Second paragraph of third chapter of Twenty-first Century Blues:

’Howdeedoodee! Chaffinch Chaffinch. Delegate 426. Chehee!’

I was originally attracted to this by the fact that part of it is set in 2024, when the central character accidentally takes over the UK, and there is a quirky 1990s radio series attached to it. The book, however, has way too many dick jokes to be readable and I put it down after fifty pages. I will not bother with the sequel, Twenty-second Century Blues, which is also on my shelves.

Twenty-First Century Blues was the sf book that had lingered longest unread on my shelves. Next after that is Blake’s 7: Scorpio Attack, by Trevor Hoyle.

The second paragraph of the third chapter of Last Exit is:

She did not want to talk to June.

Crazy kids on a magical quest of some kind through alternate versions of America. I’m afraid that when I picked it up after having laid it aside for a couple of days, I could not remember what exactly was going on or why we were supposed to care about the plot, so I stopped reading at page 500 of 640. You can get Last Exit here.

Last Exit was my top unread book acquired in 2023. Next on that pile is Silent Earth, by Dave Goulson.