I've been blogging just under a year now and one thing (amongst many others) that has always conflicted me is DNF reviews. I'm never too sure how to deal with them. Luckily, I've only had two to contend with so far, but I'd be naive to think I'll finish every single book I pick up.
On Goodreads, I don't even mark my DNF's as read because, in my view, it wasn't read. I gave up so why would I say I read a book if I didn't. I only attempted to read it. Of course, this means that I can't post these reviews on Goodreads.
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Because of this, I only post DNF reviews on my blog. And, of course, I still share links via Twitter and Facebook (and Netgalley if applicable).
To me, (and I may be wrong) this means that there is less chance (probably not) of authors actually seeing these reviews. And I'm okay with this as I'm not cruelly waving all the things I didn't like in their faces. God knows what that does to an author's confidence. Even though I don't necessarily like their book, they still have my respect as they were brave enough to write a book and get it published. Something I could never dream of doing.
Of course, there is a chance of authors seeing my Twitter post as I'm mentioning their name (just not tagging with @)... oops!
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So, if they do end up stumbling across my review then oh well... I can't really do much about it. I just hope they don't take it to heart too much.
To be honest, it really is a bit of a catch-22. I review honestly so I feel I need to be honest about why I don't finish certain books. But I also feel so bad about doing it, which is why I limit where I post them I think... or, at least, that's what I've convinced myself.
No I don't review DNF"S but I do write a small post on my blog (or will, since it hasn't happened yet..LOL) that I DNF"d that book and why. I DO NOT mark it as read on goodreads either, as I think that's cheating! I saw one other post this month about DNF's and I think it's sad , but not every book is for everyone!! Thanks for an interesting post though.
ReplyDeleteI think we have quite a similar approach. I definitely agree that marking them as read does feel like cheating. It is a shame that we DNF, but it is better that we read the books we really enjoy though.
DeleteI do write about them on my blog, but I don't post my review on goodreads as I didn't finish it!
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree! I don't see the point in posting to Goodreads if it isn't finished.
DeleteI usually only post them on GR, if I review them at all. I do have DNF shelf but I usually don't say much if I rate the book as read --
ReplyDeleteI'm always apprehensive about posting DNFs on Goodreads, probably why I don't do it. I have played around with the idea of having a DNF shelf, but I decided against it.
DeleteYep, I do review them, BUT I am also terrible at DNFing and only have like 3 books to speak of ;) I do have a DNF shelf on Goodreads so I don't have to mark them as read OR TBR. That way I can still say stuff about them if I need/want to. Now, if I stop reading after a few pages or something, then no, I won't say anything about it, because that seems unfair. But any substantial amount of the book? Fair game.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of authors though, I did a post about books I MIGHT not finish, and an author googled himself I guess, and commented on my post about WHY I should finish his book. Soooo yeah, there's always a risk, but again, you're not being insensitive- as long as they aren't actively searching for it, they wouldn't find it!
I have thought about making a DNF shelf on Goodreads, but i just didn't bother really. I have to be at least 20% through the book before I write a DNF review for my blog too though.
DeleteThat is very strange, and a bit demanding, of that author. I definitely wouldn't like that and it would probably make me want to read their book even less.