Chapter #26: Signs You Should DNF Your Current Read
Chapter #26: Signs You Should DNF Your Current Read
When will I start taking my own advice?
Feeling My Shelf is a bi-weekly newsletter about books, life, and well, life with books. Grab your favorite caffeinated beverage and get comfy. First up, some recent reads.
Who We Are Now by Lauryn Chamberlain
An incredibly heartfelt read, Who We Are Now begins in 2006 on the eve of Rachel, Clarissa, Dev, and Nate’s college graduation and traces the foursome’s friendship over the next fifteen years. Through career highs and lows. Heartbreak. Addiction. And ultimately, death. A character-driven story with some questionable moments and, at times, incredibly unlikeable characters, but above-all it’s relatable.
Their Vicious Games by Joelle Wellington
Adina is a Black teen desperate to regain her recently-rescinded acceptance to Yale. So, she enters an elite competition called “The Finish” that promises its winner prestige and power, but things quickly turn deadly. It started off slow but once the action picked up, I was hooked! Satirical, fun, and twisty, it’s Mean Girls meets Squid Game meets The Bachelor.
I’m writing this more for me than for you, because I’m a hypocrite.
“Life’s too short to read things you hate,” I once wrote in this newsletter. And yet, more than once already this year, I’ve ignored my advice. I’ve constantly told myself to keep reading. Just one more page or chapter, and things would get better.
Often times that’s been the case, but other times it has not. Things did not get better the more that I read. In fact, they got worse, and I was left annoyed and angry, mumbling to myself about how I could saved my money/time/energy.
Learn from my mistakes! If at any point you’re reading and experience any of these signs, step away from the book. Immediately.
You can’t stop thinking about all the errands you need to run.
You consider pausing to fold laundry. And you hate folding laundry.
Same thing as above. But with dishes, because you hate doing those too.
You can’t stop thinking about another book on your shelf.
The characters are more than just a bit unlikeable. They’re unbearable.
The content makes you uncomfortable.
Or super angry.
You find yourself hating the plot.
Or there’s absolutely no plot.
You can’t stop telling people you’re in a reading slump.
The act of picking up your current read feels like a chore.
You’re only reading it because someone told you to.
It’s taking you weeks to finish when it usually only takes you a few days.
You’re more than 100 pages in and can’t stop yawning.
You find yourself rewatching shows you’ve seen a thousand times instead of reading.
You’re skipping or skimming pages.
You find yourself scrolling through reviews thinking, “is it just me?”
Or scrolling on Instagram/TikTok instead.
You’d rather watch the movie. If there’s a movie.
If there’s not a movie, you find yourself wishing there was.
You start thinking about how you’d write the movie and make the story better.
You’ve let out more than one deep, heavy sigh while reading.
You’d describe your continued reading as “hate reading.”
You just Googled if it’s possible to give a book zero stars.
You find yourself flipping to the last page to see how many pages are left.
Simply put: Your gut says quit. After all, everything’s not for everybody.
It’s been a minute since I read anything non-fiction, and I’m excited to dive into Stop Waiting for Perfect: Step Out of Your Comfort Zone and Into Your Power by
.
The Cheetah Girls gave Black girls like me a space to dream. Adult Legos are the anti-anxiety activity we all need. People forgot how to act in public. New thriller books to read. In The Other Black Girl trailer, publishing is a scary biz. How to develop a healthy attitude about aging. “Girl” trends and the repackaging of womanhood. How many books do you know that became Broadway musicals? Five tips to become a kid's favorite adult.
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