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?
Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk. I don’t think it’s the worst book ever. It has some bright spots, but it was a book I read several times thinking that a book by the Fight Club guy must have some deeper meaning. It doesn’t, but it is poorly paced, sometimes incoherent, tedious edge-lord nonsense.
I enjoyed Haunted, but then again I love a bit of random gore! The nuns and bowling balls and the buttcheek bits still stick in my head to this day.