I’ve enjoyed most of the books I’ve picked up recently, but my 2024 reading year has had some consistent bumps in the road. Since January, I’ve endured a frustrating pattern of DNFing a book, reading one or two four-and-a-half to five-star reads, then lowly rating or DNFing another book. After DNFing my third book of the year, I think it’s time to figure out why I keep picking up books I don’t like.
Problem 1: I’m expanding my horizons.
One of my goals for the year was to read more adult books. So far, I’ve started four, DNF’d two, and highly rated two. Since I loved The Romantic Agenda by Claire Kann, I thought reading my favorite YA authors’ adult debuts would make this experiment successful. But I quit Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo after 50%. Without her signature poetic writing style, cohesive themes, and a main character I can connect with, Family Lore didn’t feel like an Elizabeth Acevedo story. Meanwhile, The Romantic Agenda features the same cute romantic vibes and asexual rep I loved in Let’s Talk About Love. So reading books in the same genre as my favorite authors’ previous works might be the key to enjoying adult fiction. When it comes to new-to-me authors, I’ll have to consider my solutions to the next two problems.
Problem 2: I’m not being specific enough about what I want to read.
I’ve enjoyed many books that are sapphic, explore the lives of multiple generations of women in a family, or have dark vibes. But if I ask for recommendations with just that information, I’m not going to find what I want. It’s Not Like It’s a Secret by Misa Sugiura is sapphic, but not romantic enough. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett discusses how colorism affects the lives of the Vignes women but gives too much attention to my least favorite character. I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me by Jamison Shea has dark vibes, but the unexplained fantasy element made me lose track of the story. I need to do more research on the books I add to my TBR, checking for “romance” and “lighthearted” tags on StoryGraph when searching for a sapphic romance. I need to consult blog posts that recommend books by tropes. And I need to reconsider if I enjoyed certain books because of the tropes or the phenomenal characters and writing.
Problem 3: I’m not consulting the reviews first.
Book reviews rarely affect my opinions if I already started reading. But they can prime me on what I’m getting into or if I want to bother reading the book at all. They can show me when a book is mismarketed or features content I can’t handle. However, in trying to avoid spoilers, I often ignore reviews or take so long to pick up a book that I forget what a reviewer said about it. Going into a book blind is a risk I’m not always willing to take. The least I can do is look up content warnings.
DNFing is often necessary for the sake of my mental health. I’m not in school anymore, so I don’t have to finish a book if I’m not enjoying it. I have a strong enough intuition to know when to follow my morbid curiosity and when to ignore it. Still, DNFing can be discouraging and make me want to take a break from this hobby that I love so much. I get excited when I find a new book that sparks my interest, especially when I can read it through my library apps. I don’t want that to go away because some books didn’t match my taste. By following these solutions, I can hopefully have a successful reading year.
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