Let me begin by saying, I am not one who likes to leave books incomplete. I find it unethical in ways, and insulting towards the author’s effort. I make it a point to finish books as much as possible. But, there are times when you are just unable to proceed. And hence, the Did Not Finish (DNF) Books for 2022 takes a start.
A beautiful incident comes to mind. For her book The Rose Code on goodreads, someone commented how the book fell short of the person’s expectations and asked if it is worth continuing & completing the book at all? To this, Kate Quinn replied – ‘Absolutely not! Life is too short to read a book you don’t like . Move on’. (read it here) Epic, isn’t it?
But that said, I would still reinstate that I truly hope to complete these books sometime.
DNF Books #1: The Twyford Code
The first of my DNF Books is The Twyford Code by Janice Hallet. I hope no one mistakes this to saying it’s a bad book! It is not. I found the premise irresistibly enchanting. And, that is the reason I picked this book in the first place. Mind you, this is a very less talked about book – away from the limelight for some reason. But whoever read it, has great reviews for it on various sites. But there are a few problems I found with it.
To start with, the book is definitely not easy to read. The writing is very difficult to make for a smooth read and gives a very dated feel to it. I struggled to reach the 35% of it that I read. And even in that, the story wasn’t moving much at all. This is so contrasting to a book like A Flicker In The Dark by Stacy Willingham, so easy to read!
The other drawback is, the entire book is in the form of a series of transcribed audio recordings. This essentially means, many words are misspelt or misquoted. At many places you are on your own to make sense of a sentence. The central character of Miss Isle is constantly referred to as “missiles”. And that really got to my head after a while! So, while these audio file organization seemed interesting initially, after a few chapters they go totally against the book.
DNF Books #2: Reminders Of Him
Why would I pick a book that promises to make me sad? This brings me to the second of my DNF books, Reminders Of Him. This is probably the most read book of 2022. Thus, this would be an unpopular opinion. But so it be.
If I were to put it simply – I don’t wish to get sad! I have seen many people talk teary eyed about this book. So, why would I rather not pick an uplifting, heart warming and feel good book instead? Or even a plain fictional suspense/thriller that at least provides an excitement if not happiness?
If your answer to the above is erotica, well you have it! Another reason for me to avoid this Colleen Hoover book. In my fractional read of the book, it already provided some explicitly descriptive erotic scenes which I am completely against in books of this genre. I strongly believe erotica needs to be kept a separate genre. It need not mar a story being there for the sake of it. It’s actually worth noting, many of the books that have done exceptionally well (take Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney for example), they have their share of explicit content. Sad but true.
If I say honestly, I expect myself to complete The Twyford Code, probably reading it in small bits interspersed with other books. But I cannot say so for Reminders Of Him.