Better Late Than Never?

Apologies for the delayed post today, readers. Miss 3 is in hospital on IV antibiotics – things have been hectic this week. She’s coming good now though. I’ve been a little less able to write, so this post is about my other favourite pastime: reading. 📚

This week I started Aurora Burning by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (Aurora Cycle Book 2, published 2020. Yes, I’m that behind on new reads). Anyway, I’m LOVING it. Which stands out to me because it’s the first in a long string of books that I’ve actually wanted to make time to read. That sounds kinda bad, doesn’t it…

Do you ever DNF a book (Did Not Finish)?

I thought for a long time that I would never be a person to DNF. To leave a story before its completion seemed blasphemous after all the work the author went into to create the piece. To have held it in my hands, to have started following and analysing and (possibly) sympathising with the characters… No. The abandonment guilt was too much.

Ah, younger me.

Something I learned as I grew older — spoiler alert, this is a darn hard truth to learn — there is not enough time in the world to read all the books you want to read. There is certainly not enough time to keep reading a story that you’re pushing yourself through. Even if it’s semi-enjoyable. We all have to force-read enough things for learning/work purposes, thank you very much.

Thus I found myself in the strange situation this week of having time to read, with four ebooks and one physical book unfinished, and not wanting to return to any of them (I’m not going to list them here, but feel free to message me directly here or on Twitter if you’re that interested). I had built up the many ‘open’ reads thinking I would eventually go back to them, but the characters weren’t drawing me. The settings didn’t make me want to be there. The writing wasn’t pulling me in and sucking up time, preventing bathroom breaks because I just wanted to read that one more paragraph.

Aurora Burning did all that from the first page.

Was it because I was returning to a series that I liked previously, so that I was eager to see what happened to the characters? Probably part of the reason I liked it. Was it the pacing and lighter style, being YA-classified, which drew me in rather than the literary or deep scifi/fantasy of the other reads I’d set aside? Perhaps. Sometimes I am simply in the mood for a certain type of story. But I’ve been in this mood for months now.

I’m glad I finally found a book to scratch that itch.

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From the blurb:

“Our heroes are back… kind of. From the bestselling co-authors of the Illuminae Files comes the second book in the epic series about a squad of misfits, losers, and discipline cases who just might be the galaxy’s best hope for survival.” Read more…

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The title of this post, better late than never, really asks two questions:

⭐ Is it better to finish reading a book, eventually?
⭐ Or, is it better to accept that some stories belong to other readers, and go find one that drags you in?

What do you think? Which books have been attracting you recently? And let me know too if you’ve read the Aurora Cycle or have other books to recommend. I have a to-be-read pile a mile high, but now I’m letting go of books that don’t quite fit I might get through it quicker. I look forward to your comments! 🙂

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PS: I left out from this discussion the anthologies I’m also reading, because even though they are incomplete I do read each individual story to its end. Anthologies are neat ways to get your story fixes in relation to a theme. Literary magazines, too. I’ve some news in relation to that last, actually… But it will have to wait until a dotted line is signed. 😉

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