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?
I have first edition hardcover copies of the first 3 ACOTAR books. The ones with the pretty covers. From ages 15-17 I was obsessed with SJM. Luckily I grew up, and got rid of TOG, but my copy of ACOWAR is signed and personalized to me, so I guess I’ll cherish it forever 🙃
I have a second edition Uncle Remus I got from my grandmother.
I have a few: a wonderful old tome on eugenics. A 80’s book on “a man’s guide to sex” (which is hysterical), and a few self published books from family members. My now grown niece still cringes hard at her Elven Priestess story her dad had published.
Gwendy’s Final Task by Stephen King & Richard Chizmar is the worst book I’ve read so far and the only reason I still have it is to have the whole trilogy complete and as a reminder of how much it cost me (in my country books are becoming MORE expensive all the time)
I love King with all my heart but that book was horrendous
I recently donated a grouping of Brandon Sanderson books is been gifted. I’ve been slowly distancing myself from fantasy in general, but even when I was full into it, I could not stomach Sanderson. It just reads like a CW version of fantasy.
I’m mostly a library guy, check them out then return them. I don’t even have many of my favorites on my bookshelf, let alone something I didn’t like.
I’m about to finish Jude the Obscure today actually. I really don’t understand why people say it’s so depressing, maybe something in the final pages will change my mind. I’ve been in a reading slump and am just going to power through this book.
I love Jude the Obscure. That book turned me into a long time reader of classics and Thomas Hardy is my god.
I loved Jude the Obscure! :(
I keep every book I read, this year, I have 2 books that fit your description:
- Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
- Someone Like Me by M.R.Carey
Both are just absolute messes of fiction. Poorly thought out and paced plots, terrible characters, and all of the nuance of a brick through a window. Both were book club picks, and whilst I hated every second of reading them, tearing them apart in the meeting was very cathartic.
Her by Harriet Lane. Although I don’t own it, so it doesn’t have a space on my shelf. It also has an abysmally low rating on Goodreads: 2.7.
The Sword of Shanara. How Terry Brooks turned that book into a writing career I’ll never understand.
The Maidens by Alex Michaelides.
It’s just absolutely shite from start to finish.
In the early 2000s I read Loop Group by Larry McMurtry and it was so bad I felt certain that either he didn’t really write it or he turned in the first draft.
Jaws by Peter Benchley
I want to add Samuel R. Delany’s Hogg but that’s maybe too awful for a different reason than writing quality