Instead of posting negative reviews on books I don’t like, I’ve decided to take a few notes about what didn’t work for me, put the book down and move on to the next one. I’ve talked before about books I’m not enjoying creating reader’s block, because part of me wants to finish even bad books to get that sense of completion and to justify adding them to my reading stats for the year, but then I stop reading completely because reading bad books isn’t fun. It’s ridiculous. Trying to read a certain number of books a year is also a ridiculous. I’m going to sidestep that trap from now on.

Having a DNF (Did Not Finish) pile feels revolutionary in that context. Instead of being miserable ploughing hopelessly through a book I hate, I choose another book. I mean, OF COURSE. I’m fifty-two years old. What am I doing to myself with these insane must-finish-the-book rules? So, here are the three books I didn’t finish this month, and why they weren’t for me.

Romantic Comedy, Curtis Sittenfeld (2023). I wasn’t interested in the details of how the Saturday Night Live show works. Everything was told without enough showing, and there wasn’t much subtext, so it was a dull read. I didn’t care about the central relationship.

The Final Girls Support Group, Grady Hendrix (2021). The conceit of a someone picking off a therapy group of survivors from slasher-style killings is brilliant, but the voice of the central character was deliberately manic and paranoid and left me cold. Also, I didn’t get pulled into the mystery—police reports and interviews are not for me.

Reprieve, James Han Mattson (2021). Instead of the literary horror novel promised on the back cover, this opens with an extended chapter on a teenagers relationships at a high school, so it’s more of a Young Adult thriller, and what little we learn about the reality show their involved with didn’t grab me.

My wife loved Romantic Comedy, and the horror podcast I listen to loved The Final Girls Support Group, so these things I don’t like are my personal taste. I probably won’t post about my DNF pile again, but I wanted to note the change in my behaviour and the benefits in case someone else is caught in the always-finish trap.