To live in the 21st century is to swim in a sea of TLAs (three[or two]-letter-acronyms). One might think that the bookish world—with our love of long-form thought and sophisticated vocabulary—might be immune to the TLA pervasiveness, but even here the phenomenon exists. We can’t wait to dig into that ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) of the YA (Young Adult) novel that’s been sitting on our TBR (To Be Read list); despite its many TWs (Trigger Warnings), we’re promised it has a dreamy MMC (Male Main Character) and delightful HEA (Happily Ever After). RTC (Review to Come)—unless we make the weighty decision to DNF (Did Not Finish).

Of all the acronyms—bookish and otherwise—that saturate our lexicon, I think that DNF might be the most useful and the most fitting. The abbreviation itself evokes the incompleteness of our reading experience. And those three letters could easily read D&F, signifying the letter grades we would likely give these books that were not even worthy of completing.

While the term DNF is a newer one, the phenomenon of refraining from finishing books is far from modern. I’m sure that readers have been leaving books unfinished for as long as books have been in existence. But the habit of DNFing books is hardly a universal one. Some readers—the “Serial DNFers”—DNF with abandon, unable to stick with disfavored books while other, better books are vying for their attention. Other readers—the “Never DNFers”—are determined to maximize every reading experience, feeling they owe it to the books and their authors to read each and every word of every book, from Title Page to Acknowledgements. I think that most readers (myself included) lie somewhere in between.

What counts as a DNF?

Before we move forward with the discussion of DNFs, I think it’s important to define our terms. Depending on the reader, a DNF could mean anything from passing on a book after sampling a few pages, to reading 90% of a book before throwing in the towel. For me, I consider a book a DNF if I’ve gotten far enough into the book to mark it as Currently Reading on my Goodreads and StoryGraph shelves, which I usually do after reading a few chapters.

For me, a true DNF is not the same as a discarded sample. I often sample a book and, after a few pages, realize it’s not for me: either the voice or the tone isn’t a good fit, or the story isn’t drawing me in. If it’s obviously a book I won’t ever want to read, I’ll remove the title from my Goodreads TBR. More often than not, these books fall into the category of not right now and remain on my Goodreads TBR. If a not right now (NRN?) book was borrowed from the Library on Hoopla or Libby, I’ll return the book to the library but tag it so I can pick it up when it’s a better fit for my reading mood.

How do I feel about DNFing?

On an objective level, I have no qualms about DNFing a book. Although I do think some readers are a little too quick to DNF a book that MIGHT be a great match if given more of a chance, it’s simply true that not every book is for every reader; it makes sense to quit a book that is obviously a mismatch. Of course, this assumes that the book in question is being read for purely personal reasons (entertainment, self-improvement, education, etc). I do not believe in quitting books that are assigned reading. (Yes, I was the student who read ALL of EVERY book I was assigned in school.) I also feel strongly that members of a book club have an obligation to other members to finish a book if they hope to be involved in the book discussion. And of course a reader is obligated to complete a book she has committed to reviewing.

But for the reader who has picked up a book for the sheer joy of the reading experience, DNFing books that are not delivering the desired experience can be an effective strategy for achieving a rewarding and meaningful reading life void of unsatisfactory books. This is especially true for adventurous readers who like to go off the beaten path with their book choices, or who like to go into a reading experience without doing a lot of pre-reading reconnaissance.

When and why do I DNF?

While I am all for others DNFing books, it’s not something I do very often in my own reading life—mostly because I don’t need to! I am not an adventurous reader in that I do quite a bit of vetting before deciding to read a book, and I’m pretty adept at choosing books that will work well for me, thanks to a combination of knowing my own reading tastes, relying on trusted book reviewers for recommendations, and having a solid process for choosing my next book. I can usually tell within a page or two whether or not a book is one I’ll want to see through to the end, and I don’t have to be loving a book for it to feel like a worthwhile reading a experience.

Another reason I rarely DNF is more superficial: for better or for worse, I care about my running book count, and I hate the thought of wasting precious reading time on a book that can’t be included in my final book count for the year. So if I’ve read more than half of a book—especially if it’s a long book—I will almost certainly persevere through the end, even if it means doing some speed-reading/skimming of a print or Kindle book, or speeding up an audiobook from my usual 1.2x listening speed.

I can count on one hand the number of books I’ve DNFd in the last two years, and all but one of them was abandoned out of pure disinterest. I almost never need to abandon a book for content issues since I use StoryGraph’s Content Warnings to prescreen books I have any concerns about, and I have no problem skimming over uncomfortable graphic content (bedroom scenes, violence, etc.). In recent memory, I have only DNFd one book out of sheer dislike, and in that instance the author’s worldview was so diametrically opposed to my own that my reading experience was becoming too emotionally charged and ultimately counterproductive. I have zero regrets about prematurely ending that reading experience, and I probably need to get a little more comfortable with DNFing books that make me angry (like this one did).

Ultimately, the choice to DNF is a deeply personal one. DNFing is an art, not a science! I’m pretty comfortable with my own approach, but I would love to hear from YOU: are you quick to DNF a book? What goes into your decision to quit a book rather than finishing it? Do you wish that you DNFd more or less than you do? Please share your DNF opinions and experiences in the Comments!