Every book lover has slogged through boring prose that drags on and on. Sometimes the culprit is a popular novel whose repulsive characters make you desperately want to run away from it; sometimes it’s a plot so silly you can’t ignore your skepticism for a single page. Eventually, even the most passionate readers look up and realize they don’t have to take a reading test or get a grade for reading. For adults who have finished school, reading is no longer a requirement. But that means that the decision to finish a book you don’t like is entirely up to you—and for some people, an extremely difficult one.
So how does a conscientious person decide when to give up and when to see it through to the end? The debate is much older than the internet, but online reading communities like Goodreads or the literary pages of Instagram or TikTok are teeming with the acronym “DNF” (for “Did Not Finish”)—as are arguments about when it’s appropriate to do so. There are those who firmly believe that you should always finish a book, no matter how much you want to give up, and many others firmly believe that life is too short to ever read anything you’re not completely enthralled by.
For those of us who don’t choose a one-size-fits-all approach, perhaps the best thing to do is formulate a personal, conscious philosophy about when to stop. I worked in publishing for a decade and strive to be intentional about my reading practice while routinely finishing several dozen new books a year and putting down countless others. I’ve spoken to similarly dedicated authors, teachers, editors, and bookworms about their philosophies, hoping to create a guide for others to decide where their limits lie—and when to give up on a book.
Pay attention to your underlying reaction.
Before you put a book down, you need to find out what makes you stop reading it. Is the writing style really bad, or is the author experimenting in creative ways that might inspire you as a reader?
And if you hate something so much that it evokes a big emotional reaction, it might be worth sticking with it to better understand why. Mariel VanLandingham, a high school English teacher in New Jersey, told me via email, “I love it when a student comes into class ranting about a required reading they hate: when they explain why they feel so strongly about it and other students respond, it’s a valuable experience for everyone. I’d rather see them struggle through something they hate and feel strongly about it than not read at all or be apathetic.”
However, if the prose leaves something to be desired, the plot drags, and you feel like you’re falling asleep every time you pick up the book, it’s probably okay to keep reading.
Consider stretching.
Reading increases empathy and is one of our best ways to process experiences and opinions that we might not otherwise have considered.
“Perspectives, writing styles, and voices that are different from our own make our worlds bigger,” Emily Kinard, a Washington, DC-based editor at X, told me. “I hold the very unpopular view that if you don’t like a book, you should finish it. I can also name books whose entire thesis/message I wholeheartedly disagree with, but that I enjoyed.”
Books can evoke challenging emotions, and a thoughtful person will be mindful of when their own biases might get in the way of engaging with what they are reading. It is one thing to put down a light-hearted romantic comedy that bores you to death, and another to put down Matthew Desmond’s Distributed because you’re “just not into it.” Some of the most valuable experiences are ones that are edifying, not necessarily enjoyable.
Recognize the limits of time.
For many busy people, time to read is a luxury. If all you can do is devour 30 pages on a Sunday afternoon or read a novel on vacation, you’ll naturally want to enjoy the experience to the fullest. There will be times in life when you’re mentally better able to read a book through, expecting the challenging literary experience to pay off, and others when you should look for something that really captivates you.
“If I’m not enjoying a book after 50 pages, I keep reading,” says writer and book blogger Lucy Pearson. She told me via email that reading all the novels on Big Read’s top 100 list — which is taken from a 2003 BBC nationwide poll of Britain’s most popular novels — made her realise that “life is far too short for bad books”.
Stop making reading too playful.
Bragging is not a 21st century phenomenon, but social media has made it easier than ever to attract attention to reading a muchwhich encourages some people to read to the last page just to finish it. Leah Vann, a sportswriter from Texas, told me via email that she used to finish every book she started just so she could add it to her public Goodreads page, but she’s since given up that. “I realized that reading isn’t a sport, and there’s no benefit to reading a book I don’t enjoy,” she said. “I have too many books on my list to force myself to read just one!”
If that’s what you enjoy, read 200 books a year, but remember that the validation you get from posting an online review about a title shouldn’t be the driving force behind your reading time.
Go ahead if you want to be a hater.
I have spoken to several people who read the book to the end so they can criticize it with full authority. “If you want to read regularly, you should put down books you hate immediately. Unless they are currently all the rage. Then you should definitely finish the book so you can complain about it,” says Maggie Q. Thompson, news editor at The Austin Chronicletold me. “The risk of recession is not an issue here. Hatred will drive you.”
Aside from the fun of trashing a trendy book, it’s true that one’s ability to properly assess a story is weakened by not finishing it—especially in public or on social media, where there are plenty of quick assessments based on first impressions. For example, you might not reach the jaw-dropping twist on the last page of a lukewarm thriller, or you might unfairly dismiss a novel whose characters take 400 pages to fully develop. It’s OK to give up on a title, but if you do, keep the strong opinions to a minimum.
Don’t let the completeness stop you from reading.
For many people, engaging with literature is more important than finishing a single book. And if you don’t want to go back to a book you’re currently working on, the surest way to ensure that, given the choice, you reach for the phone or the remote control instead.
“If I notice that I haven’t read in a while, it means I’m not going to pick up that particular book, and that’s a death sentence,” Jay Venables, an author and audio producer, told me. “My goal is to keep reading, not to read everything“I do my best to recognize the value of the books I read, but sometimes they are not what I am looking for at the moment.”
Like others I’ve spoken to, Venables recommends putting these books back on the to-read pile and revisiting them later. A story that doesn’t speak to you today may change your life in a few years.
Rely on the library.
If you find the idea of leaving behind the hardcover you spent $32 on at your local bookstore particularly distressing, just march into your local library, where you can borrow a novel (or three) for free. Five out of five Boston Public Library librarians who commented on the issue told me they routinely don’t finish their reading. “I have too many books on my ever-growing ‘to read’ list to justify finishing a book that didn’t win me over after about 70 pages,” Anna Cappello, a senior library assistant, told me via email.
Not only can using the library help you feel less guilty about stopping reading a book, it can also help you push yourself to try new genres, authors, or formats. (And don’t worry: the author still gets paid.)
Some of us will always feel guilty about putting a book down, but there is nothing wrong with putting it down. Personal awareness and the ability to keep an open mind in the future will do much more to make you a “good reader” than slogging through every book you’ve ever wanted to put down.
