I’d always vowed to finish every book I started. I’d tell myself to just push through and make it to the end, maybe the story would get better. Sometimes it did, sometimes it didn’t. And when it didn’t, well it kind of felt like I wasted my time. Yet, I continued to finish every book I started until one day… I started reading One day by David Nicholls. I’m not a fan of romantic comedies, but I obtained this book for almost nothing (a donation at a fundraiser in exchange for books) so here I was, ready to start a new novel. After the first few paragraphs, my face turned into a grimace. I had just been through a rough breakup from an unhealthy relationship a few months prior and those first few paragraphs were so incredibly cheesy and the characters were too happy for my liking. I wasn’t in a good headspace to read about other people being happy and carefree. So for the first time in my life, I closed the book and said goodbye to it forever. Maybe I would have loved the rest of the story, or maybe not, but I simply couldn’t bring myself to continue. Going forward, this simple action empowered me to decide whether I was in a good place in my life to continue reading whatever book I had started. Here are a few more books I started but just couldn’t bring myself to finish, for varying reasons:

You are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life by Jen Sincero

I decided to try this self-help book because there was a lot of buzz around it at the time it came out and thought why not try and work on my self-confidence at the same time. I had to stop because I couldn’t relate to all the spirituality and religion talk. It made me feel like if I didn’t have that in my life, I wouldn’t succeed. The concepts of frequencies and vibrations were a bit too much for me. Although I do sometimes envy people who are able to turn to their religion for guidance, because it’s a tool that can benefit them when going through hardships, it’s not something I’m capable of integrating into my life. 

Like She Owns the Place: Give Yourself the Gift of Confidence and Ignite Your Inner Magic by Cara Alwill Layba

This is another self-help book I purchased to help boost my self-confidence in my everyday life. This one was too superficial for my taste. Dying your hair pink is not a personality trait. The author focuses too much on her pink hair and how it seemed to have solved all her insecurity issues. What if your hair isn’t pink? Is dying your hair pink the only way to feel like an empowered #girlboss? I wasn’t able to finish this book because although I do believe a good hair day can temporarily boost your self-confidence, it is not a lifelong cure. 

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

I had seen this 1957 book mentioned a few times online, as being on people’s to-be-read (TBR) list. Well, I think it will remain on mine as well. First of all, the 1996 paperback version I have is 1069 pages long and secondly, the font is unbelievably small. So not only was I discouraged by the length, it wasn’t enjoyable to read. I didn’t even finish chapter 1. I had more exciting books waiting for me so it was an easy decision to put this one aside. I am willing however to give it another try eventually to see what all the fuss is about. 

The Rebel Mama’s Handbook for (Cool) Moms by Aleksandra Jassem & Nikita Stanley

I bought myself this book when I was pregnant. It seemed like it would be a different and fun kind of read. I was only a few months pregnant and I guess reading this made the pregnancy more real, and scary. I had an irrational fear of giving birth and thought reading books about pregnancy and motherhood would help ease my anxiety but it just made it worse. So I had to stop and put this book aside. I’m not saying this is a bad book, on the contrary, it’s pretty informative if you know absolutely nothing about the whole pregnancy and motherhood journey. And just like any advice you’ll hear concerning pregnancy and raising your children, you take some and you leave some. I just wasn’t mentally ready to take it all in.

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

I also started reading this book while pregnant. I had seen the movie trailer and the story seemed interesting and intricate so I wanted to know more about it, thus I purchased the book. I was still experiencing grief and the beginning of the book was way too graphic and detailed in its gory descriptions for me. Although I have read many other books with gruesome details about death, without even flinching, it just wasn’t the right time in my life to be reading about it. I might try to pick up where I left off, at a different time in my life. 

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

The praise for this book made it seem like it was this quirky, funny satire, at times heartbreaking. I was intrigued by this. Unfortunately, I had to immediately stop after chapter 2, which was narrated by a child character, who was planning their own demise. Enough said.

Check out my other blog post:

Where Do You Get Your Books?