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Goodreads has quietly announced it will be introducing a significant update to its platform: an official ‘Did Not Finish’ (DNF) shelf that removes the need for readers to create their own improvised versions. Until now, users have relied on custom shelves and ad-hoc labels like “dnf”, “abandoned”, or “gave up” to track the books they set aside. By formalising DNF as a core shelf alongside “Read”, “Currently Reading”, and “Want to Read”, Goodreads is finally aligning itself with how people actually read.
This change does more than just tidy up readers’ virtual bookshelves. It carries a subtle but important cultural shift. An official DNF shelf acknowledges that not finishing a book is a normal part of reading rather than a personal failure. It validates readers who want their incomplete reads reflected in their statistics and year-end summaries, without having to pretend those books never happened.
There are bigger implications, too. An integrated DNF shelf will generate clear data on how often readers give up on a book, when they tend to stop, and which titles and genres see the steepest drop-off. If the company chooses to surface that data, even if only in aggregate, this information could reshape how publishers and authors think about pacing, structure and those all-important first chapters.
Of course, some readers are already skeptical of how DNF data will interact with ratings and recommendation algorithms. Will a DNF be treated as a negative signal, or simply as an indication of mismatch between book and reader? Can recommendation systems learn to distinguish between a DNF driven by mood and one driven by genuine dislike? There are still some anxieties about how this will play out, but many readers are hopeful that being honest about not finishing will eventually lead to better matches, not harsher judgement.
In the end, this move to formalise DNF shelving feels like a small but meaningful step toward a more honest, open and empowering reading culture.
Words by Sophia McHardy
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