How Many Books Do You Not Finish Reading In A Year?

I blog a lot about reading books, and one category I don't think all that much about is the books I don't finish reading (the acronymn often used is "DNF") for one reason or the other. I know I don't like to give up on anything, including the books I select to read. It's like a form of admitting self-defeat, and who needs that?

Goodreads even offers us a list of the popular didn't finish reading books: http://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/d.... Some surprising titles pop up there for me. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, for instance. Huh? That's like The Great American Novel. Anyway, I like to re-read it every few years because it is such a rich, powerful novel about the Jazz Age. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption also places on the list. I liked that World War II book, and I only read a few nonfiction titles every year.

What are the biggest reasons why you give up on reading a novel? No plot is probably mine. I've got to have a narrative arc with a start, middle, and ending to keep my interest. Good prose is a must, too. I like an original voice, but not one that's too far out there. It's difficult to describe here, but I know it when I read it. The other reasons I give up a book fall under the general category of "just not my cup of tea."