10-28-2009, 12:05 AM | #1 |
Wizard
Posts: 2,409
Karma: 4132096
Join Date: Sep 2008
Device: Kindle Paperwhite/iOS Kindle App
|
Anti-recommendations: Read any terrible books lately?
I just finished Petite Anglaise by Catherine Sanderson. It was terrible. I finished it because it was a fast read and because I paid for it, but it was an awful book. The writing was amateur (she fastens the coat with 'an impatient finger' on on page, for example; I heard my college writing teacher's voice in my head whining 'fingers can't be impatient!' as I read) and overuses the adverbs in a way a good editor should have been able to weed out. And to top it off, she's an annoying character. She's a blogger in Paris who starts an affair with one of her readers, and some of her more annoying moments include:
- She admits she often exaggerates her stories when she posts them, and in the book she more than once narrates a true event then muses about how she will alter it when she posts - She posts events from years ago as if they had just happened. In short, her whole blog is fake and exaggerated - She tells her daughter's father she is leaving him, and when he is upset about not living with his daughter, she calls after him 'But what about me?' - She complains that her partner's reaction to her leaving him is not dramatic enough and that she wishes he was more sad - She refers to her blog name in the third person as if it were another character, separate from herself - She chickens out on sharing key life events with friends, figuring it will be easier if they just read it on the blog - She resents her child for interfering with her adulterous trysts by requiring being picked up from the nanny's home In short, she is vapid and self-centered and selfish. And she can't write either! Avoid this book. Oh, and apparently she followed it up with a novel. No! So there is my anti-recommendation. Anyone esle read an awful book lately? |
10-28-2009, 02:01 AM | #2 |
Wizard
Posts: 1,952
Karma: 213930
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Middelfart, Denmark
Device: Kindle paper white
|
I'm currently reading Stephen King's Bag of Bones... I find it totally BORING, but force myself to keep reading... Stephen King is a brilliant author, right? This is the first book I've read of his.
|
Advert | |
|
10-28-2009, 07:58 AM | #3 | |
Addict
Posts: 302
Karma: 185297
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Ankh Morpork
Device: calibre
|
I have just read God, Speak, by Frank Buchan. There are lots of things that are good about the story, the premise and the plot are good, the characterisations are good - it could of been a really good book.
But - and there is a but, it is so poorly written that it drove me mad reading it. I t appears that it was not even spell checked let alone proof read. I lost count of the number of times there was a 1 instead of an I, and the number of times the wrong word was used in a sentence. In one sparagraph near the beginning there are 3 writing errors, Quote:
Later in the book there is someone who stood, sitting on the edge of a desk balancing a notepad on her knee. I think I know what the author meant but at first reading it sounds like a deformed person. There are many more oddities throughout the book. The book is available from Smashwords for free, which may be more than it is worth. |
|
10-28-2009, 08:24 AM | #4 |
Wizard
Posts: 3,490
Karma: 5239563
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Denmark
Device: Kindle 3|iPad air|iPhone 4S
|
Don't read "The Princes of Ireland" by Edward Rutherfurd. He explains and explains and explains ad nauseam, and it was one, long, slog through mud to finish it (I was just about enough interested in the history to not stop reading).
I remember "The Forest and "London" being quite good, and better than "Sarum", and I thought he'd simply gotten better over time, but no. I don't know if I should read part two - I bought both together. |
10-28-2009, 11:14 AM | #5 |
FT Parent PT Reader
Posts: 322
Karma: 187838
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: South Alabama
Device: Shocked by how much I've read on an iPod Touch received as a gift!
|
One of my all-time favorite authors, Orson Scott Card, wrote a weak effort in Magic Street. Not my favorite work of his.
And though I thought Weave World by Clive Barker was fabulous, steer clear of Mister B Gone. |
Advert | |
|
10-28-2009, 11:15 AM | #6 |
Icanhasdonuts?
Posts: 2,837
Karma: 532407
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Mölnbo, Sweden
Device: Kobo Aura 2nd edition, Kobo Clara HD
|
The Lost Symbol. x number of hours of my life I will never get back again.
|
10-28-2009, 11:17 AM | #7 | |
Enjoying the show....
Posts: 14,270
Karma: 10462843
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Arizona
Device: A K1, Kindle Paperwhite, an Ipod, IPad2, Iphone, an Ipad Mini & macAir
|
Quote:
You might want to put this one aside, and start with "The Stand",(end of the world) "salems Lot" (vampires, but great character development) or "Night Shift", a collection of short stories. I didn't care for Bag of Bone either. |
|
10-28-2009, 11:19 AM | #8 |
Guru
Posts: 753
Karma: 1496807
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: The Third World
Device: iLiad + PRS-505 + Kindle 3
|
Maybe it's better to read something written before the nineties...
|
10-28-2009, 11:19 AM | #9 | |
Icanhasdonuts?
Posts: 2,837
Karma: 532407
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Mölnbo, Sweden
Device: Kobo Aura 2nd edition, Kobo Clara HD
|
Quote:
|
|
10-28-2009, 11:23 AM | #10 |
Enthusiast
Posts: 27
Karma: 104
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Berkshire,UK
Device: Sony Touch, K3
|
Just Read 'The Shakespeare Secret' by J.L.Carrell. Ridiculous Plot & Inane Characterization. Only reason I finished it was for the 5hr Train ride.
|
10-28-2009, 11:25 AM | #11 | |
Enthusiast
Posts: 27
Karma: 104
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Berkshire,UK
Device: Sony Touch, K3
|
Quote:
|
|
10-28-2009, 11:27 AM | #12 |
Wizard
Posts: 3,490
Karma: 5239563
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Denmark
Device: Kindle 3|iPad air|iPhone 4S
|
Quite agree. I'm not sure why the review (in the paper) I read was so positive. It made it sound like a much more serious novel.
|
10-28-2009, 11:34 AM | #13 |
Enjoying the show....
Posts: 14,270
Karma: 10462843
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Arizona
Device: A K1, Kindle Paperwhite, an Ipod, IPad2, Iphone, an Ipad Mini & macAir
|
|
10-28-2009, 11:37 AM | #14 |
Icanhasdonuts?
Posts: 2,837
Karma: 532407
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Mölnbo, Sweden
Device: Kobo Aura 2nd edition, Kobo Clara HD
|
|
10-28-2009, 11:38 AM | #15 |
Wizard
Posts: 4,395
Karma: 1358132
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: UK
Device: Palm TX, CyBook Gen3
|
I recently had to concede defeat to 'The Turn of the Screw' by Henry James .
Rather annoying since a) it's a short book, and b) the actual story is intriguing. I got half way but, boy, was it a slog!! |
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Region restricted Oz looking for holiday read recommendations | BBel | Reading Recommendations | 5 | 08-31-2010 05:54 AM |
Google uses anti-fraud tool to help digitize books | Wetdogeared | News | 14 | 09-18-2009 08:51 PM |
Quick Reformatting of Terrible E-Books | Raventhon | Workshop | 37 | 10-02-2007 10:39 PM |
connect store downloads books i didnt order! Terrible connectstore support | alexjlee | Sony Reader | 15 | 01-01-2007 06:26 PM |
Fantasy books Recommendations | Dave Berk | Reading Recommendations | 1 | 05-09-2006 01:34 PM |