| The worst one I can remember was one I purchased recently called
something like "The Bette Davis Murder(s)".
This is set in England in the '30s and stars as you would imagine,
Bette Davis and (as would probably wouldn't ) Agatha Christie. It is
dreadful, the writing is so juvenile it makes me cringe while I'm
reading.
It's so bad, that I can't read more than a page or two at a time, and
mind you, I only pick it up when I have NOTHING else to read. This is
from me, who is the type who reads even the back and sides of boxes to
have something to read while eating!
Marilyn
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| Many's the book that I have started to read but put down, figuring my
time could be spent much more constructively trying to reconstruct
decomposed leaves from my compost heap. The fascinating aspect of this
question is, what is the worst thing you have read? And if it's the
worst thing, why in the name of thunder didn't you stop???
Candidates for worst books started but not finished include anything in
the Thomas Covenant series, and the Sword of Shanarra. I only pushed
myself through 100 or so pages of these because true believers told me
that they were fascinating, riveting, and they couldn't wait for the
umpteenth sequel. ANd yet, I had the sense to stop.
The all-time worst book that I have finished has got to be "Being a
Green Mother" by Piers ANthony, who should have known better but
probably had a house payment due. His stuff is hit or
miss, but usually entertaining if you moderate your expectations and
have a high tolerance for puns. But this was unremittingly dreadful.
Why did I read it? It was fifth in a series which had been enjoyable
though it was beginning to run out of steam. The fourth book, "Wielding
a Red Sword", had been surprisingly strong, though, so I was willing to
give old Piers another chance. Not to get into a deep analysis, it was
obviously written in a tearing hurry by someone who ain't no John
Updike to begin with. Yet I persevered in the vain hope that it would
improve, then finally in the grim determination that I could close out
this series and put it behind me.
This book still waits in a special place on my bookshelf, because one
day I will BURN IT!!! I'm just waiting to publish something of my own,
so I can ceremoniously replace bad writing with something which could
scarcely be worse.
Many authors suffer from series-itis, don't you think? It's a low risk
for a publisher to take a sequel from a known writer; and full-time
writers need to eat too, I guess. Marion Zimmer Bradley had a series
of fantasy books called the Darkover series, which had some memorable
characters and became the topic of a small annual SF convention. She
bragged that she had once written a book in ten days because the bills
were due; judging from what I've read, I believe it.
One would like to think that writers are just in it for the art, and do
not compromise the story for commercial reasons. But there's a saying I
heard once which is true in many cases:
Writing is like prostitution: first you do it for love, then for a
few friends, and finally for money.
Jim B.
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| I don't know why I finish all the books I start, it's just some sort of
personal rule I've imposed upon myself. I've read books that have
taken me years to finish, but I've done it. Like one of the other
replies, I read everything, from the patent numbers on the air
freshener in the bathroom to the old newspapers in the basement (my
husband makes me use old drop cloths now instead of newspaper because I
get too caught up in the articles rather than what I'm supposed to be
doing).
The one that I am reading now definitely falls under the category of
BAD. I was desperate, I was travelling on business last week and had
finished the 2 books that I brought with me. Faced with a 5 hour plane
ride home and no time to look for a book store, I bought the only book in
the hotel gift shop that I hadn't read or wasn't a romance novel - "See
How They Run" by James Patterson. Not only do I find it bad, it's
irritating, the writing is poor and some of the chapters are barely a page
long. I will finish it, see above masochistic rule 8^), but I'm not happy
about having spent $7 and my hard earned reading time on it.
/Susan
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| Like you guys, I will also read just about ANYTHING. I coined a new
term to describe the condition that I am often seized with:
sinelibraphobia (from L. sine, without; libros, books; phobia, fear
of) -- the entirely rational fear of being stuck
somewhere for more than sixty seconds without anything
to read.
I'll often case my wallet for something to read during an idle minute.
Where I differ from the previoius noter is that I can force myself to
stop reading something that's lousy. There's just too much to read out
there that is good; why waste your time finishing something you know is
bad?
Speaking of good, I highly recommend "The Dilbert Future" ... same
stuff as "The Dilbert Principle", meaning just as hilarious.
Jim B.
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