Do you guys count DNF’d books as read?

Submitted by omahyv t3_ycmdmc in books

Lately I have had quite bad luck with my choices and I have been DNF’ing quite few books. Most of the time I stoped reading them after 40%. Since I have been reading them for weeks I still count them as read. I do this because the time spent forcing myself to read something I was not enjoying could have been spent reading something I really liked. What about you? Do you have any rules about DNF’ing books?

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jefrye t1_itmzvtt wrote

No, because I haven't read them.

Edit: if your reading goal is the issue then you should probably just set that goal based on page count instead

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Valdrothos t1_itn34d0 wrote

You don't have to finish a book you don't want to finish.

But you didn't read the book if you didn't read the book.

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Lae_Zel t1_itmzx7b wrote

I don't, as that would be cheating. And a classification error.

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laicolasse t1_itnpker wrote

Right. I also hate how people give hate reviews to books they did not even finish.

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CallynDS t1_itop4ir wrote

I don't need to finish a book to know that I hate it. I've only done it once, but the book deserved it.

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laicolasse t1_itpqfso wrote

I know. But I'm talking about people who give 1 star rating to books they did not finish. They can write their opinions for sure, but not rate it.

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CallynDS t1_itpvs9w wrote

Hard disagree. I don't need to read the entirety of Main Kampf to know that it's a piece of trash.

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thegoatfrogs t1_itmzypv wrote

I don't keep a score so I don't really have a need to differentiate.

If someone asks me "have I read" then obviously I can't discuss endings or arcs for books I didn't finish.

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FNGmacaroni t1_itmzzns wrote

I call that starting a book. If I haven't finished it, I haven't actually read it to have a full conversation.

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Fictitious1267 t1_itn40o0 wrote

Depends why you stopped reading it. If it didn't fit your mood, sure. But if it was so bad you quit it and gave it away, then it absolutely deserves a poor rating.

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FNGmacaroni t1_itnbvmu wrote

That has nothing to do with the question being asked or my answer. You either finished a book or you didn't.

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Fictitious1267 t1_itosqw1 wrote

Do you need to finish a poop sandwich to warn others not to order the poop sandwich? I hope not.

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BasicFantasyReader t1_itn0duw wrote

If the only person who cares about how many books you read is you, who cares?

It would be weird to have a person ask you if you've read it and then proceeded to discuss the book at your yes when you have no idea what happens.

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typically-me t1_itn1i1g wrote

No, not really, but I’m not sure what you would be “counting” them for anyway. Unless you happen to be like under 10 years old, it’s not like you’re going to have a book quota or get some prize for each book you read. But I would expect if someone tells me that they have read a book then I would expect to be able to talk freely with them about any part of the book.

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Lae_Zel t1_itn1u5b wrote

> Unless you happen to be like under 10 years old, it’s not like you’re going to have a book quota or get some prize for each book you read.

You have yearly book goals on Goodreads

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bofh000 t1_itn3lf4 wrote

Are those compulsory? You can chose to reach those quotas or choose to just enjoy your reading. Of course, just enjoying isn’t really quantifiable.

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Lae_Zel t1_itn40fo wrote

Nothing compulsory. Goodreads just gives you the option to enter a number of books as a goal, and it auto-updates as you enter new books as read. I tried this feature for the first time and I thought it was pretty cool, but I reached my goal in March...

It made me read more than usual, which was fun.

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Handyandy58 t1_itn47px wrote

This is still an arbitrary goal, and if there were a prize attached, then you can bet I'm lying if it looks like I'd otherwise come up short lol.

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sarah280590 t1_itn0ws9 wrote

No. If I'm counting books that I've read, I only include books that I've read in full.

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LittleDollGames t1_itn8atn wrote

No. I have a whole Goodreads shelf dedicated to books I DNF. I don't count a book as read until I finish it. I want to be able to actively recommend or disrecommend a book and it feels more genuine if I read the whole thing and know all of the plot details. If someone were to ask I would say, I started it but didn't finish for XYZ reason.

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qrkprk t1_itndueh wrote

I also use and reccomend a Goodreads DNF shelf. Mine is the exclusive type. Usually if I DNF, it's just not for me so I don't see a point in leaving a rating or review, but I might still recommend it to others.

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ina_sh t1_itossy3 wrote

Oh that's a great idea about a DNF Goodreads shelf! Thanks!

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hotdogtofu t1_itprf25 wrote

I love this idea. I wasn’t sure what to do about my DNF books. I want to keep track of them, but don’t want them on my read books list. Do you even do this for books when you can’t even get past the first couple pages?

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LittleDollGames t1_itqcvjp wrote

It depends. If I sometimes if I know that I’m just not in the mood to read a particular book I’ll put it back on my TBR and try later but if I have picked up a book several times and still not gotten past the first few pages I’ll add it to the DNF shelf.

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frustratedComments t1_itn1pzz wrote

Short answer: I don’t count them as read.

Longer answer: I try not to DNF at all. If I can get 1/3 to 1/2 way done, I’ll just suffer through. I don’t read enough in volume to where DNF’ing a book happens.

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Fictitious1267 t1_itn3qyp wrote

Yes. They were so bad that I could not finish them. That's a statement of quality. Ratings are a statement of quality. That's the whole point. Why would you give someone a free pass if it was so bad you wanted to throw it in the trash? That's like saying if a movie is so bad you walked out on it, you can't call it bad. That's idiotic.

If I realize I stopped reading because I wasn't in the mood for that book, that's different, and I won't. I'll just go back later and read it.

Really, isn't this just people scared to give 1 star ratings? No one is going to chase you down for anything under 3 stars. Scales have a beginning and end for a reason. Use the whole thing. It helps others with their purchases. Not rating something clearly 1 star just helps dupe people into buying more bad books and wasting their time as well.

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woodsen92 t1_itn4g4w wrote

I put them in their own category of shame.

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twee_centen t1_itnkmod wrote

I do on Goodreads because, if I read enough of a book to know I didn't like it, I want it in my GR's list so I don't subject myself to it again.

I don't really "count" how many books I've read for any other purpose, though.

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Seregant t1_itn5jm7 wrote

Yes I do count them, simply to help me keeping track of my books and how I liked them. The book has to be very bad that I do not finish it, therefore I give it a one star rating. Only DNF books get a one star, therefore I can see which are DNF in my collection.

Edit: Obviously this is only on GoodReads, personally and in discussions I do not count them as read.

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minimalist_coach t1_itnhatp wrote

I don't count them as read, but IMHO, you should log your books in anyway that works for you. I just noticed that I can add a shelf to GoodReads which is where I log my reading. I think I'll add a DNF shelf and put them there. I would like to find a good place to log them so I don't actually try to read them again.

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alan_mendelsohn2022 t1_itnndij wrote

I set a goal for starting books. I set a different goal for finishing books. At some point, I lowered be finishing books goal and raised the starting books goal So I would not feel pressured to read books that I don’t wanna read

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Trout-Population t1_itn0pqf wrote

I keep two categories for myself. Books I've finished, and books I've read a significant amount of.

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CandyAny1991 t1_itn0tmf wrote

No. I actually stopped keeping track of the books I read.

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a_bit_fairytale t1_itna96b wrote

Depends on why I DNF'd them. If I rage quit a book, yes. If I was just bored of it, no.

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The-Rare-Road t1_itn2vlk wrote

I am fairly new to reading books sadly, but I have done it in part to improve myself and in one other way to read about the lives of various people and to have more knowledge of different topics, I am 30 but with Books I do not want to make the same mistake as I do with like video Games, for example with a Game I will buy one then immediately buy another without finishing the first one, I am not going to try and do this with books, as for one even though there is a lot of good books out there, It would be impossible to choose them all, so instead I read what I believe would be of interest, and If I did not finish a book I would not really class that as me having read it in it's entirety.

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mctmama t1_itn3i6u wrote

No - only those I’ve finished

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ActonofMAM t1_itn3lvi wrote

I don't count DNF's, but then I also have the custom of bailing within 50 pages if I don't enjoy my read. Or in the case of nonfiction, if I'm neither being entertained nor informed. I have always gone by page count in my book diary because I read books of all sorts of lengths.

Edited to add: I used to compare book/page counts with people, but all it really proves is who has free time. There's no point.

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Handyandy58 t1_itn3tk2 wrote

I don't really worry about this. How you track something on some list has no bearing on anything at all. If I ever talk about a book I didn't finish with someone (i.e. find myself in a situation where the proportion of the book I did read might be relevant), then I have no shame admitting that I didn't finish it, and will explain why I didn't.

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bofh000 t1_itn3wb8 wrote

What do you think? Your answer is in the name: did NOT finish. So no, they don’t count as read for whatever quota or competition on the www.

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keesouth t1_itn40vi wrote

I don't. If you didn't finish it you didn't finish reading it.

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Hokulewa t1_itn6rvt wrote

I've never kept score at all... I read for enjoyment and to learn.

If somebody asked me if I'd read a book I abandoned, I'd tell them why I didn't finish it. If they want to consider me as having read it or not read it, that's up to them.

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mongreldogchild t1_itnbjv6 wrote

Nah, I count them unless I only finished like 20 pages or something. It's not a goal thing, but a check off my list kind of thing. If someone wanted to talk about it with me, I'd clarify for them that I read up to a certain point so I probably couldn't discuss everything about it. That said, yes, I do. If I read to a certain point, I know if it's worth finishing.

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D_Welch t1_itnmuup wrote

No - but I don't "count" the books I've read either.

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addicted2reading2011 t1_itp5r4y wrote

I have 2 dnf books and I just place them back to my bookshelf with a bookmark on where I stopped. I'm going to read them back when I'm in the mood.

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Puzzled-Barnacle-200 t1_itp6kpq wrote

Personally, I do, because it has a negligible impact in my reading records, as I DNF so few books. Since the start of 2020 I have read over 130 books, and only DNFd two of them. I read at least 1/4 of those two books, so I feel I gave them a fair chance.

If I quit a book really early, ie less than 1/4 of the book or 100 pages (whichever is shorter) then I wouldn't bother to track it.

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hotdogtofu t1_itprvin wrote

Typically if I get through 75% of a book and absolutely don’t feel like I am getting anything out of it I will super skim the rest and count it as read. I reserve a 1-star rating for this situation. If I don’t get to at least 75% I don’t count it.

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SunStockMan t1_itqhkf8 wrote

That's like asking if you read the first few pages and the last few, does that count as having read the book .... rediculous

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VeronicaMaple t1_itqn7uh wrote

I wouldn't "count" them as read (completed), but I don't keep count of books read so it doesn't matter much.

If I'm discussing a book with someone I'm honest if I never finished it. I'll say, "Oh, yeah, I started that one and liked xyz about it but stopped because couldn't enjoy it any more after abc plot point (or, I put it aside a third of the way through to start another book I was more interested in, etc).

I bet reddit folks would be happy to help with guidance about choosing some books you might end up sticking with!

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FireandIceBringer t1_itr5eks wrote

No. If I didn't finish a book, I don't rate or review it. Nor do I count it as read.

I don't hesitate to put down a book if I'm not connecting with it, however. Sometimes I give books a second or third chance to click with me months or years later.

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