This week, I have DNF’d (Did Not Finish), aka started but not finished the following books:
- The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley [2024]
- Floating Hotel by Grace Curtis [2024]
- Extremophile by Ian Green [2024]
And in May, I DNF’d:
- The Employees: A Workplace Novel of the 22nd Century by Olga Ravn [2018]
- Under the Eye of the Big Bird by Hiromi Kawakami [2016/2025]
And before that, I was struggling with the following:
- Red Sonja: Consumed by Gail Simone [2024]
That one actually put me in a reading slump.
Are they ‘bad’ books? Definitely not. They’ve got mainly positive reviews. A Womble, for example, enjoyed The Ministry of Time and Extremophile. Most of them are award-shortlisted, so someone has definitely advocated for them.
Do they work for my brain? No. At least, they didn’t work for me when I picked them up. And part of my brain won’t let go of them. Why didn’t I like them? Why did other people enjoy what I did not?
It’s those kinds of spirals that cause a short circuit.
I joked on Bluesky that the theme for the rest of 2025 is:
DNF With Gay Abandon.
I am considering getting it printed on a t-shirt.
What I don’t want to do is put myself in the position of another reading slump. They are brutal. I am giving myself permission to DNF for the silliest of reasons without guilt.
It might be the book, or it might be me, but I’m going to try not to read too much into it if you don’t?
Though I don’t understand how anyone made sense of Under the Eye of the Big Bird…
I’m leaving this post here before I get myself in trouble.
But before I do, I’ve avoided a slump. I’m reading Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner [2024], and the narration is doing the right things for my brain.
Gav Reads 
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