Top 5… books I’ve kind of, almost DNF’ed

Today’s Top 5 Tuesday is ‘books I almost DNF’ed, but now I’m in love with’. Top 5 Tuesday is hosted by the super lovely Shanah over at the Bionic Bookworm. You can visit her here, and join in for Top 5 Tuesday by checking out all the amazing topics we have coming up!

For those of you who don’t know, “DNF” stands for did not finish. You know, I’m not really a DNF’er. In fact, I will usually stick out a book even in the worst of circumstances, but it may take me a little bit, or a couple of go’s, to read it the whole way through. So this one is a little bit tough for me as only one book really comes to mind.

So… to pad this out to a top 5, I’m going to amend the topic slightly… Top 5 books I’ve been reading for quite a while (and do YOU think I should keep reading?)… And I’m going to write it in order of how long I have been reading them!

Number one is undoubtedly The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling. I am 160 pages in, and have been 160 pages in for about three years now. Unless someone can make a really compelling argument for why I should finish this book, then this is one that will probably remain 160 pages in forever. All I remember about this book is that it was like living in a small, gossipy town – and to be honest, I had enough of that when I was growing up.

In August 2017 I started reading A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab. I read about Kell and his magical coat, and I have a bookmark in at page 39. And then I got the worst news possible – my dad had a massive heart attack and passed away suddenly. To be honest, I have every intention of going back and reading this series, but every time I pick up that book, it takes me back to that point in my life and I just can’t quite do it yet. But this is one that I’m not ready to give up on yet!

Also in 2017 I started to read Heartless by Marissa Meyer. I had just finished reading the Lunar Chronicles, but I’ve got to admit, I’m not really a huge fan of villain background stories. I read exactly two chapters, which is about 17 pages. Suffice to say, I haven’t really given it a huge chance, but I’m also kind of indifferent about it at this point in time. This one is definitely a maybe for me coming back to.

This next one is really hard for me to admit… because he’s one of my favourite authors. Skipping through to April this year I had started to read Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff. The world building is fascinating, but there’s a lot of detail and things were happening kind of slowly. My nan had just passed away, but the real reason I stopped reading this one was that I was using it as a filler book until LIFEL1K3 came out. In fact, I’m pretty sure that the last page I read of this one (page 68), I read on the way to the LIFEL1K3 book launch. Again, this is one that I will likely come back to. I’m 99% sure of it. I just don’t know when that will be. I’m also slightly terrified to read it because Jay himself admits that he is a destroyer of feels, and I kind of like the characters. Basically I’m scared for them. And Mia. And probably Lemon Fresh as well. I am most definitely scared for Cricket. Oh god, I just want to know their fate before I keep reading Jay’s books. But I also kind of love it.

Finally, this year while doing the OWLs read-a-thon I started reading Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young. It was one of the prompts (herbology, maybe?) where the prompt was ‘book with a nature related word in the title’. I was coming to the end of the month, and I wasn’t super feeling the book, but I hadn’t found another (shorter) book to close the deal until I remembered I had a copy of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief that I could likely smash through a lot faster. And I did. This is another one where I didn’t really give the book a huge chance (I’m on page 66), and it was always my intention to come back and then read this one for my NEWTs instead (Astronomy, E, book with word ‘sky’ in the title). So I guess what I’m saying is that this one goes back on the maybe pile.

So this is my pile of books that I have almost, kind of, maybe DNF’ed. But I’m not really convinced.

I will tell you about that one I mentioned above though – the one that fits the read prompt. In 2012 I was going through a reading slump. I’d kind of been flitting between chick lit, mystery/crime novels and drama, despite having grown up reading the likes of Eddings, McCaffrey, Pratchett, Feist and Douglass. I wasn’t really aware of this whole genre of YA fantasy, although I had read The Hunger Games, Harry Potter and some other series. Then I got talking to a girl at a bookstore. She recommended me a few books, and she told me to buy Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. So I did. I took it home, and I read the first few chapters, but then I put it down. I can’t remember why exactly, but it had something to do with Kishmish or I didn’t really connect with an art student in Prague. So I left it. The book sat on my shelf unread for years. Then I moved to Melbourne, and I went to the giant Dymocks on Collins St in 2016. I was more versed in YA fantasy by this stage, but it wasn’t really my go-to genre. Again, I was talking to a girl at the bookstore and after I told her some of the books I had enjoyed she took me to the YA section, and plied me with books. One of them was Daughter of Smoke and Bone. When I told her I already had it, she asked what I thought. I had to admit that I hadn’t read it, and she told me to not buy anything else except its two sequels, and go home and read it. “I promise that you will not regret it.” I remember her saying it to me. And boy was she right!! Daughter of Smoke and Bone became my favourite series of 2016. Because there’s always one book or series I remember reading as my favourite book of the year without ever having to look up when I read it. The Raven Cycle was last year. This year will probably be either The Scorpio Races or The Cruel Prince, but in 2016 it was 100% Daughter of Smoke and Bone. And I recommend it all the time. And the only thing I regret is that I didn’t read it the first time.