bonus chapter: rating, reviewing and DNFing, oh my!

 seasons change but Goodreads reviews are forever! this episode we dig into the highs and lows of reading rating systems - what makes a five star read a five star read and how low does a rating need to be before we gauge our eyes out? we poll our listeners on their habits around DNFing books and share our own thoughts on when is the right time to make an Irish exit from the pages (or whether it’s even possible at all).

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Transcript

Bridget 0:01

Hello and welcome to a Talk Lit Get Hit bonus chapter. The little book chats in between the big ones. We'll talk about reading authors and have discussions with people who, like us, can't shut up about books. We might get sidetracked and talk about literally anything else, but this is a bonus chapter we wrote just for you.

Laura 0:20

Seasons come and seasons go, but Goodreads reviews are forever. This episode we take a bit of a closer look at the way we rate, review, and DNF books, because God knows sometimes it can be a mystery even to us. Bridget, hello, hello. Hello, hello, Laura. So this question actually came in as a part of our latest Talk Lit with Us episode, but we thought it would be worth doing properly and expanding into its own bonus chapter. To prepare for this episode, we conducted a little bit of research over on Instagram, polling our listeners on their own habits when it comes to rating, reviewing, and DNFing books. Bridget, on a really basic level, how do you rate your books? Run us through your one to five, one to ten, one to one hundred, whatever you do.

Bridget 1:00

Okay. So I think five stars, I'm just giving them out willy-nilly, but I think it's just a book that I obviously really enjoyed. Maybe I cried, maybe I thought it was so profound and so smart that I want everyone to know that I'm also profound and smart. That's one reason why I give five star reviews. I think four stars I normally give to books that are all of those things that I just said, but maybe also a little bit boring. Three stars has sort of become my polite rating for books that I didn't really like, but I feel bad about giving two stars or one star. Your etiquette rating. Yes, that's my etiquette rating, my manners rating. I also give nonfiction books three stars most of the time as well. Unless I'm really struck by how well I think they were written. And so I used to not rate non-fiction books, but then that started to annoy me because it started to throw off my average rating on Story Graph, and I sort of wanted those books to be included in that average. So I started giving it three stars unless I obviously really hated it, disagreed with it, or really loved it. I find it quite hard to review and rate non-fiction books, but I found that three stars is probably a good middle ground because it's literally the middle. Two stars, I think lately I have been more likely to give a two-star than a one-star review. And there's not much difference in them for me, honestly. Like two stars, I think shit book, but I read it quite quickly. And one star is like this is just the worst pile of steaming shit that I've ever read put into a book. So how about you?

Laura 2:34

I think my rating system is very similar to yours. Five stars on a level I'm reviewing on vibes, as so many people are, and I think the vibe is that I feel changed in some way. And maybe I cried. I normally I cried to be honest, but it can be crying for a variety of reasons. Five is just like the perfect combination of the writing was beautiful, the characters grew on me, like the story felt real and like tangible and alive, and I felt changed and it stuck with me to some degree. It doesn't have to change my life, it just has to linger a little bit, and that is a five-star read. Four-star is like very close. Um, it's still something that I would like recommend to people, it's still something that I enjoyed a lot, but there's just like an element of the plot, something lacking in the characters, just something that made it not quite hit as hard as it could. And that can sometimes be really hard to articulate for me as well, because sometimes I'm like, oh, I just I loved it, but I don't think it's like one of the best, and I don't know why. So a four-star rating can sometimes be a bit of guesswork. I agree with you on three stars being the polite rating. And I think it's just sort of something where I'm like, oh, you know, the writing was good, didn't really get what happened, but it was interesting enough for me to follow along on vibes.

Bridget 3:48

Yeah, and I think sometimes it can be like, this is a good book, just not for me.

Laura 3:52

Yeah, I think a three-star rating is not necessarily a book that I would say is bad. It might even be a book that I would recommend, but it's just a book that's not for me. A three-star read is unfortunately almost always a book that I could have gone without reading as well. It's not necessarily a bad time, but I don't really get much out of a three-star read. And I acknowledge that someone might, but it ain't for me. And that is a little bit of a bummer because I feel that I most often read three-star books where I'm like, I could take it or leave it. So to be on a run of four and five is unbelievable.

Bridget 4:25

It is quite funny. I have just looked up our average ratings on Goodreads for e for each of us. Mine is 3.92 and yours is 3.63. So I think we might need to get better at picking books.

Laura 4:38

Yeah.

Bridget 4:38

Or stop reading these podcast books.

Laura 4:42

Well, that flows perfectly into my next points because I think a two-star book, I mean, it's kind of beyond me how I would end up with a two-star book and a one-star book, because kind of like spoiler alert for our next conversations, but I don't really have any issues DNFing books. And so I don't think I often get them, but through doing the podcast, I've definitely gotten more of them. I don't think I would push through, like if I felt a book was lower than three stars, I wouldn't push through reading it unless it was for podcast purposes normally. Two stars, it's not very good. I don't really like the writing, I don't really enjoy the plot, I don't like the characters, there's not much I enjoy about it. And I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. And then yeah, one star, once again, just a steaming pile of shit, like you said. Like those are only the books that I've persevered. I only get to a one-star rating through forcing myself to finish reading it. That's a weird thing to do in your personal time, unless you were doing it for something like this, right? Like I do it often, but yeah. I mean, it's a really normal thing to do. What about like half stars and three-quarter stars?

Bridget 5:52

How do you feel about them? I think if I was gonna give a half star, it would be like a four and a half star, because there might have just been like one thing that wasn't quite right for me, or maybe it was like a tiny bit boring in parts or slow, or I found it hard to get into. But I think I have given like 0.5s before. I think it's probably because I started my reviewing journey on Goodreads, and obviously they don't offer like an official half star option, but as I started to use Story Graph, I have utilized that function a few times. I am constantly amazed though when I see people that do like 2.75 stars, and I'm just amazed by how they have the system to do that, and I want to know more about that.

Laura 6:31

I'm like you, I don't really go in for the 0.75, 0.25, although I understand the appeal, but I think if I'm rating a, you know, 3.5, 4.5, whatever it is, it's because I can't quite articulate it, but there's something that didn't make it either a three or a four, and I'm not gonna be able to figure out a 0.25 difference if I can't figure it out one way or the other. So just like you, I also started my reviewing career on Goodreads. So I am depressingly quite locked into the one, two, three, four, five system. But a 0.5 is nice when you can't quite make up your mind either way. I think like a three-star, a 3.5 is where I'll do it most typically because three feels quite harsh. And sometimes they're just a little bit elevated. Do you ever revise your ratings?

Bridget 7:18

I don't currently revise my ratings, but I think I would like to start doing that. I think there's many, many books that I think I would need to read again to double check that rating. I think often I see something and I'm like, oh, did I give that five stars? And I can't remember a thing about it. Obviously, as we learn and grow and like new things happen in the world, you think, oh, that is interesting that I gave that book five stars. I wonder if I would today. How about you? Do you often revise your ratings?

Laura 7:43

I'll sometimes revise them. You know how Goodreads puts up that shelf of your favourite books.

Bridget 7:48

Yes.

Laura 7:49

Um mine were really embarrassing. It was like from when I first started reading quote unquote serious literature and when I first got Goodreads. So unfortunately, I had books like American Psycho and I can't remember, I think there was like some cool Mac McCarthy and Bloody Hell Fight Club or something like that on there as five stars. So I will revise those because yeah, I don't remember a thing about them. And I know so wholeheartedly that I was just trying to be cool when I did that. Sometimes I will review my books' ratings kind of like in relation to one another. Normally towards the end of the year, if I look back over what I've rated, like, well, you know, those ones were better. Those were the better books I read this year. So I'll bring it up to a four. And you know what, maybe that was a five because I've been thinking about it a lot since. It's not something I do often though. I'm not like actively monitoring my reviews to fact-check myself constantly.

Bridget 8:44

Yeah, I think that's interesting, like in relation to each other, because I definitely feel like that at the end of the year. When I imported my Goodreads data into StoryGraph a few years ago, I was struck by those books that I had marked as my favorites all those years ago, and I was like, oh, what the heck? And I think in that circumstance, what I would do, instead of changing my rating, I would just remove it. And so I would just take away the five-star rating and leave nothing. Because I can't remember enough about it to like adjust it to where it should be. So I've just taken it out of the favourites, taken out of the five stars, and then maybe one day I'll have a think about it or read again. But I mean, let's be real, I won't.

Laura 9:20

Now, I know you've gone through a lot of personal growth in this particular area in recent years. So I'm wondering if you could give our listeners a refreshed take on your stance on DNFing books. And for those playing at home who aren't familiar, DNF did not finish.

Bridget 9:38

I am in currently rehabilitation from never being able to DNF a book. So in the past, I have thought, no, I must read every single book that I have on my list because I put it on the list and that means that I have to read it. Doesn't make sense, but that's how my brain was working. At some point, I just thought, I can't do this anymore. I have so many books I want to read, and so many of these books suck. And so I have started to DNF books. I have DNF'd seven books. Not all in one go. It's been a gradual process, but I think I'm gonna start doing it more and more often. I need to remind myself that just because I put it onto a fake list in like a little fake app on my phone that's not real, it's not a tangible thing. I have this thing on my phone, which is like a piece of glass and metal and shit. I don't have to read a book that I don't want to read. And I don't know why it's taken me so long to realize this. I've recently DNF'd a few books and it made me feel great. So I'm gonna keep doing it.

Laura 10:37

It is a good feeling. I'm team DNF. I DNF all the time. And it's not even like I'll never pick this book up again. I am a big mood reader, so I think as exhibited in my one star and two star ratings, if I push myself to read a book, then I'm gonna end up resenting it. So I want to avoid that. I mean, some of the books that I've enjoyed so much are books that I picked up, read 30 pages of, and then thought, yeah, not right now. And then when I pick them up later, I've really enjoyed them. So if it's not serving me, I won't read it for now.

Bridget 11:07

When you pick them up again later, do you start from the start or do you start from where you got up to?

Laura 11:11

I start from the start, and then if I feel like I remember it, then I'll try to skip through. Um but normally I've forgotten it. Do you have any particular books in mind when you think about DNFing books? It depends on the reason, I think. Babel, for example, is a book that we recently read for the podcast and a book that we both loved like intensely. But I had tried and failed to read that quite a few times. So I think that's a good example of a not right now. But then in terms of a book that I finished in kind of disgust or repulsion, uh, I think a good example would be The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty by Anne Rice. I got mere pages into that and found myself so disgusted by the way the story was set up. You know, it's like if I wasn't reading it for the podcast, why am I persevering? If I know so clearly from the outset it's not for me.

Bridget 11:58

What about you? One that I have recently DNF'd is a book called Blue Graffiti by Callahan Scogman. This was an ARC that we received as part of the podcast. I always try to give ARCs the benefit of the doubt, and I'm so grateful that we get them. So it is quite a big decision to DNF an ARC for me, but it was so boring. It was narrated by a man, written by a man as well, and it was pretty much just Budweiser fan fiction. And the whole thing was like, I love this bar. I went to this bar from the day that I was born. I'm gonna buy this bar. And then like him and his friends went into the bar and were like, hey man, let us buy the bar off you. And the guy was like, nah, I'm good. And they got mad. And so at that point, I was like, I actually can't support these people anymore. I'm I'm not reviewing. Sorry, chose to not review. And I felt really good about that. That's amazing. I think maybe we continue on with giving examples because I think this will provide some much-needed context for our rambling explanations of our rating systems. So let's start from the top. Laura, what is a quintessential five-star read for you?

Laura 13:09

I guess I'm looking for something that leaves an impression. Ones that spring to mind immediately are Cloud Street by Tim Winton. I remember so clearly my first time reading that. Um, I was maybe 14 or 15 years old. I know a lot of people read it in English and hated it, but for me, it just felt so new and special. From memory, the writing plays with style a little bit. I think there's no inverted commas around dialogue and it was using a lot of slang, and it just felt so evocative and different from anything I'd read before. The Secret History by Donna Tart would be another one that I'd put in that category. I just feel like it unlocked this whole part of my brain, this whole genre that I had been searching for unwittingly. And one more book that I think I'd put in that category is The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chabosky. That probably did genuinely change the trajectory of my life. It's such a special book. Again, so unlike anything I've ever read before, lost the ability to write in all capitals with any form of punctuation for about three years after reading that one. All the stars, amazing no notes.

Bridget 14:15

How about you? All the stars, amazing no notes. It's kind of my vibe for most of the books that I read. So when I was compiling my examples, I was looking on Story Graph, and out of the 828 books that I have reviewed, 169 of them I've given five stars, and that is the most I've given any rating. So I'm just like, you get a five-star, you get a five-star, and I'm having a great time. So when I think about the books, I mean it could be any of them, but some recent ones that I have to bring to the table are The Idiot by Elif Batumen and Henry Henry by Alan Bratton. Full disclosure, I have just recently read them, so it might be suffering from some kind of recency bias, but I love these kinds of books because they're just rambling. They're a little bit sad for no apparent reason. There's not much plot, they're quite atmospheric. When I was looking at The Idiot on Story Graph, the AI summary described it as self-mocking. And I think that's something that I really enjoy. I like characters that don't take themselves too seriously. I just think like the stakes are never that high in the books that I love the most. And so in a book like The Idiot, she's a student at Harvard, and then she goes on like a summer working trip to the Hungarian countryside, and like nothing happens. But I've read this book now for the second time, and I'm like, is this my favorite book ever? Maybe. But like why? Don't know. No thoughts. Okay, let's go down the ladder a little bit. Four-star book. Laura, what is an example of a four-star book for you?

Laura 15:40

An example that springs to mind would be My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante, which is a book I loved, but I can't help but feel like it needs to be built upon. I think it's a book that would be improved by more, and in this case, I think that more is the rest of the series. Maybe it's not fair to do a series, so I guess another example could be If We Were Villains by ML Rio, which we read on the podcast. Another book I loved, plot was outstanding. I found some of the characters a little bit cringe and some of the writing a little bit lame. But I loved it overall. It was like such a great time.

Bridget 16:15

What about for you? I think this is gonna sound a bit dumb, but I think books that have really nice writing and maybe a little bit too much plot is what I would give a four-star. Like maybe a bit too serious or too many things going on that are stressing me out, but I can still see that it is a really well-written book. That's not always the case, though. I've if a book is serious and leaves me feeling devastated, then that's a five-star. But two examples I have actually two more ARCs that we've been given: Blue Light Hours by Bruno Dante Slabato and Grey Dog by Elliot Gish. Both of them have beautiful writing, and I think it would be quite easy to get lost in them. But I think what's missing for me was that humour or like self-deprecation. I just didn't feel as deeply about the book as I could have. That being said, I have rated 113 books four stars. So like I'm still just having a good time and just handing out these positive report cards left, right, and center.

Laura 17:21

You're in a high school movie, and the four star ratings are flyers, and you're throwing them down the stairwell.

Bridget 17:27

Come to my party.

Laura 17:29

Yeah.

Bridget 17:30

Food fight. Now we are in the middle, middle of the road, middle of a rating, three stars. Laura, what have you got for us for three stars?

Laura 17:40

I think for me, ratings two through four are like a soup of lost memories. Like they are, they're reasonably interchangeable. I scrolled through Goodreads to try and find books that I'd previously rated three stars, four stars, two stars, whatever. And honestly, my choices are so perplexing. And I think it's the fact that I r I remember really, really excellent books. I remember five stars and really abysmal books, one stars. And everything else in between is kind of a blur. So I think I have to lean on some recent examples. Um, two that come to mind are Julie Chan is Dead by Lian Zheng, which is another ARC we received. I did really enjoy this. I see why other people would enjoy this. Um, but personally I've read other things that do the same thing and I think do them a little bit better. I didn't really connect to the characters, I didn't really get much from them. I thought the writing was fun, the plot was juicy, but no element in particular really caught me. And I think that's probably a key element of a three-star book is that even though I might overall enjoy it, nothing in particular is really grabbing me. The same could be said for Glyph by Allie Smith, who I think I've sworn off multiple times on this podcast. But I think Allie Smith's writing is undeniably beautiful. The message of her works is normally quite complex or haunting, but there's never really enough from her characters or plot in a really obvious way from me to hook into, which is a shame because I want to be on that train so bad. The covers are so good. They're so nice. I haven't read one. I've considered giving you my collection of Rachel Cusk and Allie Smith books so many times over. Because I think you probably would enjoy them. Because I think they lean a little closer to the type of book that you do enjoy over me. Yeah, okay.

Bridget 19:25

Because I haven't picked them up because I was like, oh, Laura doesn't like them, I probably won't like them. No, I think you'd like them more than me. Interesting. I know nothing about them. You're an intellectual.

Laura 19:35

Oh, I I really am. They're more vibes. What about a three-star book for you?

Bridget 19:41

I've been confronted about this choice a few times in real life uh since I put myself on blast on the internet. But Orbital by Samantha Harvey was so boring to me. Like I can't even explain how boring it was. I know that other people would like it. So I couldn't justify giving it a two. But I think a three is like the polite rating. I thought, bad, giving it lower, but I could not go any higher. I just don't want to read about space. And some might say that I should have known. There were so many signs. And I would not disagree. But I was I think three stars is just, yeah, I'm uh thanks for your your writing. Thanks for the effort. But unfortunately, you did not please me next guards, take them away. Release the hounds. That is the vibe. So sorry, Samantha Harvey, whoever you might be in this world, but it's just not for me. Okay, now we're gonna really get into the not for me's. Two-star, Laura, what have you got?

Laura 20:50

I think a two-star is where I start to feel like a real elitist bully. Uh, and it's hard to see myself as a good person because this is where I start to wonder how anyone remotely intelligent could find genuine joy in these books. Because I think I do sometimes find joy, but I know that it's mocking. So I'm thinking Life and Death by Stephanie Meyer. I wouldn't deny that I had a good time reading this. Do I think it's good? No. Would I recommend it to anyone? No. Would I judge you if you loved this book with your whole chest? Yes. Divergent, I think that's kind of similar, although less judgment because you know it was quite formative. It was a time. It was a time. I'm obviously not going to get the same things out of it as a 31-year-old as I would reading it as it was intended, age 15.

Bridget 21:40

I think the difference between life and death and Divergent is that Divergent was released at the peak of the dystopian fiction that all the girlies were reading at the time, but life and death doesn't have the same excuse because it was released 10 years after Twilight and it was just a bit of a cash grab. So yeah, I think there is a difference between that. To. Stephanie Meyer, if you are listening, please do not let this dissuade you from any further cash grabs. I will buy and read them all. I'll give you all the cash I have. Yeah.

Laura 22:13

Quick grab it. What about a two-star read for you, Bridget?

Bridget 22:16

Two books that came to mind for two-star reads were Summer in the City by Alex Astor. Uh, and also The Summer I Turn Pretty by Jenny Hahn. And the following one. So both of the summers, the third one is something that is an abomination and should not even be mentioned, but that couldn't even reach two stars. Anyway, these books were so trashy and so poorly constructed, but there was something about them that hooked me and I just had to keep reading, whether it was like out of disbelief that something could be so ridiculous, or maybe like some aspect of the romance in the plot was slightly interesting or something like that. But I read the whole Summer I Turned Pretty series in a day, I think. I think I went to the shops to buy the second and the third on Boxing Day after I got the first one for Christmas. So I was like hooked on them, but they were not good. Same thing with Summer in the City by Alex Asta. Once again, another ARC that we received. I didn't realize so many, so many of these books were were free books that were given to us to promote, but unfortunately, that's just how the cookie has crumbled. Yeah, something enjoyable, mostly ridiculous, and if I'm being honest, a lot of mocking coming from my end as well. Unfortunately, we can only go down from here. So, Laura, what do you consider a one-star read?

Laura 23:38

One star reads and below are pretty hard for me to come across because I think they're books that I would have finished almost under no other circumstances if not for the podcast. I guess I'll just say Fifty Shades of Grey. I one-star read like Fifty Shades of Grey is something where I have to contort my mind into all sorts of shapes to even figure out what someone could possibly be getting out of this book or what they could possibly enjoy from it. And once again, I find myself back in the bullying boat.

Bridget 24:06

I definitely know that feeling. I was watching TikToks last night to get ready for an episode that we are yet to record, and I felt like a real bully because I I was feeling feelings of hatred. It's a one-star book. How can you like it?

Laura 24:21

It's also so humbling when you start to feel those feelings of frustration and dare I say hatred, as you said, coursing through your veins because you know that the comeback will be it's just a book, it's not that serious.

Bridget 24:33

Yeah.

Laura 24:34

And like that's what we tell ourselves. And I just think you go you go in this loop, like trying to sort of intellectualize it and then making yourself more and more mad. And like, who's really having the last laugh? Like, who's the one that's not the dumb ass having made up fights with people who are just innocently enjoying a book on the internet?

Bridget 24:51

At 11:30 on a Saturday night. I'm the real dum-dum. Yeah. Sometimes we all need those moments of self-reflection.

Laura 25:01

And maybe that's what hurts the most. Yeah, maybe.

Bridget 25:04

What are your examples of a one-star book then? I mean, I would echo you for The Fifty Shades of Grey, The Spanish Love Deception, so many podcast books. Unlike you, I will do a spite read and I will do it often. Apparently, only 13 times I've rated a book, one star, compared with 33 two stars. I forgot to mention that before. The book that I picked to bring to the podcast was Swift and Saddled by Lila Sage. This is the second book in the series, and I it was so ridiculous, I wouldn't have continued reading, but we had an ARC for the third, and I was like, oh, I've got to read it to sort of understand the characters and blah blah blah. But this is a book where my eyes were sore from the constant eye rolls and just like horrific sex scenes. I think most of the time a one star book for me has at least one horrific sex scene. And same as you. I'm struggling the whole time I'm reading, thinking, why are we why was this published? Why was this advertised? Why did I start reading it? Why do people like it? I have a real superiority complex when it comes to reading one star books. And unfortunately, that superiority complex is not going to get any better because we're talking about zero star books. Laura, do you have any books that you've rated zero stars?

Laura 26:18

Yeah, I was actually just ascending to the astral realm, like in a loop, trying to figure out my feelings around this and fighting made-up fights while you were talking us completely in another dimension. I think a zero star read is something that's quite rare for me to encounter because, like I said, for the one-star reviews, it's something I would read under no usual circumstances. I'm pretty good at vetting them from my TBR, you know, whether that's through reading a blurb or finding out a little bit about the author, finding out about the themes. A zero star, I guess I would rate a book zero stars if I felt that the author had a perspective that was really damaging or dangerous, and I felt like I needed to do whatever I could to stop people from reading it or to damage their reputation or like something like that. The only example I can really think of right now is Credence by Penelope Douglas. This is a book that I didn't really see anything really redeeming about, and I would really like to actively discourage people from engaging with it. And yeah, the loop that I was going on in my head is that loop of people saying, it's just a book, it's not that serious. But I think that people's inability to see the way that they contribute to the broader picture is that serious. Uh, and so I would like to do what I can, whether it's just a measly zero-star rating to remedy that. How about you?

Bridget 27:37

This is gonna shock nobody, but the book I've brought is also credence. And I will say that I've three ratings in my zero-star category on StoryGraph, and two of them were credence because I unfortunately read it two times. So two out of three were credence by Penelope Douglas, and I 100% agree. I think the ramifications of a book like this being organically marketed by TikTok influencers, bookstagram influencers is really damaging. I just can't stop thinking about teenage girls who are very impressionable, who are facing a lot of challenges in their life as they grow up, and they're seeing these people that they look up to on the internet recommending a book like this and then picking it up, reading it, and thinking that that behavior is okay for men. And so I agree. I think that damaging the reputation of the book is something that needs to be done. I mean, I sound like a grandma, but it's like it's so bad. I genuinely think that nobody should read this book. And if I rate it a zero, maybe three people might see that. But my three people and your three people, that's six people. And I think that's what a zero star is. Don't read this book. You shouldn't get anything out of it.

Laura 28:48

It's kind of a double-edged sword as well, because seeing a zero star rating is quite intriguing. And I've seen through looking through the reviews of credence, for example, lots of people saying, I read this to see what all the hype was about, um, saw a lot of polarizing reviews, wanted to find out what the one-star reviews were all about, blah, blah, blah. Is that kind of like, you know, you see it in so many aspects of online life? Uh, people wanting to investigate the notoriety with their own eyes and ears. If my goal is to stop people from engaging with it, maybe I should not engage with it at all, but I don't know. Now I'm really now seeing this is like spiraling again.

unknown 29:26

Yeah.

Bridget 29:29

That's a bad thing that's funny. Yeah.

Laura 29:33

We are but worms. We also polled our listeners to find out at what point they would not DNF a book. And so the options we gave were more than a few chapters in, a quarter through, half through, and I'll DNF at any point I don't care. What's your view on this, Bridget?

Bridget 29:52

I would love to be I'll DNF at any point, I don't care, but I I mean I'm still in rehabilitation. I'm still healing. I just am like so attached to the number of books read that I'm like, oh, if I've read more than, you know, a quarter of it, I want to make it count. Like I can't read all this for nothing. But I think I need to stop thinking like that. I think it should be anytime.

Laura 30:15

For me, maybe half through is where I would draw the line. Not always. It's like not a black and white thing, but I think the revenge that I seek is just lazy reading. You know, if I've gotten halfway and I'm like, you know what, this book sucks. I don't even want to keep reading it, then I'll be like, fine, I'll just skim it. I'll just skim it. Or sometimes what I'll do, I don't know if this is like a bit evil, but I'll just Google the plot and then I'll just skim to sort of like, well, I know what happens. I've done like a 50-50 job on both fronts of reading what's on the page and comprehending it. Tick, two stars.

Bridget 30:48

Sometimes I'll just go read the reviews, even if I'm halfway, don't care about spoilers at that point. Just to sort of see if it's worth it. And it's often not, but I just keep reading anyway. But I think reading the reviews, it's sort of like having someone to bitch with about the book. Like you're like, yeah, tell me about it. I'm still reading it, but yeah, I get it.

Laura 31:06

It feels so valid.

Bridget 31:08

Yeah, it is validating.

Laura 31:09

Well, this actually surprised me. 57% of our listeners said, I'll DNF at any point. I don't care. That's amazing. It is amazing. 22% said halfway through was fine. 16% said a quarter through, and just five said more than a few chapters in. Five percent, I mean. Another question we asked our listeners was, do you ever revisit books you DNF? I think I've already answered this. Sometimes yes, although it depends on the book. What about you?

Bridget 31:35

At this point, no, but we'll see how that progresses.

Laura 31:39

Yeah, I guess you're still in recovery. I am. Yeah. Well, the results were pretty even for this one. 49% said it depends on the book. 28% said yes, I believe in second chances, and 23% said never, they're dead to me. What about rating books you DNF? Because I think this is something we've unlocked very recently. Do you rate books you DNF?

Bridget 32:01

No. But when I was trying to figure out how to mark books as DNF'd on Goodreads, I did fall down a little bit of a rabbit hole where I saw that people were actually marking them as red if they'd read more than a certain amount. And then in their review, it would say DNF at 78%. And that made me very interesting because I thought, oh, if I could be DNFing books that I don't like, even at 78%, and still marking it as red, I'd be into that. Um, I don't know. It's an interesting, controversial opinion, and I didn't do it because I think the only books that I've DNF'd so far is has been quite early on. I think people deserve to know. The people need to know if this book is being DNF'd left, right, and center. That needs to be reflected in the ratings.

Laura 32:46

I think that's a really good point. And it feels dumb to say, like, oh, but you didn't actually read it. Like you can't mark it as read because you have undeniably read it. I think looking at my reading challenge at the end of the year is where I would really struggle if it said I'd read like 56 books, but I knew I didn't actually finish like 10 of them. Even though it's all made up, I'd be like, I'm a fake, I'm a fraud. Yeah, that is true.

Bridget 33:08

I would feel the same way.

Laura 33:09

We did find a hack for Goodreads in particular, where you can add books to like a custom-made shelf. So, like, did not finish, you can create a shelf, and then it's like an exclusive shelf. So you can only add books to that shelf, and that's a good workaround for me. Well, 67% of our listeners said that they do not rate books they DNF. 25% said only if they really hate them, and 8% said yes. I tend to agree with the only if I really hate them, because there's lots of reasons that I DNF a book and mostly it's vibes. Unless I really hate them, then I don't really think it's fair for me to be commenting on the book without having read all or most of it.

Bridget 33:50

I think a good example of where I wouldn't want to rate one is a book that I DNF'd, The Yellow House by Emily O'Grady. And I thought the writing was excellent, but I just couldn't bear the feeling of dread and unease about what I could tell was gonna happen, and I just didn't want to know about it. So I just gave up. But I that would be so unfair for me to rate it because I was enjoying it otherwise. I just couldn't handle it because I'm a a wimp.

Laura 34:15

I was gonna ask I meant to ask you about that book actually, because I saw that you DNF'd it and I was like, oh what the fuck? And then I was like, oh, she got scared. Yeah, I got scared. Once again, our listeners have proven that they are the funniest people in the world because we did ask what's the strangest reason you ever DNF'd a book, although I will go on the record to say I wrote stangest instead of strangest. Stangest reason. Well, it's pretty stanch. Uh, what's the stanchest reason you ever DNF a book?

Bridget 34:48

It's funny though, because I think I saw it three times before I even noticed as well. So just as bad as you.

Laura 34:54

I'll just read them out. So we have I hated the nickname that the main character gave her best friend's daughter. Fair. Every one of these, I'm like, fair. Yeah. Good call. Yeah. Pregnancy trope came in real fast and unexpected. Yeah, can relate. Get that away. The format of the book Shatter Me. It's written with a bunch crossed out, equaling sensory nightmare. Oh, that sounds like hell.

Bridget 35:20

Like all the words are crossed out. I think so. Oh my god. It's like an early 2000s pop punk album in the lyrics. Exactly what I was thinking.

Laura 35:29

So, like Avril Lavine is that's that's exactly what I was thinking. Did you think yours was Avril Levine's real handwriting that she'd written and made for you?

Bridget 35:37

Yeah, but then like when I got the Veronica's first album, it was in there as well. I was like, oh, okay, this is performative. So then it I had to revisit my thoughts about Avril.

Laura 35:47

So yeah. Yeah, I feel like when I discovered like Lucinda handwriting on Microsoft Word, I was like, they can make this up.

Bridget 35:56

What in the hell?

Laura 35:59

Next one, mentioned Instagram DMs too many times. Oh yeah, fair enough.

Bridget 36:05

I feel like there was a book recently that I read that was a bit like that.

Laura 36:08

I'm reading to escape this. I don't want to hear about your DMs.

Bridget 36:11

Yeah, and TikTok, any mentions to TikTok. And also mentions to Taylor Swift is a reason I'm having problems with at the moment because I'm a big Taylor Swift fan, but I don't want to be reading about it in books. Get that out of there. It's always like the weakest opinions as well.

Laura 36:25

The next one says, and I know you'll relate to this, it was written by a man.

Bridget 36:29

Oh. Yeah.

Laura 36:33

Not all books written by men are bad books. No. But sometimes they are. That's all I'll say. The main character in brackets, Summer, had a sister called Winter. It was an instant DNS.

Bridget 36:48

That's absolutely fair because you know at some point there'll be a spring and an autumn.

Laura 36:54

You're in it for at least four books. But then you start getting like typhoon cyclower. Sprinkle. Anything with a weird name, I'm out. Oh, really? Yeah. Even like back in the day, to kill a mocking bird, scout, I was a bit like, hmm, I don't know. Bit annoying, isn't it? Who the hell is this boo character? I can't think of any examples. I don't think that annoys me that much, but happy to support you no matter what. Yeah, exactly. The last one is an excellent one. In romance books, when they reference penises, twitching gives me the ick.

Bridget 37:28

Yeah, I really don't like that. I don't like the sheathed velvet. Velvet wrapped steel. Don't like that. Throbbing. Pulsating. Dot dot dot down there. Yeah, also like my wetness or something. Like things like that. Like my core. Oh. I hate the phrase. He dragged his length up my core. I hate that.

Laura 37:54

Oh my goodness. There's some horrific phrases. There really is. Probably like 90% of them contributed by Fifty Shades of Grey. Yeah. Also, prick? Like his prick. Don't like that. What about you, Bridget? Do you have any unusual reasons you've DNF'd a book?

Bridget 38:11

Not yet, but I hope soon I'll be able to report back with one.

Laura 38:14

Remain optimistic. Yeah. All of the above could have done it for me.

Bridget 38:19

Maybe instead of writing a review, we need to start writing like why we DNF'd. DNF'd because character had a weird name.

Laura 38:26

In that Helen Garner book I just DNF'd, she referenced something about seeing like a schoolboy's penis pop out of his pants when he was practicing AFL on us. Like, I've had enough.

Bridget 38:37

Yeah, that's not.

Laura 38:38

We didn't need to write that down, Helen. Helen. I love you, but please stop.

Bridget 38:48

Our next podcast book will be Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice. Have your say on what we read next by keeping an eye on the link in our show notes and on our socials. Make sure you subscribe to the show, and if you want to be on the same page, follow us at talklet.get on Instagram and TikTok.