Allison Wolfe
- Jan 4, 2021
- 8 min read

DNFs of 2020

Hello readers and welcome to my first post of 2021 that was meant to be a Blogmas post. I have decided to scatter a few of them through this month. Today, we are going over all the books, which I can remember, that I DNF'd in 2020. I think I DNF'd more books in 2020 than ever before and I know I am forgetting some. I did list some of the books as read and I didn't for others. It really depended on how far I made it through the book and if I had something to say about it. Most of these books are on this list because they are just not for me, not because I hated them or anything. Let me know down below how you felt about any of these books, or tell me a book you DNF'd in 2020! Without further ado, let's just jump into the books I DNF'd in 2020.

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Internment by Sahira Ahmed

This book was an early read in the year. It came from the Goodreads Choice Awards YA Fiction section. This book is about a seventeen-year-old Muslim girl who is taken to an internment camp, along with her family, and all other Muslim citizens in America. It really makes me wonder why we didn't get another perspective outside of the camp. In my opinion, America would not just sit and take this happening, even if Trump succeeded in doing it. A lot of people said they would register on a Muslim registry, if he made one, that were not Muslim, including myself, just to mess up the registry completely. If this book took place a hundred years ago, I would believe it, but American's are not afraid to criticize what they don't like in todays America. I don't like that the boyfriend of the MC, who was Jewish, but was portrayed as not understanding what she was going through. Jewish people understand more than anyone what that would be like. I am Jewish myself. I liked the idea of this book, but the execution was off. It made me so sad to dislike it.

Five Feet Apart by Racheal Lippincott

I just don't think sick lit books like this are for me. I read it because it was the winner of the Goodreads Choice Awards for the YA Fiction category. I don't really like these YA books that romanticize chronically or terminally ill people. Also, most of these books and movies are structured the exact same. I'm not going to say how, because that would spoil the whole book. If you have read or watched anything like this, you will know what I mean.

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

I thought this book read very much like a middle grade, despite being a YA novel. I didn't read very much of this book, but it really made me realize I probably don't like fae novels. For me, the most important thing in a book is intrigue, and I didn't have any for this book. You might find this as a common theme in this post.

Loveboat, Taipei by Abigail Hing Wen

This wasn't really an intentional DNF at first. I remember getting it from Libby, and I just never finished listening to it. I have since seen an own-voices review, of someone who lives in Hong Kong, China, that said this book is very inaccurate including the Mandarin along with some other things. I will like that review here --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pg21GCb00g

Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel

Earlier in the year, I tried Neuvel's book The Test, which I loved, and I decided to try something else by him. I really tried my best in 2020 to give sci-fi a good try. This book starts out with a girl who falls down in this hole, and when people come to rescue her, they find she is on a giant, robotic hand. It follows her as an adult. This book made me realize I don't like books told in an interview format. That was really the only thing that made me dislike reading it. If this is turned into a movie, I would watch it for sure, but this format is just not for me.

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

I read this book before when it came out. It is so weird because I loved it the first time around. I couldn't remember anything about it from when I read it the first time, so I did read it again. I even said in my original review that is was my favorite John Green novel. For my reread, I think it had a lot to do with the intrigue, again. I was just wondering why these random kids were investigating a disappearance, and I didn't care about what happened. As a Hoosier, I don't really like all the Indiana references. I also could not handle the body stuff. It didn't bother me the first time around, but this time, it did. I do not have OCD, and I have never done anything the MC has, but it just triggered me the whole time reading it. I just cannot bring myself to read things like that, which I consider to be a sort of body horror.

The Dead House by Dawn Kurtagich

I recently read a book by Kurtagich called And the Trees Crept In, which is a YA Horror novel, and I loved it! It is one of my favs of the year. Right after finishing it, I wanted to jump into something else by her. I picked up the audiobook of Dead House and it didn't feel right to listen to it.

I started watching a Youtuber called Dissociadid probably two years back, and she talks a lot about misrepresentation of Dissociative Identity Disorder in the media, and how hurtful it is. This book is one of those kinds of media that misrepresents DID. This video specifically talks about the movie Split > The Link. I am not a person who has DID, and I don't know anyone with DID, but I have learned a lot about it through Dissociadid, and a few others. I can easily say, this book has terrible representation of DID. People in the book community do not talk about issues like this, and I wish they did. The biggest issue for me is the 'good' alter and the 'evil' alter. People with DID do not have 'evil' alters. They do have persecutor alters, who will physically hurt the body they are in, but are not evil, and don't burn down schools or anything else. They do not pick when alters have time in the body like the MC in this book does. People with DID suffer severe trauma from childhood, before the age of seven, and their brains create alters to help cope with traumas they experience. I just recommend anyone to watch Dissociadid or other DID YouTubers instead of reading books like this.

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

I can't remember how much I did read of this book, but it was quite a bit. I just found myself bored for most of it. It didn't bother me that Miryem wasn't a likable character. I thought she was just someone who knew what she wanted and knew how to get it. She was tired of seeing her family be taken advantage of. Wanda was a just a girl trying to get out of a bad situation. I just didn't have that intrigue that I need to keep my attention going. I will probably try another book by her in the future, but I don't know which one or when that would be.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

When I started this one, I was really excited that they were all in this group studying Greek. I thought I would for sure love it. However, I made it to the half way point, and I decided to DNF it. I just didn't care about any of the characters, and I was really bored through the whole thing. I do see myself in the minority of this one, because a lot of people really love this book. I have only seen one other person talk about it in a negative light, and I suggest giving it a try if you would really like to read it, or any of the books I mention.

Even If We Break by Marieke Nijkamp

This is a book that I did physically own, so I gave it more of a chance than I would have if I didn't buy a copy. This book followed a five member friend group, and this LARPing game where one would set up a 'murder' scene, and the rest of them would have to figure it out. They had done this more than once, but this was the last time they were going to do it, as their personal lives would be tearing them apart soon. I think it was very hard to tell all the characters apart from each other. I think it would have been more beneficial with one perspective. All of them have distinct things in their lives, and well thought out backstories, but that is all they were. I felt like the author tried to make them all defined by one thing about them. One character was the physically disabled one, one was the nonbinary one, and another had a trauma in the past. They all had only one thing in common, and that was sadness. They were all sad, all the time. These five people didn't seem like they had any actual connections to one another.

Shiver by Maggie Steifvater

I am so happy I finally picked this book up. I got this one as a Christmas gift when I was probably nineteen, so seven years ago. However, I didn't really like it much. I just thought that the werewolf aspect gave me the creeps. That wolf was literally stalking her. If I read this back in the Twilight days, I might have liked it, but I just don't think it was for me. However, I am so happy to have it crossed off my list. This cover is so beautiful, so I will be sad to see it go, but it will find someone else who will love it much more than I do.

They All Fall Down by Rachel Howzell Hall

This is another one I DNF'd because I didn't have any intrigue for it. It follows a woman who gets an invite to this private island near Mexico. There are seven people total, and they all have many secrets. It has been frequently compared to Then There Were None, which I haven't read. Either way, I want to give this author another try. I am really having a hard time finding POC authors who write mysteries and thrillers, and I want to give the ones I know about as many tries as I can.

Eragon by Christopher Paolini

This is another one that has been on my physical TBR for a long time, but not nearly as long as Shiver. I am happy to have crossed it off my list. I read about five chapters of this book before I put it down, and just never picked it back up. I never had that intrigue for it. I didn't add this one to my read pile because I didn't read very much, but I am so happy I crossed off a couple of books that have been on my TBR way too long.

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

The last book I have is one I read in December, which was a terrible reading month. I didn't enjoy anything about it. If you would like to see my full thoughts, I did mention it in my wrap up for December HERE.