Have you ever thrown a book in the bin?

[HopSpringsEternal]

I did yesterday for I think the 3rd time in my life.
The first was that book by Gina Ford when DS1 was about 2 weeks old. It was all the rage at the time but DS definitely didn't want to follow the rules. In fact it was DH that threw it out and I was definitely a lot more.content.
The second was when I got out my old Doctor Dolittle books to read the kids and I realised they were littered with the N word. In a sort patronising racist way "the nice n man". Didn't want that word seen or normalised by any other kids so in the recycling it went.
The last was yesterday. Lying in bed realised their was a Neil Gaiman book on my book shelf. Didn't not want a book of that vile bastard staring at me so into the bin he went.
Foot all other books if I don't want them anymore.I just take them to the charity shop. But I didn't want to inflict the above three on anybody else.
Has anyone else?

The only time I've thrown a book away was "There's a Porpoise Close Behind Us" by Noel Langley, because it was homophobic. I forget the details because it was so long ago and not a great read anyway, but the gist was that gay people are immoral not to be trusted.

No guilt here. I'm gay, and if there's a reader out there who would have enjoyed the book then I'm glad to deprive them it.

Only a Martina Cole which came in a bundle of paperbacks I was given. It was absolute bilge, some of the worst writing I've ever encountered. How the hell she ever became so popular is beyond me.

@HopSpringsEternal Exactly my reasoning too. One of my friends used to buy any copies she saw in charity shops so that she could bin those as well 😀

I stumbled across a review the other day that sums it up perfectly, but basically it's disturbing schlock about a grown man grooming a little girl and then stealing the entirety of her life, with her eternally waiting for him to perhaps return and losing out on any chance of happiness.

"Henry becomes a secret part of Clare’s childhood; she gives him food and clothes every time he suddenly appears. (Did I forget to mention that any time Henry time travels, his clothes don’t go with him?) Henry eventually tells Clare that they will get married in the future. She accepts this as an indisputable fact."

"Why are we romanticizing the fact that this man, well into his thirties when he meets young Clare, manipulated her? Henry doesn’t give Clare a chance to truly become her own person. She is persuaded to believe that Henry is her fate, that it’s an unavoidable outcome. Her whole life is tied to a man because he tells her it is."

"Henry is not a monster, but the fact that he meets her (NAKED) as a child, who is a few years out of diapers, is not the most kosher start to a relationship. Can we actually say that it’s Clare’s choice to be with Henry if that choice was heavily influenced, even orchestrated by the adult version of himself?"

Was once visiting a church in the Cotswolds, which had a shelf of books for sale. Found an anti-evolution book (apparently believing in evolution causes abortion, divorce, homosexuality etc etc) and DSIL bought it so that she could throw it away.

I'm rather concerned at the number of books being physically thrown across the room - i do hope there's an element of artistic licence in the descriptions!

As PP, pretty much the only books I have binned have been out of date non-fiction.
Even donated a set of Mr.Men - don't envy the poor unfortunate parent that got stuck with reading that every night.

The one set in the Caribbean? It’s on my TBR list. If it’s a sad ending I won’t read it.

Yes. I hated American Psycho so much that I ripped it up, burned the pages and threw the covers in the bin. I don’t care that it was all a dream - it was a misogynistic horror show.

Talking of Gina Ford I used to see people posting online they hadn’t binned it but put it in the horror section at Waterstones.

I did bin the secrets of Baby whisperer. Can’t remember the author but what a pile of rubbish. Wasn’t giving that to the charity shop

The Bunny Munro book by Nick Cave. I didn't just throw it in the bin I burnt it on a fire.

I absolutely loved And the Ass Saw the Angel and was so excited to read Bunny Munro but sadly it was a pile of puerile offensive dross

I nearly chucked the Celestine Prophecy overboard on a Greek ferry I was that disgusted by what a pile of crap it was, but was thankfully brought to my senses by a stern notice telling passengers not to litter the seas. I can't remember what I did with it after that, but presumably the bin.

I once read a book where the author kept slagging off the UK and same I wondered if they’ve ever visited with the crap they were saying!

The Hour of Maximum Danger, 1960s spy story. Repulsed by its cold vitriol, its certainty about what right-thinking people must believe, and its dislike of women. I mean this was just a spy novel so usually I would have thought, not for me but who cares, someone else can have it. But I thought it was actively vile and I did not want to be responsible for anyone else reading it. I was a student and it was the first book I had ever thrown away.

for me it's not so much the "grooming" as the absolutely appalling thing the wife did. Absolutely unforgivable - knowing the things that happened to Henry.

The Amityville Horror. I was an avid reader as a kid and bought it on the secondhand stall at my primary school fair. Not surprisingly, it scared the shit out of me! I had to perform a book exorcism by ripping it into tiny pieces before putting it in the outside bin.

The Dancing Bear, by Michael Morpurgo, when I was a child. It upset me so much!

I don't know, I think the grooming tops that for me! I don't remember the book that well now (thank god,) but this review says:

"[...]whenever Henry visited teen Clare, they would touch and kiss in less-than-chaste ways, and she would fondle him in unmentionable places. At one point when she was 16, an adult Henry actually held her down and almost had his way with her before he thought better of it."

Ugh! But yes, she certainly behaved in some rather shameful ways too.

Not quite, but did persuade one of our local charity shops to send Tommy Robinson’s book for pulp instead of trying to sell it. It had been on their shelves pissing me off for weeks. At least no one has bought I suppose. They were more than happy to do so.

Hundreds, but I'm a school librarian of over 20 years. So I throw the books that are too damaged to mend and the ones that come back mouldy because their water bottle leaked...

Yes, some bullshit book about women, who the author called ‘uterus havers’, and cis women.
I drop kicked the fucking thing into the nearest bin.

Christ almighty. Her stuff is dreadful, and the books are basically the same thing trotted out over and over again.

I’m sure she’s made a nice few bob out of writing shite.

Dozens of us at work were given some utterly dreary management book. I took great delight in recycling it, only to be caught out by a meeting a few weeks later where we all had to bring our copies for some case study or something. ChatGPT earned its stripes for sure! Other books even dire fiction (a number of which are cited above) goes to the charity shop.

Gina Ford 🙈🙄 some wellbeing mum recommended it to me when I was pregnant with my now 14 year old. Urgh, read the first bit and it filled me with horror. Wasn't for us and yes, went in the bin. 😂

i mean the grooming is bad. But knowing he gets literally raped - she tricks him into getting her pregnant, is not sorry, and lets it happen to her own child.

that is pretty sick.

I don't think he's raped! He willingly has sex with her. But it's all very muddled because there's deceit on both sides. I agree that it's very disturbing that she wants to potentially inflict the condition on a child, though. The whole book is honestly more like some kind of horror than anything else, haha.