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?
Heaven is for Real (the book about a little boy who supposedly died, went briefly to heaven, and was then revived.). It literally made my skin crawl. He tells his parents things like “oh by the way, Grandpa says hi.” CRINGE. I’m actually a church-goer but this book just screamed fake to me. I felt the poor child was manipulated/brainwashed by his parents so they could produce a best seller. Some members of my church LOVED it, and I just steered away from any conversation about it. 😖