I Went From Finishing One Book A Month To Six By Learning To ‘DNF’

Last year, I slowly got back into reading after realising just how long I spent on social media. 

I began with a measly 10 or so pages a day. Since then, I’ve read all of Austen’s works, rekindled my love for George Eliot, and even dipped my usually non-sci-fi-loving toe into the arid deserts of Dune. 

It’s fine to read slowly, and I’m not one of those people who sees the number of books I read in a year as a marker of how bookish I am (reading a single book in a year puts you in the top 60% of UK adults).

But as I got more and more back into the hobby, I began to join book clubs and social media groups that talked about terms like “DNF”.

Since trying it out, I’ve gone from reading maybe a book a month to five (massive) books this month so far, with my sixth on my coffee table as I write.

What does “DNF” mean? 

It stands for “did not finish”, and originally comes from racing lingo. When runners, drivers, or riders bow out of their event, Cambridge Dictionary said, their status changes to “DNF”.

Unsurprisingly, for readers, that just means giving up on a book you don’t like rather than ploughing on with a novel you hate.

For some reason, like not finishing my plate, I always found “DNF” to be a source of shame. I thought it was unfair to the author if I simply jumped ship. 

But some posters convinced me to give it a go. “I’m a serial DNF’er. If I’m not loving it, I will drop the book and find a new one straightaway. I have no guilt about it,” a poster to r/Fantasy wrote.

Since then, I’ve stuck to a simple rule: if I don’t enjoy it by page 50, I can put it down. 

I’ve become truly addicted to reading since, in that teenage, book-a-day way so many people say they miss. 

It worked for my colleague, too. 

“Last year I read more books than [my partner]”, they told me. 

They think this is “because he has a rule to not DNF, which I just won’t do because if I force myself through a book, I’ll take so long and feel zero reward”.