There used to be a website where you could buy a box of random used books without any idea of what you’d get.

Edit- I found it. I think it’s meant for interior decorators?

The first rule of writing is to know your audience so if you’re courting a bunch of bigots by writing a bunch of racist nonsense I’m not the least bit surprised that “juvenile” is what they felt drawn to…

and it cockblocked me with an OKCupid date, I took it off my shelf

I’m not surprised, it really is one of the few books that are a glaring red flag in the dating world.

Me too! An excuse to pare back a bit heading into the holiday season when I’ll surely be gifted more.

This posted reminded me of an article I once read and thankfully I found it! Apparently it’s Irene Iddesleigh by Amanda McKittruck Ros. But the article also mentions Judith Krantz’s Dazzle which also seems to be a solid candidate.

I’m also reminded of The British Critic’s review of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein:

The writer of it is, we understand, a female; this is an aggravation of that which is the prevailing fault of the novel; but if our authoress can forget the gentleness of her sex, it is no reason why we should; and we shall therefore dismiss the novel without further comment.

Which is to say many of the “worst novel ever” nominations seem to have one suspicious thing in common and it might be wise to take these superlatives with a massive grain of misogyny salt.