When can I stop reading this book?

How to know when to DNF a book (Without feeling guilty)

There is a question as old as books themselves. You know the one. The one that nags away at you as you turn the page and plough through the chapters with no real engagement or excitement.

This could be for any reason. Perhaps the badly written and formatted text takes you out of the story. Maybe it has several factual inaccuracies, raising your blood pressure at how X, Y and Z could never conceivably happen. Or it might even be the case that the book just isn’t for you.

That undefinable yet subjective reasoning has led me to all but abandon the classic murder-mystery whodunnit subgenre, where after trying two well-received books in a row, I decided it wasn’t the authors but it was me. I’m not ashamed to say that I did not finish (or DNF as the youth might say) either.

After those two, I returned to reading a Manchette novel and straightaway I was flying through the pages, engrossed, and even thinking of the story when the book was resting on my bedside table.

Some books are for us, and some are not.

And that’s OK, but how long do we give a book before deciding?

We have only a finite amount of time on earth, and as of the time of writing (August 2025) there are over 48.5 million books for sale on Amazon!

What does this mean? Well, life is too short to waste on a bad book…but what if it can turn things around? The things that at first might have appeared a dull or inconsequential detail might become the fulcrum on which a major revelation hangs. Maybe if we just read one more chapter, things will change. This can happen. Sometimes.

I suspect it is this thought that keeps a lot of us going, while the rest just refuse to quit.

But returning to the point of time, why waste it? In my six-month review post, I quoted Seneca talking about that our time is the thing we should guard the most, and with over 80,000 crime, mystery and thriller books on Amazon*, spend that time reading what works for you not the critics or there, potentially paid for and sorted by algorithm, best-seller lists.

*Please note that I am using this seller as an example of the volume, not as an endorsement. Use an independent bookshop where possible. I recommend Ivybridge Books - wonderful postal service.

Writers know they have to hook you straight away

Last year (well, technically the year before that) I entered a first page competition run by Black Spring Press, and judged partly by Lee Child, the premise of which was that you had to hook the reader within the first page. This is something that I have heard Child say on a couple of occasions.

Meanwhile, crime writer Mark Billingham has gone on record as saying that if a book doesn’t work for you within twenty pages, then it is okay to stop reading. He does.

So, the writers know you might give up and, in fact, they might even give up on books early on themselves, so that they can, you know, enjoy the pleasure of reading something they like rather than something just because it’s there.

Now I know I’ve banged on about opportunity cost in other blog posts, but think of it this way. Every page of a book you force yourself through is a page missed on a book that you will actually enjoy.

But where does the line sit for you?

How long should you give a book?

That is something that only you can decide, but never beat yourself up when a book doesn’t work for you, because the next one might. Liking a book, as are a lot of things, is subjective. Always remember that.

In a recent Instagram poll I conducted (it’s not quite the Census, I know) the top-line stats showed that most people (57%) would prefer to keep reading until it became unbearable.

No one surveyed said they gritted their teeth and thought of England (or whichever country they came from). What does that mean? Well, it shows that no one else is finishing that book just because they started it.

Meanwhile, a few people provided qualitative responses to my DM’s and I feel these responses give us some supporting insight to the numbers.

A prominent genre blogger would give a book forty pages before deciding - no doubt because there are plenty of other things to positively feature and enjoy.

A freelance editor, who has been in the industry for a while, said they would give around fifty pages or sooner and that ‘if I’m not intrigued by the first three chapters, it’s heading towards the DNF pile.’

Someone else had some wise words: ‘You know it isn’t working when you’ve started another book.’

Still unsure about marking something DNF?

Let me tell you this: simply by giving the book a chance, you are supporting that author. If you are still unsure when to put that book down (and, more importantly, pick another one up) then take this post as permission to do just that.

To bastardise a Marie Kondo quote, read what serves a purpose or gives you pleasure. Your time is too precious to waste it. Unless it is for a book club, no one will thank you or even really care whether you reach the final page (and even your book club friends won’t care once the next book starts).

However, please don’t take this as an excuse not to start a book because you don’t think you’ll like it, but DO NOT keep reading if it doesn’t work for you. Read widely, but, more importantly, read what you enjoy.

How long do you give a book before putting it down?

Let me know in the comments or reply with your own DNF rules.