#1
Finished week 52 last night. I kept a simple spreadsheet: genre, page count, days to finish, and whether I abandoned it. Total was 52 books, 13,842 pages, 9 abandoned (17%). Nonfiction stuck better than fiction — only 2 DNFs vs 7. Sci-fi was my worst category, which shocked me because I thought I loved it. I also noticed audiobooks I finished in under a week had the highest recall. Anyone else track reading data like this? What metric actually predicts whether you finish a book?
#2
I count paused over 60 days as abandoned.
#3
What counts as abandoned for audiobooks? I've paused some for months and never gone back.
#4
The vibe column idea is tempting. I already rate books 1-5 after finishing, but that's too late to help.
#5
I track pages per day and a one-word vibe. Over 14 weeks, the best predictor was whether I looked forward to the next session. If I dreaded picking it up twice in a row, I abandoned it. That beat genre, page count, and even my initial excitement at checkout. Your sci-fi slump might be a vibe mismatch rather than a category problem. Try logging 'want to continue?' as yes/no for a month. I bet the pattern jumps out faster than genre averages do. Also curious whether your 9 abandoned books clustered around a certain month.
#6
Standalones mostly. I kept picking bleak new releases when I wanted comfort rereads. That mismatch did it.
#7
Throat-clearing is the prefect term. I now give books 50 pages, no guilt. My finish rate went from 40% to 68%.
#8
17% abandon rate is way lower than mine. I bail on maybe 1 in 3 nonfiction books if the first chapter is all throat-clearing.
#9
I ran a 36-book year and my DNF rate was 25%, but the surprise was that it tracked my sleep way more than genre — any week I averaged under 6.5 hours, I abandoned almost everything, even thrillers I’d normally inhale. The counterintuitive bit for me was audiobooks: the ones I finished in 4 days had the worst recall, because I was listening while walking and my brain was basically on airplane mode; the ones I stretched over 2-3 weeks and re-listened to a chapter had way better retention. What fixed it was a 10-minute rule after dinner: read print, phone in another room, and if I’m still not hooked by page 15, it goes to the donate pile. That cut my DNFs from 9 to 3 over the next 24 books, and weirdly it also killed my evening snacking because my hands were busy. Did your abandoned books bunch up in certain weeks, like holidays or stressful work stretches, or was it pretty evenly spread?
#10
My weirdest correlation wasn’t genre, it was sleep: any week I averaged under 6 hours I’d stall around page 30 on everything and decide the book was trash, then the same type of book would click on a 7.5-hour week. I fixed it by parking my current read where the after-dinner snack bowl used to sit and doing 10 pages at the counter before I’m allowed to scroll—since I started, that’s replaced the 8-10pm grazing most nights, and I probably added 15 books a year just from that swap. I also only allow one paper book and one audio at a time; the second I break that rule I finish nothing. Did you track sleep or stress next to your spreadsheet? I’d bet your sci-fi slump was more tired-brain than category.
#11
The sci-fi thing doesn’t surprise me after hanging around here a few years—there was a thread last spring about “genre loyalty” vs. actual reading mood. I added a column for why I picked a book: excited, recommended, or challenge/list. My DNFs clustered almost entirely in the “should read” pile, especially sci-fi classics. The ones I loved were mostly novellas or series I already knew. Maybe split your sci-fi into “chosen” vs. “assigned by past me” for year two? Curious whether your abandoned ones were the books you’d owned longest.
#12
Your sci-fi surprise made me check my own spreadsheet. I added a “where/format” column: paper at breakfast, audio only on my new afternoon walks, e-reader in waiting rooms. My DNFs were almost all e-reader impulse downloads — I never got the “place” association. Audiobooks finished 80% when paired with a specific route,
#13
Curious how you defined DNF in the spreadsheet — did you log “paused” separately from “abandoned”? My own log looked like 18% DNF until I split those out; most were mood mismatches I eventually finished. Also, 13,842 pages / 52 books is ~266 pages average. Did your nonfiction skew shorter or longer than the fiction you actually finished? That length mismatch might explain the 2 vs 7 split more than genre.
#14
The sci-fi betrayal stings — my DNF pile is basically my plateau in paper form 😅
#15
My DNF pile is basically a seep chart too—wild how that tracks. 😅
#16
I track my reading similarly, and the thing that shocked me was format: I finish library ebooks way more than books I own, because the due date is a fake deadline. Owned physical books are where my DNFs pile up — no pressure, so I drift. Did you note source (library/owned/borrowed) on your spreadsheet? I’m also back at it with weight stuff after regaining, and I’ve learned my “abandonment rate” spikes when I pick things because I think I should, not because I’m actually curious. Same with books and food plans. Curious if your 7 fiction DNFs were mostly owned or borrowed.
#17
That sci-fi DNF stat is exactly the vibe of the old comfort-genre thread—turns out we all lie to ourselves a little 😅
#18
Small-town librarian here — my DNF pattern was all about format, not genre. Paper books from the Friends of the Library sale? I finish those. E-books on my phone? I abandon at 20%. I think it’s because paper shows me the physical stack shrinking, while my phone just says “47 min left” and I lose the plot. Did your spreadsheet track format at all? Also, my library’s 3-week due date has caused more skim-finishes than I’d like to admit.
#19
Sci-fi was my worst too—turns out I love the idea of it more than the actual reading.
#20
My own spreadsheet is embarrassingly basic: book, format, and a one-word mood at the start. Since the kids moved out I’ve been walking daily and cooking actual meals, and I’ve realized my DNFs spike when I pick a book to match an aspirational version of myself, not my actual evening brain. Did you note whether your 9 abandoned were mostly borrowed/library titles? I’ll quit a due-date book way faster than one I own, which tells me it’s pressure, not the book.
#21
My DNFs spike whn sleep tanks too — apparently my taste is sleep-dependent 😂
#22
sci-fi DNFs hit home—was it the books or your sleep those weeks?
#23
Did you log page number at abandonment? I started doing that and mine clustered hard at 60–90 pages—basically where setup either becomes momentum or doesn’t. Nonfiction rarely hit that wall because each chapter paid off faster. In the trials, adherence tends to drop when the perceived payoff gets fuzzy, and that’s exactly my reading pattern: if I can’t articulate what question the book is answering by ~page 80, I bail. Curious whether your sci-fi DNFs were early worldbuilding or the mid-book slog. Also, did audiobooks change the threshold for you? I finish audio way more often if I can speed it slightly, but retention drops.
#24
My DNF rate spiked the same weeks I slept badly—same page three nights straight lol.
#25
My sci-fi DNFs were all book-one-of-twelve monsters, so my trendline now just says “stop starting series.”
#26
Love this. I kept a column for why I picked it up — library display, friend rec, podcast, or pure cover impulse. The library display books I finished 8/10; the online best-of-list ones I bailed on 6/8. Weirdly, my best completion was anything I read in 15-minute chunks while dinner simmered, not long weekend sits. Did your abandoned books cluster by how you found them, or was it more about the book itself? Also, 17% feels weirdly respectable.
#27
My DNF pile is basically my dorm fridge: good intentions and sad leftovers 😅
#28
Sci-fi being your DNF villain is a plot twist—was it the picks or your mood that week? 😅
#29
same. My DNF list is basically a sleep log with book titles.
#30
Fellow spreadsheet nerd here. I did a similar year back in 2021 and the column that changed everything was “why I picked it up” — library impulse, friend rec, award list, etc. My DNFs weren’t genre-based; they clustered almost entirely around “because I felt I should.” Did you track source at all? Curious if your sci-fi 7 were mostly outside recs. Also, how did you count audiobooks — hours or page equivalent? That skewed my nonfiction numbers hard. Reminds me of that old “why did you pick it up” thread.
#31
yo this makes me want to log my own stuff. weird thing i found: my dnf rate dropped when i swapped my late night soda for sparkling water + a 20 min timer. not the book, just the ritual. also curious—did you track when you read? my sci-fi dnf's were almost all 1am phone reads, while physical paperback at like 7pm almost always stuck. mybe it's not genre, it's the screen + tired brain combo. i wonder if your 9 abandoned had a similar time-of-day fingerprint.
#32
Interesting data. I track DNF reason, not just yes/no. My top cause was parallel reading — 80% of my abandoned titles were ones I paused to start something else. Enforcing one-at-a-time dropped my rate from 22% to 9%. Did you log why you bailed, or just that you did? That distinction changed how I pick next reads.
#33
My DNFs track my sleep too — heavy lift weeks = nonfiction only, fiction doesn't stand a chance.
#34
I do something similar, but I added a “why I quit” column: wrong book, wrong time, or wrong format. That last one surprised me—I DNF almost every audiobook with a flat narrator, even if I’d loved the print version. I also use a 50-page + one-week rule: if I’m not reaching for it by day seven, I shelve it without guilt. Did you track format alongside genre? I’d bet some of those sci-fi DNFs were audio or ebook rather than paper.
#35
The sci-fi DNFs hit home—my brain is mush after leg day, nonfiction or bust.
#36
Sci-fi was my DNF king too — I quit one at page 40 and felt lighter than any plateau whoosh 😂
#37
Your 17% made me curious: did you log why you picked each book? I added a column—library impulse, friend rec, or genuine curiosity—and my abandon rate was 4% for curiosity vs 31% for friend recs. Those recs felt like homework. My finish rate also jumped when I matched books to routines: paper book with morning coffee, one chapter before my after-dinner walk. If it didn’t fit the slot, it stalled. Were your 9 DNFs mostly borrowed/library books or ones you owned? Empty-nester life restart
#38
Honestly, between kid chaos, my DNF pile is all sci-fi and my snack drawer has a loyalty program 😅
#39
Did you log where you bailed, not just that you did? I did a similar spreadsheet for TV last year: 42 shows, 11 dropped, and almost every drop happened in the first 3 episodes. My reading is the same—if I’m not hooked by page 50, it’s a wrap. I’d bet your sci-fi shock is partly book length: 500-page space operas vs. 250-page nonfiction. That page-number pattern is the only tracking metric that ever made my plateau feel less random. Did yours cluster around a certain % or week?
#40
The sleep link is so real — my DNFs cluster in exhausted weeks too.
#41
Tbh the genre split is fascinating. Did you log where in the book you bailed? I’d bet sci-fi DNFs cluster past 40% when the worldbuilding finally has to pay off, while nonfiction you can bail at any chapter and still count a win. I track my reading like I track this plateau: daily pages, weekly weigh-ins, and a “why I stopped” column. Mine is mostly “library due date” and “started a new series.” Also, 17% feels healthy, not failure. Do you think your abandonment rate would drop if you gave yourself permission to skim nonfiction and bail on fiction even sooner?
#42
17% DNF is just your TBR running garbage collection.
#43
Love this! The 17% DNF feels very human. One thing I’m curious about: did your abandoned books cluster in weeks where your schedule or energy was off, or was it truly genre? I ask because I track my reading next to my walking and water streaks, and my DNFs spike when I’m stressed, not when the book is bad. Nonfiction sticking better makes sense to me — I can nibble 10 pages and still feel progress. Also, did you count re-reads or only new-to-you titles? Congrats on 52 weeks of paying attention — that’s the real win.
#44
The sci-fi thing would’ve gutted me too. One thing that helped my own tracking: I added a column for “why I stopped” and another for pages read before stopping. Turns out most of my quits were under 50 pages, so they weren’t betrayals—just wrong book, wrong week. My nonfiction finishes clustered around cooking and walking books, which fits my empty-nester reset. Did you note how far you got before abandoning? I’m curious if your sci-fi DNFs were early bails or slow fades past the halfway mark.
#45
Airport delays are my DNF factory—sci-fi gets one chapter or it’s a tray-table nap 😅
#46
sci-fi betrayal hurts like a stalled lift: love the setup, ghosted by the payoff. 😅
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