I first wrote about books I DNF last year, given that my blog has only been around through one year’s end. To reiterate what I said then, I usually DNF (do/did not finish) a book because I couldn’t get into it. This doesn’t necessarily mean that I felt it was badly written. For the most part, I seemed to pick well for myself, which is not a surprise because I know me. As a result, I didn’t DNF a lot of books this year. Note that everyone’s reading preferences are subjective. So, what didn’t work for me might totally work for you.

As an aside, I noticed that people compiled lists of the “worst” books they read this year. Personally, I don’t feel the need to do this because I think my “negative” reviews speak for themselves. However, I have nothing against these types of lists as long as their compilation is tactful. (And for goodness sake, don’t tag the author!) Why? Because I believe reviews and opinions are mainly for fellow readers, not for authors. Once a book hits the market, it’s out of the author’s hands and people have the right to their opinions. If someone truly wants to read a book, they will. A “negative” review or list won’t stop them. And, frankly, let’s be realistic. Life has positives and negatives and I think to just ignore that some people feel “negatively” about a book is toxic positivity. There, I said it.

Anyway, thoughts and feelings aside, here is a list of books I DNF in 2022. It’s a short list, so you can hold your breath. The book cover images link to their official synopses.

Burn the Page by Danica Roem

I really wanted to finish this book because Danica Roem is a local politician in Northern Virginia. She was the first openly transgender person to be elected and serve in office. She doesn’t represent me, but she represents an area I used to frequent growing up. I was curious to know her backstory and what influenced her to run for office. Ultimately, at the time I tried to read this I found the writing to be a bit frenetic. I do eventually want to come back to this book, but it just didn’t hold my attention well enough when I initially tried to read it.

Can’t Even by Anne Helen Petersen

CAN’T EVEN: HOW MILLENNIALS BECAME THE BURNOUT GENERATION piqued my interest because I’m a millennial. I don’t think I feel burned out, but nonetheless I was curious about how and why my generation is sometimes called the burnout generation. This sat in my suspended library holds for a while before I decided to go for it earlier this month. It’s interesting, but it’s denser than I expected. The author is a journalist and did a lot of good research from what I could tell. But I didn’t find it as approachable as I expected. I always appreciate real-life examples of the topic at hand and the author includes them. But I also felt like the inclusion of so many examples muddied the point of the chapters I read. There’s a chance I’ll come back to this book, too, but I think I need to be in a less hectic headspace to do so. The holiday seasons doesn’t lend itself to calmness.

Kingdom of Villains by Ella Fields

Amazon Kindle suggested this to me at some point and I tried it during another mood-reading phase. It started off ok. But after a couple of chapters I personally thought it was fairly predictable. Honestly, I can’t remember much beyond that because I didn’t invest a ton of time into this book. It checks a lot of my boxes, though: arranged marriage, fae/Unseelie, fiery female main character. The reviews are relatively high, so maybe it gets more interesting and I didn’t give it a fair enough shake. That said, if the synopsis sounds interesting, don’t let my detached DNF tale discourage you!

Did you DNF any books this year? If so, which ones?