The topic of DNF'ing (did not finish) is always an interesting one. Some of us are loyal DNF'ers, and some people have to keep going once they start. While I always respect everyone's individual reading styles, I also think some of us are needlessly punishing ourselves, especially in the realm of sci fi and fantasy.

You see, most of what we read in sci fi and fantasy winds up being at least a trilogy, if not more. It's common to hear reviewers and influences telling you that if you "just push through " the first 1, 2, or even 3 books, "you hit the payoff."

I'm a firm believer that there is no payoff that is worth reading multiple books that I can't stand, and I think some of this comes from my life perspective. As a former ER doctor, one thing that I can tell you is that time is ours most precious and finite commodity in life. We only get so much of it, and none of us knows how much we get. So when I see people forcing themselves to read tens or hundreds of hours of books that they're not enjoying, my question is always "why?"

I got to thinking about this as I am approaching the end of The Wheel of Time. I get a lot of WoT content fed to me, and I saw a post recently where the poster was on book 3 and talking about how much they didn't like it. Then a commenter said they were on book 4 and they hated it, but they were going to push through and finish "even though I know it won't be worth it."

This is wild to me, and I think it happens for a lot of reasons. For some, it's FOMO. For others, they feel like they have to read some of these either foundational or popular series (Red Rising, Malazan, Lord of the Rings, Dungeon Crawler Carl, Realm of the Elderlings...). You will often her the phrase (you're not a real fantasy/sci fi/horror reader if you haven't read..." I have heard people say that they respect how hard it is to write a book and they owe the author the courtesy of reading it, and I've heard some who say it's just a compulsion they have - once they start they don't stop.

So I want to provide you a gentle reminder if you fall into one of those above categories. If you read , you're a reader. No one books makes you a X genre reader. Just because something is foundational or popular doesn't mean it's going to be for everyone, or that everyone has to read it. Authors do work hard on heir books, but it doesn't mean you owe them a read. And just because you start something, doesn't mean you have to finish it.

Remember, your time is yours. If you don't want to read a book - don't. if you start something and you don't like it - stop reading it! Read what you want to read, when you want to read it, and how you want to read it!