4 - When the main character is annoying and rude. The character of the little girl in the Golden Compass comes to mind. When you're cheering for the side of evil, there is something wrong with the hero. Main character doesn't have to be perfect, but outright despicable?
Are you talking about the His Dark Materials trilogy, or the book based on the movie? Cause the movie sucked. But I love the books
POD to PastryGoddess. I recommend pretending the movie doesn't exist. And I love the book, and I liked that the main character was kind of challenging. However, I can see how that would definitely be a "your mileage may vary" situation as to what flaws one could put up with. Me, I really dislike the trope of "great at her challenging job, but stinks in her love life" for women. I usually don't even pick up a book if that's how the summary describes the main character.
I've stopped reading books, like Game of Thrones, Roma, and even Lemony Snicket and Redwall, because of the constant bad things happening to people. I also tried really hard to read Wicked by Gregory Maguire, the Wizard of Oz riff; I just couldn't finish it, it was too grim and abstract and philosophical, really no fun at all.
I've also passed on a couple of books when they got kind of gross--too much mention of bodily fluids or scatological humor, even if it made sense for the group of characters. One was a kids' series that was kind of Addams Family-ish, with pets who were technically dead and decomposing and so forth.
I also don't like books (especially kids' series) where the group is stocked with check-off-the-box "types"--the jock, the brain, the clown, etc.--and they're each a different ethnicity, not because that's interesting or realistic, but because the author wants to hit all the corners of the focus group chart.
Another book I gave up on because it was supposed to be set in 1910 or so, a historical soap opera, but all the characters' attitudes and behaviors felt way too modern. They should have just been modern people in a social circle that liked dressing up in old-timey clothes and riding in horse-drawn carriages.
I also don't like narration that is meandering and overly folksy. I actually have trouble even with classics like Mark Twain in this regard. It feels very smug to me, like you're assuming the audience knows you're so awesome that you don't have to prove yourself to them with a focused story. Maybe actual Mark Twain can get away with that, but few others.
With non-fiction, the topic can be presented in a dull or confusing way, or be pitched over my head, or have too much abstract philosophical stuff (when it's about chemistry or something like that).
I try to finish the book I'm reading--I don't usually read more than one book at a time. But sometimes I look over at the book and think about reading it, and then I'm like, "You know, I should probably go clean the toilet." Or basically anything other than read the book. That's when I think, maybe I should just give up on this one.