My mother got me The Secret once as a gift. The Secret is one of two things: irrational bullshit or dangerous black magic. (It's the first one)

Love Reading and my family knows that this but won't get me a book unless I directly ask, so the worst one has to be either the bible or the French dictionary, I lost both of them

A book by Joel Osteen... I'm an atheist.

The book itself was great, my use of it in the first 30 seconds after opening the gift was questionable. I was about 10 years old and liked to learn unusual words and obscure vocabulary. A sibling bought me some book for Christmas, the title was something like DICTIONARY OF UNUSUAL WORDS AND OBSCURE VOCABULARY. The extended family (other siblings, aunts, uncles, my parents) were gathered around and someone said, "Go ahead, teach us a new word!"

So I opened the book at random, saw a word I didn't know, and (after looking carefully at the pronunciation key), announced, loudly:

"COITUS."

Evidently, I was not the only person who didn't know the word, because someone said, "Huh? What's the definition?" Which I then read aloud. During the immediate and profoundly awkward silence, my mom suggested it was time for cookies and egg nog for everyone!

This book was quickly set aside on the shelf and not consulted publicly again, that I can recall.

My in laws got both me and my husband really nice travel guides for Alaska. I think we got 3 in all, covering everything you would want to enable you to plan the perfect trip regardless of budget. (The clever ones might see where this is going...) We were not, in fact, planning a trip to Alaska, nor did we have any interest in going. My in-laws were, though!

If I'm interpreting it extremely generously, maybe they were trying to convince us to go with them and make it a family trip. We had already told them firmly no because besides not wanting to go to Alaska in the slightest, I was pregnant and not feeling like traveling.

My mother in law also has gotten me Dawn dish soap and bulk red lentils for Christmas, and has given her son, my husband, saran wrap. So perhaps interpreting it generously isn't warranted. 🤣

For reasons beyond fathoming, multiple people thought that the perfect gift for a teenage girl (me) who loved reading (specifically sci-fi, fantasy, and horror) was harlequin romance novels. Like no hate to those who enjoy them but I sincerely loathe the bodice-ripper genre as a whole.

My friends back in school knew I loved to read, but didn't really care about what I liked to read.

So when 50 shades came out, they decided to gift me the box-set. Usually, I'm opposed to book burning but I wanted to make an exception for this one. It was boke-rama.

Not Christmas, but someone gifted my daughter a very sexist first Bible for girls board book for her birth. A lot in there about obeying men? It went straight in the trash.

I collect Stephen King novels and his books usually come out right before my birthday. I had to politely ask everyone to not buy me the new Stephen King because one year I got like 5 of the same book. So not a terrible book but too many of a good thing.

A large, ornate family bible.

It's not even a book you can regift to someone when you're done reading it. It will remain in a drawer forever, because I also can't bring myself to throw it away.

I was a young teenager and had finally found the courage to openly state I was an atheist. I was receiving some backlash from my religious family, but I was finally feeling confident enough to stay steady in my lack of belief. And a family member gifted me a book titled "Because God is Real" with 16 chapters "debunking" atheism. Lol!