Last year, I slowly got back into reading after realising just how long I spent on social media. I began with a measly 10 or so pages a day. Since then, I’ve read all of Austen’s works, rekindled my love for George Eliot, and even dipped my usually non-sci-fi-loving toe into the arid deserts of Dune. It’s fine to read slowly, and I’m not one of those people who sees the number of books I read in a year as a marker of how bookish I am (reading a single book in a year puts you in the top 60% of UK adults).But as I got more and more back into the hobby, I began to join book clubs and social media groups that talked about terms like “DNF”.Since trying it out, I’ve gone from reading maybe a book a month to five (massive) books this month so far, with my sixth on my coffee table as I write.What does “DNF” mean? It stands for “did not finish”, and originally comes from racing lingo. When runners, drivers, or riders bow out of their event, Cambridge Dictionary said, their status changes to “DNF”.Unsurprisingly, for readers, that just means giving up on a book you don’t like rather than ploughing on with a novel you hate.For some reason, like not finishing my plate, I always found “DNF” to be a source of shame. I thought it was unfair to the author if I simply jumped ship. But some posters convinced me to give it a go. “I’m a serial DNF’er. If I’m not loving it, I will drop the book and find a new one straightaway. I have no guilt about it,” a poster to r/Fantasy wrote.Since then, I’ve stuck to a simple rule: if I don’t enjoy it by page 50, I can put it down. I’ve become truly addicted to reading since, in that teenage, book-a-day way so many people say they miss. It worked for my colleague, too. “Last year I read more books than [my partner]”, they told me. They think this is “because he has a rule to not DNF, which I just won’t do because if I force myself through a book, I’ll take so long and feel zero reward”. What are the rules of DNF? There are none. It’s whatever suits your reader’s conscience.Mine is the 50-page limit. My colleague will always finish a book under 200 pages, no matter how boring she finds it. Others simply ditch the novel as soon as they don’t like it, while some wait ’til they’re 10% of the way through a book before they’ll allow themself to DNF.As one Redditor put it, “I read for fun. If I’m not having fun, I’m not reading that book”. Why might DNF help you read more? Personally, I find it takes the pressure off of reading, making it more appealing. It means I’m not trudging through an endless ream with no reward. “I have been able to read more (60+ ) in the past four months than I ever have before” after learning to DNF, a Redditor opined.“I have also read more… genres than ever before- sci-fi, fantasy, romance, mysteries, litfic, classics and non-fiction memoirs and history books.”I’ve done the same ― to go from never reading sci-fi to thoroughly enjoying the first three Dune novels isn’t a leap I think I would have made without my new philosophy.“I think having the comfort of DNF (and not associating it with failure as I did before) helps me pick books out of my comfort zone more,” the poster ended. I agree! I’m a freer, happier reader now ― and if that means I leave a disappointing book on the shelf, so be it.Related…What Your Book, Film, And Music Taste Says About Your PersonalityI Read Every Jane Austen Book Back-To-Back – These 4 Changed How I See Her WritingI Kicked My Screen Addiction And Fell Back In Love With Reading – Here’s How HuffPost UK – Athena2 – All Entries (Public) Read More