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As we get closer to finishing this year, please tell us what was the last book you didn’t or couldn't finish? What made you put it down?

I recently DNF'd for now Paul Di Filippo's Ribofunk, a collection of short stories credited for helping launch the biopunk subgenre, because his writing comes across as if he's trying best cyberpunk writers like William Gibson or Walter Jon Williams and it's really annoying. I want to finish it, but I'll have to microdose on it next year sometime.

I DNF'd quite a few praised fantasy books this year: a reread of The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, and first reads of The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman and The Will of the Many by James Islington, because I am just bored to death of these bloated fancy books with tedious overpowered MCs who could be interchangeable.

Also DNF'd The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie because I wasn't willing to humor Abercrombie's depictions of a disabled and disfigured character (please don't try to defend him) and his throwing in an "albino" on top of that (one of my most loathed tropes--Moorcock did it death decades ago) was all I could take of that.

I guess I did with Dragonfly Falling though I can't say if it will be a temporary break or a true will not finish.

I really wanted to like the series so much but

- Too many characters without enough definition. For example, I literally could not keep any of the fly kinden straight in my head. They just all merged together for me.

- Too much action/too many fights/too many long battles. I'm just not an action person. I get bored and loose attention if it doesn't get broken up with things I find interesting. A long fight during one of my commutes can leave me wanting to scream.

- A couple instances where a character would act out of character for no reason other than conflict was needed.

Really a pity as I have enjoyed this author's SF quite a lot.

Random wrote: "I guess I did with Dragonfly Falling though I can't say if it will be a temporary break or a true will not finish.

I really wanted to like the series so much but

- Too many charact..."

I'd say you could skim/read a synopsis of Dragonfly Falling and then go on with the series, it gets more interesting and less battle-y in book 3. I just finished book 8, which is also kind of like that and therefore took me a long time to get through, but all of the other books are more like his other fiction.

DNF's from this year: Witch King by Martha Wells, which I was surprised to find was not grabbing me because I love Murderbot so very much. Maybe I'll come back to it someday and try again.

The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality by Amanda Montell, which was more dry than I expected. I've listened to her podcast "Sounds like a Cult" and found her very entertaining. I still want to try reading Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism, which is more the same subject material as the podcast.

I dnf a *lot.* Recently for example I only read some of the stories in Old Venus

And I didn't make it very far in the popular The Book of Doors because "Much more about the sinister characters and their evil plot than about traveling to different worlds. Gratuitous murder included."

I have only DNF'd 6 books this year, I must be choosing better.
The last 2 were The Blighted Stars by Megan E. O'Keefe, where I really didn't like the main characters, too bad as the story had some good ideas. And The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty, where I also didn't like the main character, so, so annoying. Also the story was so slow.

I rarely abandon a book. Deciding what to read is a long process and what filters through usually sticks (sorry, bad choice of imagery).
I'm also at a point in which I can quickly determine whether I like the prose; as a result, I quit either very early on or not at all.

Unusually, it did happen once this year, with Off-White by Astrid H. Roemer. Even more baffling since it was my nomination in another group and was chosen by members as the book of the month.

I was curious about the Caribbean setting (with a fresh Dutch angle), and I also have an interest in Afro-American writers. Not to mention the post-colonial perspective and the linguistic aspect of Sranan Tongo.
It sounded very promising. But it was just chapter after chapter apparently concocted for the sole purpose of adding more branches to the already perplexing family tree of the characters, who live between Suriname and Holland but seem to have no social life outside of the family. it was at once far-fetched and claustrophobic.
At the time I told myself I was just putting it down for a few weeks, but I've since felt relieved at the prospect of abandoning the book for good.

I am a completist, I rarely DNF a book. So rarely I can only think of one�� Cities of the Flesh by Zoé Oldenbourg in 2015! My notes say ”I quit this book as unreadable for me. I think it's a translation, but even so, it was incomprehensible to me. Couldn't follow the timeline and didn't care about the characters (when I could figure out who was who). Worst of all, it didn't appear that things would improve. So many books, so little time, not going to waste it on something I couldn't get into.��

I have set books aside (currently 2) but I will get back to them.

Wolfsong by T.J. Klune, I knew I wasn't going to like it but it was a book club book so I forced myself to get at least 25% through. Confirmed that these Omegaverse books are not for me.