Every time I list my DNFs the posts are absurdly popular, so if this is the permission you need to drop that book you’ve been struggling with, take it! If for any reason a book isn’t connecting with you, move onto something else; you can always try it another time. In rough chronological order:

Snowflake, AZ, Marcus Sedgwick – I wanted to try something else by the late Sedgwick (I’ve only read his nonfiction monograph, Snow) and this seemed like an ideal addition to a winter-themed post. I could have gotten onboard with the desert dystopia, but Ash’s narration was so unconvincing. Sedgwick was attempting a folksy American accent but all the “ain’t”s and “darned”s really don’t work from a teenage character. I only managed about 20 pages.

The Furrows, Namwali Serpell – I pushed myself through the first 78 pages for a buddy read with Laura, but once it didn’t advance in the Carol Shields Prize race there was no impetus to continue and it wasn’t compelling enough to finish. Magic realism, unreliable narrator … even when done well they can feel pretentious. I liked Serpell’s writing well enough. I marked out the line “Wayne’s absence in our lives had become the drain toward which everything ran.” I also noted neologisms like “splummeshing” and “spitz and thunk.” It’s always fun for me to read something set in familiar places (Baltimore area).

How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water by Angie Cruz – I read the first 40 pages. A voice-driven novel about a middle-aged immigrant re-entering the work force, it has a certain charm but also (the Spanglish!) a slightly irksome quality.

Corpse Beneath the Crocus by N.N. Nelson – Cliché-riddled and full of obvious sentiments and metaphors as it explores specific moments but mostly overall emotions. “Love Letter,” a prose piece, held the most promise, which suggests Nelson would have been better off attempting memoir. I slogged (hate-read, really) my way through to the halfway point but could bear it no longer.

Nothing Special by Nicole Flattery – The title is, unfortunately, apt. I read nearly half of this novel (109 pages!), waiting all the time for something to happen; something more than a disaffected teenager’s flat narration or her older self’s bitter remembrances. The premise of a typist working for Andy Warhol seemed promising, but here is the extent of his presence in what I read: “I never saw him come in but I felt the atmosphere change when he did” and Mae once approaching him to hand over a phone call.

All the Men I Never Married, Kim Moore – I hadn’t heard of the poet, and had never read anything from the publisher, but took a chance because I’ll read any new-to-me contemporary poetry that my library system acquires. I got to page 16. It’s fine: poems about former love interests, whether they be boyfriends or aggressors. There looks to be good variety of structure in the book. I just didn’t sense adequate weight. A stanza I liked: “I want to say to them now / though all we are to each other is ghosts / once you were all that I thought of”.

Music in the Dark, Sally Magnusson – I loved The Ninth Child, but have DNFed her other two novels, alas! I even got to page 122 in this, but I had so little interest in seeing how the two Scotland storylines fit together.

Tracks, Robyn Davidson – I got to page 93, hoping for adventure but finding only preamble, disturbing human behaviour, and cruelty to camels. It’s a shame, as I had in mind that this was an Australian classic and of course I was interested in an intrepid female travel writer’s perspective. Her thoughts about solitude were also valuable.

The Five Red Herrings by Dorothy L. Sayers – I’m awful about trying mystery series, usually DNFing or giving up after the first book. I just can’t care whodunnit.

The Other Side of Mrs Wood by Lucy Barker – I read the first 82 pages. This was capable hist fic but without the spark that would have kept me interested.

Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein – The first few pages seemed medieval; the next two 19th-century; the next several hyper-contemporary. Always, the vocabulary felt arcane and overblown. Feeling this was going to be one of those annoyingly vague fables of strangers and peculiar happenings, I gave up after the first 10 pages.

Weyward by Emilia Hart – I read the first 48 pages. The setup is EXACTLY the same as in The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld (three women characters connected in similar ways, and set at three almost identical time periods). Unfortunately, that one’s amazing whereas this was pedestrian. I could never be bothered to pick it up.

The Last Bookwanderer by Anna James – I read the first 36 pages and felt no impetus to read any more. The series went downhill after Book 3 in particular, but really never topped Book 1. Say no to series! Stand-alone books are fine!!

All In: Cancer, Near Death, New Life by Caitlin Breedlove ­– Unconnected and slightly pretentious thoughts. It didn’t seem like she had anything new to say about cancer.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery – I read the first 88 pages before giving up. This story of several residents of the same apartment building, their families and sadness and thoughts, was reminiscent of Sophie’s World and didn’t grip me.

The Pleasing Hour by Lily King – I read the first 75 pages. In theme and atmosphere this debut novel was most like her short stories (adolescents, travel, relationships). After giving up her baby to her sister, a young woman goes abroad to be an au pair for a family who live on a Paris houseboat. I failed to warm to any of the characters and the perspective seemed too diffuse for such a short book. Had this been my first taste of King’s work I would likely not have read anything else, because it seems quite ordinary.

Plus a handful more I didn’t keep notes on and barely remember, including:

• Ghost Apples by Katharine Coles
• Becky by Sarah May
• Industrial Roots by Lisa Pike
• I Laugh Me Broken by Bridget van der Zijpp
• A Terrible Kindness by Jo Browning Wroe
• The Premonition by Banana Yoshimoto

Overall, that feels like a lot fewer than in previous years, which I’ll call a win.

In January, I wrote about the 20 new releases I was most looking forward to reading in 2023. Here’s how I did with them:

Read and enjoyed: 7 (a few will appear on my Best-of list for the year)

Read and found disappointing (3 stars or below): 6

DNFed: 1

Currently reading: 1

Started but set aside and need to finish: 2

Haven’t managed to get hold of yet: 3

A pretty poor showing!

However, I did recently get the chance to go back and read one of my most anticipated books of 2019, the graphic memoir Good Talk by Mira Jacob, and really enjoyed it (my review is here). I found a secondhand copy at 2nd & Charles for $4 and bought it with my store credit for purchasing some gift vouchers. The lesson is that it’s never too late to catch up on a most anticipated book.

What are some of the ‘ones that got away’ from you this year?