Popular Books I Did Not Finish
Today’s topic is New-to-Me Authors I Read in 2020, but I’m pretty much done reflecting on the past year if you know what I mean. So, instead I’ve opted to discuss 10 popular books that I’ve DNF-ed. Coincidentally, most of these seem to be audiobooks and the primary reasons for not finishing them are not liking the narrator or narration style or not caring for the plot overall.
The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux – Came highly recommended by one of my favorite booktubers, but seems I don’t care much for stories about ghosts and frankly I found the descriptions of the opera (both the building and the performances) quite tedious, I’m more of a theatre fan myself. I could potentially go back to this, but definitely not in audiobook form.
The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks – I wanted to watch the TV show and decided to try the books first. After reading 200 pages of descriptions where little action happens, I’ve lost interest in both! Seems I prefer action-heavy fantasy recently and this is not it.
City of Glass by Cassandra Clare – Please don’t hate me when I say I’m utterly perplexed by the hype around the Mortal Instruments series. By the point I was curious enough to check out the series, I was several years past the target audience and found it to read rather young, I didn’t care for any characters and the only moderately interesting bit was the runes. I decided not to continue, it’s a six book series after all.
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Random Riggs – I’ve read my fair share of books set in an orphanage and this one apparently failed to impress me back in 2016. I still have it on Kindle should I ever wish to return to it, but whenever I scroll through my ebooks and see this, I skip to the next page.
Looking for Alaska by John Green – Another audiobook. Green’s writing seems to have been a one-book-wonder for my reading taste since I loved The Fault in Our Stars some 6 years ago (wonder if it’ll hold up if I reread?) and pretty much disliked or DNF-ed everything else.
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black – Not sure why I keep trying to read YA fantasy when I’ve had very little luck with it, my penchant is more towards adult high / epic fantasy. Probably the hype got me curious but I couldn’t make it past the 17% mark.
A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab – I was looking for an audiobook to the likes of Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere and whilst this reminded me of it somewhat, there’s a reason I love Gaiman and a reason I haven’t read or tried to read any more Schwab books.
The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty – The most recent DNF on this list and at 55% the one I read farthest in before marking it as such. I so wanted to love this as the premise sounds different than any other fantasy I’ve read. After the half point of the audiobook, I no longer cared about the audiobook nor what happened to any of the characters and decided to stop there. I may give it another chance as the premise of the following books still intrigues me, but that won’t be any time soon.
The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys – As much as I adore historical fiction, I have not liked any of Sepetys previous writing. This intrigued me because I love Spain (Madrid especially so!), I mean at that cover, if anything screams Madrid to me, it’s surely the building in the background! Figured if I ever liked one of her books, it was sure to be this one. I was sadly disappointed.
Normal People by Sally Rooney – People seem to either hate this or love this. I don’t know which side I fall on seeing as I didn’t finish it. And it’s such a short audiobook so that says a lot. I strongly disliked the characters and what even was the plot here? Not much seemed to happen other than my annoyance level rising so I gave up at 50%.
So, to sum up: I mostly DNF audiobooks of the young adult fantasy genre and of the ten books listed, I’d maybe revisit 2 at some point in the future. What books have you DNF-ed? Leave your TTT post in the comments below.
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Macedonian
I didn’t finish Miss Peregrine and I gave away Fountains of Silence. I wish I kept better track of the books I didn’t finish.
I have a shelf on Goodreads! It’s the easiest way for me.
I’ve not tried audiobooks yet. It sounds like they are hit and miss??? Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Seems to be the case for me and fantasy audiobooks, yes. Thanks for visiting!
Someday I want to read Phantom of the Opera!
My post.
Hope you’ll enjoy it! Thanks for visiting!
I also DNF’ed The Fountains of Silence, though I had it in e-book form. I actually really enjoyed City of Brass, though it was the only one of that series that I read in physical copy, I read the other two in audio, I actually quite liked the narrator, but it sounds like the actual book contents were your issue there! A Darker Shade of Magic is one of my favourite books, so sad you didn’t like it, but hey that’s what makes reading so brilliant, there’s something out there for everyone!
My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2021/01/26/top-ten-tuesday-300/
There’s something for everyone indeed. Thanks for stopping by Jo!
Oh, I would like to read Phantom… but I worry that the translation won’t be so great!
That’s an interesting thought, wonder if my high school French is good enough to read the original? I was quite good but it’s been a long time since hehe 😀 Anyways, thanks ever so much for visiting!
I finished City of Glass, but it really only should have been a trilogy. I got bored after that and haven’t read any more of her books. Sorry these didn’t work for you.
That’s okay, so many books so little time, am I right? 😀 Thanks for visiting!
Oh no, so many of my favourites on here, haha! Not everything is for everyone, no point reading if you’re not enjoying 🙂 great take on TTT!
Indeed, not everything is for everything. Thanks so much for visiting!
I’ve tried to get into the Mortal Instruments series but I just can’t seem to. Glad to see I’m not alone in that.
They were so hyped a few years back that my curiosity got the better of me 😀 You’re definitely not alone. Many thanks for visiting!
I was kind of sad to see some books I really enjoyed on here, but not everyone is going to love every book.
Don’t be said, you’re right that not every books if for everyone. Thank you for visiting!
I’m sorry Ruta Sepetys doesn’t work out for you! I have some authors like that!
In theory, I should’ve loved them as I adore historical fiction but the reality is quite different hehe 😀 Thanks so much for visiting!
I never got into the Mortal Instruments series. I remember everyone raving about them but like you I could never get into the hype!
I found them to be overhyped indeed. Thank you ever so much for visiting!
Ooh, there’s a couple I loved here (Shades of Magic and Normal People) and a couple that are on my TBR list too! Sorry to see you were disappointed with these, I hope you had lots of great reads last year too!
Thank you, I read some great books as well. Thank you for visiting!
I once toyed with the idea of reading Phantom of the Opera, but I think I will just stick with the musical.
Haven’t seen the musical myself but I’ve heard it closely follows the book. Thanks for visiting!
First, I’m jealous of your ability to DNF. I have such a hard time! I’m getting better, though. I recently got The Sword of Shannara on my Kindle but haven’t gotten around to it yet. I really enjoyed the tv show and that’s the reason I picked it up when I saw it on sale.
It’s not always an easy thing to do but I’ve learnt to be okay with it, especially over the past year. I hope you’ll enjoy the Shannara books, myself – I’ll be going straight for the TV show it seems. Thanks for visiting!
I read Shannara years ago! It’s a huge book and yes it takes a long time to get moving.
I’m sometimes okay with slow moving, but that was very slow indeed. Thanks ever so much for visiting Greg!
I can totally understand not finishing The Phantom of the Opera. I read it in high school and liked it, but I’m not sure I’d feel the same if I approached it now.
I’ve been wanting to reread some books from high school myself as a little experiment, see how they hold up but haven’t gotten around to it yet. Phantom wasn’t one we had to read. Thanks for visiting!
There are some Schwab books that I’ve liked, but I definitely relate to your DNF of Darker Shade of Magic. I think I made it three chapters in before I gave up too!
I think I went into it expecting something different and from this perspective, I’m not surprised I was disappointed. Thanks for visiting!
I did finish Miss Peregrine, but it wasn’t worth the time. And I’m not a fan of John Green or Holly Black.
Agree with you there, many thanks for visiting Cindy!
I also didn’t finish The Mortal Instruments (though I loved The Infernal Devices and The Dark Artifices). And I kinda agree that The Cruel Prince is boring, though the next books are much better.
I’ve heard The Infernal Devices are better but not sure if I want to give them a chance at this point. Many thanks for visiting Tiffany!
I’ve read and enjoyed a couple on your list but John Green is a one book wonder for me too.
I’m sorry to have to say it, but seems to be the case with Green for quite a few people I know. Thanks for visiting Bree!
I personally didn’t finish The Mortal Instruments but I adore The Infernal Devices. I will be reading the Dark Artifices sometime soon, I hope it is better than TMI. Also Cruel Prince is on my TBR, but I’m not ready to dive into that world just yet.
Good luck with your reading Rose, thank you ever so much for visiting!
I’ve tried audio books a couple of times and I never seem to get on with them for some reason. I find myself zoning out and having to go back and re-listen. I’m tempted to try at least one more some time because I do like the idea of them but haven’t had much success so far.
I was the same with my first few audiobooks as well but kept trying and seem to have picked up the habit along the way! Thanks for visiting!
The Shannara Series is suuuch a slog! I’m always perplexed by people who claim it’s their favorite fantasy series. And I totally agree with you on the YA front- I keep trying books with great sounding premises only to be let down. I think I need to let go of the genre for now- as much as it pains me to say that about any books.
I have to agree, I will try to stick to adult fantasy going forward much as the premises intrigue, I’ve had 0 luck with YA lately. Thanks for visiting Jessica!
At least I’ve heard of a few of the authors on your list (doesn’t happen often in the TTT community) and “Normal People” is on my TBR list. Looking forward to it now.
Thanks for visiting my TTT earlier.
That’s the beauty of the community, isn’t it? 😀 Many thanks for visiting Marianne!
Uh oh, I enjoyed several of these books. We really do have different tastes! (And I’m also referring to the fact that you said you didn’t enjoy Beach Read, which was my favorite read last year. Ha!) I will say that the first few books in The Mortal Instruments are not the best written. They were her first and she improved SO much. The Infernal Devices is one of my all-time favorite series, but I’m a sucker for romance. And I loved the Normal People adaptation on Hulu more than I loved the book. I always recommend people to watch it before reading the book. 🙂 Happy reading!
Your feelings on John Green’s books are my exact feelings; high five for kindred spirits who also, I just realized, share a name (albeit with different spelling). While I really like Miss Peregrine and Ruta Sepetys and am neutral on Phantom, I like that this post gives me a chance to vent about how every other book you’ve listed is on my Super Duper Not Interested list and it’s not-so-secretly very nice to see someone else just go, “Nope.”
I’m sorry none of these worked you! I had to DNF A Darker Shade of Magic, too–for some reason I don’t get along with Schwab’s writing style.
I forced my way through The Phantom of the Opera, but boy was it a chore.
And I skim-read the last half of The Cruel Prince and gave up on City of Glass somewhere around the 100 page mark. I enjoy YA fiction, but I enjoy quality YA fiction if there is such a thing. Neither of these books are very good, and I came out of TCP knowing that I would likely never finish the series, and so far, that prediction has been spot on. I even tried Caraval and nope, another one that I barely managed to finish and then determined I would try and forget everything about the story.
Have you tried any of Marissa Meyer’s books? They’re still YA so if the genre really isn’t your jam, then you might not like them, but The Lunar Chronicles is actually decent for the genre. And her stand-alone Heartless is an origin story for the Queen of Hearts that I found really excellent.