh Bardugo. I was about 5 or 6 chapters into this one but the chapters were just SO LONG and I wasn’t really getting into the story at all, so I decided to put it down and try something else rather than forcing myself to power through.
5. Spinning Silver-Naomi Novik
I’ve not had much luck with Naomi Novik’s books, what with this one and then Uprooted. Novik’s writing style was a bit too much for me, and honestly again I was just bored. Nothing really seemed to be happening and I had other Netgalley books I was more excited about, so I just left it.
6. The Belles-Dhonielle Clayton
Again, the writing style just didn’t work for me here. It was too flowery and descriptive and I got quite frustrated by the lack of speech marks as it meant I never knew who was talking when!
7. Beasts Made of Night-Tochi Onyebuchi
I really wanted to like this one, the concept sounded so good and such a unique idea. Sadly, I just didn’t really like the way it was written and I couldn’t really get into the story, so I had to put it down.
8. Invictus-Ryan Graudin
I’ll be honest, my abandonment of this one was less due to boredom or not liking the story, but more due to the fact that I ran out of time to read it when I got it from Netgalley! I may try it again if the mood strikes me, but I haven’t felt like it yet.
9. The Hanging Girl-Eileen Cook
Again, I did run out of time to read this one, but also I was kind of bored by it? Granted I wasn’t very far in, but I wasn’t feeling particularly connected. Again, I may go back to it at some point but I haven’t felt the mood strike me yet.
10. Final Girls-Riley Saeger
Once again I was just bored by this one. I was almost halfway through and barely anything had happened. I expected to be thrilled by a thriller and I just wasn’t by this one.
Have you read any of these? Did you like them? What were the last books that you didn’t finish? Let me know in the comments!
I will be back next week with another Top Ten Tuesday, I’ll be talking Reasons Why I Love VE Schwab’s Books.
bookloversblog 
Great list! I’ve seen We Hunt the Flame on quite a few lists this week, which makes me a little nervous about picking it up. Spinning Silver is one of my all-time favourites, but I can understand why it doesn’t work for some people – it is a very slow-moving story,
Thanks! I’ve seen lots of people who liked it too, so you never know. I think it depends what you like, I personally need quite fast moving plots, but I know it’s not the same for everyone.
I feel like I should have DNF’ed Spinning silver as well haha!
My post!
I’m glad to hear I didn’t miss out on anything!
I couldn’t get into Spinning Silver either.
My TTT .
I’m glad I wasn’t the only one!
I should have DNF’d Final Girls!! But I had been so excited about it, and had friends who loved it, that I felt committed to reading further. And then, the ending was so disappointing that I pretty much threw it into my “donate” pile immediately. You truly didn’t miss out on anything!
I’m glad to hear that (but sorry to hear that it disappointed you!).
I almost read Final Girls and decided against it! I’m glad I did because I can’t stand thrillers that are slow to start.
Me either! If it doesn’t thrill me, then I don’t want to read it.
I have had Spinning Silver on my shelf for a long time and haven’t picked it up. You are not the first blogger I’ve seen say they didn’t like it.
I’m glad to hear that!
I love Sepetys’ writing, but FOUNTAINS OF SILENCE was a little difficult to get through. It’s long and detailed and, you’re right, it doesn’t have a ton of action. I enjoyed it overall, though.
Happy TTT!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
I’m glad you enjoyed it! I didn’t have an issue with the writing, I was mostly just bored by the lack of movement in the plot.
I love Wonder Woman: Warbringer but I totally get what you mean about the chapters being so long. It often bugs me how long Leigh Bardugo’s chapters are in all of her books. They could be so much shorter!
Yes they really could be!
Wonder Woman is one I started and only read a couple chapters in. I didn’t officially “DNF” it since I always planned to go back and try again, but I honestly don’t know if I ever will. I agree the chapters were too long! I also was one of the few that didn’t care for Final Girls. I found it really disappointing, so it’s not one I would recommend you pick back up anytime soon.
It’s always something I find quite offputting? I think it may be because I read before bed quite often and if the chapters are too long, I end up leaving off in the middle of one, which is obviously not ideal. I still own it, but I’m not sure if I’ll go back to it. I don’t think I will, it’s not one that I’ve ever really regretted not finishing!
The Belles doesn’t have quotation marks? Weird. I’ve read books in Spanish and Russian (and I think German) that denote their quotes in different ways, but no quotes at all?
Yeah it was really strange!
I’m sad to see you DNF’d The Fountains of Silence-Ruta Sepetys. That’s one I want to try at some point. Hopefully, I have better luck.
Hopefully!
I started reading a sample of Spinning Silver once and it didn’t grab me at all, so even though I’ve heard good things about her books I haven’t really taken the plunge yet. Invictus is one I remember being curious about…
Yeah after Spinning Silver and Uprooted, I don’t think her books are really for me.
I finished We Hunt The Flame but honestly, I can no longer remember a single thing about it. That’s a shame about the Ruta Supetys book, I’ve read a couple of hers and really loved them.
Yeah so have I, just that one didn’t particularly work for me. Oh that’s a shame.
I generally don’t talk about books I didn’t finish, but since you asked… in the past year or so I’ve started and couldn’t finish books by Sarah Maas, VE Schwab, Katherine Arden, Ian Banks, Ocean Vuong, Leigh Richards, Tad Williamson, S A Chakraborty, Kahled Hosseini, Hanya Yanagihara, and Megan Whalen Turner.
If you were bored by Spinning Silver, then, yes, the book’s not for you.
Yeah I came to the same conclusion. It’s always interesting to see what books people don’t finish, just goes to show there’s no one book for every person!
I’ve been on the fence about Spinning Silver because there are so many mixed reviews. I always just say no and I think I’ll keep it that way!
Yeah, I would say that’s a good idea!
I gave up on Fountains of Silence, too. I hate it that I couldn’t get into that one, because I loved this author’s other books. And I bought the book, too.
Yeah I hated it too, I so enjoyed her other books! I’m hoping it was just a blip and I’ll enjoy her future books 🙂
I had no luck with Uprooted so I skipped Spinning Silver. I liked Invicticus though! And I do get what you mean with The Belles. I liked it, but I agree that it would have been better if it was a little less flowery. Sadness for SURE about The Fountains of Silence!
I mean fair! Tbh, Invictus was more a question of timing than anything else, my Netgalley read of it was going to expire and I just didn’t feel like rushing through it. It depends how much you like that kind of writing I suppose, I’m not a fan, I think because I don’t really picture things as I read, so super descriptive writing is kind of lost on me. Oh I’m so sad about The Fountains of Silence! I really enjoyed both Between Shades of Gray and Salt To The Sea, so I’m hoping Fountains of Silence was just a blip and I’ll enjoy her future books more.
I can see why you abandoned Final Girls–it definitely dragged for awhile and I remember being frustrated with the main character for most of the book. It did pick up towards the end and overall I found it to be a decent read (tho I don’t have a lot of experience reading thrillers), but yeah, not my fav Sager book.
I think the last book I officially DNF-ed was a christian memoir I had to read for a class this past spring. We only had to read half the chapters, and at first I thought I might power through the rest so I could count it for my GR goal, but the writer ended up annoying me so I bailed on that plan.
Glad to hear you’ve gotten more comfortable DNF-ing books! Happy reading and hope you don’t have too many books that you DNF pop up in your reading!
I was about 150 pages in and I was thinking if nothing had happened by now, it wasn’t worth reading another 150 pages to see if things got any better. Ooh that sounds painful! I did that with Jane Eyre, I was moving English classes and had to catch up, but I only read up to where the class was and never read anymore because I just didn’t like it! Thank you! So far so good this year 🙂
I tried to read Artemis Fowl years ago and bought the 7 or 8th book thinking it was the first 😅 and then bought the actual first book and never got to reading it!
Ouch, we’ve all been there! Hope you enjoy it if you do get around to reading it.
I only read We Hunt The Flame and though I ended up liking it, I understand why you DNF’ed it as it took me a long time (about 40-50%, so A LOT) to get into the book as well.
I just didn’t have the patience to wait for it to get good, though I’m glad you enjoyed it in the end!