For me, it’s Jude the Obscure. That book is easily the worst book I have ever read, without a single redeeming quality, other than that it finally ends. I only finished it because Far from the Madding Crowd was so damn good.

But really, Jude is the gold standard of awful books, in my opinion.

What’s your so-awful-it-deserves-shelf-space book, if you have one?

Or am I just weird?

  • DaysOfParadise@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    Apparently, Atlas Shrugged.

    I found it to be boring, pretentious, badly plotted, and sophomoric. My husband says, ‘but it’s a classic!’ - so I guess it stays. I’m putting it in that awkward spot behind the bookcase trim. On the bottom.

  • ThexGrayxLady@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    I found Snookie’s Gorilla Beach for 50 cents at GoodWill in college. In a show of poor judgment, i valued a good train wreck more than my laundry change. It came home with me. It is so hilariously terrible, and my friends and I had such a good time doing dramatic readings that it’s earned an eternal place of dishonor on my shelf.

  • Mathguy_314159@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    Verity by Colleen Hoover. It’ll stay on the bookshelf to make sure I warn people to not read it if they look at my books.

  • Opening_Put_1105@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    Rebecca. The book is way too freaking long. The plot could have just been summarized on a post-it note & been 10 times more enjoyable.

  • brookish@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    I love putting books with wild titles on the shelf. Beside each other I have: “Principles of Nuclear Reactor Engineering”; “Disco Bloodbath”; and “How to Survive Federal Prison Camp.”

  • grumpyhermit67@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    The Saga of Seven Suns. It pisses me off so bad I just need to keep an eye on it to make sure I didn’t imagine it. It was so damn 1 dimensional for something that started out with so much room to grow. I’m afraid it’s like the weeping angels and if I don’t keep it on my shelf, someone else I know might read it.

  • zipdogg@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    Watermelon Sugar. I’m against book burnings but this book should be torched

  • NightDreamer73@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    For me, it was Pamela: Or Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson. I don’t think I’ve ever been so thoroughly appalled by any book before. Yet I couldn’t bring myself to part from it when I was going through my books. It’s just such a great conversation starter, ya know?