Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Did Not Finish (DNFed)

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely Jana at The Artsy Reader Girl.

 

Sometimes a reader and a book are not a good fit, and it is okay to give up on a book. Sometimes it is a mattering of timing--right book, wrong time/mood. This week's Top Ten Tuesday topic is the Books I Did Not Finish (DNFed). I do not often give up on a book and so this list is fairly short. It could be that some have slipped from my memory, given the lack of impression they made on me. I last posted on this topic in 2015 from what I can tell (you can find that post here).

. 

A sweeping, emotionally riveting first novel - an enthralling family saga of Africa and America, doctors and patients, exile and home.

Several years ago, I attempted to listen to Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese, narrated by Sunil Malhotra. I enjoyed the few chapters of this audiobook I got through. Perhaps it was because my listening time was limited to 30 minutes at a time when I was able to fit it in and that was the problem. Of all the books on this list, Cutting For Stone is one I do hope to revisit, perhaps in print--so not really a DNF book for me, but more of a TAL (Try Again Later) book. I still think I will like this one when I do get around to reading it!

Chicago, 1920: Hadley Richardson is a quiet twenty-eight-year-old who has all but given up on love and happiness—until she meets Ernest Hemingway and her life changes forever. Following a whirlwind courtship and wedding, the pair set sail for Paris, where they become the golden couple in a lively and volatile group—the fabled “Lost Generation”—that includes Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald.

I looked forward to reading Paula McLain's The Paris Wife as it seemed like something I would really enjoy, but when I picked it up to read, I could not get into it. I liked the writing, but I could not bring myself to care about the characters or what was in store for them. For me, that's always the kiss of death for a book. 

Don Quixote has become so entranced by reading chivalric romances that he determines to become a knight-errant himself. In the company of his faithful squire, Sancho Panza, his exploits blossom in all sorts of wonderful ways. While Quixote's fancy often leads him astray—he tilts at windmills, imagining them to be giants—Sancho acquires cunning and a certain sagacity. Sane madman and wise fool, they roam the world together, and together they have haunted readers' imaginations for nearly four hundred years.

When my husband was cast as Don Quixote in a ballet production my daughter's former dance studio was putting in 2019, I decided to give the novel, Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra a try. I struggled with as much as I did manage to read, and in the end decided not to continue. 

The first book of Jenny Colgan's delightful new four-part series, set at a charming English boarding school on the sea. Over the course of one year, friendships will bloom and lives will be changed forever. Life at the Little School by the Sea is never dull... 

I had enjoyed two of Jenny Colgan books in the past and was really looking forward to reading this one when it won my August TBR poll in 2023. Welcome to the School by the Sea (Maggie Adair #1) by Jenny Colgan was a reprint of one of the author's earlier books, and I just could not get past the frequent negative references to one of the student's weight. If it had just been a bullying situation that was eventually resolved, it might have been different; but it wasn't just her peers comments, the teachers and staff could not help but comment on her weight as well, even if just amongst themselves. I read a few other reviews to see if the body shaming would be addressed--because then I might want to continue--but learned it wasn't and that I was not alone in being put off by it. While many people I know have read and enjoyed this book, I found myself pulled out of the story too often because of the comments on the child's weight to make it worth trying to continue.  

At a time when society is more fractured than ever before, beloved Jesuit priest Gregory Boyle invites us to see the world through a new lens of connection and build the loving community that we long to live in—a perfect message for readers of Anne Lamott, Mary Oliver, and Richard Rohr.

Cherished Belonging: The Healing Power of Love in Divided Times Gregory Boyle came recommended to me earlier this year. It is not my usual type of read, but I was told it would bring me a bit of hope to an otherwise dark and divisive time in U.S. history and that it wasn't overly religious and would appeal even to those, like me, who aren't religious. Unfortunately, I did find it too heavy in religious themes and references for my taste. It is nothing against the author or the great work he has and continues to do for the community--he and I probably agree more than we disagree in our philosophies--just not on the faith aspect. 

What books have you recently been unable to finish? 

---

© 2025, Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.