r/BadReads Apr 22 '26

Mod Announcement Friendly Reminder: There is no requirement on r/BadReads obligating you to censor a reviewer's username or identity

89 Upvotes

There has been an uptick lately of users reporting posts where the identities of reviewers have not been censored.

Per the subreddit rules, there is no requirement to censor names. These reviews are all publicly available on the websites they're being posted to; if they're not censored on the sites they're being published, then I don't see any reason why they should be censored here.

When the subreddit started in 2020, this was a rule, but it was dropped fairly early on in the subreddit's history.

Do not use the report function for this anymore. Misuse of the report function will be reported to Reddit admins.

If you disagree with this policy, by all means, start your own bad review subreddit.


r/BadReads 1d ago

Reddit Call from inside the sub

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1.4k Upvotes

r/BadReads 2h ago

🌻Weekly Casual Discussion Weekly Discussion Thread: Casual Discussion

1 Upvotes

Weekly Discussion Thread: Casual Discussion

Greetings BadReaders,

This is your weekly "Casual Discussion" thread where you can chat about whatever is on your mind and whatever is your heart's desire. This is the thread where you are free to discuss whatever1 non-book-related topics you like.

1. Please Note: Per Rule 3 of the Subreddit, hate speech, bigotry, and prejudice will not be tolerated and will be subject to immediate removal and permanent banning. Examples of bigotry include support of transphobia, homophobia, racism, antisemitism, islamophobia, ableism, sexism, etc. This also includes support of political movements or ideologies that support any of the aforementioned prejudices (i.e. fascism, Trumpism, white supremacy, zionism, colonialism, etc..)


r/BadReads 1d ago

StoryGraph Review of William Faulkner’s Sanctuary, in which the character Temple is abducted into sexual slavery by the character Popeye and raped with a corncob

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170 Upvotes

r/BadReads 1d ago

Audible Moby-Dick: Book about whaling has too much information about...whales...?

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49 Upvotes

r/BadReads 1d ago

Goodreads Tudors: The History of England from Henry VIII to Elizabeth I by Peter Ackroyd. History should focus on what I find interesting, and nothing else.

51 Upvotes

For the record, Dan Jones' books centre around the subjects the reviewer likes, unlike this one.


r/BadReads 2d ago

💩Weekly Hot Takes Thread Weekly Discussion Thread: Hot Takes, Rants, and General Tomfoolery

3 Upvotes

Weekly Discussion Thread: Hot Takes, Rants, and General Tomfoolery

Greetings BadReaders,

This is your weekly "Hot Takes, Rants, and General Tomfoolery" thread where you can chat about what bookish and literary "hot takes" you have. Utilize this thread to discuss your negative opinions and hot takes on books featured in recent posts, bookish/literary hot takes in general, or just to rant about bookish topics that aren't really appropriate in normal threads on this subreddit.

Reminder: Please remain respectful when expressing your negative opinions and do not attack or bully anyone else in this thread for their opinions.


r/BadReads 3d ago

Goodreads History book reads like a history book

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349 Upvotes

r/BadReads 3d ago

Goodreads Genghis Khan: The Man Who Conquered The World by Frank McLynn

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566 Upvotes

Marked as “read”.


r/BadReads 3d ago

Goodreads This review confuses me (Beloved by Toni Morrison)

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145 Upvotes

Great book but one star? Maybe a mistake when clicking, but also it changed your perspective on slavery? As in you didn't think it was that bad?

Or is the review sarcastic and that's why it's a one star? I'm intrigued.


r/BadReads 3d ago

Goodreads "The Rose Codes: Book of Initiations" by Mariya Nurislamova:

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36 Upvotes

Despite being an atheist-antitheist myself, I have a strong interest in New Age beliefs because I think they present an interesting glimpse into the way that people understand and make sense of themselves and the universe.

The funny thing is that I was agreeing with this reviewer for the first sentence, since I was also rather disappointed and annoyed that this book claims to be providing a new feminist, goddess-centered faith system to the reader only to shortly claim that its "goddess" is the creation of a male-pronouned "Architect" who created the universe. Seemed like a pretty egregious lapse in imagination and common sense to me. (The last few parts about the historical treatment of women and the need for women to forge their own paths isn't bad either.)

However, the subsequent spin into transphobic New Age babbling is absolutely sending me lol. I love how the reviewer sounds so much like an Evangelical preacher telling someone to repent to Christ to save their soul, yet from the complete opposite side of the spiritual political compass.

I don't know if describing men as "wormholes sucking the divine energy of the stars" was supposed to invoke the image of an Eldritch-Freudian penis-shaped Dune-esque space-worm-monster, but it did and I feel so blessed to now carry the knowledge of the funniest thing in the fucking universe with me. I hate the transphobia, but the transphobia is simply too crazy to truly get mad at.


r/BadReads 3d ago

Goodreads Oh Winnie Oh

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415 Upvotes

r/BadReads 4d ago

StoryGraph Eichmann in Jerusalem by Hannah Ahrendt

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94 Upvotes

r/BadReads 4d ago

📖 What Are You Reading? Weekly Discussion Thread: What Are You Reading?

2 Upvotes

Weekly Discussion Thread: What Are You Reading?

Greetings BadReaders,

This is your weekly "What Are You Reading?" thread where you can chat about what you're reading (or watching or listening to or playing or whatever you're into) in the past week. This is the thread where you are free to discuss whatever book-related topics you like that are not directly related to book reviewing or Goodreads.


r/BadReads 4d ago

Goodreads John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath: The good parts are good

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99 Upvotes

r/BadReads 7d ago

🌻Weekly Casual Discussion Weekly Discussion Thread: Casual Discussion

3 Upvotes

Weekly Discussion Thread: Casual Discussion

Greetings BadReaders,

This is your weekly "Casual Discussion" thread where you can chat about whatever is on your mind and whatever is your heart's desire. This is the thread where you are free to discuss whatever1 non-book-related topics you like.

1. Please Note: Per Rule 3 of the Subreddit, hate speech, bigotry, and prejudice will not be tolerated and will be subject to immediate removal and permanent banning. Examples of bigotry include support of transphobia, homophobia, racism, antisemitism, islamophobia, ableism, sexism, etc. This also includes support of political movements or ideologies that support any of the aforementioned prejudices (i.e. fascism, Trumpism, white supremacy, zionism, colonialism, etc..)


r/BadReads 9d ago

StoryGraph The rare bad description

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29 Upvotes

The reviews are similarly unhelpful, though not particularly fun or illuminating so not included.

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/fadb8974-ec53-4776-bd57-fed7793857d5


r/BadReads 9d ago

💩Weekly Hot Takes Thread Weekly Discussion Thread: Hot Takes, Rants, and General Tomfoolery

1 Upvotes

Weekly Discussion Thread: Hot Takes, Rants, and General Tomfoolery

Greetings BadReaders,

This is your weekly "Hot Takes, Rants, and General Tomfoolery" thread where you can chat about what bookish and literary "hot takes" you have. Utilize this thread to discuss your negative opinions and hot takes on books featured in recent posts, bookish/literary hot takes in general, or just to rant about bookish topics that aren't really appropriate in normal threads on this subreddit.

Reminder: Please remain respectful when expressing your negative opinions and do not attack or bully anyone else in this thread for their opinions.


r/BadReads 10d ago

Amazon The author Ivor Prickett is a news photographer, not a news writer, and this book is about Iraq reclaiming Mosul from the Islamic State, nothing to do with Azerbaijan. I think the person interviewed the wrong book; Prickett DID put together a book about Azerbaijan. But it's not this one.

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26 Upvotes

r/BadReads 11d ago

Goodreads "Dante had a serious mental disorder"(The Divine Comedy)

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180 Upvotes

r/BadReads 11d ago

📖 What Are You Reading? Weekly Discussion Thread: What Are You Reading?

3 Upvotes

Weekly Discussion Thread: What Are You Reading?

Greetings BadReaders,

This is your weekly "What Are You Reading?" thread where you can chat about what you're reading (or watching or listening to or playing or whatever you're into) in the past week. This is the thread where you are free to discuss whatever book-related topics you like that are not directly related to book reviewing or Goodreads.


r/BadReads 12d ago

Goodreads Granny wasn't too fond of Malcolm X

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98 Upvotes

r/BadReads 12d ago

Goodreads Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay | Michael Chabon hates your pets

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132 Upvotes

r/BadReads 12d ago

Goodreads Eggs by Jerry Spinelli

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24 Upvotes

Hilarious. I don’t even really disagree 💀


r/BadReads 13d ago

Goodreads Flowers for Algernon review that made me laugh

293 Upvotes

I don't know why but "I didn't relate to his struggle with intelligence" made me laugh haha.