November Group Read: First Check-In

[kalloway]

We're now nearly a week in! Have you finished or started anything? How are you feeling? (It is perfectly fine if the answers are "no", "nope", and "augh", of course.)


For added optional discussion, if you'd like- Do you ever DNF (Did Not Finish) books? If so, what makes you DNF something and when? Style? Content? Not grabbing you after x% of pages? Something else? Or are you the type of reader who finishes everything you start, no matter what? Have you changed your stance on this over time?

Comments

[kalloway]

Whew! I had A Week(tm) but did end up reading that first volume of the Napping Princess manga and do want to see about acquiring the next and the novel (and the movie if I don't have it). I also had a box of book arrive far earlier than expected, so I read a couple other volumes of manga and very-vaguely poked the last volume of Scum Villain.

I am absolutely a DNF person, though I probably finish more books than I should anyway. Most of the time, I try to give a book about 20% of its total page count, unless it's really not grabbing me at all or there's something else absolutely dire about it. (I definitely used to finish most everything, even if I disliked it. But life's too short for stuff I'm not enjoying.)

[vriddy]

20% sounds like giving a book a fair shot before giving up!! I think I'd still have found that too hard for some of the densest books I had to admit would be DNF for me 😂 Your "though I probably finish more books than I should anyway" made me chuckle, though.

[kalloway]

I absolutely do. Sometimes I have to be absolutely sure I can talk about how much I dislike a thing... Sometimes it's a "well surely this thing I hate will get subverted" and then I'm staring at The End going "well that sure didn't get subverted, what a fucking mess." because that's just how I do. ^^;;

(I also have a not-ironclad "no doorstoppers" rule. If it's over 400 pages, it had better be coming off a recommendation I trust. Most 400+ page books don't need to be 400+ page books.)

[vriddy]

"well that sure didn't get subverted" XD XD XD Terrible feeling when that happens 😂

[rmc28]

Oh man it is! Different medium, but I remember being utterly disappointed in Aquaman because I convinced myself while watching there was going to be a clever plot twist that ... didn't happen. No, we are just doing the obvious plot here.

[vriddy]

I just started "My name is Philippa" and I'm enjoying it a lot so far! Confident or at least hopeful I'll finish it this month before it's due back at the library.

DNFing (haha) books is still hard for me. I used to just... stop reading anything altogether rather than admit I wasn't enjoying whatever I was reading. It's gotten better since I started giving myself the "100 pages" rule! If I still don't enjoy something after the first 100 pages, I gave it a fair shot and it's okay to admit it's just not for me.

[kalloway]

100 pages is a good rule and definitely a fair shot. (I also think DNF'ing is an art one has to learn and make their own rules for!)

[autumndaze]

I'm glad you're enjoying the book!

I definitely had the same problem with stopping reading entirely than realizing the book I was reading wasn't working :/ It sucks so much. And I still struggle to DNF when I should. But I'm working on it, and a lot better than I was. I'm glad the 100 pages rule is helping!

[vriddy]

Thank you! :D I hope you figure out a good rule of thumb for yourself, too!

[phantomtomato]

I used to just... stop reading anything altogether rather than admit I wasn't enjoying whatever I was reading.

Oh, wow, I didn’t know that was what I did until I saw this! Yes, I was reading some things a few years ago that I wasn’t clicking with, and then I suppose I just… stopped, rather than drop the books and pick up something else. I’m working my way back in this year, and it’s been good so far because I’ve chosen successfully, but that’s a good thing to watch out for!

[vriddy]

Haha, glad if that tip is helpful!! It took me so many years to realise what was happening, too... Happy reading! :)

[taichara]

I was arguably behind on rpg/zine things and still am -- but because of Reasons[tm] I've started up another of my periodic rereads of The Hacker Crackdown, so I figure I'm well in the game anyway.

[kalloway]

Reading is reading~

[bearshorty]

I just finished "The Golden Enclaves" by Naomi Novik, the last of her latest trilogy. I do like it when the last book in the trilogy explains a lot. And I love Novik in general. Very good book.

I am also reading Alan Rickman's dairies, which I can now devote more time to. It is quite inciteful and it is fascinating to see the thought process of filming a movie and day to day things.

I occasionally do not finish. Mostly I have a list of things I want to read and they are generally my style but sometimes I stop 50 pages in if it is not grabbing me. But if the book was a gift I tend to finish it anyway. One time I opted out on the second page because it was historical fiction and I didn't like their portrayal of the main character - I know too much history for it to align. So I asked the gift giver to recommend something else and I bought and read that. Mostly I finish my books. Just once in a while.

[vriddy]

Oh, great to know that the Golden Enclaves is a satisfying conclusion!! I put a library hold on it as soon as it came out and I'm finally at the top of the queue... I hope someone returns their copy soon! Looking forward to it :)

[rmc28]

I finished the first of the three Bridgerton books I have out from the library and started the second. I've got 4 days left to finish both 2 & 3 before the ebooks get yanked. They're pleasantly easy/fast reads so hopefully I can do it. It's been fun reading them after seeing the TV show and figuring out what got changed.

DNF: I used to feel like I had to finish everything, but over the last probably 15 years I've got more and more firm about not finishing books that aren't working for me. Maybe growing more aware of my mortality and realising that I will never read everything I want to, and also getting busier so my reading time is more precious. I usually try to give books at least a couple of chapters, unless they are really awful. Or if it's not a traditionally chaptered book, somewhere around 5-10% is enough.

"Not working" can be as simple as the writing style winding me up, or not liking the characters, or just not being in the mood for that kind of story; unless the writing is very very good I won't usually put up with a story where I don't like any of the protagonists. But mostly for me, reading is leisure and pleasure, so I don't see why I should waste time on a book that is not giving me at least one of pleasure, immersion/escapism, or interesting information, when there are hundreds more waiting for me that will.

[kalloway]

unless the writing is very very good I won't usually put up with a story where I don't like any of the protagonists.

A couple of years ago, I realized I was a decent ways into an otherwise well-written and easy-to-read book where... I disliked the protags and honestly did not care what happened to them. It was a weird disconnect, but I've never regretted putting it down and reading something else.

[rmc28]

Yeah, not caring what happens is probably what makes me stop.

I remember sticking with a John Grisham book even though I disliked literally all of the characters in it, because he's that good a writer, and he did make me care about the outcome. (actually you could make a case that the Amazon rainforest was a character, and it was just all the people I hated)

[kalloway]

Yeeeears ago, I actually bought and read the second book of a two-volume romance where I wasn't keen on the romance but there was a marketing department subplot that I was hilariously invested in. (It ended well!) Like, I never know what's going to get me, but something has to.

[autumndaze]

Gratz on the reading!

"Life is too short to read terrible books" has been my going slogan for like... 12 years and boy howdy has it made such a difference roflmao Life is so much better.

[rmc28]

That is a good slogan!

[sabcatt]

Help, how is it already nearly a week into the month… I haven’t read what I intended to be reading (Dragonlance Chronicles book 1, or a collection of short stories that I found abandoned in my dorm when I moved in, because I was like “surely the lower commitment required to read a 10-20 page story will make it easier for me to start”. Reader, it has not) but I did melt my brain doing ALLLLLL the art history readings I’ve been assigned so far, which has been 100+ pages, probably closer to 200 over the past 2 weeks. And I have a similar load in my historiography class that I need to catch up on… someone save me from academia, please.

I tend to DNF books either 10% or less of the way through, or 50% or more. If it doesn’t grab me from the start, I’m gone, but there are some books where there’s a tension between my enjoyment of the actual writing (low) and my desire to find out what happens next (usually high), and those books I’ll usually suffer through a lot or most of it before deciding that whatever the payoff is, it’s not worth the slog. I think I’d be a happier reader if I could convince myself to give up on books like that earlier, but I read because I like stories and I want to know how they’ll develop and turn out, so giving up on what I think will be a good story, even when the writing isn’t to my taste, goes somewhat against my nature.

[autumndaze]

Oof I've struggled on short story collections, too, I feel you :/ Congratz on the reading for school but I also hope you're able to do some reading for fun! I know what drowning in academic writing is like. Our professors used to tell us that if we liked to read, take time to do it and oof it was a struggle.

[althea_valara]

I successfully read this week, which is great because I've really been struggling to read any books over the past few years. Go me!

What I read: the first few chapters of Introducing Python: Modern Computing in Simple Packages by Bill Lubovic. Yes, non-fiction, but I bought these books over a year ago from Humble Bundle and hadn't read them yet, which I had a guilt trip about because my funds are very limited and it was starting to feel like I wasted money. So, I'm glad I've finally started the first from the bundle!

The book is good! He uses fun examples - I especially appreciated that the very first thing he showed as a "coding" example was a knitting pattern! So far I haven't learned TOO much, because I have done some Python coding before, but it's interesting to hear a bit more about why Python is the way it is.

I have DNF books before, one of which is a book I intend to try reading again this month, so we'll see how that goes... I am not sure if I DNF that one because I got distracted, or if it was something in the book itself. It's by a beloved author whose books are usually great, but given that it's a romance novel... I can be funny about romance, sometimes. Example: I dropped playing Dragon Age: Origins after I romanced Alistair because I then got completely embarrassed at how he acted towards the player character.

[autumndaze]

That's so awesome! Congrats on getting back into reading!!

[autumndaze]

I've started and finished four books, including "The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System" Vol 4 (English) by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu. Loved it. It's a collection of post-story completion short stories and I hadn't read some of them before, and I was so happy to finally be able to have them all.

I read "Little Mushroom: Judgment Day" and "Little Mushroom: Revelations" by Shisi, a two-part post-apocalyptic science fiction danmei about a sentient mushroom on a quest to recover his spore. It is one of the most depressing things I've read in a while and also one of the fluffiest and I adore it. I read the entire thing in like 2 days lol

I read "Shuna's Journey"/"Shuna no Tabi" by Hayao Miyazaki, which is an emonogatari he wrote while writing the Nausicaa manga and planning the Earthsea film, and was published in 1983. It's reminiscent of Nausicaa in a lot of ways and Goro actually reused art and scenes from it for "Gedo Senki", while scenes, art, and characters in it also showed up in the "Princess Mononoke" film. I read it originally back in 2014, but it was finally officially published in English for the first time, and it's nice to be able to read it this way. Gorgeous little story. Really wonderful.

I've also been working through a lot of fanfics. Only finished 3 so far.

I definitely DNF books. They have to be... quite bad. I will stick it out through some absolutely miserable books sometimes. My rule tends to be "if I hate everyone in the story and want them all to die, probably it's time to stop reading/watching/listening", and that's what I use for all media. But well... The Witcher books, for instance, I read primarily for fanfiction research. I was tempted to quit many, many times. I tried rereading The Inheritance Cycle, barely scraped through Eragon, gave up on book 2, and gave up on Sea of Stars fairly early (though I did finish that horrible Hobbit/Dune rip-off short story collection he published recently). Absolutely horrible writing. I used to never DNF, and found it was destroying my desire to read. When I changed that, I actually started loving reading again. Being able to look at books as opportunities rather than commitments helped a LOT. But I do still tend to finish more than I don't, though. My large 1 star section on Goodreads is an unfortunate testament to that.

[fred_mouse]

I have made progress on one of my selected books - the European history one. Ah, and started one and finished two that were not on the list. Finished are Love, Simon and 18 Little Deaths

[phantomtomato]

I finished David of King’s by E. F. Benson this week, and I enjoyed it! It’s subtly different than the first in the series, David Blaize, and I hadn’t realized how much so until I reread some passages from Blaize. I find David’s character altogether more charming in Blaize, despite there being far too much cricket.

I’ve started reading a selection of chapters about Benson and the David series in Being the Body of Christ: Towards a Twenty-First Century Homosexual Theology for the Anglican Church, by Chris Mounsey. I wanted to see what someone with an academic background in this era of lit would have to say, and it’s interesting, even if I don’t buy every one of his arguments. I’m enjoying comparing/contrasting his takeaways with the most prevalent fannish interpretations of the text.