Is it ok to not finish a book?

Day 138 / 366

When I started reading seriously again back in 2019, I made it a rule that I would finish any book that I picked up. My reasoning was that I was always great at starting something new, but I would inevitably lose interest midway and abandon it. People say that beginning is half done, but actually completing something is way harder. So I wanted to use reading as an exercise to train myself to finish what I started.

But it had quite the opposite effect. I started some books that looked good at the start but turned out to be a terrible read. Reading was supposed to be an enjoyable activity for me, but it turned into a chore. I started to be very picky before starting a new book, and soon after that I stopped reading altogether.

5 years later my view on this has completely changed. I now allow myself to put down a book midway if I am not liking it. I already have a lot of stress with work and all the other aspects of my life, and reading is supposed to be an escape from that. So I only read things that I enjoy reading. And since now I can stop reading a book after a few pages, I am always open to try new authors and genres.

The most recent book that I DNF’d (Did not finish) was Club You to Death, a book I was reading for my book club. It had good reviews, and everyone else in the club loved it. However, I could not find any character in the book that I could relate to or root for. I hated every one of them. And the book was about the rich and elite snobs, the kind of people that I cannot stand. And so 200 pages in, I put it down and picked up a Murakami book so that I could enjoy reading again.