I'm currently 1605 pages into the 2016 of Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy and I'm just about ready to give up. The first 2 books were fine. A good read. But I'm so bored with Assassins Quest. In the first chapter I was resolute to get past the slow opening. 100 pages in I thought it must pick up at some point. At 300 pages I'm only reading just because I've not quit yet. I think I'm done now.

Anything by Gene Wolfe pretty much applies to me.

All the time. If I listed the number of books I've given up on half way through here I think half the forum would probably form a lynch mob because their favorite books were on it.

If I'm not enjoying a book I'll stop reading it. Reading is meant to be fun.

So much this. I'm kind of picky when it comes to novels, so usually I can pick it up and read the first page before knowing if I'll like the book or not.

tobias bucknell: seems to have some pretty great ideas however i have a hard time getting behind any of his characters. i have made it through to the climax of some of his books and found myself not caring a bit about what happens next.

There are quite a few books like that on our shelves. Gamma-Ray likes some long thick books more than I do, but the first chapters were promising, so I have a few pixels of interest, so when he brings home a new one in the series I read the last chapter just to see who's still alive.
One of my criteria for "good author" is "can write a plot that fits in a paperback that fits in my back pocket." Such a person is entitled, in my world view, to take up epic amounts of paper in other books, because they've proved their ability to actually write a conclusion.

Count of Monte Cristo is in that category for me. I'm trying to finish it, and I will...but damn that thing's got some side tangents.

The first half of Kushiel's Dart falls into that category too. It took way too long to get to the actual plot.

I'm really struggling with Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrel. I picked it up because I'd heard great things about it from a lot of people, but it's so dull and boring and tedious and nothing happens... ever... at all... I'm a little over half way through but it's a slow process. I hate to give up though. There's always a little piece of me that thinks "it must get really good soon"...

I'll teal dear a book on the first page. Actually, I'll do that on the first paragraph. Sometimes, when people do character backgrounds or descriptions I can't get past the first line.