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?
The Doloriad by Missouri Williams. I was promised a female revenge fantasy dystopian book with interesting explorations of what a matriarchy might look like and which didn’t shy away from the depravity a post apocalyptic world may bring.
It was just depravity. It made me feel sick. Incest, no decent world building at all, characters all made me sick and were basically animals with no human thought. No delving into the workings of the post apocalyptic world.
The only reason it’s on my shelf is because I can’t bear to give it away to someone in fear they’ll think I’m a complete weirdo.