The Worst Books of the Year

[@Rouge_Addict]

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow was one of the worst books I ever read. I don't understand the hype at all. My husband thinks the author just wanted to make sure certain topics were included to get the book hyped up but the way it was done was just so awful. So happy I'm not the only one.

[@Shellyish]

I completely agree!!!!!! 👍

[@TCS088]

Totally agree!!!

[@lesleygordon9634]

You are a brave lady mentioning the sacred Bell Jar. I quite agree about prize winners. It so often what I call “showing off” writing.

[@boogsassy1]

I DNF’d Tomorrow & Tomorrow & Tomorrow. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. 😂❤️

[@Shellyish]

Cheers to tomorrow! 🥰😂

[@lemmeseethelight]

"I think she's auditioning for the role of God", its 12.27 PM on Saturday somewhere in Asia & you delivered funny jabs, I'm laughing like crazy on my bed 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@andreahomer9434]

I DNFd Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. I just didn't get it. It felt like the emperor's new clothes because there were so many raving about it - it felt like it was **my** fault that I didn't 'get' it. Yes, it's a big no from me.

[@ATruthUniversallyAcknowledged]

I felt the same about Jean Brodie and Bell Jar. I was so baffled.

[@LeeKempter]

OMG, I absolutely agree with you on all of these. I just finished one on a retell of Moriarty ... it was so bad I didn't add it to the Used Book Bag I just tossed it in the garbage.

[@taffyj531]

I thought I was all alone in my dislike for Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, a book that plods on and on and on. Another bad book is one from Frieda McFadden (I think of them as snacks.) It has the word "Lie" in the title. Can't recall what the second word is, unless it's "The".

[@justheathers]

I agree with you about The Bell Jar, The Safe Keep and The Fraud. The Fraud was unfortunately one of the first books I listened to in 2024 and I was so disappointed. Thankfully my next reads were better! I was ok with some parts of Tomorrow x3, but I didn't like the abusive relationship or the protracted last quarter or so. My other worst books of the year were Lincoln in the Bardo. I listened to the audiobook and I thought it was an absolute mess. I finished it but rated it 1 star. The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante, Alone With You in the Ether by Olivie Blake, and Lanny by Max Porter were not my cup of tea either. I also didn't like Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood, but I am going to give it a second chance by reading a physical copy as opposed to the audiobook.

[@Shellyish]

The Fraud was one of my first reads this year as well. I just couldn’t with that book. Ep! You’ve had quite the reading year as well. Cheers to a better 2025.

[@justheathers]

@Shellyish cheers to better reads in 2025! 📖📚

[@teneshaanderson4761]

So rude the safekeep is one of the best books of the year. And tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow is one of my favourite books ever! Books are really a matter of taste

[@Shellyish]

I’m so glad the Safekeep and T&T&T worked for you. I truly hold “best” and “worst” quite lightly.

[@krc5210]

Oh no!! I'm just working on a book haul video and one of the books is the Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. I picked it up at a library book sale and in honor of the passing of Maggie Smith I purchased it. Sorry to hear it didn't work for you. I will still try and hope it works better for me. Always disappointing I know to start a book and not enjoy it. I will say I did start a Spark novel years ago that I did DNF so... I wonder if The Bell Jar is so much of its time it doesn't wear well now? I read it years ago. I have tried twice now, months apart, to get on with Himself by Jess Kidd. I want to like it but I just keep putting down and looking for something else to do. And when something else is cleaning my house, that's not good.

[@mediumjohnsilver]

I read no 2024 releases; my reading mainly consists of older books. For me, the worst book I read this year was the science fiction book _The Legion of Space_ by Jack Williamson, from his stories serialized in 1935 and assembled into book form in 1947. The heroes faced one absurd peril after another, and the story concluded with one of the characters assembling a small gizmo to wipe out the invading armada. Yikes!

[@meggy8868]

Books ceased to be great about 50 years ago. Some exceptions Laura Hillebrand

[@Dinadoesyoga]

Thank you. I will pass on all of these! My worst books this year were Possession by AS Byatt and The Belton Estate by Anthony Trollope.

[@Shellyish]

I didn’t love Possession either.

[@denise3979]

100% Agree with everything you said about Tomorrow X3. Was also my worst book of the year! I gave it 1 ⭐Would have DNFed but got too far in and was reading for a competitive readathon.

[@layalialsudairy9992]

Loooooool, I loved how you said « tomorrow , tomorrow aaaand tomorrroooow » I didn’t read it and didn’t think it’s my kind of a book, now I’m sure. I read the safe keep , and I totally agree with you To sleep in a sea of stars . I don’t know how I finished it. I gave it 1 star My worst were : The Bee Sting by Paul Murray To be Taught, if fortunate by Becky Chambers Finding Sophie by Iman Mahmood Entitlement by Rumaan Alam Starter villain by John Scalzi The housekeeper and the professor by Yoko Ogawa A better world by Sarah Langan If cats disappeared from the world by Genki Kawamura

[@Shellyish]

Awe! Thank you! Unfortunately one of your worst books made my tops books of the year.

[@KarlaCarlson-oh2fw]

My worst book of the year was an ARC I received from Library Thing, I think. It was called Bell Hammers by Lancelot Schaubert. It was about a man who took on an oil company, I had to look up the plot, because I forgot it. It's not worth remembering. The story went off on separate tangents. The characters were flat. I read it because I said I would, but that's the only reason I finished it. It was a digital book. I deleted it, I want no memory of it on my tablet.

[@novelideea]

I DNFd T&T&T, Miss Jean, Lone Woman, & To Sleep! The Bell Jar I had to read for a class, but I think I’ve blocked it out of my memory… I remember what it was about but not the specifics😅

[@still-reading]

Jean Brodie - I agree, and wonder if we still read it because they made a then-controversial movie about it. I was underwhelmed. My worst of this year were North Woods, Interpreter of Maladies, and The Summer Book by Janssen. They all left me very disappointed.

[@Shellyish]

North Woods was just okay. It got SO much hype earlier this year.

[@Art-e2b]

Earlier this year, I tried to read the Wages of Sin by Harry Turtledove. 1/3 of the way through, I had to stop. Classic Goofus and Gallant scenario. Sad, because everything Mr. Turtledove has ever written that I read was really good.

[@sandeesandwich2180]

I DNF'd The Safekeep. Usually when I DNF I think I'm going to return to it, but this was just filled with unlikeable characters and a (to me) not very interesting plot. So I hit a point where I just had to nope out of there.

[@brendanmchugh473]

I am so hear for this critique of Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow.

[@Shellyish]

Ha! Thanks, Brendan.

[@vickigauger5550]

The book I began, because it was a Reese Witherspoon recommended, and absolutely threw in the trash one night was The Paper Palace. It was filthy and trashy, characters with no morals! No way I would want to put trash in my head! I didn’t get far into the book, was trashy from the get-go!

[@denise3979]

So disappointing! I bought that book. After reading your description, I have no interest in reading it!

[@Shellyish]

Your experience is in line with the scuttlebutt that surrounds The Paper Palace.

[@CathyHarrison-bd8vi]

Well two of your worst books I bought because of booktube and the rave reviews. 1. Lone Women(which I gave to my son without even trying to read it. BTW he didn’t like it either) 2. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. It’s been collecting dust on my TBR since it came out.

[@geeceesteiner62]

I enjoyed your comments on the books. I liked that you disliked "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie." I liked your analogy of your brother hating the ride he went on to the book you criticized. I found "The Bell Jar" completely underwhelming, and I even wanted it to get me feeling depressed and suicidal -- but nah! It was just melodramatic and boring. I recently read A.B. Guthrie, Jr.'s "The Big Sky." I hated most of it, largely because of how it was structured, and there were truly boring parts full of description and talk with no action, but by the time I got to the end, I was shocked how my feelings of hatred vanished and came away respecting it finally. I would reread it even, but it's not an easy, enjoyable read. It's more like a huge painting or tapestry you have to sit with and contemplate little by little and enjoy. The plot is very small, but the tale is enormous, panoramic, both geographically as well as in time.

[@smileycindy]

I think you're the first BookTuber that has not put Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow on their favorites' list. I was equally disappointed by this book, and puzzled as to why so many people loved it. Here are other 2024 reads that I was disappointed it because they were so overhyped: Bright Young Women (Jessica Knoll), The Power (Naomi Aiderman), First Lie Wins (Ashley Elston), Before the Coffee Gets Cold (Toshikazu Kawaguchi), The Teacher (Freida McFadden), Seven Days in June (Tia WIlliams), The Thursday Murder Club (Richard Osman) and The Wishing Game (Meg Shaffer). I was also disappointed by Mr. Loverman (Bernardine Evaristo), The LIst (Yomi Adegoke) and Expiration Dates (Rebecca Serle)

[@Shellyish]

I’m surprised to be the first booktuber to despair over T&T&T. Thanks for sharing your worst list!

[@JamesRuchala]

My worst were also prize winners: Jon Fosse's Trilogy and Han Kang's The Vegetarian

[@KhishigtMunkhbold]

I absolutely loved The Vegetarian by Han Kang, but I have to agree that it probably wasn't for everyone. She definitely deserved the Nobel Prize tho.

[@kimswhims8435]

I felt great satisfaction in finishing The Bell Jar, there are beautiful quotes throughout it but I'm not the sort of reader that could sort through the weeds. I just google the quotes and stick to rereading Ariel, which is very good. I dnfed Ordinary Human Failings, didn't have the stomach for it. Tomorrow x 3 definitely was flawed, I really didn't like the disability trope, that they could not have a romantic relationship because he was coping with disability. Just perpetuates so many wrong attitudes.

[@Shellyish]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, I’m going to read *Ariel* next!

[@CarlosMSotelo]

I relate to many of your thoughts about Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow with my reading experience of Sally Rooney's Normal People, at least in the condescending and nuanced ways of the authors. But by far the worst book I read was the one I started the year with: Oracle Night by Paul Auster. A book that had no sense being written, I kept waiting for it to make sense and it ended in an idiotic way.

[@Shellyish]

I despised Normal People as well. It was just awful. I don’t know why Rooney gets so many flowers.

[@CarlosMSotelo]

@@Shellyish I think it's equal parts of social commentary (for people who don't need nuance in the message) and "omg, she doesn't write with quote marks". Being Latin American, we grow up reading stuff like that. Writing experimentation goes way beyond that, but it might be a first experience for some ^^'

[@trinhoutsides]

It has to be Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir for me.

[@Shellyish]

I hear you.

[@kristinmarra7005]

Worst book for me this year….A Court of Thorns and Roses. Good lord…the writing…the plotting. 🙄😵‍💫🤢😖Will not waste any more of my precious life reading those books

[@Shellyish]

@@kristinmarra7005 I felt the exact same way about ACOTAR.

[@nathanfoung2347]

Well Shelly another missed opportunity for black lippy, oh well 🤷. I enjoyed this video, it trimmed my current TBR, thank you. Go well.

[@Shellyish]

Thanks! I’m going to do that black lippy. Maybe in my next video!

[@marciaalbaum2597]

yellowface was the most disappointing for many years. it died in the middle she brought it back and wrote the most out of left field ending

[@Shellyish]

I agree with you on that one

[@meggy8868]

Try Middlemarch. Brilliant and witty

[@mongolianqwerty123]

She's read it and loves it

[@SAMTHINKS2]

Jean Brodie was a flatline for me too. Maybe it was innovative at one time.

[@Shellyish]

The twist was thought provoking, but that’s about it.

[@bettysleeth7145]

i totally agree with you about Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow! I actually attended an author talk about that book with Gabrielle Zevin in the hopes it would give me some insight into the book - nope!! Terrible!

[@TheMidlifeShift]

I'm so sorry you didn't like Lone Women- I loved it. But, I do love gothic.

[@Shellyish]

I’m so glad you loved it!! 😊

[@dqan7372]

Ha ha. Great, pithy reviews. I quit Tomorrow... a few pages in because it didn't seem to be what it had been described as. But from the way you describe it here, it sounds like I should give it another try. Someday.

[@Shellyish]

Thank you!!!!

[@noteworthyfiction]

ahhh bad books. WHY!?! My worst book was William Styron's The Confessions of Nat Turner. Soo bad I did an entire video on it. Also, so bad I try not to mention it by name in videos any more. This was a Pulitzer winner that tells me more about the Pulitzer and the country at the time than anything else.

[@Shellyish]

Oh, that’s fascinating. An icky Pulitzer is so interesting and really does reveal so much about the time period.

[@Movingthebookmark]

Oh my goodness, you put into words how I felt about Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. Just terrible.

[@susankight544]

Trauma bonding LOL The books that just didn’t land with me this year were Bright Young Women, All Fours, and All the Colors of the Dark. I’ve also realized that most of the books Reese and Jenna recommend just do not work for me, nor do quite a few of the prize winners

[@socaltoobie8984]

I DNF’d Pixel Flesh - How Toxic Beauty Culture Harms Women. And this one is controversial…. The Wall by Marlen Haushofer. I gave it 2 stars. I am just NOT the kind of reader who can appreciate that book.

[@Shellyish]

@@socaltoobie8984 ha! I liked The Wall, but completely understand why you didn’t.

[@bjminton2698]

Ooooh, you had way too many bad books! My worst 2 were Gunslinger by King and Practical Magic by Hoffman. It was my first (and last) King, and was filled with underlying anger and aggression from the author. The Hoffman was a big disappointment. It was well written but very dull. Out of 140 books, I had less than 10 that were only fair. The majority of my reads this year were OK. neither great nor horrible. There were about 20 that I really enjoyed!! I hope 2025 is better for both of us!!

[@Shellyish]

@@bjminton2698 I agree. Too many bad books! King isn’t for me. He’s just…. Meh. And I’ve heard middling things about Hoffman’s books.

[@markburton9712]

My Dear, The Lord Jesus told us that His doctrine is not His but of the Father who sent him. Therefore, Calvinism or any other doctrine, has no place in your faith. God bless & Merry Christmas.

[@BionikleFG]

Shelly playing the KZbin meta by making a negative video. Get those clicks

[@Shellyish]

@@BionikleFG I make one of these every year.

[@TangibleReads]

I agree Lone Women had some plot holes, but I loved it. Good plot, but also the female, black, and asian representation in settling 19th century USA western frontier is never represented in history books. I loved to see a horror story with history. Tomorrow.... just seemed like it would be nuianced so I decided not to read it. Sorry you had to experience it.

[@Shellyish]

I’m so glad you loved Lone Women!

[@fractured_stories]

I love strong opinions about books, even when I disagree! My worse reads of 2024 were Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively (how this won the Booker in 1987 is beyond me), Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger (why do people love this? The “hero” of the book is so verbally abusive to his mother!) The Summer Book by Tove Jansen (snore fest, plus they throw all their garbage in the ocean!) The Silent Patient by Alex, Michaelides, and Case Histories by Kate Atkinson. 🫣 Sorry, I know you liked that last one. I barely found anyone to root for among the living characters, the surviving sisters were awful.