The DNF Club: January 2017

So while I do manage to get a lot of reading done, there are also just as many books I don't finish. These books, I don't rate or write reviews for because I feel one should read completely before one rates something. However, one person's bad book is another person's best book ever. So I thought this year, I'd switch it up and show you the books I started but wound up ditching.

The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson
Category: Adult fiction (some say it's true crime....I'm...not so sure about that)
Genre: Horror
Published: 1977

I picked this up because there's yet another Amityville movie out and I'm trying to read some of the book to movie adaptations this year. I hated the writing style with the power of a thousand burning suns. I quit after five chapters.

On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
Category: YA
Genre: Magical Realism
Published: 2006

This was very much a case of it's not you, it's me. I'm sure this is a perfectly fine book. For people who actually like magical realism.

Love, Lies, and Spies by Cindy Anstay
Category: YA
Genre: Historical Fiction
Published: 2016

I wanted to like this one so bad, but it kept infantilizing its so-called super smart main character, demonizing everything feminine to show us how super special she was and so on and so forth. By her third damsel in distress moment, I was done.

The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett by Chelsea Sedoti
Category: YA
Genre: Mystery
Published: January 2017

The mystery game was strong in 2016 for YA. I read a lot of great twisty thrillers. A lot of them, this past week. I was hoping this debut this year would be a continuation of that. Alas...it was not. The main character sounded much younger then someone old enough to go off to college soon. The mystery part took forever to get too and the conclusion the MC makes about what could have happened to Lizzie was so out of left field, I just had to reread that part five times to make sure I was reading it right. I gave up ten chapters in when I realized I just didn't care anymore.

#Girlboss by Sophia Amoruso
Category: Non-Fiction
Genre: Memoir/Self-Help
Published: 2014

Dear people who put this on feminist recommendation lists: you should have read that introduction first. You know, the one where she insists she's not a feminist and this like isn't a feminist memoir and like feminism isn't bad but like we don't need it, but like like...basically I kept wanting to belt out the Sorry Babe, You're a Feminist song from Broad Comedy at her. When I saw there was a chapter titled you are not a special snowflake, I knew right away this book wouldn't be for me.

For those wondering about the song I'm talking about, here: