In 2023, I’ve read a total of 92 books (if I am able to finish my 2 current reads in time). Unfortunately, there also were some books I really had to put aside for my own sanity. Celeste @ A literary Escape recently posted about the books she has DNF’ed this year and this inspired me to do a similar post. I know there are still 2 full days of the year left, but I guess I won’t be DNF’ing another book before the year is over. Without further ado, let’s take a look into the books I simply couldn’t finish. Please keep in mind that this is my opinion and my opinion only. Books that didn’t work for me, might work very well for you. I DNF a book for multiple reasons.

1. Legeds & Lattes by Travis Baldree – It was well into 2023 before I had my first DNF, although I read a book before which I’d better had put aside. However, this one was not for me. It’s too much of a cozy fantasy and I’m not into books solely relying on vibes. I was bored the entire time. For me, there was so much missing in this book, e.g. world building and action. If you are into slow, cozy (and maybe even lazy) fantasies, this book might work much better for you than it did for me.
2. How To Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie – This is a case of “the book is not funny when it’s supposed to be funny”. I was annoyed by the snobby main character and when you’re cringing when reading, it’s better to DNF.
3. The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean – Obviously, this is a book you either love or hate, there’s no inbetween. I wish I would love this, the premise made me expect to do so. However, I just couldn’t get into this book and I find this very unfortunate.
4. Pageboy by Elliot Page – Sometimes the writing style makes it hard to follow a story and that’s exactly the case here. I’m sure it’s an interesting read, but I was lost more often than not which really influenced my reading enjoyment.
5. I Fell in Love with Hope by Lancadi – I shouldn’t have picked up this book since it’s so hyped. And self-published as well? I don’t know. However, I already knew what was going down before the 10% mark and I was so disappointed by it that I just couldn’t be bothered finishing this book.
6. In the Lives of Puppets by T.J. Klune – I really didn’t expect to have to DNF this book, because I liked several of his other books. However, the conversations and humor didn’t work for me. Maybe it’s a language thing. I might give this book another try, because it’s also translated into Dutch. Maybe the humor works better for me in translation. I believe it’s too soon to retry this book at the moment.
7. Immortal Longings by Chloe Gong – There was so much wrong with the first 30% of the book that I just couldn’t continue. The writing was fine, but the story was not. It was all infodump so far and besides that, the characters were not my cup of tea. Unfortunately, I saw so many similarities to The Hunger Games and I just wasn’t invested in the games in this book.
8. The Toll by Neal Shusterman – I should have been careful because of all the mixed reviews the final book in the “Arc of a Scythe” series get. However, after the cliffhanger in Thunderhead, I still was curious. I didn’t get the direction this book was moving in and this might also be a timing case since AI and such are rapidly finding their way into our society.
9. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus – Ouch! This was such a tough read. I didn’t like the few chapters I’ve read. It wasn’t funny, the writing didn’t flow smoothly and I might have had wrong expectations. This should be humorous but isn’t. Prsonally, I expected to get a decent hystorical fiction which this book clearly is not.
10. Powerless by Lauren Roberts – This is a huge YA Booktok hype and all the alarms should have gone off already. I absolutely didn’t like the book. It was too much YA for my taste and it actually feels like a The Hunger Games rip-off. I saw way too many similarities to the first book. I’ve read the ending to see whether that made me curious, but unfortunately not.
11. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath – This is the final book I DNF’ed this year and it’s a reminder why i don’t read classics. I didn’t understand any of this story and therefore had no idea what I was reading. My English is sufficient, but classics are written i a different way from the books I usually read. So this wasn’t a match.

As you might see, I put quite a few books aside. They are less than the past few years, but still a good amount. Have you tried to read or even finished one of these books?