how to denote that you've stopped reading a book on Goodreads
Goodreads has a lot of great features, but one notable absence is the ability to mark that you've stopped reading a book before finishing it. These books that we give up on or don't finish for whatever reason often don't fit into the current default buckets of read, currently-reading, and to-read.
Some people online suggested removing the unfinished from your currently-reading list, a solution which I found unsatisfactory. Then that book will cease to be on my bookshelves at all, if I don't plan on reading it in the future or lying about finishing it.
The best solution I found is to create a new exclusive shelf for these books. Here's how:
Go to your profile and click on YourDisplayName's Bookshelves.
Next to the Bookshelves header on the top left pane, right under My Books, click on Edit.
Add a new shelf and name it something descriptive. I used abandoned, but I've also seen did-not-finish, gave-up-on, among others.
Check the box in the 'exclusive' column. This means that the books placed in this shelf will be exclusive from those in reading, currently-reading, and to-read.
Optional, but I recommend unchecking the 'recs' box as well. If you're anything like me, you probably don't want book recommendations for books that you gave up on or didn't finish.
And that's it! Now you can move books from currently-reading to that shelf you just created when you give up on them without removing them completely from your profile. Happy reading!