Usually when I don't care for a book, I don't think of it as a bad book, but just that it wasn't a book for me. Sometimes it's just that the writing is dense or harder to follow and I'm in the mood for an easy read.
However here's my list of bad books.
Urshurak by the Brothers Hildebrandt
(they did the Tolkien calenders in the 70s)
Mercedes Lackey - the novels about the gay mages
(the gay aspect didn't bother me. It was just badly written.)
The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks.
I read this when it was first published and thought it was OK. I read tried to re-read it 10 years ago and found it so clumsily written that I had a hard time getting through it. His writing does improve in later books. In Brooks defense, he was only a teenager when he wrote it and at least he was ripping off a master unlike some whose books are basically
fleshed out Dungeons and Dragons campaigns.
I like Lovecraft for his stories, but the man could not write dialog if his life depended on it.
Robert Jordan - I liked the first few books but he should have wrapped up the plot before we ran out of interesting things to learn about his world.
Writer's should take a hint from the Lord of the Rings. You don't need to tell the reader everything you know about your created world and its characters.
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.... Besides, the worst book I ever read was much better than the best business meeting I had to attend.
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For a humorous look at meetings and corporate life, try reading Connie Willis's
Bellwether
.
From the book:
Quote:
"All right, fellow workers," Management said. "Do you have your five objectives? Flip, would you collect them?"
Elaine looked stricken. Gina snatched the list from her and wrote rapidly:
1. Optimize potential.
2. Facilitate empowerment.
3. Implement visioning.
4. Strategize priorities.
5. Augment core structures.
"How did you do that?" I said admiringly.
"Those are the five things I always write down," she said and handed the list to Flip as she slouched past.
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